If I wait here at the cafe long enough he’s bound to show up again.

Bill was amazing, funny and whip smart. And ubiquitous. For years I’d run into Bill at the oddest hours in the most random places. Not simply parties thrown by shared aquantainces (although there were plenty of those), but also bus stops, cafes, post offices, crosswalks…it got to the point where we’d see each other and just say “of course. You again!”

The last time I saw Bill was in June when he came to my band’s show at Bottom of the Hill, solo. I introduced him to my parents. He was so sweet and charming to them, as he was to everybody. Actually I think I ran into him about a week later at Cafe Roma, but I was late to meet a friend for lunch so it was a quickie. Just long enough to hear that he was really happy about some of the new projects he was working on.

I’m confused and unable to process the fact that this will never happen again. It’s really, really, really fucking unfair.

– Blake Robin