Freakishly Tall.

Freakishly Tall
September 17, 2004

I've been taking pictures of The Big Spank since I've been taking pictures. I guarantee that if you've reading this, with a few very precious exceptions, I met you because of The Big Spank. Anyone in Oklahoma, yeah, it all comes back to a few trips in the back of a Penske truck that I took to Norman with those guys. I met Matt McHughes because his band needed a show in Albuquerque and I never would have been promoting if not for the Spank. Emily (Stone) Kohen came into my life then, and together we met a lot of dancin' ladies. It's amazing just how significant 6 dudes in an almost-ska band became in my life. Big Spank shows are probably my best memories from college.

Brian was their trumpet player for a long time. Brian and I had an odd frienship. In fact, I don't think we were speaking very much when I took this picture of him. I take most of the responsibility for that. I was sort of silly back then when it came to boys (I still am. Jesus Christ, I still am) but more so naive. He was a nice guy and if I'd had my senses about me, we would have been more than just friends. I remember one night not long after I took this picture, I came home late at night and a random SUV was parked in front of my house. I was home alone and panicked when the hazard lights came on in the car. For some reason, I called Brian and he came over. He stayed the night with me, just so I wouldn't have to be alone. I'm pretty sure I passed out almost exactly when he got there, just having someone there was enough to calm me down. He stayed till I was sound asleep and he left sometime in the morning. I felt really silly about it all but he didn't seem to care.

Everyone told Brian he was freakishly tall. Since he was over 6 feet tall and everyone else in his band was under 5'5". It made him seem every more like a superhero.

(Shot with a Sony DSC-P32. Color balance was photoshopped years ago. I think the original file no longer exists.)