Thursday, January 26, 2012

11 Years

I can't believe it's been 11 years.  When I think that I only really knew him for 12 years, that seems like such an incredibly long time.  But in many ways, it seems like we were hanging out just yesterday.  I can still hear that self-confident, man-with-a-plan tone in his voice...

"Get in the car, Curt"
"Huh?  Where we going?"
"North.  Get in the car."
"What?"
"GET IN THE CAR"
"Ah, Ok..."

Then 3 hours later we'd be lost in upstate Connecticut, driving around in his dumpy Toyota, him belting out Led Zeppelin while we explored the state...

And I can still vividly remember he and Bill insisting we go out to lunch in January of '99.  I was planning on moving back to San Francisco.  I had a job and an apartment lined up and was planning to leave in a week.  I had met this great girl at the Nut's New Year's Eve party, and though I'd been spending a lot of time with her, I was still planning to move back west.  I was heartbroken at the prospect of leaving her, but I felt my path had been set and it was my responsibility, my obligation, to stay on it.

So moments after I sit down to lunch at the Southport Brewing Company, I realize it was an ambush.  They made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that I would be making the mistake of a lifetime if I went back to San Francisco.  I can still hear Bo telling me "what a complete fool" I would be if I didn't listen to them...how this woman was "the best thing that ever happened to you."  He was getting angry in classic Chris Bowley "I-love-you-but-I-can't-believe-what-an-idiot-you-are" form.

Of course they were right.  I was being an idiot.  But I hadn't known it until he grabbed me by the shoulders and made me realize it.  I often think of that day, for had it not happened, I wouldn't be married to that woman, and I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet my two beautiful children.

My thanks to you, Bo (and you too, Bill).  I owe a tremendous debt to you both.


Saturday, November 26, 2011

Hitchhiker's guide.

11/26/11

So great moment in my life happened tonight.

Let me give you a quick little lead in, back story if you will. So as many of you know, Chris Bowley was a dear, dear friend of mine. My brother growing up. There wasn't a day between 4th grade and senior year in high school when Bo and I didn't hang or correspond in one way or another. If for some reason we didn't check in with each other somehow someone checked in for us. We always seemed to know what the other one was doing. As we got older and went off to college, we became semi-disconnected. But we would always come full circle a little ways down the line. When we would meet up it was as nothing had changed, no time had passed. Time went on and our circle of friends grew and his circle was mine and mine was his. It was this great unspoken bond.

But with all of that there were a couple of things we didn't meet eye to eye on. I'll give you some examples... first the band the Cars. I never liked them, Bo... loved them! Still to this day, I can't listen to the Cars without remembering the arguments we had. Videos games. I couldn't sit still long enough to get through a game or in Chris' case then entire game, all levels. We had many a disagreement about what we should do on a nice Saturday afternoon. Play the Indiana Jones game on no die mode (if you turned the Atari on while pushing the cartridge in and out, somehow the game gave you endless lives) or go outside to play wiffle or basketball?
The other thing that we never clicked on was the book, "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." When Bo read this book it was his bible. He loved it. We talked about it a bunch. He leaned on me to read it. I tried, I couldn't get into it. It was Bo’s humor and much like the video games I couldn't get into it. So I gave him the book back. Years passed and I think we both were in college. The conversation came up late night, actually I think he quoted a phrase from the book and I laughed. He stared at me, with that bo/blueshi look and probably said something to affect, "you know that's from the hitchhiker’s guide, right?" I probably said, "Ha! that dorky space book you tried to make me read?" Well again he gave me the book. It had to be circa 1992-94. Since then, that book has traveled w/ me from location to location. Its pages are yellow/brownish and it smells like it should be in a museum or a library. I tried a couple years back to read it again for Bo. But alas... I couldn't get into. So back on the shelf it went.
So early last week, my son Riley, the high honors student that he is, said that he didn't have a book to read. This in its self is a rare thing. The boy is brilliant and a reading machine. So you probably know where this is going. I gave him the hitchhikers guide last Monday. And every morning this week he has come downstairs to tell me that this is the funniest book he has ever read and he loves it some much. He finished it in 5 days.

