In Memoriam: Nick Kramar

[LPLStaff]

We are sorry to let everyone know that a member of the LP family has passed away this past week - @nkramar.

 

Nick was instrumental in the creation of LPLive back in 2005 and has become a very close friend for many. Nick has been around since the early days of the band and is a key reason why so much information on Linkin Park is readily available online. With a few clicks of a mouse, you can watch MANY Linkin Park shows, listen to many shows, etc because of the work he put in to obtain shows and post them online freely over the years. SO much about the early days of the band is known due to Nick's work.

 

Back before social media, back before fans were filming everything on their phones, it was rare to be able to track a recording down of a full show. And that's where Nick excelled. We would call him, in our opinion, the true first archivist of the band's live shows. Tokyo 2003, Yokohama 2003, many 2004 shows, Music for Relief 2005, Japan 2007, Hollywood Palladium 2001, and more... these are just the start of the list.

 

His support to create this website and his friendship meant a lot to us over the years. Nick was gracious enough to host the rest of the LPLive team at his home for the Camden, NJ 2012 LPU Summit as well as for other LP shows in the following tours.

 

In true Nick fashion, @felipeintheend  who worked with him over the years to obtain a lot of these shows, has posted an uncirculated audio recording of Linkin Park in Orlando 2003 for download.

 

There are endless stories to tell about Nick, but having him work tirelessly to get "bootleg" recordings from Japan, obtain shows you may have heard of a recording existing from but not knowing how to get it, etc was just a total blast for all of these years. 

 

To a GREAT friend - we will miss you, Nick. Pour one out and queue up a great show from the early days this weekend if you get a chance.

 

 

 

 

[RaimyBennington95]

A legend in our community, we will always be grateful for all your contribution, rest in peace. 

[Ravok]

A truly massive loss to this community. Thanks for all of your hard work over the years and helping make this place what it is. Rest in peace.

[Vinescence]

So sorry for your loss.

Thank you Nick for all you have done for us

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

RIP brother

Your contributions will always live with us.

 

Thanks for your dedication, a true LP soldier.

[LeonardoMF93]

What a devastating news!
I offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends during this difficult time.
May he rest in peace!

[Trumtram]

Wow, that's some sad news. Thank you for everything and rest in peace.

 

Edit: I wasn't sure, but I went back in my PMs to the very beginning and there it was, nkramars PM where he asked me for a trade, some 16 or so years ago. He is the reason I have my orange Contributor status. He was a very fair trader, and I'm happy to have played my very minor part in his trading legacy.

Edited February 8 by Trumtram

[gorast]

What devastating news, man. Nick was a cornerstone of this community - I never really interacted with him at all, but the work he did is clear as day, he's got his fingerprints all over LPL and the fandom at large. I've listened to all of those shows listed in the main post, and we have him to thank for those and countless others. Rest in peace, brother.

[bloodbath]

Didn't knew of his existence before but... What a bummer 

Edited February 8 by bloodbath

[GreyFox-AFCA]

Rest In Peace brother.

With the kind words of the LPLive team i understand you were true and massive vallueble member of the community. For that i have to say; Thank you for everything, and fligh as high as you can.

My condolences for everybody who've knew him.


@LPLive: 
The video's you've posted form the Qwerty YouTube channel, was that Nick's channel?

Edited February 8 by GreyFox-AFCA

[c3bebuilder]

4 hours ago, GreyFox-AFCA said:

Rest In Peace brother.

With the kind words of the LPLive team i understand you were true and massive vallueble member of the community. For that i have to say; Thank you for everything, and fligh as high as you can.

My condolences for everybody who've knew him.


@LPLive: 
The video's you've posted form the Qwerty YouTube channel, was that Nick's channel?

No, that's not him

[lpplus]

what a sad news

Rest In Peace, Brother.

[NimaLP]

RIP Nick. Thank you, man. You're a legend.

[neil]

This is a sad one and completely out of nowhere.

