RIP Eli
Life does not last forever but death is always a friendly reminder to be thankful for everything you have, everything you can do, everyone you touch with your work, words, art, etc. Live life to the fullest, every single day, no excuses.
I just lost another friend in the last 24 hours, someone I hadn’t seen in decades but reconnected with on Facebook after he heard about my Taste the Floor radio show.
Eli Abramov was a guitarist from Israel who came to America to seek fame and fortune after the breakup of his popular Israeli band, HaClique (The Clique).
We met in 1985 in NYC while I was trying to form – and sustain – a music group. He replied to an ad I had in the Village Voice looking for a guitarist. Eli was amazing, and we became fast friends after he joined me and bassist Mike Hill in reforming – and changing, for the better – the sound of our unit, later re-named The Garlands. During the course of many months, we worked on demos and looked for a drummer (something that was nearly impossible to find at the time; they were all metal), while practicing in his Long Island City basement, annoying everyone within 500 feet with our blasting sounds.
We had a falling out in early 1986 over something that, in hindsight, seems silly now (musicians can be soooo untrusting of one another…). I quit, moved back to Concord for about eight months and then Boston.
Eli and Mike found another singer, formed The Pop on Trial, moved to California, and released a single EP a few years later (a great record, BTW), which got some college airplay. We reconnected a couple of years ago with him sharing his new tunes he was working on in Israel.
It’s kinda of ironic that he would pass away a week and three decades after the release of the Jesus & Mary Chain’s debut album, “Psychocandy,” a record we both cherished. I was just telling Ben Vendetta-Szporluk about the time we all went to see them at The World in NYC on their first American tour and were absolutely blown away by them.
WATCH: The Pop on Trial’s “She’s a Time Machine”
RIP Eli. Best to your family.
It’s becoming clearer that I have to go into the box I haven’t touched in decades…