Riaz was a mentor both musically and personally for me. He had endless compassion and sympathy, and he gave the best hugs. I miss him. May the force be equal to mass times acceleration. Cheers to all the Jedi's out there, Jordan
Riaz was all about connecting people, and for that I am forever grateful. Last year, Thanksgiving, Torin and I hosted what was - hands down - the best Thanksgiving celebration I have had in years and years and years. Looking back on that celebration this Thanksgiving, I realized that 95% of the people that attended were brought into our lives thanks to Riaz. We had spent many holiday's with Riaz since we met him, but last year was simply the best. After a dinner fit for kings..., with 2 kinds of stuffing and more turkey than anyone could imagine eating, we set up in the living room and had an epic jam. The caliber of talent was incredible. Riaz was shining and in his element, I still hear that laugh, and him teasing me to sing in front of the crowd all the time. This is one of my most favorite memories with him, and a reminder to me that he changed our lives by connecting us with a new world of friends, that our shyness kept us from meeting. Thank you my friend, we miss you xo Tessa
ALICIA: NEXT TIME OUR PATHS CROSS, I WON'T LET YOU DOWN.. The best memories I have of Riaz are the nights spent at his home. We'd play music, sometimes. Other times we'd talk until the sun came up. His home was open to me and his company was my refuge. I remember him trying to teach me how to play crib. I was a terrible student. I found him so fascinating, I couldn't wait to hear his point of view on any subject. He always listened to me without judging and let me be myself. When I was injured our schedules no longer coincided. Even though I was no longer able to be with him in person he still kept in touch. He would text me at night and I'd respond in the morning. It was what I most looked forward to when I awoke in the morning. He helped me get through that dark time in my life. I thought he was one of the most beautiful people I ever met and I quickly grew to love and admire him. He had such infinite kindness in his heart and I will always carry him in mine. .RIP my dear Riaz. May your message live on as we sing your songs and I'll see you again in my dreams <3 Namaste.
ANDREW F. BUTTERS: MISS YOU, MISS YOU Riaz and I spent a lot of time together in our first year of university. We were both a couple of physics geeks with impeccable musical taste (the principal difference being he could actually play and I even suck at air guitar). Now, just a few minutes from our dorm was the upper year dorm, Village 1, and within it a glorious variety store / food place called "The Village Grill". Staffed by upper year kids it was the go-to place for starving students and guys like Riaz and I looking for a snack. There was this one girl that worked there that Riaz was in love with. All I remember is that she was ridiculously cute and Ri was infatuated with her. I swear he burned through more of his meal plan at The Grill over everywhere else combined just because she worked there.
One snowy night Riaz and I finished our homework (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) and a bunch of us were going cafeteria tray sledding at the hill across the road. It was then (after we finished our homework), that I got this brilliant idea to saw a cafeteria tray in half and crazy glue the pieces to the bottom of my boots. After tray-boggoning, or tray-skiing in my case, the plan was to have Riaz pull me around the parking lot as I held on to the back bumper of his car (genius, I know).
Right about when we were all ready to go we got a hankering for some chips and we decided to head to The Grill to take care of the craving. The only problem was I had these damn pieces of fibreglass stuck to my feet. Screw it, we wanted chips, nay, we needed chips. So, off we went. We had no coats, no hats, and no gloves. We were just two guys in blue jeans and flannel shirts (this was 1993 after all) walking to the store to get some food - one of them with two halves of a lunch tray glued to his boots.
Everything was fine until I slipped off the path.
It wasn't a big slope, but when all you've got is the smooth underside of a tray to walk on, any slope at all sends you in a downward direction. I slid off the path and down a small hill. No word of a lie it was only 12 feet down and had a maximum grade of about 5 degrees. Still, down I went. I tried to walk "herringbone" style up the hill but could not.
I was trapped.
Meanwhile, Riaz was giggling uncontrollably at the top of this "hill". After letting me flounder for a few minutes while he regained his composure, he came down to give me a hand. The only problem was he couldn't get me up the hill either. Being the physics geniuses that we were we tried quite a few things with the successful approach being I would lie on my side and he would roll me uphill like a log. To this day, I have no explanation as to why I didn't just get on my hands and knees and crawl up the stupid hill. For certain, at the time the idea never crossed either of our minds. What should have been a 4 or 5-minute stroll ended up taking around half an hour.
ANDREW F. BUTTERS: MISS YOU, MISS YOU PART 2 We get to The Grill and we're laughing so hard tears are running down our cheeks and freezing in the cold air. My hair (I used to have long floppy bangs) was frozen up in this crazy spike, we were soaked head to toe from all the rolling around in the snow, our eyes were red and swollen from all the laugh-crying, and I still had two halves of a cafeteria tray crazy glued to my boots.
