Entropy
Here’s a blast from the past. Dan’s first band: Entropy. The download link is below.
Author: Bill McClamma
A Big Show for Big Dan – POSTPONED
A High Five from Dan
Dan loved a good high five. He once taught me the trick to a successful high five: stare at your high five partner’s high-fiving elbow. Legend has it that Dan eventually found a group of folks that enjoyed high-fiving more than he did. Maybe the high fives were too frequent. Maybe he was practicing social distancing. We may never know. However, what is known is that he created the attached piece in an effort to reduce his high-fiving.
Here is a printer-friendly to-scale PDF version for anyone who would like to give Dan a high five.
New Old Flight Simulator
Dan was fascinated by airplanes. Our mutual love of flight was one of the first interests that he and I bonded over. MicroProse made a few of his favorite flight simulators back in the day. I think he would get a kick out of the fact that they’re back in business now and have an upcoming game that’s a callback to some of their classics.
First to 100 – Yeah Right
Dan and I played TONS of Duke3d. DHOUSE.MAP was a favorite. It became a running gag that whoever got 100 frags first would be declared the winner. Of course nobody could play Duke3d for that long. And yet, somehow we managed to do exactly that. Dan on his 486, and me on my Pentium. Hours would slip by unnoticed as we blew each other up while Planet Radio played in the background. There is a download link for the map below for anyone who would like to check it out.
Pawn Takes King – Soundcloud
How I Met Dan
The year was 1994. I was in eighth grade and I had just started at a new school, Orange Park Christian Academy. There were barely enough eighth graders to fill a classroom, so Dan was pretty much in all of my classes. He was a cooler dork than I was. I had seen Star Wars, but he had the technical drawings. He and I interacted daily but weren’t really friends outside of school. One day Dan got into a minor scuffle, and his academic career at OPCA abruptly ended. We kept in touch.
Orlando Trip 2006
My Hotel Year was one of the many bands that Dan helped me fall in love with. When I heard that they were having a reunion show in Orlando, I knew we were going. Dan, Ellie, and I made the journey down and crashed with some of Ellie’s friends. Before the show, Dan and I familiarized ourselves with some local ad campaigns.
The show was great. The road trip was great. This is one of my favorite Dan memories.
Flight Unlimited in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Dan really loved Flight Unlimited (1995). I think he would have loved seeing the Flight Unlimited airports in Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020).
Image credit: PigeonMother
Image credit: spacedog_at_home
Orlando Trip 2000
I’ve always been intimidated by expensive guitars. Anything over $200 or so and I’d start to get a little reluctant. Dan, however, enjoyed the finer things in life. He worked at George’s Music at the time and wanted to check out their fancy guitars, which were in Orlando. He asked me if I wanted to go on a road trip. Of course I did, so we went. I heard Modest Mouse and Jimmy Eat World for the first time on the way down. When we arrived, we got a hotel and watched Princess Mononoke while ‘enjoying’ some Zimas. That was my first Studio Ghibli movie (and probably my last Zima). The next day we saw (and he played) the expensive guitars. They were sparkly and fancy and too rich for my blood. As we were checking out of the hotel, we saw a strange machine. It was an Internet terminal. Welcome to the future! I wanted a souvenir email, so Dan and I collaborated to write the following email:
