Every year, on New Years Eve, I celebrate my late best friend Kenji Allen's birthday. He passed away several years ago, but I can't remember that date, because he's still alive, in my mind and soul. I remember the long, strange journey that became our deep friendship. It started with a bunch of mutual friends, who told me about this mythical place called "Kenjiland." He lived close to Freeport HS, on Randall Avenue. Eventually, they brought me there, and I met him, and one of his three sisters. It really was like entering a different world, in some respects.
Before long, I met his other two sisters, and his Mom and Dad. The big thing about "Kenjiland" was that we could hang out in his room, and party, meaning drink and smoke weed. His Mom, who was from Okinawa, would complain, but his Dad didn't mind. I formed a bond with Mrs. Allen, by going out of Kenji's room and talking with her about it. I explained how my Mother told me, as a kid, that she would rather that if I smoked pot, I did it at home, instead of outside, where I could be arrested. This was the start of a long lasting familial relationship with the Allen family.
With that as a preface, this post is about a few of Kenji's birthday parties that I totally blew up, because I had to be the center of attention, even on his birthday. It was New Years Eve, after all! In 1979 - 1980, I famously went out on the roof of the Randall Avenue house, and howled like a werewolf at midnight. When the crowd of our friends in front of the house, watching me, were not impressed enough, I faked falling off the roof, to get more attention. Yes, I was young, and dumb, and I'm not afraid to admit it, in 2022-'23. :)
It got worse, the next year. Kenji's family moved to a new house, in the center of the Nassau Community College campus. Again, New Years Eve was Kenji's birthday, so it was a HUGE party. As usual, I had to stay up later, and drink more than anyone, and then do something really stupid. I ended up writing several paragraphs of semi-legible scribbling on his bathroom wall. Kenji was still awake, and saw it, soon after. I vaguely remember him coming down into the basement, where there were a few of us left, and grabbing me by my collar. He dragged me up to the bathroom, showed it to me, and said "What the Fuck, Leav?"
I spent the rest of the night scrubbing off that writing. I fell asleep in the bathtub, and started scrubbing again, after waking up. Let me tell you, this was just in the first few years that we were friends. I have to say that one reason we became such good friends was that he put up with my stupid antics. Over the years, we had some points where we fell out, but always came back as closer friends, and his family kind of "adopted me," as well.
I have a handful of friends that I call "best," and Kenji Allen, as well as his family are among them. There are SO many more of our stories to tell, about baking pizzas from scratch, or a hundred other things. I'm making this post on my NEXTLEAV blog, so that I can continue to update it every year, and hopefully that it will live longer than me, as well. Bob and Setsuko have passed away, as well as Kenji, and his second wife Lori. However, Kenji and his sisters Chiemi, Kimi, Bobbi, as well as their children, especially Alex Allen and John Sumner, who I had the pleasure of knowing as babies, are still in my thoughts and heart often.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN HEAVEN, my brother KENJI ALLEN!!!
