MY FRIENDS ON THE NET

I met this wonderfully talented man in 1997 at IACTA. Little did I know our friendship would be short-lived as his life would end in January, 1999. He was only 34 years old.

York passed away in January, 1999. I wrote a farewell article for NET4TV Voice in February. It appeared on the Internet on 2/14/99. Below, is a reprint of that article which pretty much tells how I met him:

I first met York almost 2 years ago during one of the first of many IACTA visits. On this day, I kept hearing some of the most inspired music. Not knowing what it was or where it was coming from, I was intrigued. I just loved what I was hearing, and just had to know where it was coming from and what CD it was on. So, I followed the sound.

This marvelous music led me into a rather small and crowded room. There he sat, amongst the clutter, with his eyes closed, and an intense look on his face, listening to this music. I stood in the doorway watching and enjoying every note that played. A few minutes passed and the piece that was playing ended. All was quiet. York opened his eyes an saw me. We introduced ourselves, and I told him how much I enjoyed the music and asked where I could buy it. He laughed and told me that it was his music--he wrote it!

Well, I was pleasantly shocked. He, of course, looked very proud. I became one of his biggest fans. Sometimes, he would have me come and listen to his music because he needed a second pair of ears, and a second opinion on whatever he was composing. I happily became his "Guinea pig" for many of these sessions.

He was such a perfectionist, too. He wrote a piece just for me! But it took him "forever" to get it just right. You see, he was writing it for one of my webpages, and he wanted to make sure that it sounded great not only on a PC, but on WEBTV, too. Everytime I hear it, I think of him asking me to see how it sounded on different equipment.

He helped build the very first PC I ever had. And when I wanted more hard drive, I bought it, and he installed it. Whenever I needed help (I had never owned or operated a PC before), he would either walk me through the steps on the phone, or via ICQ or e-mail. He was VERY patient with me. He was dealing with a "soose"--he HAD to be!

Late in 1997, York wanted to have his own webpage. But he knew nothing about HTML or anything having to do with making one. He had no idea where he could have one, either. He recruited me to tell him about GeoCities, and others helped him learn about graphics and, of course, HTML. He caught on very quickly, and was just as much a perfectionist in this as he was in his music.

York, thank you for all the wonderful music and the priviledge of watching you compose some of it; the patience you had with me when I didn't understand something; your expertise in computers; your friendship. I will miss you. We ALL will miss you.

If you would like to visit York's website at GeoCities, the URL for "The Lone Tower" is:
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Lair/8122/

And the music that York wrote for one of my webpages is located in the "Caught in the Net" site at:
http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/Gallery/1072/laura.html

As of this writing (7/5/2000), York's website is still there. At times, it is still hard to believe that he is gone. But, his website and what music he DID compose is still living, and is helping to keep his memory alive.

Below, are samples of York's music. You must have Real Player to hear the longest and most ambitious of the selections:

York concentrating on another composition

York was caught in between musical thoughts at his keyboard

GO BACK AND GET CAUGHT IN THE NET

© 1997-2004 soose@thegrid.net

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