On May 5th, 1999, I walked outside after our concert at Jack Straw's,
in Charlotte N.C. to meet with the kids who had come out to see us in
the south. This is the first time I met Jeremy Wainland. He was
excited. So was I. He was always excited. That was the thing about
Jeremy. That was what we had in common. Our love for music, our
constant excitement, and our Jewish Mothers.
Everytime I saw him, he was excited about something. It was actually
quite infectious. Over the years, Jeremy became one of the more well
known faces and voices of the biscuits' scene. I have hung out with
him in Washington, NYC, Santa Cruz, North Carolina, Florida, Chicago,
Philadelphia, Detroit, and nearly everywhere in between. His energy
was amazing, anyone who knows Jeremy can attest to that fact...He was
just full of energy, all of the time. Jeremy touched nearly everyone
in our scene throughout the last four years.
One thing that sticks out about Jeremy was his concern for the band
as people. He knew how hard it was to be traveling around, and rather
than just talking to us about the music, he would always be more
interested in talking about us, the people, which means so much to
us. It was as if Jeremy had turned into a Jewish Mother himself,
always trying to baby us, always wondering if we had been eating
enough, always asking if WE were ok, and if there was anything he
could send us... Did we need new scooters, or backpacks, or golf
clubs?...
And there always seemed to be news coming from Jeremy, or about him.
We would hear about his business. To this day my closet is actually
overflowing with the gifts he would send. I have more golf clubs than
even the most experienced golfer would ever need thanks to Jeremy's
generosity.
We would hear news about his new life. Jeremy is having a baby. "What
wonderful news", we all thought. Jeremy is getting married. Jeremy is
becoming a health nut. My mother even called me once to tell me that
she had seen him on the news, of all things he had been grazed by a
bullet. The fact of the matter is, Jeremy was so well known in our
scene that even my mother knew him.
This last bit of news is absolutely devastating to everyone in the
disco biscuits. We had become accustomed to the fact that Jeremy
would be much less present at our concerts due to the increased
responsibility he had. I was not surprised to hear from his mother
that he had been working 18 hour days of recent. But none of us were
ready for the news that Jeremy had seen his last Disco Biscuits
concert, or of course much more important than that, that we had seen
Jeremy for the last time.
The last time I saw Jeremy tears were rolling down his face as we
played the Hot Air Balloon in memory of his grandmother in
Gainseville, the only time he had ever asked anything of us. Today,
we all shed tears in memory of Jeremy. Jeremy, we will never forget
you, buddy.
"If I had three wishes, I'd wish I can see you again."
Marc Brownstein