For Reza, Our Bill

At the end of my senior year of high school, my AP Government class was divided into 3 teams for a project to develop a utopian system. The night before the teams were decided, I had been watching some DVDs of The Chris Rock Show, and there was a Def Jam parody on there called Def Emergency Room Jam, so when we needed a team name the next day, I christened our noble group, and Def Government Jam was born.

Def Government Jam lives on to this day. It was me, the twins, Ryan, Mike, Johanna, Lindsey, Trevor, AJ, and Dino. Our group still often remembers and reminisces on our time and our project, which, somehow simply became a re-enactment of Kill Bill Volume 1, and I still have a copy of our movie on DVD. As a matter of fact, half of my wardrobe remains in California, but Def Government Jam's final movie project came to New York with me.

We all assumed roles from the movie, but were lacking the title character (that you don't need to see anyway) and elected Reza, the father of two of the members, my very good friends, my partners in crime, the twins.

Born in Iran, Reza had a killer sense of humor and an astounding work ethic. At the time of Def Government Jam, I was working in a hair salon in a shopping center where Reza owned a pizza parlor. The twins would often bring me lunch or dinner, compliments of Reza, or I would go stop by on breaks to see Reza and just talk and laugh, he always had plenty to say and lots of jokes. Whenever I would go to visit the twins at their house, Reza would often come down to hang out with us in the kitchen, speak French with me, or teach me simple phrases in Farsi. I think I even have a picture with him from high school graduation. For my 23rd birthday, Reza and his wife Lena bought me a huge (HUGE) bottle of champagne and a sweet card to send us off to Vegas with to celebrate. I would call him Bill, he would call me Black Mamba. I would ask about Bill, and Bill would ask about Black Mamba.

Reza passed away unexpectedly yesterday, and I feel so awful knowing how devastating it has been for the twins and their family, and it's really been a shock for all of us that knew him, and I thought everyone should know what a great guy Reza was, and he leaves on a great legacy.

Def Government Jam's very own Bill. He's the man. 

April 20, 1955 - April 28, 2013