rich brown

[libertango]

I am, as we all know, only an egg when it comes to fandom. So my first semi-amused observation of rich was in 1997 or so, when he was inveighing against "electronic fandom" (at great length, natch')...

...on rasseff.

When I callously pointed out that he too was a member of "electronic fandom", or he wouldn't even have the medium available with which to complain, he of course just shrugged it off.

This led to a separate discussion amongst us regarding his handle ("Dr Gafia"), and this exchange between Gary Farber and me:

From: Hal O'Brien
Date: Fri, Aug 15 1997 12:00 am
Groups: rec.arts.sf.fandom

Gary Farber, <gfar...@panix.com>, flung the following out into the
aether...

> Ah, but ye younge whippersnapperes do not Knowe that rich obtained his
> moniker due to the endless number of times, in an earlier life, rich
> announced his impending gafiation, due, usually, to attacks of High Moral
> Dudgeon over Important Faanish Issues.

> But you'll probably have trouble believing this.

Daer Mr. Farr-Burr:

ah. da skales haf bin lefted furm mine eyez.

we, tooo, out hear on da lefft-over kost, haf a frase fur dis:

wee kall dis melody^H^H^H malaprop^H^H^H illnezz, "peltz"

yerz in roscoe'n'sepulveda...

-- hal

*^*^*

I'll hoist one for you, rich. As Patrick said, you were a mixed bag... But I'll say you were definitely One of Us. Even (especially?) when you were insisting We weren't One of You.

*^*^*

I'm also amused that LJ is demonstrating its present centrality to fandom. At this writing, neither of the online "breaking fannish news" sites mention rich's death (that would be Trufen.net and the Plokta News Network), but I've seen 4 posts in my friends list alone, and I'm sure there are others.

Comments

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Well, he kept hanging around with the rest of us, which was fine by me.

Yes, I saw Art's post and checked Trufen & PNN too. Where did the story originate?

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

On the e-lists; Ted White had been posting updates on Timebinders, and, I assume, trufen as well.

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

We had a pending story on Trufen.net about the fact that he was in the hospital, but before we could post it, we heard the worse news.

Ted White is writing something for Trufen, and as rich was an old friend of his, he needs to collect himself first.