Sad news... RockinDeano R.I.P.

[Moon Beam]

The outpouring of love and respect for Deano is so amazing. We've put down the anger and come together as one to celebrate one of our own.

I thought about this all day yesterday and it's still on my mind.
It really is wonderful to read the respect he's being shown.
Dean would have hated all the warm fuzzy words but it's proof
of the pride we all have in memories of him.

[Enigma869]

That's one torch that can't be passed! There will NEVER be another Deano, he was one of a kind!

A Fucking Men! The rest of us are just pretenders. Dean was the genuine article. Dude was funny as funny gets, intense, principled, and unrelenting. He was also a Wordsmith, unlike any other that we've ever had around these parts. I thought I was a "hardcore" guy back on the orginal Journey forum (Never got banned...but always seemed to be in trouble over there), and then I met Dean. He redefined everything. I said it before and I'll say it again. If I were Drew, I literally would have paid the guy to post on this site. He was the person who could and did drive traffic like NOBODY on this site could. Even with the passage of a couple of days, this simply doesn't get any easier. I'm still really devastated by this loss and sad, beyond words.

My wife (who has never been on this site once in her life) knew who Dean was. He had some CLASSIC posts over the years on my Facebook wall (it was especially nice when my mother read some of those gems ). I told my wife that "Dean" passed away, and her response was "Your friend from Melodic Rock"? Dude was known by people who couldn't even find their way to this site. Rest easy, Brother Dean.

[Rhiannon]

My wife (who has never been on this site once in her life) knew who Dean was. He had some CLASSIC posts over the years on my Facebook wall (it was especially nice when my mother read some of those gems ). I told my wife that "Dean" passed away, and her response was "Your friend from Melodic Rock"? Dude was known by people who couldn't even find their way to this site. Rest easy, Brother Dean.

I've spent a day or two talking about this with a couple of friends, one I see in everyday life and another I know through tumblr who lives on the other side of the country. You can't really explain how amazing Dean was in your own words, so I linked them to the "Funniest thing" thread so they could read him in his own words. And BOTH of these people are feeling his loss and regret that they never got to know him. Just from reading a few of his posts.

Dean will always be simply that amazing of a person and a persona.

This just doesn't seem real and at the same time it is, all too.

[Clasicrockldy]

The outpouring of love and respect for Deano is so amazing. We've put down the anger and come together as one to celebrate one of our own. It's a beautiful thing and Deano was a beautiful soul.

He had fun with the loons Does anyone have LuLu, address to send a card to her ???????????

I have been wondering the same thing, Babyblue. Maybe someone will come up with some information on this.

[conversationpc]

Thanks! That was the first time Lora & I met Deano & Lula in Oct 2006. We hit it off & became fast friends. Photo by JSS.

I went back & saw that I had posted that photo in my 3rd post on MR. Not many people had met Deano at that point & everyone seemed surprised at what he looked like.
Thread: 3rd Leg of Tour Starts Tonight
http://forums.melodicrock.com/phpBB/vie ... c&start=30

My first reply from Deano:

conversationpc wrote:
Is he as nuts in person as he is here?

cyndy wrote:
he's totally nuts.
i'm on the left, lora is on the right.

Rockin'Deano wrote:
Excuse me Cyndi? You little shit. Had I known you were going to say this, I would have out you over my knee in Save Mart Centre, and Lora too, just for the hell of it. Awesome girls. Wish we could have talked a longer time.

[Red13JoePa]

I do remember one of the first appearing pics, he was lean and mean and all the chicks were going "Wow! That's Deano??"

[Jodes]

Sorry to come into this so late, but did Deano happen to go by "DerbyDeano" on Yahoo?

Or is that someone else? I have a really bad feeling it was him..

[Enigma869]

Sorry to come into this so late, but did Deano happen to go by "DerbyDeano" on Yahoo?

Or is that someone else? I have a really bad feeling it was him..

That was him. Why do you ask?

