Adam The Woo

I remember why and how I first came across Adam the Woo and his YouTube videos.

I was watching a James Bond movie, Google tells me it was Never Say Never Again, and one of the scenes had a game of Jai-Alai being played in it.

The sport wasn't new to me, but I did realise something: I had no idea where it came from, whether it's still being played and how popular it is. Or was. Once I had finished with Bond, I headed to the Internet to look into Jai-Alai. 

One of my stops took me to a video of a guy walking around a derelict building which once housed Jai-Alai contests. 

To say I was fascinated would be an understatement. It seemed like the host - Adam the Woo - was walking through a period of time that even time itself had forgotten. The place, despite being run down, still had a lot of items from its past laying around. To hazard a guess, I'd say it was a leftover from a 1980s peak. 

Give or take.

My research into Jai-Ali was paused. I browsed through many more videos from Adam the Woo. He criss-crossed the USA finding many more sites left to wither away in history. It was eye opening.

It wasn't just those things, though. I enjoyed Adam the Woo's visits to conventions. As we're from the same generation, it was clear he and I had similar likes. Especially The Goonies and Back to the Future. It was through the latter, he became friends with Thomas F. Wilson, who portrayed Biff Tannen (and another Tannen character from history) in those series of films.

The last time I watched an Adam the Woo video was a few Sundays ago. He was once again at a convention meeting relics from the 1980s, which was - ironically - a full circle moment considering how I first came across him.

It would be the last video I'd watch of Adam knowing he was with us.

Adam the Woo, real name David Adam Williams, was found dead at his home a couple of days ago. He was only fifty-one.