Around 2014–during some of our busiest times at Avatar and Thunderbox, we (ARR) were still running our original Geocites/Angelfire website that we launched in 2007 and despite it still serving the purpose of providing basic information and a contact number to visitors, for all intents and purposes it was a relic that needed to be retired years prior. I inquired around and spoke with several web developers to discuss our needs, vision, and budget, and the half that actually responded gave me estimates around $5k….which was about twice what I had to spend at the time. I just needed some basic updates with some photos, a background refresh, a media player for some tunes, and a contact form for customers to get in touch with me….yet I had companies trying to persuade me I needed a 3D tour with all the latest widgets and gadgets.
So my search for a designer continued and I eventually stumbled upon the website of none other than my neighbors across the hall at Avatar, Open Sky Studios, that was owned and operated by Mike Froedge and Bruce Butkovich. For those not in the know, Open Sky Studios was a sight to behold. If all of the tenants in Avatar (including us) were Motel 6 rooms, Open Sky was the Marriott Marquis with a TON of floor space, 20 foot ceilings, incredibly cool decor, and a control room positioned in a second story loft that oversaw the production like an Air Traffic Control tower with a massive billion channel analog mixer as the centerpiece. Open Sky’s website was equally impressive, and essentially an extension of the actual studio that offered visitors a taste and feel of Avatar’s penthouse before even stepping in it. What I couldn’t take my eyes off, however, was the mixer on the home page with faders that you could manipulate for different audio tracks, sounds, and information. It was WAY cool and I wanted something like it…so I asked Mike who did their website and he said this guy named Gogi. What did you say I asked? Gogi? Cool, I’ll give him a buzz!
So I contacted this guy named Gogi (who said it was Yogi, like the bear, but with a G) and we chatted for a bit to include what functionality we were looking for, what our timeline was, and what kind of budget we were working with. After a little back and forth discussing the art of the possible, Gogi, who I also learned was an accomplished musician, gave us a more than fair quote and we contracted him to build Atlrockstar.com v.2.
As the design phase progressed, we corresponded daily to make tweaks to the site, to share opinions on how certain things looked, and to make sure I felt included in the overall project. During this time, I learned that he loved NFL football…which was super cool because I did too and the Falcons consumed more of our conversations than the actual project at hand did. The more I got to know him, my interest was piqued about his music so I started digging in and listening to the bands that he played lead guitar for. Dear Enemy, a 5-piece hard rock/metal outfit based out of Atlanta, was a national touring act with 5 albums to their credit and hundreds of live shows under their belt. This was intense but aligned with my musical tastes at the time and I loved it, so much so that I immediately purchased all of their albums. Gogi was also lead guitarist for Viasava, a 4-piece rock band known for their high-energy performances and catchy melodies. They were also very cool and I picked up their CD to throw in the shuffle. The last collaboration of Gogi’s that I checked out was a tribute album that he played on and produced in honor of his late best friend, Troy Pooser. Out of all the albums I have of Gogi’s, this particular album gets the most airtime and never gets old.
The story goes that Troy and Gogi grew up together in SC and both developed a deep interest in guitar around the same time during their adolescent years. This commonality and the love for music that they shared brought two good friends even closer, and they soon became inseparable. Whether it was writing songs together or just jamming…any free time they had their guitars were with them and they were working on the next best thing. As time went on and they both eventually went on to start their own families, Troy and Gogi still made every attempt to play together despite the shift in priorities on the homefront and the geographic distance between them. On one such occasion, which unfortunately would turn out to be their last, Troy and Gogi were in the beginning stages of working on their first album together after all of these years and, according to Gogi, Troy had never been more excited about embarking on a project. Over the course of that final weekend, as time was running out on their first few days in the studio, Troy just wanted to get a few songs documented and they’d come back and commence work from where they left off…so Gogi obliged and recorded 4 songs of Troy’s vocals and guitars. A week later he would be gone.
The unexpected loss of a best friend and brother was immeasurable and obviously took its toll on Gogi and the local music community. Troy was young, extremely talented, loved by all, and had a family with a million things going for him and was taken way too early. Despite knowing how difficult and painful it would be to return to the studio and work on their album, Gogi knew that he had to complete this project and it was something that Troy would have absolutely wanted. So for weeks and months Gogi brought in musicians that had collaborated with Troy in the past to fill in the gaps on the songs that Troy had started, and what they couldn’t cover he did himself to include all of the instruments on the penultimate track, “Better Late than Never”.
The story behind this album is worth getting it alone, but the music seriously rocks. I can’t begin to understand the challenges that Gogi and others were faced with working on this album during a time of bereavement and while grieving such a huge loss. But that’s what kind of dude Gogi is. He’d give you the shirt off of his back (even if it was a Falcons jersey), he’ll stay up ’til the wee hours of the morning working on silly website requests, and he is so humble in everything he does which is admirable, but it also makes you want to slap him around a bit so he’ll enjoy his talents. His creative genius in guitar playing (how many other PRS endorsed players do you know?) carries over to his brilliance in website design and branding. I’m proud to call him a good friend and even if I had to pay him one of those astronomical quotes that I received from the other web-designers, it would have been a small price to pay to for our friendship.
Go check Gogi’s stuff out, and if you need a website designed he’s your dude.
https://www.facebook.com/troypoosermusic