Rick "Bubba" Finnegan

This page is a tribute to Bubba, our beloved friend and bass player for Slackerjack and Emminent Domain.

Rick passed away Wednesday, Novemeber 8th, 2006. He died of complications due to stomach problems he had been having. A perforated and infected ulcer, as I understand.

He died in Iowa, visiting with his beloved Christina, whom he planned to marry. What a blessing, to pass in the comfort of the love of his life.

So sad, though, for all that knew him and so enjoyed his friendship with which he was so generous, that we must go on without his boundless heart and wonderful sense of humour.

Rick loved music. He loved music so much that he would spend hours and hours on his bass lines. When others in the bands had obviously not spent the proper time on their parts, Rick would let them know, in a way that only Rick could - straight up BITCH!- and we loved him for it. Great music came of it. Great fun also came of it because he had the greatest sense of humour of any bitchin' bass player that I know!

As for Slackerjack, the band would not have happened were it not for Rick. I had been in a band we called "Slackerjack" in the eighties and years after that I decided to cop the name as a www domain name. Later, after a great time doing Aerosmith tribute stuff with "Toys in the Attic", I was looking to do originals exclusively. Rick was THE one to encourage the idea and join up. He also suggested using the name Slackerjack. So, without Rick, none of the last five years of Slackerjack would have ever happened.

Now, Slackerjack was a live band that rarely played live! That's because we needed time in between all the singers that Bubba made me fire! Okay, it's not ALL Bubba's doing... Afterall, what Bubba and I had in common was perfectionism. Given that though, what I loved about Slackerjack was the slop. Like, you never knew what might happen at any given moment! That was cool! That, at least for me, was the excitement - see what you can do when all hell breaks loose! There was never a major trainwreck though, however, I don't really think the audience appreciated the suspense as much as we did. Now, imagine the next rehearsal. Perfectionist Bubba would point ALL the mistakes out, but you know what? He was ready to laugh harder than anyone, and made everyone else laugh as hard as we ever did about those types of accidental moments. We (at least, I) loved the perfectionist's slop! My desire to execute simple riffs with wierd changes, and Bubba's perfectionist reprimands when those didn't happen correctly, and then, our outrageous laughter over all the totally unexpected mistakes and recoveries! Bands shouldn't play the same script over and over, should they? I never liked it when Journey did. I loved what Blackmore did with his bands. That was Slackerjack.

It WAS because of Bubba that we had all those great times and did things that nobody else did. I fear that kind of fun, in our unique and original style will be tough to find again.

After looking back, and realizing that the past years playing with Bubba have been the best ever, and the extent that he believed in me, and everything he has added to my life, I must say that he has been the best friend I've ever had.

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING BUBBA!

I LOVE YOU!

- Eric Lee