The last time I spoke to Doug Frye was on my front porch, in late November. It wasn’t a shock to see him. His girlfriend had a house four doors down from mine, and I’d occasionally see him outside. Plus, he’d just texted me about Fishbone, one of his favorite bands he was always trying to get me to write about. This was a day after hip-hop band The Roots struck up controversy by playing the ska-influenced band’s song “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon as former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann walked on stage. “Fishbone interview scoop! Call me ASAP!” the text read, but before I could answer the text — and the Facebook message he’d also sent — there he was, knocking away.
We spoke, he gave me the number of Fishbone leader Norwood, who I promptly texted, and I had my scoop online the next day. As far as I can tell, I was the first reporter to chat to Norwood about the goof — all because of Doug. I thanked him via text after interviewing Norwood, and he was super excited we’d made it work. You could almost see his massive smile from the glow of the cell phone screen.
That would be our final communication. As I sit here, sobering up at 4 a.m. from First Friday, I’ve read on Facebook from the many postings of his good friends that Frye — aka Doug De Nada, former member of local bands Los Trios De Nada and Sparkler Dims, general underground music enthusiast, and regular DJ and sound engineer at Artifice – passed away early this morning, reportedly due to cancer he’d been diagnosed with only a few weeks ago. Vermin/Fremonts/Nines member Rob Ruckus stated he’d been with Frye all day at the hospital, and posted yet another eulogy for a fallen comrade of his.
Goddamn you, cancer. You couldn’t have struck a nicer guy. Even when I attempted to DJ at Artifice in October and looked over at Frye for some humble pie, he couldn’t quite muster up enough sarcasm to insult me. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear!” he said, patting me on the back. Nearly anything he said was something you’d want to hear.
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