Dr. Morbius (Bill Weber) RIP

that's the part I can most relate to

mookie, nicely done.

morbs arrived in nyc 40 years ago and survived aids -- something i cannot even fathom

this is the part of his biography I wish we emphasized

― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 23, 2020 7:20 PM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

that's the part I can most relate to

― Dan S, Friday, October 23, 2020 7:26 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I cannot relate, as I was born right as the crisis began, but I will say that I become simultaneously weepy and viciously angry even imagining what my older gay friends went through. I have a friend who has been positive for more than thirty years now, still lives in SF. I miss him terribly, and hope I get to see him again.

HIV, quietly and insistently, has shaped my outlook; it has shaped my approach to men. Having an uncle die wretchedly will do this.

hanging out with morbs and jon and tza back in 2006 was right about when i decided i was maybe gonna make it after all

<3

A lifetime ago, both Pseu Braun and Morbs were regulars on the Fake Matador Bulletin Board, a place many of us came from as ilx was growing in the early 00s. Pseu posted under the moniker "iman" and would tag team with someone else under the moniker "david bowie." They turned harassing me into a part-time hobby and, in fact, the reason I showed up at ilx lo these many years ago is because "david bowie" began posting here as me and I had to come over and put a stop to it. I never left, as it turns out.

In the years since, I've gotten to know Pseu online as herself reasonably well, so I finally asked her yesterday if it was indeed Bill who played "david bowie," as I'd always suspected.

Her response: "No, Morbius was Morbius. He stayed classy."

xpost
that was about when i met those guys too (not morbs at that point for some reason, but jw, tza, laurel, bell labs, ian, dmr and vic). weird that i didn't meet you til a bunch of years after that forks

also i was already too old and lame to really hang out much

jw became part of my d&d campaign for a couple of years though lol

xp <3

couldn't find a matt dc + morbs photo, but here he and laurel are behind ridiculous hippie max the same evening

https://i.imgur.com/yLolD0d.jpg

A kind of guy we're running out of

give me 5-10 years

In the future everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutesclaim to have been at that initial pavement-free JW/Morbius bro-down. Hoping nabisco will come back and tell us his version, as I recall he was there as well.

I went looking for photos and couldn’t find any of him, but I did find a photo of a Bill Clinton baseball I took at the presidential library in Little Rock and emailed to him.

Here's an update from Bill's sister Cathy. Good to know that Sunday breakfast is settled.

Thank you all so much for all your messages of sympathy and concern for us. Losing Bill Weber is devastating to us and I know to all of you who knew him. I just wanted to give you some info as the "official" obituary will not be published for a few days.

1. There will not be a memorial service until it is safe to do so, which sure as heck ain't now. I don't know when it will be as I don't have a crystal ball, and even if I did, I don't know how to use one. Bill implored me not to have any kind of gathering that could endanger anyone he loved; then I reminded him I am a scientist and he said, "Oh, right, of course!" Bill requested that his remains be cremated, so Bill's wishes are my command (Scientist by training, Genie as a side hustle).

2. In lieu of flowers, Bill asked that people give in any way they can (volunteering, monetary gifts, etc.) to the following organizations. So follow your inclination to support:
WFMU - wfmu.org
A freeform radio station in NJ that Bill has supported as a volunteer for decades. Many of the DJs are his closest friends. Great bunch of folks.
The Silent Clowns Film Series - silentclowns.com
NYC's Longest running showcase for classic silent film comedy. Bill's friends Steve Massa, Ben Model and Bruce Lawton run this series. It is virtual right now but post pandemic they will be back at the NY Library for the Performing Arts at the back of Lincoln Center. Ben plays live accompaniment to the films - it is quite an entertaining and unique experience.
Amnesty International - amnesty.org
Amnesty International campaigns to end abuses of human rights all over the globe. Bill has supported this organization since high school.
SABR - sabr.org
Society for American Baseball Research
This is a global organization for anyone interested in baseball. Bill has been a member for decades. If you love baseball - check them out.
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation - mmrf.org
These are the folks who fund research and drug development to treat the disease that Bill has dealt with for the last 8 years. They are a stellar organization.

3. Pancake Sunday - Bill almost always had pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. Simple, straightforward - just maple syrup on them. And Bill did not hold back on the syrup. I once said to him - "You know you just poured about $7 worth of syrup on there." And he said "Yes, don't worry." And when his pancakes where gone, he picked up his plate and drank the syrup that remained. Such a hedonist, that Bill! May I suggest you have some pancakes on Sunday morning (even if morning is 1 PM for you) and take a photo and post it as a tribute to Bill? I know he would think this was more than a little silly, but he would know right away it was me suggesting it. As Bill often said to me "You're such a girl."

I promise to post some photos and stories about Bill in the coming days and weeks. Love to all, Cathy

Thanks again, Kevin. Pancakes it is.

Memorial page: I learnt of Paul in Santa Cruz's death a few months ago.

https://news.ucsc.edu/2019/08/nauert-in-memoriam.html

couldn't find a matt dc + morbs photo, but here he and laurel are behind ridiculous hippie max the same evening

So this thread is the motherlode for pictures/memories of that night, although it appears to be 90% pictures of Max.

