Quite a few months ago I received an email message from the stepfather of my friend Devon. It seems that she had given him a copy of my book, which he enjoyed thoroughly. The fact that an artist would like the thing (as opposed to a cycling fan) was extremely flattering, and is something I have been thinking about fondly over the past couple of days as I nurse a few wounds caused by having an opinion.

The message itself was overflowing with life. It was clear to me that this guy, Willem van Es, was someone I wanted to know. We proceeded beyond email within a couple of days to phone conversations. His accent was clearly Dutch, which made me feel at home. His wit and sense of humor were absolutely world class, causing me to smile for hours after hanging up.

Willem talked about my book – he even read or related bits of it back to me as if he were telling me my own story. The fun part of it was that his version was more interesting. He wanted to option the rights to A Dog in a Hat for film, with the idea that Abel Ferrara might perhaps take on the project.

Sadly, Willem’s vision for a movie – a comedy – about an American trying to make it as a bike racer abroad will never see a theater, but much worse worse, I will never get to meet the man who laughed so hard with me on the telephone. On Christmas Day, Willem died on a flight to Amsterdam.

Despite having only just a few chats on the phone with him, I know that the world was richer with Willem in it and definitely poorer without him.

"Willem Frans van Es, one of the last but certainly not least of the Chelsea Hotel irregulars, died Christmas night of a heart attack while on route from New York City to Amsterdam. A troublemaker to the end, he caused his flight to make an emergency stop in Bangor, Maine, a circumstance he would have relished—it would have made a good story."

More about Willem's interesting life and world can be found here.