Just learned of the passing of Eugene drummer Joe Brooks. His untimely death left everyone who knew him shaken and saddened.

He played drums with beer-basted Eugene punks Billy Jack seemingly forever and I worked with him at a copy shop for a whole year. He was bright, kind, and a really funny guy, the perfect comrade with whom to while away day after day of mind-numbingly repetitive toil. At one point, Joe, guitarist Bruce Hartnell of the Detonators, and I talked about forming a band called AC/Devo but it never happened. Joe, you are missed.

Just happened to find this video of Joe and his fellow members of Billy Jack singing an Irish tune at a St Paddy’s Day show 17 years ago.