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SITE DEDICATION

Gregory F. Braun

Born on: February 5, 1954
Passed on: May 24, 1981


This Disco Demolition site is dedicated to the memory of Gregory F. Braun.

All Photos By Victor Modlinski

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Greg was the quintessential Coho. He lived and breathed Rock & Roll music and The Loop FM 98 was the soundtrack that he lived by...

He lived for all things fun and exciting.

It was an honor and privilege to have been his friend. This meant being prepared for the latest Braun excursion, be it camping out, a rock show, amusement park, movie premier, anti-Disco event or anything to do with Steve Dahl and Garry Meier.

Needless to say, Greg was instrumental in influencing my interests in photography, Rock and Roll music, live shows, movies and the appreciation of life in general.

He was the one that got everyone to go to Disco Demolition Night.

He was also the one that convinced me to go to ChicagoFest with him that same year to see this new hard rock band from Germany. The Loop FM98 had spent weeks hyping this mystery band on-air and promised to broadcast their concert live. So we went and the mystery band ended up being The Scorpions. We we were very lucky to get into the Rock Around The Dock stage to see them at ChicagoFest on Monday, August 6, 1979.

Everyone knew we were witnessing Rock & Roll history that night... all the while being blown away by the awesome music of The Scorpions. The live broadcast recording of this concert is still out there on the web and if you search real hard you can still get it.

Indeed, what a beautiful night it turned out to be! This was my very first live rock show, and it helped to forever change the way I look at live music and the performers.

This first show convinced me that The Scorpions were going to be one of the best live Rock & Roll bands ever to take the stage. Thanks to Greg and that show, I have been following them ever since...


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ChicagoFest - August 6, 1979.

Greg was known as "The General" by all of his close friends. He became the driving force for all things fun to do after work. Being employed by the same bank and having many friends and family in common, made it easy for our group to get along and hang out together, even after business hours.

Some of our get togethers and road trips could get quite wild... but never totally out of hand.

We were young people entrusted with great business responsibilities... as you can see by this photo.


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Halloween Party in 1979.

The fun we had back then was genuine, but the times were very different from today in the late 70's and early 80's. There was no Internet or cell phones, no cable TV and we all got our music and news from the radio and the newspapers we read.

If you were trying to call someone, you would hope that they were at home at the time to answer the phone. Very few people had answering machines back then and snail mail was still the only way to send someone a letter or make a payment.

It was at the beginning of 1980 that we all knew something was very wrong with Greg. He was losing weight and every time he would eat something he would have to use the bathroom shortly thereafter.

He would always spend a long time in the bathroom and complained about it a lot. We all pushed him to go see a doctor, what he was experiencing was not normal to us.

When he finally did go to the doctor, it was already too late. He was diagnosed with advanced stage colo-rectal cancer and had maybe a year or so to live. It hit all of us like a ton of bricks. He was too young to have such a terrible disease... he was only 24 years old!

We all watched as Greg began what treatments were available at the time. We all prayed for him and gave him every encouragement, but nothing worked and he spent a lot of time in the hospital during 1980.

They say you know who your real friends are when you become sick or broke. This was true in Greg's case... only a handful of his close friends cared enough to go visit him when he needed support. I was always there for him during his tough times.


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During one of his extended stays at Northwestern Hospital in downtown Chicago, Andy Julkowski, a co-worker of mine and I paid Greg a visit one late Friday night. We were attending a restaurant grand opening together earlier that evening that featured members of the Chicago Honeybears, the Chicago Bears Cheerleading squad.

It turned out that the owner of the restaurant spoke with the girls earlier. He told them about the dire situation with my friend and one of them offered to do something and approached me about it.

It was a very touching gesture on her part and a very emotional moment for me. She proposed that we pay a visit to him at the hospital that night as soon as the restaurant event was over. We agreed and stayed until the event was over... and then headed out.

This was going to be a great surprise for Greg, a life long Bears fan. I was so happy!

Her name was Patti Ross and she was truly an angel in a Cheerleaders Outfit!

Greg really enjoyed the visit and we laughed about it afterwards... he could not believe we pulled off getting a member of the Chicago Honeybears to visit him at midnight, in the hospital, and way after visiting hours. It was a moment that I will forever cherish... thank you Patti Ross!

Greg looks very happy in these two Honeybear photos... this is the way I will always remember him.


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Greg continued to fight on with his cancer throughout 1980 and had many ups and downs. They had tried many treatments of last resort on him, and many of them would be deemed barbaric today. But he was desperate to try anything that would help cure him of this cancer. This vibrant, full of life person that I knew just wanted to keep on living.

There was a time after one of these treatments that I visited him and could not recognize him because he was so emaciated he looked like a living skeleton. This really freaked me out and I thought it was over for him.

But another time, they released him from the hospital in February of 1981 to celebrate his 26th birthday. He looked perfectly normal, he had his weight back, a new car and we went out to celebrate at one of the rock clubs to see a new up and coming local band. I thought that the treatments he was getting were helping and things would go back to the way they were before he became sick.

But things were not as they seemed, he told me that night that this would probably be the last time I would see him alive. They pumped him up with a bunch of drugs and nutrients to give his system a boost so that he could have somewhat of a normal life... before the end.

He said he would be undergoing another new treatment because all the others failed and he was pretty much giving himself up for experimentation that may help other people in the future. He looked death right in the face and was not afraid... he was the bravest person I knew at that point in my life.

I saw him one last time at the hospital before he passed away. He was back to looking like a living skeleton after the latest treatment efforts failed, and we sadly said our final goodbyes...

Greg passed away on May 24, 1981.

At the funeral, he looked like a wounded animal that had lived and died with great pain. I can only imagine what he must have suffered through during those last moments of his life. All of us cried as we slowly carried out his coffin after the funeral. It was truly a sad day for all of us...

It left us all feeling empty inside, with something missing. Our entire group of friends slowly dissolved and I ended up leaving the bank in October of 1981. His death had an effect on everyone that knew him... they could not believe that something like that could happen to someone so young.

I lost my best friend when Greg died and it personally took me quite a while to come to terms with the fact that I would never see him alive again. I still have issues with totally opening up to new people even to this day. I guess I don't want to ever go through that type of emotional pain again.

I learned a lot about life and death from Greg and I want to thank him for everything we experienced together as friends. I look forward to burning the sky with him when my time comes.

Rest in peace my good friend.

Victor.