Dave Deporis, Rest in Peace (tributes by Regina Spektor, Kimya Dawson included)

UPDATE: A GoFundMe has been started to raise money to release Dave’s music.

Tragic news. The uniquely talented musician Dave Deporis has died at 40 years old, according to witnesses, police and those who knew him, in a tragic altercation with a robber in Oakland where the ex-NYC (and Florida) musician has been living. News started spreading on social media last night, but we just heard about a “tragic accident” today. While writing this hard-to-write post, news broke about exactly what happened, and it’s even more heartbreaking. ABC7 says, “Deporis was sitting at a cafe located on Rich Street on his laptop when someone grabbed it. Police said Deporis went after the suspect to get it back and when officers arrived, they found Deporis suffering from traumatic injuries.”

These accounts match a previous horrible story which did not identify Dave. I have no words. Life is not fair. Cherish every moment. Rest in Peace, David.

Dave Deporis’ music, some of which was likely on that laptop (please let it be found or backed up somewhere), was first recommended to me by Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman). My first two posts on Dave were almost exactly 12 years ago (two posts in one day apparently). A few days later he was confirmed on the very first BrooklynVegan CMJ show which took place on Sept. 13, 2005 at Tonic on the Lower East Side. He was first on the bill, so you could say he was the first-ever artist to play a BrooklynVegan CMJ show. Doveman (whose band included Sam Amidon and Shahzad Ismailey) and Cloud Cult (who motivated me to do the show because I was bummed the Minneapolis band only had one CMJ show) were also on the bill. Aziz Ansari, whose laptop was stolen at the show, was our host! Dave then played a BrooklynVegan show again in 2006, and our Northside Festival show in 2011.

I’ve joked that Thomas Bartlett, David Garland and I were Dave’s three biggest fans. David posted a nice message to Facebook:

Terrible news came last night that my friend Dave Deporis has died in an accident. Dave was a caring, loyal friend, an inspiring musical explorer, and a singer with a daring, gorgeously textured, ecstatic voice. This photo shows us together at a Spinning On Air celebration in 2007, along with the marvelous Bridget St John. To his friends’ frustration, and maybe to his own, Dave never completed an album he wanted to officially release, despite having produced tons of mind-blowing recordings. I recorded him several times myself. I hope his unique sound, which he guarded carefully but also shared generously, will gradually reach more ears.

Dave was a regular at the Cross Pollination series of shows that used to happen at Pianos. CP co-producer Wesley Verhoeve (another biggest fan), who also used to write about hip hop for BrooklynVegan, is tweeting about Dave:

In 2006 Wes iinterviewed Shara Worden about her new My Brightest Diamond project (and her collaborations with Sufjan). Wes points out in the first sentence that one of the first times he saw her perform was at one of his CP shows with Dave. Shara tweeted her condolences last night:

Regina Spektor too:

and Kimya Dawson:

A memorial page has been set up on Facebook, and a memorial is already being planned for September 9 in Oakland (and there is a gathering tonight – 8/10). Stay tuned for details on a NYC memorial. We’ll never forget you, Dave.

UPDATE: ANOHNI posted this message:

https://www.facebook.com/AntonyandtheJohnsons/posts/10155666469868552

UPDATE: A GoFundMe has been started to raise money to release Dave’s music.