ATHON

A tribute to Jonathan Athon: March 10, 1982-November 10, 2014. I remember the first time I ever visited Jonathan Athon's house, I browsed a picture book of Nirvana. I remember my first trip on acid was with Jonathan Athon. Tyler and Chris Giddens probably remember this, too. I had two tabs, and the carpet was moving slightly. But Athon had three, so when I asked him if the carpet was moving, he told me: "The carpet is DEFINITELY moving, Slade." Jonathan Athon invited me over to spend the night at his house freshman year of high school. We watched a punk rock film with teenagers with mohawks in it made in the 80s. The next morning, we cleaned his Volkswagon bug, and went to River Street with his stepfather to work. I remember he liked a song I wrote, called "Now I Know," which we unfortunately never really played in Seymour. His comment was: "Y'all need to play more songs like THAT!" He attended a lot of our shows, and LISTENED. That was before I had SEEN him even PLAY music, but he had a Turn Table and a Precision Bass in his room. Athon taught me how to fix a broken reel of cassette tape with a bit of scotch tape, and how to make a pipe out of an apple. Later, we tried it out in his back yard. That was still some of the best weed I have ever smoked. Very mellow. Afterwards, I played guitar and sang in his living room. Chris and Carl McGinley might remember this night. I also recall Athon when he was showing off his first tattoo: on his back: a big purple octopus, when it was still a work in progress. The rest of the boys in Seymour- Joe, Jordan, and Matt- should remember this too, as it was at one of our band practices that he was showing it off. I remember riding around in his Volvo, and hanging out with his girlfriend at the time, Sarah Rauers. When I lost my tooth, I consulted Athon on the pros and cons of partials, at Hangfire. He was missing 5. These are all old memories. There are several others up there. I know Athon's memory lives, in my head.