Nick and I were very close online friends back in the days before LPLive, (on MSN messenger - now I feel old) tracking down not only show recordings but physical items.  I still have the Hybrid Theory skate deck he traded to me for an original release HTEP.  We often did bulk buys of collectable lots and would split them - it was a really fun time.  He truly cared about the community. the recordings and
and was a super nice and kind person to boot.

He once trolled me by telling me he had an early snippet of Somewhere I Belong.  I thought about it all day, got home and he sent it to me.  It was a clip of this ringtone -

Here's an old picture I found circa 2007-2008 (per the file marker, could be older) of a pair of sunglasses he rigged up to record LP at a festival.  I was always entertained by his stories of what he had to do in order to smuggle recording equipment into shows and festivals:



RIP Nick, you were a truly great friend, family man and member of the LP community.

Edited February 9 by neil

[Astat]

1 hour ago, neil said:

This is a sad one and completely out of nowhere.

Nick and I were very close online friends back in the days before LPLive, (on MSN messenger - now I feel old) tracking down not only show recordings but physical items.  I still have the Hybrid Theory skate deck he traded to me for an original release HTEP.  We often did bulk buys of collectable lots and would split them - it was a really fun time.  He truly cared about the community. the recordings and
and was a super nice and kind person to boot.

He once trolled me by telling me he had an early snippet of Somewhere I Belong.  I thought about it all day, got home and he sent it to me.  It was a clip of this ringtone -

Here's an old picture I found circa 2007-2008 (per the file marker, could be older) of a pair of sunglasses he rigged up to record LP at a festival.  I was always entertained by his stories of what he had to do in order to smuggle recording equipment into shows and festivals:



RIP Nick, you were a truly great friend, family man and member of the LP community.

Holy hell, I'd forgotten about those sunglasses. Core memory unlocked. 😂 What a legend.

[EricKing]

My post will be deleted (Geki) but I had to make an account to pay respect. I didn’t know him like other guys on the site, but I did meet him I think at maybe the Camden summit or one of the Carnivores shows and he was a legend for live recordings of the band and an overall good dude and I’m extremely sorry to hear of his passing. Life is too short… 

 

he also is the reason I have a recording of my very first LP show that I ever went to, Bamboozle 2007, he recorded it himself I’m pretty sure. 
 

It would be kind of shitty to take down this post (no offense), but it probably will be. Had to pay my respects, this site has been a big part of my life for a long time, I grew up on it in my late teen’s/20’s.

Edited February 9 by EricKing

[juancpin]

I’m sorry for your loss, hugs from here 😢😢

[Qwerty18]

Really sad to see a member of the community pass away, and someone who contributed this much. 

 

Rest in Peace.

[D14N3]

So sad to hear this, RIP Nick. Thank you for all you did. Condolences to your family, friends and LP Family 🙏

[LPLStaff]

16 hours ago, GreyFox-AFCA said:

@LPLive: 
The video's you've posted form the Qwerty YouTube channel, was that Nick's channel?

 

Oh no, I'll explain better.

 

Nick did so much of this work in the era BEFORE YouTube even existed. It was MySpace days, trading lists on sites, FTP servers, email lists, etc. There was no Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, anything like that. Imagine trying to order "bootleg" CDs in the mail from Japan by mail slip doing this. He did it. Imagine trying to track people down with no social media - he did it. Nick would obtain these shows, transfer them and post them everywhere. This is why SO MANY of the 2000-2007 shows exist online, because of his work. He would spend years going on just a rumor that a show existed and he'd track it down and post it for free for fans.

 

Torrent sites, FTP servers, forums, these were the mediums in which he would release them. If in 2005/6, he got the show from Yokohama 2003 (which remained extremely hard to get for years), he'd post it on a forum or in an mIRC chat for fans. This is the origin is a LOT of LP tapes. In later years he worked with @felipeintheend to get shows and they both were really successful at it too. LPLive was created in 2005 and eventually became a platform for Nick (and Felipe) to release shows on. Music For Relief 2005 is one of those.

 

He never made a YouTube account to post shows on because so much of his work was done years and years before that. He saw LP on the very early tours and from that point was interested in getting recordings to share with fans.

