To say that I am crushed by Dean's passing is an understatement. It's like losing Warhol. Sprouse. Now Johnson. I met Dean when I was 17 and doing fashion shows at Danceteria. He had just finished a perfomance, scoped me out and asked me on a date. We went for chinese then headed to my apartment where we vacuumed up copius ammounts of shitty blow, attempted a make out session and then found ourselves in the typical abyss of coke dick. Dean suddenly said, "you wanna be a one time trick or friends forever?" I chose the latter and Dean and I began a visual colloboration that lasted 2 decades. He modeled for me in countles downtown rags and was the main model for me my fashion line Dom Casual. He never stopped inspiring me, making me laugh, or reading my ass and putting me into places where i wouldn't hurt myself so much. I loved him dearly. When I moved to San FranDisco in 96, i pretty much cut myself off the NYC club scene and rarely if ever venture back into it, even now that i'm living back in NYC. The end result of this was losing touch with so many of the people that had inspired, influenced and taken me under their wings. This was especially true with dean, although I would occassionally come across him on horned up adventures at his XXX and Hustler parties. recently I had begun to run into him at the legendary salon of adam & Leslie and it was a chance to catch up and remember old times. He was so excited about his recent reading series at Rapture and even inspired me to polish off my old soul and get back into doing some spoken word again. As I write this I'm crying, but the tears are mixtures of sadness & joy. Sad because I won't see dean again, joy because he was such a major presence in my life that I will never forget him. No-one will. Everything he stood for only becomes more important and his image will only become more iconic, a true classic of queer punk rock super fagdom realized by a genius who sadly is now getting his due. I miss you Dean and I will always love you. Thanks for being in my life.