On the evening of Monday January 7th, 2019, I received a text message from my friend Eric Butler that he heard something bad happened with our friend Gregg Friedman. The details were few. I reached out to Gregg and there was no answer. There was nothing really on the internet but a vague police report about an incident at Gregg’s home in San Francisco with his wife Vickki and their two boys Lucas and Max. At some point the next morning, I received confirmation that Gregg had shot himself at his house on Monday morning.
Some people are just born to sell and Gregg Friedman was the best example of this that I have known. However, Gregg was much more than just a salesman. He was a generous, very loyal and adventurous friend. His death was quite shocking and unexpected. The following is my recollection of some of the many really great times with my friend.
This was taken on the side of some river in southern New Zealand on an epic two-week adventure we had with Eric Butler and Bill Miller. We had just helicoptered into the world’s highest bungee jump and jet boated down the river. We were getting ready to white water raft and finish the final leg of the ‘Awesome Foursome’.
I distinctly recall the first time I met Gregg. I was hanging out with Bill Miller in San Francisco, and he said we should go to a bar where one of his friends from college from the University of Rhode Island was hanging out. I can see the space in my head but I don’t recall the name of the bar other than it was on Fillmore Street right below Union. He was sitting at a table and there were some other people around. Introductions were made. He was further into the night from an alcohol consumption perspective than Bill and I were. My first impression of him was he was kind of annoying. He was determined to play dice. I had never played dice before and didn’t know how to play but that did not deter Gregg. Not only did we play a lot of dice that night, but it would be a game that would weave through my thirty-year relationship with him. Fittingly, the last night I spent with him two months before his death, we played a pretty epic game of dice.
Gregg was a force of nature and single-handedly was the catalyst for some of my favorite stories and memories. Gregg had many good qualities but his one shortcoming was his inability to apply conditional thinking; if I do ‘this’, the result will be …. ? And often the answer was something bad. Gregg had a lot of nicknames from his many friends, but I would often refer to him as “Bubble Boy”. Meaning, he lived his life in the here and now, and consequences be damned. This would suggest he knew or had considered the consequences and opted to continue. My experience was that he was purely impulsive. The end result for Bubble Boy was a slew of crazy results. The following are some of the best ones that I remember.
The next few were small little things that have stuck with me. On a random week day night, Gregg had convinced me and some others to go out for drinks. We would often go to Union Street in San Francisco that in the 90’s had a number of very good options. There was one place called Cal’s that was in the basement of a newer office-like building. Cal’s was on the bottom half of drinking possibilities that focused on dancing. Our friend John Corrigan bartended there for a while and I can’t remember if that was reason we selected Cal’s this night. After a little while, Gregg eyed some young lady to ask to dance and she obliged. As I recall, they were either the only people dancing. Gregg went hard on his moves which in my mind did not match the vibes of that night in any way. After about twenty minutes of this, they take a break. Gregg returned back to whoever joined his to report, “I think my dancing has REALLY turned the corner”. That statement struck as so odd and surprising that it has stuck with me to this day. And it really typified Gregg’s whole ethos.
Ginka Baloba
Young Scandinavian Club - are you Dansk?
Bulkhead seats
Horizontal Bungy
ATVs in NZ
This was us in Cairns Australia near the Great Barrier Reef about to scuba dive. I think this was the first time for all of us. We got a five-minute overview from a thick Australian accent on what to do and not to do. Needless to say, liability is not a big concern down under and Gregg would test those limits.
Scuba Diving
Tatoo in Sydney
Girlfriend Theory