Read Matt "Angel" Duss on the Boston/Huckabee split. (Actually, they should totally record a split 7".) To change the tone dramatically, my memories of the first Boston record will forever be tied to those of my old, estranged friend T.J. Doherty. At the Brooklyn apartment T.J. shared in 2001 with my then-girlfriend, he drew a picture on a yellow legal pad of the back cover of the first Boston record, a shabby but defiant mess, a total A for effort. (T.J. did another one of My Bloody Valentine, which he accidentally titled, "My Bloddy Valentine.") They hung it, as was necessary, on the wall.

T.J. is a brilliant sound engineer. When he was 13 years old, he heard a Steely Dan record, and thought it was so perfect, he had to make music that sounded as good as that. Not 15 years later, T.J. became Steely Dan's engineer. On one crazy night when he was working on a D'Angelo session, he got us into the legendary Sear Sound studios, where Lou Reed and Alex Chilton recorded. By 6 a.m. I was drumming on D'Angelo's drummer's DW set. T.J. won a Grammy for engineering Wilco's Ghost Is Born record and did a great job on Sonic Youth's Rather Ripped as well.

Last month T.J. thought he had a pimple on his face. It was a staph infection. Both his lungs have collapsed. He's fighting for his life in Hackensack Hospital in New Jersey, where he's not allowed visitors. If you believe in God, please pray for him. T.J., I love you brother, and I'm not prepared to say goodbye.