Tonight as I tucked my son into bed, I picked up the book to give it a quick look over. And written inside the front cover page was one word in Bo’s handwriting.

"Lived"

Thanks Bo - i love you and miss you, man.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Happy Birthday

Boy I miss that dude. I've said this before, but I'm so disappointed Chris never had a chance to meet our kids. And I'm equally disappointed that my kids never had the chance to meet Chris - They'd a been thicker than thieves. I can just see them... especially now that the kids are getting a bit older....Chris and Ethan conspiring off in some corner to play a trick on mom and dad. I can see him planting that seed of mischievousness, then nurturing it over the years... encouraging the kids to get bolder and more creative, bu always with that pure, innocent, positive sense of humor. Boy, what a great influence he would have been on them.

I miss you, Chris. It's been a long time, but you're still top of mind.



Happy birthday Chris!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Newspaper Articles on Ralph

The following articles ran in the Fairfield Minuteman. Click on each to view a larger image.

The Citizen also ran a nice article. In fact, there's about 18 different articles and letters to the editor there.



Ralph Bowley Obituary

click to enlarge

Friday, April 16, 2010

Goodbye Ralph

We said goodbye to a good man yesterday. A great man. A man from whom we all learned and continue to learn. A man who served his country, his community, his family, and his friends, right to the very end. But beyond his service, there was something else. Shannon was right yesterday when she said, "there's just something about Ralph." Something about his warmth and humility - something that made it impossible not to feel welcomed and comfortable when he was around.

Like most of us, I remember party after party at the Bowleys. I remember Ralph at the grill, Deb in the breezeway, Chris on the piano, Gilly trying to keep her friends away from us (but let's face it, we were irresistible), and Shannon raising a commotion. After he was done on the grill, Ralph would make his way inside and sit, at which point a steady stream of people would rotate through the chair next to him, sharing stories, telling tales, and usually receiving advice (though they may not have recognized it as such at the time). Around 10 or 11, Ralph would decide he was done, and head off to the bedroom. He'd be back in a few minutes - all ready for bed and done up in his jammies. He'd smile, wave, and head off to sleep. Ralph was so welcoming that even when he clearly wanted to go to bed, he didn't want us to leave (...though truthfully, had he asked us, we probably wouldn't have left anyway :-)

Bill made an interesting comment yesterday - even during our goofy teenage years, when all we wanted to do was establish our independence and strike out on our own - even then, Bo was never hesitant to bring everyone to his house to chat up his parents. It was always clear just how proud he was to be their son.

We'll miss you, Ralph.

Friday, February 26, 2010

CKAFBAOS - A Toast by Chris

Thought you all would get a kick out of this - I believe it's the last CKAFBAOS speech he wrote....

Ladies and Gentlemen, the time has come again to send this year off with a bit of a bang. For those of you who have never spent a New Years with the Nut Crowd, this is the part of the evening where we celebrate our friend's accomplishments with the annual Curt Knox Award for Bravery and/or Stupidity. For those of you who have been here in New Years past, you'll be happy to know that tonight's presentation will be short and sweet and will contain a number of toasts to the events of the new year.

Sadly, this year saw the demise of the Nut. After years of abuse at the hands of those present, the Nut finally closed its doors - and then quickly re-opened under new ownership. If we could drink one final toast to the house at 44 Chestnut and the memories within: May the senate sub-committee never learn the truth.

With the demise of the Nut came a long awaited change. When the Denizens of the Nut decided that the time had come to shut the doors, they set a date and packed their things. When the new Tennants - a small upstart group lead by Ray's brother - showed up with their stuff, they found that Rick Lindstrom - who by all accounts had lived in the house for over 18 years - was still in his room, sleeping and nothing had been packed. This being said, he did eventually move out of the house, so here's to Rick Lindstrom for getting out alive.

The Nut was not the only institution to take a hit this year, as several people gave up their bachelorhood and bachlorettedness, moving into the sacred bondage of holy matrimony. Would everyone who got married in the past year please step forward and be recognized, and ladies and gentlemen, may we lift our glasses to these fine young couples. May the adventures they share provide fodder for speeches for years go come.

