Saturday, April 24, 2010

Life Is Short

Sigh... people usually say this when someone passes away. I just found out that someone I knew from a long time ago just died earlier today from cancer. His name was Hideo Sugano and I think we're about the same age.

I met Hideo around 1990 when I worked for one summer at Alphagraphics in Torrance as their computer artist. This was after I graduated from UCLA and was about to start grad school (MSEE) at USC. I think because I had to quit after the summer, Hideo took my place. Anyway, for a few months, I hung out with him as he introduced me to a bit of the club DJ culture. What I remembered most was that his garage was full of vinyl records (he lived in a house on Torrance Blvd by himself; his parents were in Atlanta for some reason). He also took me around a few times to pick up new records in Hollywood. It was pretty interesting since it was a sub-culture that I've never experienced before, or since.

A few years ago, I found him on Facebook and sent him a message. I think we traded a few emails and he put me on his DJ mailing list; I got some pretty cool party invites in the mail. More recently, I found out that he was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. Just last month, I tried sending a check to help cover food expenses but the mailing address on his website was bad... I probably should have followed up more diligently.

Rest in peace.

DJ Hideo website

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