George was one of the "originals", those who were members back when PE was still a Yahoo Club.
Couple of interesting facts about George:
When he was a kid, he was associated with - I think, actually, a member of - a local rock band where he grew up. They were called Benny and the Beamers. With tongue in cheek, he always bemoaned the meteoric rise of the popularity of The Beatles when they hit Australia and knocked Benny and the Beamers off their pedestal. What I found really amusing about it was when he finally posted of picture of the band; they were just a bunch of kids!
George was the originator of the Dushanbe myth - along with Phil, whose PE name I can't remember. George came up with the majority of Dushanbe's history - and even worked up a fake website, complete with band logo (hammer and sickle), pictures of band members and their names, and a mention of the side long epic, "The Sikorsky Suite". In an exchange of PMs, he told me that it all started one late night (due to the time difference w/Australia) when he, Phil, and a young, naive guy were discussing music. George and Phil began riffing on this "long lost underground progressive rock group" that were total unknowns due to their existence behind the Iron Curtain. The myth then took on a life of its own but eventually died down.
Prior to Nearfest, one year, I looked for the website but couldn't find it and contacted George. He fired it up again and I used it as inspiration to design the Dushanbe t-shirt that a handful of us wore at Nearfest that year. George saw the pictures from Nearfest and loved the shirts. I guess he ended up ordering some because he told me later that he and some of his friends were walking around Australia wearing them. I think that's awesome! And I'm sure he was proud of it.
This is the front cover of the "album". The font (a Gothic German font), colors, and the use of hammer & sickle were all George's ideas that he used on the website.
This is the back. The name of the album and the title "Sikorsky Suite" were Phil's inventions. I had to fill in everything else.
I hadn't talked to George for quite a while but I'll remember him fondly.
RIP George.
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