BLOG TO COMM

IMANTS KRUMINS

You might have heard this already but not from a trustworthy source, but anyway the venerable record collector, dee-jay and scenemaker Imants Krumins (see latest issue of BLACK TO COMM for more) had a brain tumor removed this past Sunday which is news that certainly has come as a shock. It was rather sudden...feeling sick Friday night, rushed to the hospital by Saturday evening then an emergency surgery Sunday. Last I heard he'll need chemo and undoubtedly plenty of rest after this ordeal. The strangest thing is that he's probably home from the hospital by now (supposedly due to be discharged yesterday?!) making me wonder if those horror stories about the Canadian health care system are as true as naysayers make them out to be? Whatever, I really feel bad for the guy because he is tops in my book. He's one who would go out of his way to make a tape or Cee-Dee-Are of a recording that I needed, plus he'd even give to me gratis fanzines or whatnot that I was looking for that he himself didn't personally want to hang onto. (This is how I latched onto my copy of DENIM DELINQUENT #6...thanks again Imants!) Not only that, but once when I was really down in the dumps he outta the blue gave me a phone call just to tell me how much he dug the then-recently released twenty-second issue of my very own rag! I really appreciated that one since it came at just the right time when I was that close to (figurative speaking) slitting my throat, so if there's anyone to blame for me being alive (spiritually, that is) it is he. I mean, I've heard of corporal works of mercy, but this was a sergeant work! As Ed Norton would say, Imants is "one of the good ones" and I mean it! Anyway I'd say that our thoughts and prayers are with Imants and his family at this time, though I don't want to offend any stringent secularists out there so I won't.