RIP Shelley Ganz on The Unclaimed

 

Where do tou even start on something like this?

My life would be very different if not for the Unclaimed. We all became friends (me, my then sorta girlfriend, Aldyth, and roommate Eddie), opening a social scene for us, who had all just moved to LA. We were amazed to see a band that not only knew but replicated the likes of the Sonics and Chocolate Watchband, as well as much more obscure bands that even us music fanatics did not know. I became entrenched in the burgeoning garage scene, having lived through the original 60's, and I became quite the fanatic. I eventually joined the band 6 or 7 months before Sid and Barry left to form the Long Ryders, but it was an amazing time. Shelley and I (and drummer Matt Roberts) persevered and found bassist Ray Flores and continued as a four piece for a few more years, opening for the likes of the Cramps, and having many more bands who later became famous, open for us (Bangs, Salvation Army, Los Lobos, and too many more to name). Eventually, I started writing more and Ray and Matt came with me to form the less restrictive Thee Fourgiven, but that's another story.

Shelley and I were pretty close during the band days, with lots of late night discussions on music, religion (he was interested in Buddhism, although never - to my knowledge - a complete convert, but some of his lyrics make his interest obvious), comic books ("Betty Cooper", anyone? He enjoyed lots of others, as well, including being a huge Conan fan and wishing he could have lived in those times), and lots more. Music was a life-line for him, as it was for me, and our lives revolved around it. He was a true visionary - more than me, for sure - and while he was restrictive, he knew what he wanted and he deservedly received respect for following those visions, even when it was hard to find others to join him.

Without the Unclaimed, I wouldn't have known Shelley, Sid, Barry, Matt or Ray or even Lee Joseph, who became another close friend and helped me and Thee Fourgiven in infinite ways. Of course, there are innumerable others who joined us in our crazy journey and many more stories to tell...

Shit, I'm sure that memories will continue to come to me but while we had a falling out - over women, what else? - and we were never super close afterwards, we were still friendly and I was happy for his recent revivalist successes. Hell, he just put out a new record and just played a gig a couple of weeks ago.

This fucking sucks....Hope you're under the bohdi tree now, my friend...