My uncle Bill passed away Saturday the 20th, on his birthday, age 53, fucking lung cancer. I wondered if it made sense posting this here, but he was a major Stones fan and he was the one that took me to my very first Stones gig (and very first gig of my life ever) back in 1998 in Greece. It took a lot of hard effort to score those tickets, and he came through, found them at the very last minute before the show. We were so excited. I have some uniquely strong memories from that day.
We also saw the Stones together again in 2003 in Milan. I saw them again in Italy after Keith's accident and then in Prague, he couldn't make it to those shows. We were planning on seeing them live again together, but didn't get to it.
He was more than just an uncle to me, he was like a brother, a soulmate. An amazingly talented artist, an one-of-a-kind humorous, funny, warm, loving person. Lately he'd been working on making a huge Stones mosaic for me as a surprise, it was half-finished. He's the one with the bandana in the pic, next to my aunt and among two of my best friends. It was taken in Milan in 2003, just before the show.