I’m going to miss the guy. He was a client of mine since the dawn of time and we always had fun together. He’d drive paperwork from Claremont to Calabasas because he didn’t trust the mail. Always wearing a Rayon Hawaiian shirt.
We had names for each other. He named me Rama Wissub and I’d call him Dayba Limleem. My son Andrew remembers “he’d stop by the office and you two would speak in Lord knows what language.” There was once pie in the lunch room: “Limleem want pah pah?” ‘Cause we had just run out of cat food sandwiches:
When my youngest son Jonny was around 8, he was very fidgety. I thought it might be good for him to learn how to play an instrument and I figured the plethora of bizarre string instruments Limleem had might appeal to Jonny’s imagination and inspire Jonny to take up oud, saz, or even the humble guitar. I asked Limleem if I could bring Jonny by to see the instruments to try and inspire his musical interest.
Dayba was all up for it, but suggested instead that I bring Jonny to meet up at the studio in North Hollywood where he, Warren Zevon, and Jackson Browne were rehearsing for a benefit show. I brought Jonny by and he was introduced and said hi to Dayba, Warren and Jackson at a break. Then he walked over to Fritz Lewak’s crazy 15-piece drum kit replete with a cornucopia of various percussion instruments, turned around, and announced “I want to play drums.” Limleem looked crushed and Jonny is a drummer to this day.
An amazing talent, a great sense of humor, and a good friend for many years, he will be missed.