Also it contains this truly iconic picture of Morbs.

to the extent that Morbz thought of me at all, i'm sure it wasn't pleasant. the two of us really pissed off each other here and got into some nasty fights. so it's strange to think that we did meet IRL once and he was very nice and pleasant. and i did think that his posts on movies were always interesting and insightful.

after reading all of the touching testimonials here, i really wish that i could have patched up any bad blood that existed between us before he passed. perhaps we could've done so at a Phillies-Mets game at Citi Field, or at an old-timey movie in NYC or Jersey City.

RIP, Bill -- i will contribute some money to WFMU in your honor.

Aw, hello Tadeusz xx

Thanks Kevin. Lots of good organizations there that could always use donations, for Bill or for anyone.

Memorial page: I learnt of Paul in Santa Cruz's death a few months ago.

Oh shit, that guy was an amazing poster too. Awful news!

I had no idea that Paul in Santa Cruz was Paul Nauert-- a friend who teaches disability studies with a focus on art practices has written about him, so I've known of his work for a while.

damn... RIP, Paul.

Yeah Paul was great, we even ‘collaborated’ for the Wire tribute though he did the work, really. I last spoke with him some years ago and he was already very ill.

ALS is just awful

It is. A music writing colleague in the Terrastock fanbase -- one of the best of them, Lee Jackson by name -- died of it early last decade, a horrible thing to contemplate. We ended up putting together a tribute for him as a fundraiser.

https://forleejacksoninspace.bandcamp.com/

watching movies is depressing knowing that he's dead

― flappy bird, Friday, October 23, 2020

i've had the opposite reaction--i watched Ernst Lubitsch 'To Be Or Not To Be' (which morbs once recommended to me) and relished every second of it with renewed zeal :)

i also saw "Tetsuo: Iron Man" at the local rep/art house theatre and made a donation in Morbs' name. not sure what he thought of j-horror tho

I could take a guess.

(Actually, I vaguely remember him loving Pulse, but that could've just been his hatred of cell phones/internet/etc.)

i've had the opposite reaction--i watched Ernst Lubitsch 'To Be Or Not To Be' (which morbs once recommended to me) and relished every second of it with renewed zeal :

So you're the one they call "Concentration Camp" Ehrhardt!

on the topic of Morbs being cantankerous on ilx, imho his combo of crankiness and thick-skinnedness created a foil for everyone to lob zings at. his foul mood was a fuel for comedic banter; morbs was anti-cuddlestein par excellence <3

_i've had the opposite reaction--i watched Ernst Lubitsch 'To Be Or Not To Be' (which morbs once recommended to me) and relished every second of it with renewed zeal :_

So _you're_ the one they call "Concentration Camp" Ehrhardt!

lol :)

I had a few work colleagues with whom I would always often do this bit. We would both do it, as kind of a greeting.

watching movies is depressing knowing that he's dead

― flappy bird, Friday, October 23, 2020

i've had the opposite reaction--i watched Ernst Lubitsch 'To Be Or Not To Be' (which morbs once recommended to me) and relished every second of it with renewed zeal :)

That and a certain scene from Twentieth Century.

I don't really think of him as thick-skinned though? He was always leaving forever.

loved to exit with a dramatic flounce, he did

Performative thin-skinnedness. As everyone who's met him can attest, he was a sweetheart in person, albeit still quick with a quip.

He may have recognized that as part of his schtick, and gradually ran with it?

He was furious at me in 2012 (in private FB msgs) when he was tempbanned but it was all water under the bridge within a few months. His willingness to let it all fall away (and to regather it as needed) gave me a bit of insight. Crabby or not, inconsistent or not, I'll miss him as long as I post here.

What Morbs/Bill was going for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJOn9DFeINo
How he often came across:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MULMbqQ9LJ8

RIP fellow Mets fans & WFMU lover. This place won't be the same....

I always loved Morbs "leaving" a thread forever aka 12 hours

ya lol

45 minutes morelike

A brimful of Morbius.

Sunday morning in Australia. I was hoping that was a suitable amount of syrup and end up glad I bought another bottle.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jtymkwcs4h3x13n/IMG_8457.jpg?raw=1

xp lol yeah for real.

although we had irl mutuals i never got to meet him in person, to my great regret now. so while i never got to experience the irl sweetness that made his online persona click into place for so for many people, the longtime consistency of his character on ILX sort of ended up serving that function for me. Early in my posting career (an amount of years ago i dont even want to count rn) he threw some nasty stuff at me that really hurt my feelings, but as the years went on and I got a sense of the way he operated it took the sting out of it - called a worthless shithead for saying something nice about a movie he didnt like? morbs being morbs man, he's forgotten it already, so should you. I'm not sure how much I ever totally understood how sincere or in-character his posting style was or wasn't, but the fact that it was so consistent that you could set your watch to it made me understand that it was never really about 'me' - the guy liked what he liked, hated what he didnt, and if you understood that and still got into it with him, well, thats on you. He put himself out there and the rest was your move.

Pancakes and Lubitsch not a bad idea for a sunday tradition.

:) Ed