RIP Rick Dashiell

[VAXman(Admin)]

It is my sad duty to inform the Aural Moon community of the passing of Rick Dashiell. Sadly, today, Rick lost his battle with cancer.

For those that do not know, Rick was a member of the Aural Moon community and, for a long time, he hosted a show on Aural Moon called The Rickter Scale. Due to a clash with some station personalities, Rick left Aural Moon. Notwithstanding my affiliation with Aural Moon, I had tried to remain friendly. I don't/didn't know his inner feelings but I truly hope that he held no animosity toward/for me.

Rick, I believe, was one of the first Aural Moon members I met in person. Due to Rick being a resident in Maryland and I in New Jersey, we often met up at gigs in the area. IIRC, the first RoSfest in Phoenixville, PA may have been our first encounter. We would see each other at RoSfest, NEARfest, 3RP, New Jersey Prog House, Prog Day and even as far away as Summers End in the UK, not to mention many other one-off concert gigs.

Rick was an interesting character to say the least. He held an almost encyclopedic knowledge of music and musicians both prog and other genres. I was once at Rick's home and I recall that he had a poster on his wall that was a sort of "family tree" of many musicians and bands, and their progeny. That was a sort of diagram of Rick's musical knowledge although, that poster was an abridged version of the stuff Rick had squirreled away in his head along with a treasure trove of jokes and other trivia tidbits.

Rest In Peace, my friend, Rick.