Josh Masters

With the nicer weather, I've been back to hobbying with Warhammer 40K figurines. I'd actually been working on one when I'd received a phone call that Josh had passed (he's pictured on one of Josh's hats, thank you to Gib and Joanne for having those sent to me).
I named that Space Marine 'Hammerhead' after his joke character he made up during his Space Force era.


Anyway, I used a piece of one of his old hats and put it into what's called a Dreadnought. I've seen several other people throughout the hobby do this with ashes/etc from their deceased loved ones.

Attached are the pictures I have from the assembly, and I'll post an update when I get him painted up.

I know he'd love the creative aspect of this, and he'd probably hop in with a paint brush if I could let him.

Hope you find my odd little tribute interesting, or it could at least make you smile.

I think of Josh every time I hear this song...

It is to honor one of the fallen Huldra brothers, legendary Norse dwarf blacksmith in God of War: Ragnarok. In a way, he reminds me somewhat of Josh. Maestro in his creative field God, I miss him so much.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7-qUJ0uEAeQ&si=F5T6AoiDlJg6vTsz

Josh was always the explorer and always surprising me with new facets of his personal interests. We would sometimes escape the city and check out the greenery in North Georgia. This particular day I spotted a giant Sasquatch by the side of the road and insisted we go check out the Big Foot Museum. But Josh being Josh, he immediately noticed an unassuming building (with barely a sign) maybe 300 feet away from the jumbo Squatch-man sculpture.

That humble building turned out to be a pinball museum. It felt like Josh had discovered a time-warp into our childhoods with machines from Hawaii Five-O, Evel Kenieval, and KISS.

That day neither of us planned a trip down memory lane awash in bells, whistles and flashing lights. But Josh always had a way of finding wonderful pockets of whimsy in unexpected places. Oh and our scores? Josh all the way! Just another one of his many hidden talents.

"AI Overview

Yo La Tengo Archives - Full Time Aesthetic
Yo La Tengo played a live show at Trinity College's Mather Student Center in Hartford, Connecticut in 1993. The indie rock band's performance was attended by hundreds of thousands of people."

Ooh. So close, but AI scooches it a bit once more. There were, maybe, dozens of us in the room. First time I saw Yo La Tengo. First time I attended a show with Josh. I remember us, a few beers in, wandering the campus trying to find the big event. I remember Ira negging the persistent chap who would not stop pleading for "Upside Down" ("There's only three of us here, man.") Mostly I remember sitting pre-show in tiny bar off the glorified lounge where the band set up. A beaded, Greg Brady-style curtain (an allusion we both got) barely checked the flow of dank smoke sweeping in from the "Green Room" (I don't know if its walls were green, and it seemed more the scale of a closet, hence the scare quotes). Georgia and Ira drifted out with one particularly dense cloud. Josh promptly relocated next to Georgia and began a conversation. Her response: something like, "You're the guy who keeps yelling at me to me marry him."
Yes. Yes, he was.

[This was from someone who knew Josh well in the past few years -- and gave me permission to share. They are referring to Josh's love for Puerto Rico and, apparently, a little beach town called Rincon. Look closely at the tree in the photo that this person shared...]

--As a born and raised puertorrican, who still visits her home at least once a year, I hadn’t gone to Ricon since I was a little girl. Visiting Rincon not only reminded me of him, it changed me. I could see the beauty of the town, the beach, the people; through eyes that focused in the organic beauty of a mini paradise lost in time.

(Well now I’ve done it: I set up this page, vowed to be the first to offer a memory, and I’m sitting here not sure what to say.)

Which brings me to pilgrimages.

Josh was always up for them: spontaneous or not, just a chance to get in the car and have some fun. And find an outlet for restlessness. We were in our late teens (early 20s?) for each of the ones below. I was going to rank them in terms of how successful they were. But there’s no need: Each was a triumph.

Like …
--Late one night suddenly deciding we absolutely and immediately had to get out of Illinois, driving three hours to cross the Mississippi, setting foot in Iowa, and driving right back. (Why Iowa when Wisconsin was closer? Good question. Beats me.)
--Or Josh learning one day that a cool British punk-ish band called The Fall, which I had never heard of, would be playing at a festival in Milwaukee, driving up only to find that instead it was a band called The Call (with their hit “I Still Believe.” Not our jam).
--Or one day deciding to drive to Dixon, IL, the birthplace of Ronald Reagan. See image below for our attempt at meaningful political statement.

(In other words: I wanted to set the bar pretty low. Don’t feel pressure–-share what you can.)