In Memory of Imants Krumins

Imants Krumins was an awesome dude. He was older than most but once he started talking to you the pretence of age was dropped and it was all about the enthusiasm for punk or wrestling or roller derby. Whatever it was about he was into it. And he wanted others to be into it too. He would often be driving to an event with a carload of people. Bussing people in from Hamilton.

He was a world traveller. Imants would often take a vacation once a year and come back with loads of records and CDs. He had done quite a few programs the week after his trip from places like the Basque region or Brazil or wherever he was drawn. My recollection is of Imants programming on the fly going through a stack of CDs flipping through tracks of the CD deck because he didn’t have enough time to go through all the stuff that he had picked up. Finding the right song just seconds before the one that was playing was to stop and getting the mix just right. Then telling crazy record collecting stories about the CDs he had just played about hard to find stores off the beaten path. He would write about them in tour journals that we would publish in the zine. Imants was an advocate for Equalizing-X-Distort. He was always here for us. He donated on every fundraising drive. He brought in Simply Saucer and him and Rob Sikora did an interview with this legendary band. He would talk about his native Hamilton bands and with good reason. He believed in the power of radio and that is because he used to do a show of his own on CFMU. Then CFMU had a program shuffle and he got lost in the mix but he always believed in the story telling medium that is radio which is why he always had a home here on Equalizing-X-Distort.

It is sad to see Imants go because he is one of a kind. But in looking around the room I had heard a bunch of stories about Imants enthusiasm for these scenes. And the bands recognized it. Craig Caron told me of a poster that read something like “He loved music and we all loved him” with a guitar pick that was postered up and down James Street. Buddy we wish you were here to see the love and appreciation this scene has for you. Given your record collecting abilities Chris Colohon thought it would be appropriate if someone had written on the urn 1 of 1 because you were truly one of a kind. Mild mannered banker by day, mild mannered punk by night. A guy who was once referred to as Finance Imants for his ability to help out the Unknowns get a loan to purchase a van. Your generosity knew no bounds. Your enthusiasm knew no bounds. You were truly one of a kind. You were there in the beginning. I don't know what we are going to do without you, but you inspired us to love our scene and by love I mean you got us enthusiastic about punk and for that we are greatful. We will miss you.