Kris
May the long time sun shine upon you
All love surround you
and the pure light within you
Guide your way on

In the 90’s I lived with my brother Sam and Kris and a lot of others (Peg and Linda for a while).

I remember one weird thing when he took some of Sam’s overripe fruit that had fruit flies and grew a maggot farm, just for fun. He kept it at the head of his bed. Whenever I think of Kris I smile.

I was very happy to read Jane’s comments, because I never really felt Kris was tortured by his alcohol and substance use I think he was happy, laid back and very amused with life.

I haven’t seen Kris in 10 years but as soon as I hear his name a vast treasury of Kris stories come to mind. He was a good guy.
We’ll miss you Kris.

-Stealing the giant, extrememly heavy, pizza sign from the corner pizza shop and dragging up the stairs with him. And then later (a year or two later) when we were abandoning 433 we returned the sign….man I bet the pizza place was confused.

-Spoonie decided that the resident cat, would benefit from eating sausage, the cats digestive system disagreed and lets just say “back-fired” off the couch and lauched itself out the door. The cat was fine, the couch was not. Spoone and I decided that it would be great to throw the couch off the back porch (2 stories up) into the yard. Granted it was destructive, but it was really fun.

-I remember having some great conversations with Spoonie about just about everything and nothing.

I will miss him and will treasure the time I got to spend with him.

One time he went to sleep leaning on the couch, he sat up and looked surprized and said “Excuse me, did I burb?”

He loved my dog Mugs. He would come over and talk to her and sing. Before he left to join the Air Force he came over took pictures of her and sang the usual song “Whip It” to her.

How he came by one night at 1am to borrow $2 for gas to go back to his job to get his College books. He was a security guard at a warehouse. Can you see that? He had some stories to tell about the adventures he had in that warehouse. Funny stuff!

How we got kicked out of a Show Biz Pizza (in our 20’s) and he yelled at a guy “Your Mom and my Dad” and how funny he thought that was. He kept saying “Can you believe I said that?” “Isn’t that funny?”

When he came back from Califonia several years later (he did bring a girlfriend with him but I can’t remember her name) and had a whole new look. He told me clothes he would wear in California he couldn’t wear in Missouri because people wouldn’t understand him.

How Kris liked to play games. He introduced Othello to us and when he left he told me to keep it for him. To this day when I get that game out to play I never fail to think of Kris.

He was such a great person to know. I have never met anyone like Kris and don’t think I ever will. I am so happy to know what great friends he found when he moved away.

It is very sad to hear he is gone!

I moved into 433 Arguello right after you left (you and I met once or twice after that). There was something special about that old flop house that made it such a great place to live, despite the holes in the bathroom floor and the mushrooms growing out of the moldy spots. The sunroom with the crooked floor was a great place to hang out.

You were one of Spoonie’s all-time favorite roommates there. I always wished I lived in the house when you and the original gang had occupied it. You were all legendary. When I moved out, I took a “Dukakis / Bentsen” election sign from the bathroom wall. Still have it to this day, it’s a great reminder of that 433 era gone by.

So many people were touched by Spoonie, all in different ways. It’s really beautiful to see that here. Thank you for writing.

1) Alternating wearing his black overcoat and his blue satin Rockin Robins jacket when he worked as a bouncer there.

2) Elbow dancing at numerous parties we attended that our friend Gaby knew about, or at my bands shows.

3) Sitting on the back garden room in our Arguello residence covered by hundreds of baby preying mantis’ who had just hatched from the egg case I had planted a month earlier.

4) When my dog Buster broke his hip he had an x ray. Together we healed Buster carrying up and down several flights of stairs to use the bathroom. For many months Kris kept Busters x ray taped to his bedroom window.

4) Smiling and out of breath as he relayed the joy of participating in an Anarchist rally in Berkeley after “allegedly” assaulting a Coca Cola truck and liberating the cans of Coca Cola.

5) His pride in being an accomplished computer technician. He was constantly upgrading my apple computer and putting strange programs on it.

6) Double dating with Kris and his mom and my mom, when his mother was out for a visit from Missouri.

7) His living in the smallest room at Arguello, which was slightly larger than a closet for his size.

7) Kris rapping to the rap that pushed all limits on free speech, hence his nickname Spoonie Gee.

I haven’t seen Kris for several years. I am so sorry to hear his addictions could not be controlled, and eventually got the better of him. He liked to push his mind and body to its limits. I’m not surprised to hear that he passed away with a smile on his face.