R.I.P. James Gebbia (staryder)

[koogles]

One of the nicest guys in the HH community has left us too early. A world class CD collector and a friendly voice over the phone who I never had the chance to meet in person. I will miss you, James. A Quality/Quantity silver-pressed salute to a man who had a heart of gold.

 

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tucson/obituary.aspx?pid=174377896

[zacharyamelie]

At the peak of my selling on Ebay and his huge cd collecting, James and I would talk on the phone every few weeks. When the economy bottomed out in the Fall of 2008, James slowed down his buying and wasn't much on HH, we basically lost touch over the last 5 years.

 

Rest In Peace my friend.

[Jez]

R.I.P James

[Nightrain]

RIP James, I think I saw this guy couple years ago, is this the guy who once owned 30.000 cds and then downsize to 200 or something ?

[koogles]

^{At his peak, I believe James owned over 10,000 CDs. He was always particular about the authenticity and the quality of the music he collected.}

[Dead Planet]

RIP...

[heavyharmonies]

Damn. R.I.P.

 

He was only 50... gives one a sense of your own mortality.

[whiplash1972]

R.I.P.

 

James showed a passion and enthusiasm for music/collecting that I can only imagine.

We used to talk quite a bit about rarities and their values; I think I still have quite a few of those PMs in my inbox. Gonna read thru them later tonight, drink a beer, and listen to a few rarities in his honor.

 

:-(

[Dead Planet]

Damn. R.I.P.

 

He was only 50... gives one a sense of your own mortality.

 

Damn I didn't know he was so 'young'....I passed that milestone a few years ago...makes you realize we are all living on borrowed time....

[AlphaMale]

R.I.P. staryder

[Fat Freddy]

R.I.P. James...I did a deal or two with him during my early years here if memory serves.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Shit. Much too young.

[kourosofsteel3]

Sad news. Great and passionate dude with a golden heart. I still use his database as a reference point to unknown treasures. We shared a common passion for Ashbury and Sonora! I'll open some Barbaresco Gaja for you, buddy, while spinning this, who knows, maybe there's some rain there today...And so it goes...

 

[Geoff]

Wow, that's big news. You guys that seemed to know him better don't seem that shocked. Had this been on the cards for a while? Very sad. I only had a couple of dealings with him and can't say I knew him too well, but 50 years old... even I'm not far off that now.

 

R.I.P, James.

[Stefan]

R.I.P. James

 

I just wonder if he knew he was not gonna be around for much longer, 'cause he started downsizing his cd collection?

[Geoff]

R.I.P. James

 

I just wonder if he knew he was not gonna be around for much longer, 'cause he started downsizing his cd collection?

 

I was wondering if there was a connection there too.

[Glen]

Very sad....RIP.

[speed demon]

Man I hate to hear this. We would talk for hours. Man sure loved his music. He was a GREAT guy who I had a few trades with. Like Dan said only 50 and it makes me really thankful for the years that I've had. As Koogles stated he was one of the nicest and friendliest guys on this site and of the people I've crossed path's with. A sad day for sure. R.I.P. BIG MAN!

[shamus]

Sad news. RIP.

[martinsane]

Wholly fuck.......

 

I am shattered to the core!

 

Missed a couple calls from him last week and apparently missed the damn boat...

 

Son of a bitch.

[Delbert]

I ditto your thoughts Terry. I know you and James had some great CD hunting time together. I am in total shock!! I talked to James so much on the phone that I have his phone number memorized (that's a feat in itself at my age!!)

 

We would talk about CD collecting, the families and James' love of car salesmanship. He was a pro at it. He loved picking my brain about collectable CDs and was one of my earliest and best customers over the years.

 

I am truly gonna miss our chats..............

[LV KIX]

I just heard the news about an hour ago. I too talked to James a bit on the phone. There is no doubt about it.. He was passionate about music and collecting. Last time I talked with him (About 2 months ago) it seemed as though things were starting to look up for him. This is very sad news indeed... I just put in a CD by a band that James and I talk in length about.. CRACK THE SKY... The song "Can I Play For You" seems appropriate.

 

R.I.P. James....

[bangerdave]

R.I.P.James and way too young to pass on.To all the guys on here that knew James i am real sorry for your loss.

[Nick C]

R.I.P. - too sad - rest easy bro!

[martinsane]

Still reeling from this news. Koog's how on earth did you find this out?

 

I spoke with James family on Friday and they too did not see this coming. James son was living with him and he mentioned he spoke with James a couple times on Monday and James had told him he was quite tired and could be heard sleeping on and off throughout the morning and apparently James passed sometime in the afternoon, the son had left for a few errands and returned to find James unresponsive...

 

The thing that will haunt me forever is James called me at 11:00am on Monday and I like many times in our friendship just couldn't answer the call. I did phone back Tuesday leaving a voice message, unbeknownst of the tragedy that unfolded Monday.

 

Geoff, I can't speak for others, but James downsizing started as a result of poor economy and unfortunately some theft of some of his top rarities. James was out of work for a good couple years, lost his house and all his stuff. He did try and stay up beat and I tried to encourage him as best I could, even though I was going through a similar thing.

 

As Dave mentioned the last year has/had been good to James. He was steadily working again and was crawling his way out of the debt hole he got thrown in and all the while still kept chatting me up about all those wonderful silver platters we can't live without.

 

I will miss James and his persistent phoning at all hours of the day and night. If that guy wanted me for something he would call 30 times a day til I picked up. :)I will never recover from not ever hearing him prattle on for hours about everything and anything, mostly cd's and girls.

 

James if for whatever reason you can hear or see my words here, know you are a very dear and great friend to me. I miss you pal and my life will never be the same for losing you and for knowing you.

RIP and ride on staryder, ride on...