Subterranean Homesick Alien (For Renny)

This week's post is dedicated to my uncle Renny who we are saying goodbye to in St. Louis. My uncle's favorite band was Earth, Wind and Fire but he also loved Radiohead. OK Computer was one of his favorites albums and he performed many TikTok live concerts singing Karma Police and Exit Music (For A Film). When I introduced him to OK Computer in the 90s, he was working on a script called My Brother's Keeper. He stayed with us while he was writing it and locked himself in the room listening to the album on repeat. 

When I look back on all the moments with my uncle, the bond we shared was otherworldly. We watched The Matrix for the first time together and saw it twice in a row that same night because it was so profound and the special effects were unprecedented at that time. We worked on two sets of music projects together - my first demo and an unreleased album titled Revisions. He once threw some pillows out of the window at the Radisson Hotel just to make us laugh and got so fed up waiting in line at McDonalds that he went behind the counter and said "May I help you please?" There were endless late night eggs benedict adventures at Denny's, Universal Studios City Walk excursions, so many famous people dropping by the studio moments, Blockbuster rentals and 7-11 runs. 

The Charlie Brown Christmas album will always remind me of him because he serenaded us with the songs and played them better than the actual album. He was out there, loud, unique and marched to the beat of his own drum. Renny was the pianist in the family and no one could match his genius. I will miss hearing him play but even more than that, I will miss his laugh. I have a twisted, demented sense of humor and he always understood it.  We laughed and laughed and laughed about the craziest things - especially things in movies that no one else thought were funny. So many times we spit out our drinks because of our infectious laughter. He was the only uncle I was close to growing up. 

To everyone else, he was Lorenzo. To his family, he was Renny and to me, he was and will always be my Uncle Buck. 

The Anomaly