Nico might not be known to as many of you as some of the Radon artists, but he was a very important person for Yann and I during the period Sikhara was based in France. Like Yann, he was from Bordeaux, but ready to see the rest of Europe and what it might have to offer.

  He was a perfect driver for Sikhara, as he could put up with us, had a compact car that was cheap for gas, but enough room in the back seat for a floor tom. Nico was, in fact, a very skilled driver.  Upon taking notice of this and commenting early on in our travel, I learned there was a very good reason for this.  His father was in the French foreign service and he learned to drive in Cairo, one of the most notoriously difficult cities in the world to drive. So when time came to drive Sikhara down some stairs in the middle of Taxim in Istanbul, he didn’t even blink. 

  Nico had an approach to life that was not unnecessarily complex, he simply loved to have fun. It’s hard to picture him without a smile, and usually dancing or waving drinks high in the air and shouting some quasi-obscene, ridiculous French squat punk catchphrase or singing electro or punk songs along with the radio. 

  He was a well endowed man, and this was a fact he liked to share with the world.  If a party was cooking, his pants were probably going to open up, ready or not. But like all other aspects of his behavior, never in an aggressive obnoxious way, just in the spirit of fun.

  The last time, I saw him, he seemed to be doing so well, and I was even shocked that perhaps he had turned into a total square. 

  If there turns out to be a hell, I’d surely be headed there, and I wish Nico could be the one to drive me there, r.i.p.