I dont know why I am posting this here. No one here knew my friend but he was a guitar player and I think that all of us guitar players are linked on some level.

My very good friend Nic LaBrec died in a car accident on November 24th 2006. He would have been 21 years old on december 31st 2006. I had known Nic since he was 13 years old. He was a long time student and very good friend. He lived with myself, wife, and son for a year. He came to all the shows of mine I could get him into and he was one of the roadies on the 2004 Infinity Within Tour that I did. I saw Nic probably 2 to 3 times a week on average and most times more than that.

Nic had simple goals in life. He loved playing Halo/Halo2, loved playing the guitar, and he wanted to play in a band on stage. His favorite band was Aerosmith but he loved Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Clapton, and many other bands and musicians as well.

My friends and fellow musicians from the tour Jason Crabbe (rhythm guitar and keyboards) and Fish (bass guitar) went to the funeral, ceremony, and wake. Jason and I played Amazing Grace for him at the church on synth and his electric guitar and at the graveside we all threw picks in for him so he would never fail pick check (during random times on the road someone would always call out "Pick Check" and only the "real" musicians would have a guitar pick in their pocket. If you failed pick check you just weren't "serious". lol

Nic was important enough to me to want to share this with you guys. Paul_R went to my website and saw the memorial I put there for Nic and expressed his condolences and I thought that the world (or at least the JEMSITE part of the world) should know about Nic.

He was the type of person that would do anything to help you. If you were a musician he wanted to hear all that you had to say about everything regarding music. He was just looking for people like him. He just wanted to "belong". I am proud to have had him in my life as a friend and a brother from another mother. Nic loved soda pop, tacos, cheesburgers with no onions or pickles, video games, music, and his friends and family. He loved driving on long road trips. He loved playing poker with the guys on Saturday nights. His favorite comedians were Steven Lynch and Mitch Hedberg. He loved politics and football and more than anything someday he wanted to be able to afford a custom flame guitar like I had made from Christopher Woods and a Les Paul Steve Perry signature model.

Nic was the type of person that "added" something to this world. And because of that, the world seems a little smaller without him. So many people will miss him.

I wrote a song for Nic that I will be recording and putting on the website once I am done. Nothing fancy, just acoustic guitar and vocals. But when I thought about everything that happened it just came out.

Feel free to check out my memorial to Nic on my website and Jason Crabbe's memorial on his site. I will forward any and all condolences to Nic's parents who are of course beyond devastated.

The weblinks are:

http://www.rikkbeatty.com
http://www.jasonrpcrabbe.com

Here is a picture of Nic with his guitar.



RIP my friend,

Rikk

I'm sorry to hear that Rikk RIP nic....

My condolences to you and Nic's family.

Very sorry to hear this, and at such a young age too.
Same age as me, certainly puts things into perspective thats for sure.

R.I.P Nic

That's terrible. My condolences

Dear Rikk,

My condolences to you and Nic's family with the terrible loss of Nic.

It was a rough year for me too in this regard. This year I lost my father, a good friend in (also) an accident and another pal of mine committed suicide this summer, so I can relate to your loss.

RIP Nic

Best regards and I wish strength to you and Nic's family in these difficult times,

Jean Paul

A sad day . My condolences to you Rikk and Nic's family.

Regards

André

Sorry to hear man. My condolences to his family and to everyone who knows him.

Touching post, my heartfelt condolences.

Dear Rikk,

Im sorry to hear that.

I wish from God a restful place for him to rest forever.

Sincerly,

Condolences to you and Nic's family.


Rommel

My condolences as well.. Last year the 30th of October i lost one of my closest friends. He was a week away from turning 18, drowned in the river in stockholm.

I know how you feel about the emptiness, there's always something that's missing. When we go and take a coffee there isn't anyone sitting next to me and hitting his cellphone on his knee. It's terrible.

I really feel for you, man. I don't know what more to say., it's just awful.
Terrible that such a thing can happen..

/Christopher

You have my most heartfelt condolences.

Sorry to hear that, RIP Nic

have a wonderful christmas up there

Very sorry to hear Rikk, and my condolences to all his family and friends.

I'll have my children remember him in their prayers.

jim