[Peartree12249]

Strangely enough a few week ago I posted a topic on Funeral songs and folks discussed what music they would like played at their funeral. This was Deano's post:

"Thinking back to August 2007, many of you here remember Louise and I putting our 3 month old son, Trevor, on a northbound train to Heaven, to be with God, Many thanks to folks like Lora,Cyndy and Stu, (God, I really miss all 3 of you so badly and want to see you all again soon). Last time I checked planes still flew to Los Angeles! Also, my two lovely grown children; My daughter Cheyanna, 22, was voted the best shortstop in NCAA Division 1 Softball and will be trying out for the upcoming Summer Olympics! My son Bruce, 21, (yes, named after Springsteenn), is a starting pitcher on Washington State's pitching sqad( no.2 pitcher). Anyway, for those here that don't hate me, (there has to be a few! - and didn't get a chance to see it, here you go: It still makes me foggy a time or three. It may be too sappy to watch again, nut here goes: "

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/ ... Trevor.mp4

"Thank you to ALL of you FINE folks here one last time. Right now, we're praying that we don't experience yet another one of these things happening to our family again this year."

Wow, I'm am relative newcomer to the board and never the knew the history of Dean & Lulu's tragic loss of their child. Now Dean and his beloved Trevor are together. Daddy's home.

[SunshineTwilight]

Strangely enough a few week ago I posted a topic on Funeral songs and folks discussed what music they would like played at their funeral. This was Deano's post:

"Thinking back to August 2007, many of you here remember Louise and I putting our 3 month old son, Trevor, on a northbound train to Heaven, to be with God, Many thanks to folks like Lora,Cyndy and Stu, (God, I really miss all 3 of you so badly and want to see you all again soon). Last time I checked planes still flew to Los Angeles! Also, my two lovely grown children; My daughter Cheyanna, 22, was voted the best shortstop in NCAA Division 1 Softball and will be trying out for the upcoming Summer Olympics! My son Bruce, 21, (yes, named after Springsteenn), is a starting pitcher on Washington State's pitching sqad( no.2 pitcher). Anyway, for those here that don't hate me, (there has to be a few! - and didn't get a chance to see it, here you go: It still makes me foggy a time or three. It may be too sappy to watch again, nut here goes: "
http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/ ... Trevor.mp4

"Thank you to ALL of you FINE folks here one last time. Right now, we're praying that we don't experience yet another one of these things happening to our family again this year."

Wow, I'm am relative newcomer to the board and never the knew the history of Dean & Lulu's tragic loss of their child. Now Dean and his beloved Trevor are together. Daddy's home.

That just sent chills up my spine, reading those words! Perhaps he knew his time was near.

[cinkidd]

R.I.P. Dean

I had one or two run ins with RD and while he was bombastic he also fought for what he believed in and he truly had a passion for music and Journey. I respect that about him. I'm sure he has peace now and will find some way post on these boards again.

Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and his especially his young son.

Rich the Respect Guy

[Jodes]

Sorry to come into this so late, but did Deano happen to go by "DerbyDeano" on Yahoo?

Or is that someone else? I have a really bad feeling it was him..

That was him. Why do you ask?

Aw man.. I was afraid of that. We had some wonderful conversations on yahoo about music, movies, etc. I really stopped using yahoo messenger the last couple of years and hadn't talked to him for a while.

I'm gutted. He was a great guy!

[Everett]

Damn deano was a great guy wish i would've got the chance to meet him.

[YoungJRNY]

That's one torch that can't be passed! There will NEVER be another Deano, he was one of a kind!

My wife (who has never been on this site once in her life) knew who Dean was. He had some CLASSIC posts over the years on my Facebook wall (it was especially nice when my mother read some of those gems ). I told my wife that "Dean" passed away, and her response was "Your friend from Melodic Rock"? Dude was known by people who couldn't even find their way to this site. Rest easy, Brother Dean.