We opened the door and the only person in the place is the cute girl behind the counter. We just stood there scratching our heads and staring at our feet while she took a good long look at us. After a few seconds, we look up and she's shaking her head. "Chips are over there," she said pointing to a rack in the corner. Then, she turned around to pretend to clean something. I could see her shoulders bobbing up and down as she laughed into her dish towel. We stepped up to the counter to pay and she's still stifling laughter. "Have a nice night, boys," she said as we exited the store. I can still hear her laughter as the door shut. After a minute, Riaz looks to me and, with his face full of Cool Ranch Doritos says, "Well, shit. What do you think my chances are now?" Without hesitation I replied, "Pretty bad, man, but I have a feeling they are way better than mine." Riaz just nodded and we both started to laugh uncontrollably for the second time in half an hour. We walked back to our dorm without speaking, but the laughter didn't stop for several hours.
Epilogue: Tray-skiing was a complete failure. I spent an hour falling down a hill for real and never managed so much as one decent run. Cafeteria tray parking lot bumper hitching, on the other hand, was an incredible success (except for having to saw off a layer of my boot soles to get the cafeteria trays off).
ANDREW F. BUTTERS I remember back in first year university the physics class sat at about 90 students. Our lectures were given by Professor Brandon. A smart fella with a reasonably approachable personality. Riaz was in most of my classes and we'd just spent the first few weeks of school hanging out and knocking holes in the bottom of beer bottles. There was this guy on our floor, Soti, who was also in a bunch of our classes and for three weeks he'd been calling me "Dave". One day we're setti...ng there in a packed lecture hall with Dr. Brandon at the front droning on about somethingorother and Soti leans across Riaz, who was inbetween he and I, and taps me on the leg. "Hey, Dave..." he whispered. Well, Riaz snapped. I don't know if it was the invasion of personal space or what, but he jumped out of his seat and leaned over to Soti and yelled, "HIS. NAME. IS. FUCKING. ANDREW. FUCK!" Soti shrunk into his chair. "Really? I thought it was Dave." Riaz sat down and just shook his head. "Andrew, tell the man your name." "It's Andrew," I said. Soti was beside himself. "Huh. Why didn't you correct me?" "Not sure," I said. "Figured if I ever got into some shit with you that it'd be better to have people looking for a Dave." Riaz just started laughing. "Sorry man, I never thought of that." Aside from our whispering you could have heard a pin drop. After about 15 or 20 seconds of complete silence Dr. Brandon addresses the class with, "Okay, now that that's all sorted out, let's get back to it."
Riaz was a mentor both musically and personally for me. He had endless compassion and sympathy, and he gave the best hugs. I miss him.
ReplyDeleteMay the force be equal to mass times acceleration.
Cheers to all the Jedi's out there,
Jordan
Riaz was all about connecting people, and for that I am forever grateful. Last year, Thanksgiving, Torin and I hosted what was - hands down - the best Thanksgiving celebration I have had in years and years and years. Looking back on that celebration this Thanksgiving, I realized that 95% of the people that attended were brought into our lives thanks to Riaz. We had spent many holiday's with Riaz since we met him, but last year was simply the best. After a dinner fit for kings..., with 2 kinds of stuffing and more turkey than anyone could imagine eating, we set up in the living room and had an epic jam. The caliber of talent was incredible. Riaz was shining and in his element, I still hear that laugh, and him teasing me to sing in front of the crowd all the time. This is one of my most favorite memories with him, and a reminder to me that he changed our lives by connecting us with a new world of friends, that our shyness kept us from meeting. Thank you my friend, we miss you xo
ReplyDeleteTessa
ALICIA: NEXT TIME OUR PATHS CROSS, I WON'T LET YOU DOWN..
ReplyDeleteThe best memories I have of Riaz are the nights spent at his home. We'd play music, sometimes. Other times we'd talk until the sun came up. His home was open to me and his company was my refuge. I remember him trying to teach me how to play crib. I was a terrible student. I found him so fascinating, I couldn't wait to hear his point of view on any subject. He always listened to me without judging and let me be myself. When I was injured our schedules no longer coincided. Even though I was no longer able to be with him in person he still kept in touch. He would text me at night and I'd respond in the morning. It was what I most looked forward to when I awoke in the morning. He helped me get through that dark time in my life. I thought he was one of the most beautiful people I ever met and I quickly grew to love and admire him. He had such infinite kindness in his heart and I will always carry him in mine.
.RIP my dear Riaz. May your message live on as we sing your songs and I'll see you again in my dreams <3 Namaste.
ALEX MCGUINNESS: LOVE FOREVER
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McZr2dBnFwI
ANDREW F. BUTTERS: MISS YOU, MISS YOU
ReplyDeleteRiaz and I spent a lot of time together in our first year of university. We were both a couple of physics geeks with impeccable musical taste (the principal difference being he could actually play and I even suck at air guitar). Now, just a few minutes from our dorm was the upper year dorm, Village 1, and within it a glorious variety store / food place called "The Village Grill". Staffed by upper year kids it was the go-to place for starving students and guys like Riaz and I looking for a snack. There was this one girl that worked there that Riaz was in love with. All I remember is that she was ridiculously cute and Ri was infatuated with her. I swear he burned through more of his meal plan at The Grill over everywhere else combined just because she worked there.
