Keith (Ketman) Shirasawa
I don’t remember exactly when Keith joined Along For The Ride, but I think it was in 2000 or 2001. But our band got better immediately.
Keith became one of my best all time friends. Tom Daggett was already one of my best all time friends. I was extremely lucky to have them both with me in the same band. And not only was Keith a great friend, he was also one of the funniest people I've ever been around, a genuinely good person and endlessly interesting.
Our music grew over the years. We met weekly for rehearsal sessions in which great music was played never to be heard by anyone outside the band, except on those occasions when I recorded us (some of those recordings will eventually make it onto this website).
Other members came and went but Keith, Tom and I were solid for 6 or 7 years. Until August 4, 2007. Keith died that day, four days after suffering a broken neck while riding The Cyclone, a 100 year old roller coaster on Coney Island. I’ve never stopped missing him. — Paul