The Aerie: RIP, Moldy Ramone

July 27, 2003

RIP, Moldy Ramone

	There was the time in the high school lunch room, when he was eating some of these new, imported German candies called "Gummi Bears," and I made a joke, and he snorted a gummi bear out his nose. It was years til he lived that down. That Christmas his sisters gave him a bag of Gummi Bears. And I remember the time after high school when we were in my parents' basement and Tim and I were running a game of Dungeons and Dragons. I said "You enter the crypt, and see a pale, well dressed man rise up out of the coffin."
Steve and me in a high school play, 1978	Moldy asked, "Does he have a cape on?" "No," I replied, "There are no chickens anywhere in sight..."

There was the time in the high school lunch room, when he was eating some of these new, imported German candies called "Gummi Bears," and I made a joke, and he snorted a gummi bear out his nose. It was years til he lived that down. That Christmas his sisters gave him a bag of Gummi Bears.

And I remember the time after high school when we were in my parents' basement and Tim and I were running a game of Dungeons and Dragons.

I said "You enter the crypt, and see a pale, well dressed man rise up out of the coffin."

Steve and me in a high school play, 1978

Moldy asked, "Does he have a cape on?"

"No," I replied, "There are no chickens anywhere in sight..."

Then there was the time Moldy, Tim and I were standing in line for a horrible movie ("Return to Oz"). We were joking,exchanging lines from a Saturday Night Live sketch in which Gilda Radner sold "a dessert topping that's also a floor wax!" We reached the front of the line and Moldy ordered a popcorn.
Without missing a beat, and with a perfectly bored expression, the girl behind the counter said, "Would you like some floor wax on that?"	Moldy, me, and Tim, 2003

	I remember the time we were in my Mazda RX-7 driving home from seeing "Altered States" in the theater. It was snowing, and a pickup truck with Oklahoma plates was crawling too slowly through the snowstorm for my teenaged patience. Well, and it didn't have mud flaps, so it was throwing slush on my windshield. As I pressed the gas pedal I discovered this thing called "passing gear" which I had never heard of before.
When Moldy was in his band, the "Strappin' Daddy-Oh's"	The engine screamed, the back of the rear-wheel drive car passed the front, and we slid past the nose of the pickup with inches to spare. I still have the image of Maw, Paw, and Becky Sue Oklahoma staring out the windshield at us, their mouths perfect "O"s of surprise as we slid into the ditch.

I remember the time we were in my Mazda RX-7 driving home from seeing "Altered States" in the theater. It was snowing, and a pickup truck with Oklahoma plates was crawling too slowly through the snowstorm for my teenaged patience. Well, and it didn't have mud flaps, so it was throwing slush on my windshield.

As I pressed the gas pedal I discovered this thing called "passing gear" which I had never heard of before.

When Moldy was in his band, the "Strappin' Daddy-Oh's"

The engine screamed, the back of the rear-wheel drive car passed the front, and we slid past the nose of the pickup with inches to spare. I still have the image of Maw, Paw, and Becky Sue Oklahoma staring out the windshield at us, their mouths perfect "O"s of surprise as we slid into the ditch.

Glancing over my shoulder I saw a telephone pole racing towards us, so I leaned forward over Moldy's lap. There was an enormous slam and the car stopped. Moldy and I looked out the windshield, and the telphone pole was still there.

"I guess we missed it" I said, trying to straighten up off Moldy's lap and failing. Something was preventing me from sitting up.

"I don't think so," he replied and pointed.

We'd gone through the telephone pole, and like a cartoon it had slammed right down on its stump. The pole was swaying gently from side to side, supported only by its wires. I looked to see why I couldn't sit up off Moldy's lap. The four-foot chunk of telephone pole was embedded in the side of the car, tipping the driver's seat up against my butt. If I hadn't leaned over Moldy's lap, I'd've been dead.
	Moldy at his benefit in 2003

We'd gone through the telephone pole, and like a cartoon it had slammed right down on its stump. The pole was swaying gently from side to side, supported only by its wires.

I looked to see why I couldn't sit up off Moldy's lap. The four-foot chunk of telephone pole was embedded in the side of the car, tipping the driver's seat up against my butt. If I hadn't leaned over Moldy's lap, I'd've been dead.

Moldy at his benefit in 2003

	A few years later Moldy, Todd and I were crammed into the front seat of my Ford Galaxie 500, huddled against the subzero cold. We were driving to judge a speech meet on a Saturday morning. As we rounded a curve in the freeway, I suddenly felt an odd, loose sensation in the steering wheel.
Me caught behind Moldy	"Did you guys feel that?" I said, puzzled.

Always very serious
	"Feel what?" Todd asked. "Uh, guys," Moldy said, and we watched the world spin once, twice, three times around outside the car before we slammed into the snow-buffered guardrail. We came to a stop, one wheel over the guardrail, facing the wrong way in the high speed lane of traffic.

A desperate reverse-off-the-guardrail and U-turn later (across four lanes of traffic), and we were safe up against the opposite side of the freeway. Moments later a pickup truck came spinning around the curve, having hit the same patch of black ice on the freeway, and slammed into the guardrail where we had been. Twenty years later, he let me drive him and his wife and friends up to Elk River to see a movie.After those two accidents, that's showing a special kind of trust!
	Punk Karaoke Champion!

A desperate reverse-off-the-guardrail and U-turn later (across four lanes of traffic), and we were safe up against the opposite side of the freeway. Moments later a pickup truck came spinning around the curve, having hit the same patch of black ice on the freeway, and slammed into the guardrail where we had been.
Twenty years later, he let me drive him and his wife and friends up to Elk River to see a movie.After those two accidents, that's showing a special kind of trust!

Punk Karaoke Champion!

	My friend Steve passed away today at 2:00 p.m. His death was easy and peaceful for him. His wife Tanya, who has been a magnficent pillar of strength for all these years, was holding his hand and stroking his head as she helped him to pass over. My friend Tim and I stopped by the apartment, where many of Steve's family and friends were gathered, to pay our last respects. It was a very moving time. No word on services yet.
Steve Moldenhauer with his wife Tanya. Goodbye my friend.

My friend Steve passed away today at 2:00 p.m. His death was easy and peaceful for him. His wife Tanya, who has been a magnficent pillar of strength for all these years, was holding his hand and stroking his head as she helped him to pass over.

My friend Tim and I stopped by the apartment, where many of Steve's family and friends were gathered, to pay our last respects. It was a very moving time.

No word on services yet.

Steve Moldenhauer with his wife Tanya.

Goodbye my friend.

Posted by Albatross at July 27, 2003 12:00 AM

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