One snowy night Riaz and I finished our homework (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) and a bunch of us were going cafeteria tray sledding at the hill across the road. It was then (after we finished our homework), that I got this brilliant idea to saw a cafeteria tray in half and crazy glue the pieces to the bottom of my boots. After tray-boggoning, or tray-skiing in my case, the plan was to have Riaz pull me around the parking lot as I held on to the back bumper of his car (genius, I know).
Right about when we were all ready to go we got a hankering for some chips and we decided to head to The Grill to take care of the craving. The only problem was I had these damn pieces of fibreglass stuck to my feet. Screw it, we wanted chips, nay, we needed chips. So, off we went. We had no coats, no hats, and no gloves. We were just two guys in blue jeans and flannel shirts (this was 1993 after all) walking to the store to get some food - one of them with two halves of a lunch tray glued to his boots.
Everything was fine until I slipped off the path.
It wasn't a big slope, but when all you've got is the smooth underside of a tray to walk on, any slope at all sends you in a downward direction. I slid off the path and down a small hill. No word of a lie it was only 12 feet down and had a maximum grade of about 5 degrees. Still, down I went. I tried to walk "herringbone" style up the hill but could not.
I was trapped.
Meanwhile, Riaz was giggling uncontrollably at the top of this "hill". After letting me flounder for a few minutes while he regained his composure, he came down to give me a hand. The only problem was he couldn't get me up the hill either. Being the physics geniuses that we were we tried quite a few things with the successful approach being I would lie on my side and he would roll me uphill like a log. To this day, I have no explanation as to why I didn't just get on my hands and knees and crawl up the stupid hill. For certain, at the time the idea never crossed either of our minds. What should have been a 4 or 5-minute stroll ended up taking around half an hour.
ANDREW F. BUTTERS: MISS YOU, MISS YOU PART 2
ReplyDeleteWe get to The Grill and we're laughing so hard tears are running down our cheeks and freezing in the cold air. My hair (I used to have long floppy bangs) was frozen up in this crazy spike, we were soaked head to toe from all the rolling around in the snow, our eyes were red and swollen from all the laugh-crying, and I still had two halves of a cafeteria tray crazy glued to my boots.
We opened the door and the only person in the place is the cute girl behind the counter. We just stood there scratching our heads and staring at our feet while she took a good long look at us. After a few seconds, we look up and she's shaking her head. "Chips are over there," she said pointing to a rack in the corner. Then, she turned around to pretend to clean something. I could see her shoulders bobbing up and down as she laughed into her dish towel. We stepped up to the counter to pay and she's still stifling laughter. "Have a nice night, boys," she said as we exited the store. I can still hear her laughter as the door shut. After a minute, Riaz looks to me and, with his face full of Cool Ranch Doritos says, "Well, shit. What do you think my chances are now?" Without hesitation I replied, "Pretty bad, man, but I have a feeling they are way better than mine." Riaz just nodded and we both started to laugh uncontrollably for the second time in half an hour. We walked back to our dorm without speaking, but the laughter didn't stop for several hours.
Epilogue:
Tray-skiing was a complete failure. I spent an hour falling down a hill for real and never managed so much as one decent run. Cafeteria tray parking lot bumper hitching, on the other hand, was an incredible success (except for having to saw off a layer of my boot soles to get the cafeteria trays off).
Rest in peace, brother.
ANDREW F. BUTTERS
ReplyDeleteI remember back in first year university the physics class sat at about 90 students. Our lectures were given by Professor Brandon. A smart fella with a reasonably approachable personality.
Riaz was in most of my classes and we'd just spent the first few weeks of school hanging out and knocking holes in the bottom of beer bottles. There was this guy on our floor, Soti, who was also in a bunch of our classes and for three weeks he'd been calling me "Dave".
One day we're setti...ng there in a packed lecture hall with Dr. Brandon at the front droning on about somethingorother and Soti leans across Riaz, who was inbetween he and I, and taps me on the leg.
"Hey, Dave..." he whispered.
Well, Riaz snapped. I don't know if it was the invasion of personal space or what, but he jumped out of his seat and leaned over to Soti and yelled, "HIS. NAME. IS. FUCKING. ANDREW. FUCK!"
Soti shrunk into his chair. "Really? I thought it was Dave."
Riaz sat down and just shook his head. "Andrew, tell the man your name."
"It's Andrew," I said.
Soti was beside himself. "Huh. Why didn't you correct me?"
"Not sure," I said. "Figured if I ever got into some shit with you that it'd be better to have people looking for a Dave."
Riaz just started laughing. "Sorry man, I never thought of that."
Aside from our whispering you could have heard a pin drop. After about 15 or 20 seconds of complete silence Dr. Brandon addresses the class with, "Okay, now that that's all sorted out, let's get back to it."