There is an individual missing here tonight who needs to be mentioned. Not was this individual truly an inspired visionary throughout Y2K, he is one of the few people present or not to embody the qualities of Bravery and or Stupidity. So again, ladies and gentlemen, may I ask you to raise your glasses and throw one back for Mr. Douglas Knox. Doug, wherever you may be, this is for you.

And speaking of Doug, his planning and implementation of a certain event we simply call 'Nutstock' was ground zero for this year's bravery and or stupidity award recipient. Lots of things happened at Nutstock, but one thing that not many people know is that there were hidden cameras placed all around the lake, so tonight's festivities are compliments of my latest web creation 'mynakedfriends.com' of which you can become a member for a nominal fee of $15.00. A month. Here's to my naked friends.

Nutstock was the grandson of the June First BBQ - and in the planning of the event, many decisions had to be made. Some were good and some were bad. None were as long lasting and tedious as this year's selection of the United States president.

As a side note, I'm thinking of moving to Florida to make my fortune into Porn. I'll be called Hangin Chad and my first skin flick will be called 'We kept swinging until we Bush'.


Well, on Nutstock's early July evening, something memorable and outrageous happened. As the bonfire singed the trees and the port-a-poties swayed with excess, something very special was happening in Tent City. With 4 kegs gone and 2 to go, the word of the day was 'beer'. Some people drank all night long while some drifted into restful sleeps. For one person, the sleep was not so restful.

With noise all around, this year's award winner arose from his sleep with an ungodly pressure in his bladder. Though still tipsy from a day of drinking, the individual groped about in the tent for the zipper that would lead him to the outdoor. The pressure kept building. He fumbled in the darkness like a high school freshman with a bra-strap and much to his dismay, the door to the tent was nowhere to be found. Was there a door? He was sure there had been when he fell asleep. The pressure kept building..... and building....... and building. We're talking hover dam here. Well, the time finally came for this individual to make a decision: this individual had to either find the zipper or piss in the tent. There were no other choices. The pressure kept building and reached a critical point, at which time our hero could take it no more - he reached into his pants and whipped out a KNIFE - and with that knife, our hero sliced a hole in the side of the tent and hobbled into the darkness, pants around ankles, faucets on full....

Ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses to this year's recipient of the Curt Knox Award for Bravery and or Stupidity, Mr Clark Fearon, who - much to the dismay of his girlfriend Paula - made the late night decision to slice into the tent - that Paula had borrowed from her boss....

Monday, January 26, 2009

Dinner with Adam - 10/16

Here's a Dinner with Adam video - the password is the name of the street on which Chris grew up. If you don't know the street name, drop me a note in the comments and I'll send you an email.


Dinner with Adam - 10/16 from Curt Knox on Vimeo.

Keith's Memorial Video

Sunday, January 25, 2009

At the Bowley's

The kids!!!



Providing Advice



Chocolate Smiles for Ralph


LETTERS!!


Furious Drawing


Our thanks again to the Bowleys for a wonderful afternoon of remembering, laughing, eating and playing!


Sunday, October 12, 2008

Update! Success!


Ethan's first fish!  Then we caught 6 more.  The big one below almost snapped his rod!







Lake Mohegan

Hey - I'm at lake mohegan right now. Arrived about 30 min ago, but beego fell asleep so I'm in the car waiting for him to wake up - if all goes according to plan, we'll be fishing before it gets too late.

So for now, I'm sitting in the parking lot thinking about the lake. I remember coming here in high school with bo, bill, and geoff. I think it was actually senior skip day There was much deliberation as to what we should do that day (go into the city, head to the beach in RI, etc), but ultimately we decided to hike up into the cascades with a few beverages. It turned out to be a great, relaxing way to spend a day with a few good friends.

If you haven't been to the lake in a while, I suggest you stop by - it's just as beautiful today as it was 17 years ago

Curt

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Fw: Happy Birthday Bo!

------Original Message------
From: Jeff Fox
To: Jeff Fox
ReplyTo: jefft_fox@yahoo.com
Sent: Aug 6, 2008 9:30 AM
Subject: Happy Birthday Bo!

Today marks Chris' 36th bday!
 