That's the truth for me as well. I told my parents the other night that my good buddy on the forums passed away and also told my girlfriend I lost a good buddy on MR. Since my girlfriend made a show (met Lynn, Mel & S2M) she wanted to know who passed and I told her Deano and she said "Oh, the Rockin' man? Send along my sympathy prayers." She felt sad because she saw it on my face as well. So you're right, Dean is known even to the people who he has never met and probably people he never knew existed, that's how UP FRONT he was in our daily lives on these boards. In fact, I always speak highly of MR'ers and people in my family are aware of my MR and Journey friends. Still very sad to me.

[Aaron]

I'm dumbfounded to hear this news about Dean. The guy was one of the funniest people to walk the planet, a smart bassturd, a word artist and had conviction matched by no one. He was the main reason to read the Journey forum, what a hoot. I actually lost a keyboard by spitting my morning coffee while reading one of his posts. I didn't always agree with him and his approach but I really enjoyed pissing at him on occasion (especially over JSS and his difficulty speaking when JSS is around ). I have tons of respect for him and will miss reading his posts. Rest in peace man, you deserve it brother. You will be missed.

[Art Vandelay]

It's amazing how many people are affected by this news....by the passing of someone that many of us have never even met. Just his words alone were enough to make us feel as if he were our best friend (and sometimes our worst enemy). For as off-the-cuff and crazy as he was, you had to respect him for being straight-up and honest, regardless if he were right or wrong. I've only had the opportunity to chat with him via PM a few times, and the man was always very respectful, open, honest, and funny as hell.

Rest well, my friend.

[PianoMan1986]

For those of you that never met Dean in person, here is a video from my home back in 2006 when we had a ton of melodicrock.com members over my house for a party the night before a Journey show. It's loud and you can't here much more than yelling, but that was a party he really pulled off.

http://s628.photobucket.com/albums/uu9/ ... Bmore1.mp4

Not to detract from what's happened, but in watching this clip, I was wondering about Separate Ways playing in the background...it didn't sound like a studio cut of it. Just curious I guess.

[AR]

For those of you that never met Dean in person, here is a video from my home back in 2006 when we had a ton of melodicrock.com members over my house for a party the night before a Journey show. It's loud and you can't here much more than yelling, but that was a party he really pulled off.

http://s628.photobucket.com/albums/uu9/ ... Bmore1.mp4

Not to detract from what's happened, but in watching this clip, I was wondering about Separate Ways playing in the background...it didn't sound like a studio cut of it. Just curious I guess.

I think we were watching a bootleg video of JSS's 2nd show with Journey.

[conversationpc]

That's one torch that can't be passed! There will NEVER be another Deano, he was one of a kind!

A Fucking Men! The rest of us are just pretenders. Dean was the genuine article.

No, we're not pretenders. We're just not Dean and I would hope no one's trying to be. Just be yourself. No need for any competition to be the "genuine article".

[SunshineTwilight]

For those of you that never met Dean in person, here is a video from my home back in 2006 when we had a ton of melodicrock.com members over my house for a party the night before a Journey show. It's loud and you can't here much more than yelling, but that was a party he really pulled off.

http://s628.photobucket.com/albums/uu9/ ... Bmore1.mp4

Not to detract from what's happened, but in watching this clip, I was wondering about Separate Ways playing in the background...it didn't sound like a studio cut of it. Just curious I guess.

I think we were watching a bootleg video of JSS's 2nd show with Journey.

Yes, we were! And I just figured out what Dean was whispering in Jeff's ear!! LOL

[AR]

Here's something ironic. I have to go to Philly tomorrow and my agency wants me to take the train. The only other time I have ever been in the Philly Amtrak station was with Dean back on our trip from Atlantic City to Boston for consecutive Journey shows in 2006.

Maybe I'll eat something rancid and take a nice big gaser in the bathroom there in tribute. I think he'd like that.

[conversationpc]

Here's something ironic. I have to go to Philly tomorrow and my agency wants me to take the train. The only other time I have ever been in the Philly Amtrak station was with Dean back on our trip from Atlantic City to Boston for consecutive Journey shows in 2006.

Maybe I'll eat something rancid and take a nice big gaser in the bathroom there in tribute. I think he'd like that.

Better yet, drop it top-tank and then someone will have a real surprise.

