Sneakeater

[Jesikka]

3 hours ago, voyager said:

I am heartbroken.    I wondered why last week I kept hearing Pat Meheny’s “Last Train Home”, a track we both loved.   We never met but my life is richer for our minuscule but not insignificant friendship.  

I’ll remember this for the memorial soundtrack. MitchW and I have also rehashed old music fights - like @Wilfrid being wrong about the Beatles - over box sets and a 10,000 cd collection as we organize and clean. True friendship is being trusted with the books and cds of someone as passionate as Barry. 

If anyone wants classical cds please let me know. 

[Evelyn]

I am glad to hear that Barry (whose path I never crossed in person) has Jessika, Mitch and many other friends through this board to celebrate his life. And to his inner MFF circle who were with him while in pallative care. And to help with what needs to be done now. A glass of excellent wine raised in his honor, and those who lost a good friend tonight.

[Wilfrid]

29 minutes ago, Jesikka said:

I’ll remember this for the memorial soundtrack. MitchW and I have also rehashed old music fights - like @Wilfrid being wrong about the Beatles - over box sets and a 10,000 cd collection as we organize and clean. True friendship is being trusted with the books and cds of someone as passionate as Barry. 

If anyone wants classical cds please let me know. 

I don't want any Beatles CDs.

[Jesikka]

8 hours ago, Wilfrid said:

I don't want any Beatles CDs.

MitchW is willing to gift Barry’s Beatles box set to you…

[MitchW]

32 minutes ago, Jesikka said:

MitchW is willing to gift Barry’s Beatles box set to you…

Oh, that Beatles box set is going nowhere, especially not to a nowhere man!

[Jesikka]

Posting on behalf of Nathan:

This is Nathan.

I have little to add to the above.  It's all been said.  I ate, and drank, with Barry literally hundreds of times when I lived in NY and at least another 30 times after.  We first met at Wallse.  He never changed and was truly extraordinary.  A couple standouts: a prodigiously gluttonous meal at Cafe Gray when Gray Kunz did a final F-U to his investors (I think) as it was closing by basically putting all of the most expensive and rich mains on the menu into one prix fixe; the time that we introduced Frank Bruni to the Staggerac; the early days of Ssam Bar when it was truly something new.

But most of all it was all the people we each met through Barry. He is irreplaceable.

[MitchW]

Ahhh, the Monday nights at PDT, with Don (who invented the Staggerac) and John behind the stick.  I almost remember having a few with Barry.

[Jesikka]

I’ll definitely never recover from that night with Frank or ever drink that much again. That man has a hollow leg. 

Edited January 14, 2025 by Jesikka

[voyager]

An old saw says that you can’t miss what you never had.   So how can I  so desperately miss someone I never met? 

[bloviatrix]

On 1/14/2025 at 12:53 PM, voyager said:

An old saw says that you can’t miss what you never had.   So how can I  so desperately miss someone I never met? 

It think it says something about the community that was created here. While you many have never actually sat down at table with Sneak, you sat at a virtual table with him for years and had an opportunity to learn about his interests, his opinions, his wines and cocktails, etc. MF has been in its own way a virtual dinner party for over 20 years.

Edited January 15, 2025 by bloviatrix

[plattetude]

Late to share my two cents since I'm more lurker than participant here. I'm gutted by this in ways that feels unearned but I've held Sneak in such high esteem since the eGullet days, and it's literally only through his screenname that I found my way here. His broad tastes in high and low art, cuisine, music, movies, freaking comic books, every damn thing, and his ability to articulate and engage has always astounded me. And that he was universally beloved by all (far as I can tell) in a forum that has had its share of contentious folks is no mean feat. I deeply regret that I'd never met him.

There's a hole in the universe and his memory will be a blessing.

[Jesikka]

For those that are curious to know him through his cd and book collection (cds highly pilfered in non classical categories):

[StephanieL]

In the last photo, what's the thing with the vacuum tubes?

[Anthony Bonner]

its an amplifier

[cinghiale]

Very impressive. Did he also have a lot of vinyl? I see there’s a turntable next to the amp.

[bloviatrix]

1 hour ago, Anthony Bonner said:

its an amplifier

He LOVED that amp!!!

[MitchW]

56 minutes ago, cinghiale said:

Very impressive. Did he also have a lot of vinyl? I see there’s a turntable next to the amp.

He used to...he gifted a lot of that vinyl over the last few years.

[sourbroughten]

wait...are most of those CD's unopened?

[MitchW]

1 hour ago, sourbroughten said:

wait...are most of those CD's unopened?

Many are unopened.

[Steve R.]

I have a friend (since High School, so that's a lot of years) like Sneak, a collector of music, books about music & concert playbills that number in the many thousands.  And yet, like Sneak, he can articulate details of any with accuracy and insight at the drop of a hat.  Always amazing, and almost always packaged with some opinionated perspective.  Some of the "collection" with folk like them are always unopened, bought to have for that moment when a pristine copy may be needed for a serious listening or just to have as a reference.  

Although Sneak & I were far from being close friends, we were friendly enough to spend a bit of time together and to have exchanges (here and privately) about music.  I pride myself on my knowledge and experience with music of the late '60s-mid '70s, but marveled at how Sneak always could speak authoritatively (& opinionatedly) about any esoteric topic that might come up.  Similarly, his perspective on politics, social issues & life in general were always engaging and communicated in a serious yet non aggressive manner.  I'd bet that his non-music possessions are similarly daunting.  

I'll miss his presence.

 

[relbbaddoof]

My question is, did he have a reason for avoiding shelves?

 

[MitchW]

12 hours ago, Steve R. said:

I'd bet that his non-music possessions are similarly daunting.  

Indeed…he had nice cocktail glasses.

[MitchW]

4 hours ago, relbbaddoof said:

My question is, did he have a reason for avoiding shelves?

 

Only that he didn’t live long enough to unpack them?

[voyager]

On 1/17/2025 at 2:06 AM, sourbroughten said:

wait...are most of those CD's unopened?

To a collector, an item in its original, sealed container ("mint in box") is worth many orders of magnitude more than an open albeit "like new" identical item.   

[relbbaddoof]

12 hours ago, MitchW said:

Only that he didn’t live long enough to unpack them?

Sorry.