 

To explain it easily for the people that have joined the fanbase from MTM and beyond - the reason you can go on YouTube or other platforms (or Google in general) and type in "Linkin Park Inglewood 2004", or "Linkin Park Tokyo 2003", or "Linkin Park Music for Relief 2005", or a LOT of other shows, is because Nick figured out how to track people down, get the shows, and post them online for fans. 

 

Besides that he was also huge in the trading scene, he got a Xero tape which helped us immensely as finally someone close to LPLive was able to obtain a Xero tape. When he was selling his collection (a LOT of items) in later years, he was known for just selling very expensive LP items to fans for almost nothing - the cost of shipping, or just $100 on a $1,500 item. He was truly selfless and kind.

 

One day he called me out of the blue and said "hey man, wake up, I have an unreleased LP song called She Couldn't. You need to hear this." That was in 2009. Nick is the entire reason She Couldn't made it into the hands of fans. 

 

He is a massive cornerstone of this community and his work is all over this website/Linkinpedia, YouTube, torrent sites, the community at large, and even the Internet at large. Just think - setlistfm has all of these early LP sets now because Nick found recordings. Etc. It is truly an impressive BODY of work by him and because he was so "in the shadows" or reserved online, and didn't want to take credit for things personally himself, I don't think a lot of people even know/knew or understand what he did for the Linkin Park community.

 

I remember the day he found the Palladium 2001 VHS. I remember when Yokohama 2003 finally arrived at his house. I remember when he taped Bamboozle 2007 and Camden 2008. Just truly an icon in the LP world.   Honored to have known him and VERY MUCH appreciate his trust, knowledge, and support of LPLive. The LPLive project started in 2005 and he was a major player in it and was super supportive like - "yeah there are a lot of great fansites out there, but I think you can do this idea for a LIVE-only website and be successful with it, we can fill in details no one else knows and be super accurate." Those were conversations we would have.

 

I hope this helps explain.  

 

 

LOL @neil. That's great.
Ironically listened to Bamboozle 2007 last night. What makes that recording so much fun is the Jersey crowd around him: "OMG MIKE SHINODA IS SO HOT OMG", after Mike asks how many people have been around since Hybrid Theory the guy next to Nick yells "WOW WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU **WERE** HYBRID THEORY?!?!?!?" hahahaha. Nick and I would joke about the people on that tape randomly for years.

[bloodbath]

15 minutes ago, LPLStaff said:

 

Oh no, I'll explain better.

 

Nick did so much of this work in the era BEFORE YouTube even existed. It was MySpace days, trading lists on sites, FTP servers, email lists, etc. There was no Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, anything like that. Imagine trying to order "bootleg" CDs in the mail from Japan by mail slip doing this. He did it. Imagine trying to track people down with no social media - he did it. Nick would obtain these shows, transfer them and post them everywhere. This is why SO MANY of the 2000-2007 shows exist online, because of his work. He would spend years going on just a rumor that a show existed and he'd track it down and post it for free for fans.

 

Torrent sites, FTP servers, forums, these were the mediums in which he would release them. If in 2005/6, he got the show from Yokohama 2003 (which remained extremely hard to get for years), he'd post it on a forum or in an mIRC chat for fans. This is the origin is a LOT of LP tapes. In later years he worked with @felipeintheend to get shows and they both were really successful at it too. LPLive was created in 2005 and eventually became a platform for Nick (and Felipe) to release shows on. Music For Relief 2005 is one of those.

 

He never made a YouTube account to post shows on because so much of his work was done years and years before that. He saw LP on the very early tours and from that point was interested in getting recordings to share with fans.

 

To explain it easily for the people that have joined the fanbase from MTM and beyond - the reason you can go on YouTube or other platforms (or Google in general) and type in "Linkin Park Inglewood 2004", or "Linkin Park Tokyo 2003", or "Linkin Park Music for Relief 2005", or a LOT of other shows, is because Nick figured out how to track people down, get the shows, and post them online for fans. 