Please join me in celebrating his life by either raising a glass, grabbing some Duchess, watching some Monty Ponty/Star Wars/the Yankees... or anything else that lovable guy would have done.
 
Love and miss ya, buddy!! Happy Birthday.
 
Love,
Jeff
 
http://www.chrisbowley.com/ <http://www.chrisbowley.com/>
 
 

Friday, June 06, 2008

Uncle Bo

Deb and Sarah asked that I post this. It's an email Sarah sent to Deb the other day...


Hi Deb,

Annabel was having breakfast this morning, and she
asked me where daddy was. I said "work", and - out of
the blue - she asks, "Did he go to work with Uncle
Bo?" I couldn't believe it. It's not like we had
been talking about him, or even you. She then starts
singing "U, u, uncle Bo. U, u, uncle Bo." to the tune
of "B I N G O".

It's not the first time one of my kids has brought Bo
up randomly and out of context. Of course, we have
his picture in our living room, and we talk about him
to the kids. But the way that both Bryant and Annabel
talk about Chris, you would think that my kids knew
him and loved him like we did. It makes me truly
wonder if Chris is up there pulling strings - doing
little things like this morning to make sure we don't
forget him. (not that we ever would!) I really felt
his presence with me this morning in my kitchen.

I thought you would like to hear that little story.
Hope you're doing well. Don't forget about the open
invitation to stop by anytime for lunch.

Sarah

Friday, December 21, 2007

Letter From an SHU Classmate

Earlier in the week I received a great email which the author has graciously allowed me to re-post here... - Curt

Hi Curt,
You don't know me, obviously. I transferred to SHU in the fall of 2000 and was a die-hard SHU Player until I graduated in '02. I didn't know Chris very well at all--I was really only in two productions with him--"Robin Hood" and the 2000 Christmas show. This may sound strange but I was so fascinated with Chris that I had a hard time approaching him--his personality was SO larger than life, and he was so talented and already a legend at SHU, and there I was, one of the newbies, and I was kind of terrified that he wouldn't think I was a good actress. Sad, huh? Once I finally did get up the nerve to talk to him, of course he was ridiculously nice, and I remember him trying to convince me to quit smoking, that he'd done it and I could do it too, and that I had a good voice(compliment of compliments!) and that I should be good to it. After he passed away, Chris's legacy became a huge part of my life, as well as all of us who were involved in theater at SHU. I'm proud to say that I helped build "The Bo" and was in almost every play that was put up there in its short existence....that we had to tear it down was a fucking travesty....sorry for swearing, but it was. Anyway, I came across your website for Chris tonight kind of by accident, but I wanted to tell you that what you've done is beautiful, and I'm so glad that his family and friends who were so close to him have his poetry (and yours) and these videos and pictures to help keep his spirit close....and for someone like me, to help me feel like I could have known him a little better too. And I just wanted to say thank you....it seems silly for me to thank you for it, as again, I barely knew Chris....but for the brief period that I did, he made a huge impression on me, and maybe it's odd, but I think of him often.....anyway, I just wanted to tell you that.

Kindest Regards,


name withheld at request of author

Monday, August 06, 2007

Back Here In Heaven


Jeff Fox was kind enough to drop this off at the Bowley's yesterday. It's Chris's second screenplay - "Back Here in Heaven." A 3 meg PDF of the complete document is available here

Friday, August 03, 2007

I won't have internet on the anniversary of Chris's actual birthday, so I thought I'd post this early. This is a poem I wrote earlier this year. I hope it brings back some happy memories. It did for me. Peace to all.

Cousin Chris
Glasses beaming
Smile gleaming
Star Wars toys
Tons of boys
Mile a minute
You got in it
Your next plan
Kick the can
Ice cream cones
Indi Jones
Summer nights
Riding Bikes
Hide ‘n Seek
Life’s a beach
Friend to all
Music called
At the keys
You did please
Cars of blue
Gilly, too
Let it be
Why can't we?

Friday, January 26, 2007

Bo in his Natural State


God how he loved (and hated) that place!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Duchess!

Hey - we're planning to have dinner at the black rock turnpike duchess on friday at 5:30.  Then we'll head over to the grave for a drink or three.

Join us!


Curt