Matteo

i didn’t know nico all that well. a week together in the dust, 2023, a few messages after. hearing of his passing this week hit me harder than i expected.

the year of the mud, my first burn. camped at sacbe with my partner at the time & my dear galão friends. that’s where i met this frolicking angelic being.

nico was always frolicking. some kind of fairy wizard energy floating through camp, & every time we saw him it ended in a laugh. she & i had a whole bit going. there he goes, captain frolic. when we finally let him in on it he laughed so hard. after that he’d catch us laughing from across camp & know exactly why.

earlier that week he’d invited us onto the robot heart bus for his set. then the storm came & the playa went quiet for days. in those in between moments, not knowing if the man would even burn, our bond grew. long talks about music, life, consciousness, his story. he talked about his dreams in a way that made you want to go create something.

last morning after the burn the art cars finally rolled. we found nico on the RH bus & watched him work his magic as the sun came up. we stayed up top after his set. laughs & tears, holding space for him as the playa lit up. it was easy with him, like we’d known each other another lifetime.

packing up camp we dropped in one last time. temple burn was his fav & it was that night. he invited us to stay one more, but we had a house in nevada city to get to. a couple days later he messaged askin if we made it ok & sent photos of the temple burn.

rolling into the house there was a sign with ‘Frolic’ carved in. a beautiful synchronicity.

he was booked to play camp summerdaze this weekend, my hometown festival. i’d made a note to message him about dinner, days before the news.

everything his community has shared this week is the same man i met. the openness, the way he gave you his whole self in whatever time you had. i only got a glimpse & it stayed with me for years.

fly high my dear brother. thank you for the music, the inspiration, & the moments we shared. i know you’re out there frolicking through the galaxy, smiling down on us all.

all my love to his family, his friends & everyone who held him close. ♥️

crew love. we roll deep.

been a minute. the year’s been unreal and summer’s officially rockin.

this is what play looks like when you let it back in. rockin with the best crew, unhinged and fully alive baby 👅

things are about to pop off. been cookin up a lot behind the scenes. more soon.

july 11, one month out from the hottest part of summer: Floorplay Sunset Strip. so rev up those engines, it’s about to get loud and WILD. You know how we do.

in the meantime I’ll be throwin down some heat reverie.toronto tomorrow night w/ the homies Deian & Alex SHEP , presented by AMP Asad Mehdi
coming from Blond:ish at sunnyside? roll thru after ;)

big love to Shayan Sean Bejaimal for the summer kickoff rooftop shaker, captured right here by Derek • Toronto Photographer & jer.

RED
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