 

Besides that he was also huge in the trading scene, he got a Xero tape which helped us immensely as finally someone close to LPLive was able to obtain a Xero tape. When he was selling his collection (a LOT of items) in later years, he was known for just selling very expensive LP items to fans for almost nothing - the cost of shipping, or just $100 on a $1,500 item. He was truly selfless and kind.

 

One day he called me out of the blue and said "hey man, wake up, I have an unreleased LP song called She Couldn't. You need to hear this." That was in 2009. Nick is the entire reason She Couldn't made it into the hands of fans. 

 

He is a massive cornerstone of this community and his work is all over this website/Linkinpedia, YouTube, torrent sites, the community at large, and even the Internet at large. Just think - setlistfm has all of these early LP sets now because Nick found recordings. Etc. It is truly an impressive BODY of work by him and because he was so "in the shadows" or reserved online, and didn't want to take credit for things personally himself, I don't think a lot of people even know/knew or understand what he did for the Linkin Park community.

 

I remember the day he found the Palladium 2001 VHS. I remember when Yokohama 2003 finally arrived at his house. I remember when he taped Bamboozle 2007 and Camden 2008. Just truly an icon in the LP world.   Honored to have known him and VERY MUCH appreciate his trust, knowledge, and support of LPLive. The LPLive project started in 2005 and he was a major player in it and was super supportive like - "yeah there are a lot of great fansites out there, but I think you can do this idea for a LIVE-only website and be successful with it, we can fill in details no one else knows and be super accurate." Those were conversations we would have.

 

I hope this helps explain.  

 

 

LOL @neil. That's great.
Ironically listened to Bamboozle 2007 last night. What makes that recording so much fun is the Jersey crowd around him: "OMG MIKE SHINODA IS SO HOT OMG", after Mike asks how many people have been around since Hybrid Theory the guy next to Nick yells "WOW WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU **WERE** HYBRID THEORY?!?!?!?" hahahaha. Nick and I would joke about the people on that tape randomly for years.

So he was the main archivist of the band when basically nobody would care about LP's recordings? Truly amazing 

[felipeintheend]

Great words, Mark! Thats exactly how it is.

 

It is hard to track tapers down even with social media so... can you imagine how it is without that? Crazy!

 

I remember finding a show and emailing Nick to help obtaining them and he would say YES instantly. 

 

Music for Relief story is so crazy. After bombarding the taper for years, someday he just replied and finally sold them all to us. It might have been the most expensive live bootleg deal ever. And Nick/Mark made it happen. A great result of a team work... What made it more even crazy is: Our focus were the MFR show and then we got as bonus: Inglewood04, Jimmy Kimmel 2003, Roxy 00, Docksland 01... what a WIN. 

 

Hollywood Palladium video is one of the very iconic show too, definitely!

 

What about Japanese bootlegs considering the language barrier? He deserves every thank you word!

[KeysToTheLinkinPark]

Especially the last few answers made me want to post something. It's pretty crazy what has been set up here with LinkinPedia etc. Especially when a lot of stuff are based on the work of our friend Nick.
It needs people like him but also people from the LPL staff or us “normal” members who are here weekly if not daily. The way everyone here contributes to the development of something bigger than any one of us is something very special.
It's really important to know where the roots of many LP related publications or background knowledge come from. 

 

In that sense. Let's continue to work together in this special community in his memory.

 

[javignacio]

wow, what a guy he was. I'm very sorry for his loss, but it's good to read the stories and good times you all have with him. May he Rest in Peace.

[LPLStaff]

Nick's family has included Linkin Park in his obituary: https://www.batemanallenfuneralhome.com/obituary/nicholas-c-kramar/

 

Nick had a passion for music and made many lifelong friends through this love of music. In particular, Nick was a key figure in establishing a longstanding Linkin Park website and global community, LPLive, through which he was able to share his appreciation of the band with others. His detailed knowledge of particulars about live shows, touring, songs, and more were instrumental in this project. For nearly twenty five years, Nick traveled across the country to see the band, hosted his music friends from across the world at his home, contributed frequently online, and more.