Justin Lee Moore

Justin to me was always the guy who wanted to have a good time. He was always about having fun and making sure everyone else around him was having fun. I met Justin through a friend, who for some time, became a step brother to Justin. I can remember the first time meeting Justin, I had rode my bike over to Nate's house to hang out, and there they were on their skateboards skating around. I never could ride a skateboard, but I always would find a way to hang out.

From the beginning, the three of us instantly clicked as friends, and on those weekends where Justin would stay at Nate's house, we were inseperable.  Countless nights we would stay up until 2-3 in the morning just laughing and making jokes, listening to music, eating, and just having fun. I was always a big fan of music as my mom and dad always would have blues music playing on the weekends. But when I met Justin, a new music chapter began in my life. He introducted me to all of the great local bands at the time, and we even made it to a few of their shows together when we could. But the best of the best, that we were introducted through by my cousin Tonio, was a man by the name of Joe Wilson. At the time he was in a acousitc guitar duo known as Feeling Left Out. As soon as we both listened to FLO, we were instantly hooked. FLO hailed from New Jersey, but you better believe EVERY time they made a trip to Michigan, which got more and more frequent, we were there. The best show that we witnessed actually ended up being much more than just a concert. A group of 20 of us ended up going to a taco bell at 1130 at night before the dining room closed and ate. The night was just young, as after, we carted over to the Best Buy parking lot to play a game of wiffle ball. That was one of the best moments ever, and every time Justin would talk to Joe or anyone about it, he always brought that night up.

Over the years, Justin and I got really close, we would quote every line from the Chappelle Show and sing word for word every FLO song, hell we even sat around one day without Nate and wrote a song, we titled it the Impregnation Anthem. It was really just a big joke, but we laughed about it every time as he would play the guitar and I'd "rap" the song.

Eventually all good things must come to an end and then after some turmoil, Justin didn't get to make it out this way anymore, so we would occassionally chat online and update each other on music and other things. We would try to plan a weekend to get together and something would come up with my work, or he couldn't get any transportation, which was a let down, because like I said, we always had a great time together. I'm upset that I never got to say "goodbye" or see Justin before his passing, but I know that he's happier now and is looking down on us probably strumming away on his acoustic making sure we are all happy. SHIBBY dude.

Cory Hamlin