[conversationpc]

Does anyone have pics of the various avatars Deano used through the years? Some of those were drop-dead hilarious.

[Behshad]

Does anyone have pics of the various avatars Deano used through the years? Some of those were drop-dead hilarious.

Yulog should have most of them as he made them. I made a handful of them but Dean saved them on his photobucket account.

[Enigma869]

No, we're not pretenders. We're just not Dean and I would hope no one's trying to be. Just be yourself. No need for any competition to be the "genuine article".

I NEVER suggested anyone was trying to be Dean. That wasn't possible. He was one of a kind and most of us were better off because of it!

[conversationpc]

No, we're not pretenders. We're just not Dean and I would hope no one's trying to be. Just be yourself. No need for any competition to be the "genuine article".

I NEVER suggested anyone was trying to be Dean. That wasn't possible. He was one of a kind and most of us were better off because of it!

Amen to that!

[scarygirl]

My friend Linda just texted me. For all our differencers, I still had utmost respect for him and his view points. This is terrible. The thought of not seeing Deano posts is almost too much to take.

[Deb]

I know I'm going to miss the big lug, especially getting that pm/email/text every time Vancouver played Calgary. He just seemed indestructable for some reason, here on MR and in life...........still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm not going to see that crazy Canuck at another show again. If there is one thing I wish I could do, is reach through this computer screen and give the little Wy-man a big huggy, poor little guy has lost his twin brother and his daddy all in the space of his short little 5 years. Breaks my heart.

By the way, anybody pm/email/inform SusieP, TNC, Yulog, other longtimers. Anybody email Styxie? Maybe Styxie will put together one of his Avatar Adventures for old times sake.

[AR]

I know I'm going to miss the big lug, especially getting that pm/email/text every time Vancouver played Calgary. He just seemed indestructable for some reason, here on MR and in life...........still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm not going to see that crazy Canuck at another show again. If there is one thing I wish I could do, is reach through this computer screen and give the little Wy-man a big huggy, poor little guy has lost his twin brother and his daddy all in the space of his short little 5 years. Breaks my heart.

By the way, anybody pm/email/inform SusieP, TNC, Yulog, other longtimers. Anybody email Styxie? Maybe Styxie will put together one of his Avatar Adventures for old times sake.

Styxman knows. He's my facebook friend and is on other sites. I have TNC's email. I didn't realize he hasn't been on MR lately. I'll notify him.

[mgstar1964]

After two days, I just still can't wrap my head around this ... the weird part is, I had only met him once briefly 5 years ago at a show down here in S. FL, and only had a couple of PMs from him, at most ... Yet and still, I've always felt like I knew him, and like he was a long-distance personal friend, beause he shared all of himself with us here online - I always knew I was in for a good read when he posted - whether it was about Journey, Tapegate, Bruce, inside information on the band, and his other political and personal rants ...

Its weird to feel this way, but in a sense, I think everyone here is struggling trying to define this loss and what it means to our lives ... We feel like we lost a member of the family, or a friend that you just weren't able to get together with in person that often, but you always kept in touch with via the internet ...

I was just at a Get Motivated Business Seminar today in Miami, with a ton of motivational speakers, including Gen. Colin Powell, and John Walsh (America's Most Wanted) and I actually thought of Dean, because a lot of the speakers talked about truth in convictions, following your passions, trying to follow and live your dreams ... Deano did all that, and much more - he actually impacted people's lives here, and beyond - people he would never meet in person, even ... That is a testament to his genius and his gifts that he left behind ...

John Walsh speaking about the tragedy of losing his son Adam also hit home to me today, and I thought of Deano and Lula losing Trevor 4 1/2 years ago ... I hope no parent on here, or anywhere, has to endure that type of unimaginable pain of losing and burying your own child ...
Life is precious and fragile ... Cherish your loved ones and let them know how much you care, because tomorrow is not promised to anyone ...

All of his posts should be somehow archived and saved in one single, solitary section of this site ... it would be a real triibute to his legacy - past, present, and future ...

Just some more of my .02 ...


Best Regards,


Michael