Travis Simons Memorial Thread (AKA: Barfnuts)

[daniel_v]

I hadn't heard from Travis in over a month and after having called the Langley hospital earlier this week without any results I came across this online tonight.

https://www.bclocalnews.com/obituaries/travis-jeremy-simons/

Username: Barfnuts

I'll have to ask everyone's forgiveness for the length of this since I've never written one of these for a Bored member here and I've always sucked at keeping things short.

Most of you didn't know Travis on account of him just starting to post here this past November, but me and Adam had the honest pleasure of meeting him this past January in his own town of Langley. He was the gentleman who interviewed Matt after his hometown show in Coquitlam back in May of 1998. Right after that he put together/narrated this little segment for Roger's Cable despite only being 18 years old at the time:
 

21 years later after finding Adam's thread here about rare MGB videos, he would find the material he had from that night, convert it to digital, and share a bit of it with us on The Bored here just to be kind since so many of us were asking him how much other footage of the concert he still had. It's a wonderful video and made a lot of us exceptionally happy to see.

He was also a super talented musician who never quite had the breaks he was looking for, but regardless always loved creating: 

It's funny...not much more than a month ago we were discussing how so many people who grew up on MGB would go onto to become musicians themselves and I can't help but think Travis would have included himself in that category to one degree or another since he always said MGB was a huge influence for him.

Anyways, regardless of the short time period I knew him, through the many things we discussed online here- and the evening myself and Adam spent hanging out with the guy that I will never forget- I can say without hesitancy that he was a good person, who had a decent/kind soul, and lived by an honest/worthwhile set of morals. I'm extremely grateful for the time I had to know him and will miss him a hell of a lot. 

Thanks for reading. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by daniel_v

[adam_777]

Thanks for posting this Daniel.  So often on forums like these members just vanish and you never know what became of them.  Did they lose interest, or just have less spare time to devote to their interests.  It's hard to believe Travis is gone since it seems like just the other day we were at his place meeting him for the first time.  Travis was a member here for a short while, but left a big impact.  When I found clips of the footage he shot on the tapes I transferred for Geoff Lloyd's sister Sue, I was surprised to find that there appeared to be very good footage of several points of the show, and since it wasn't filmed by MUCH there may be a chance it might be accessible.  But I had no leads on how to track it down.  Miraculously a short time later, Travis stumbled upon his original tapes and decided to do an internet search to try and find the date of the show.  When he did he found our forum here and our discussion about it.  There are times in life where coincidence is so bizarre.  As I later recanted to Travis, Sue had held onto those tapes for nearly 25 years before I was able to transfer and upload them.  If she had held on just 6 months longer, Travis would have found his tapes, did an internet search, not found any of our discussion or footage and in all likelihood would have missed getting in touch with us all together.  Conversely if Travis not stumbled across his tapes when he did with his tragic passing they would have been most likely lost forever.  

Travis was a fan of MGB growing up, but his musical tastes had diverged into different areas in recent years.  But when he found out how much seeing that footage meant to Daniel and I, he immediately set into motion a set of circumstances that would allow it.  He spent countless hours editing and always trying to improve the footage, with some great results.  He then offered if Daniel and I were willing to travel to his place he would show it to us in the theater room of his apartment complex.  He even offered his couch to crash on, to complete strangers, just because we happened to share a common interest, such was the nature of the man.  Daniel and I had a great time watching the MGB footage was incredible and then we just hung out, talked music, watched some South Park, Travis struck me as a very caring person with a great sense of humour.  I had hope next time Matt came to town to buy Travis a ticket and convince him to come along, but unfortunately fate stepped in the way.  I'll miss Travis and I'm thankful for the brief period I got to know him and for all the benefit that brief meeting has given me.  

It was Travis' hope to be able to share his footage with everyone, but he had some stipulations.  Because he had shot it as part of his profession he was weary to share it without approval from the band members.  He was able to reach out and get copies to Dave and Ian, but unfortunately we were unable to get in touch with Matt.  He dedicated the footage to the memory of Geoff Lloyd, but I suppose now it serves as his epitaph as well.  May he too rest in "Rawk Heaven." 

[foats]

I didn't know him well but he messaged me and thanked me for my contributions to the site. He felt bad he couldn't share his video with me and told me if I'm ever in Canada he would love to have me come up and see it.  I was floored by his generosity and saddened that I won't have the chance to meet him. I read his obituary and he looked like a great guy that left us far too soon. RIP Travis  

[Stwlegend]

Sorry to hear about this.  Way too young and a talented individual.  RIP