The prodigal twin returns.

A now rare occasion: Brandon (left) and Tony (right) together again.

My long lost brother Tony has been living in Bolivia for more than six years now, but came for a week long visit in Asheville to introduce me to his son, meet my GF, see Blue Barnhouse, and catch up on the lost years. He had a hand in starting the business, but left after mouthing off at several clients and a few violent altercations between he and I (when Tony and I butt heads we are prone to engage in Fisticuffs.) I had asked him to leave the business, and he happily complied. Tony hasn't seen the operation since we lived in San Francisco, when BBH was renting presses from the SFCB. When I decided to move back to North Carolina, a few months later Tony packed it up, took a bus to Mexico and dissappeared for several years.

Last year he made contact with our family to let us know he is alive and well in a village along the waters of Lake Titicaca called Ispaya, and is now a father. My sisters and I recently chipped in for plane tickets and he's been making his rounds in New Jersey and North Carolina with his infant son, Valencia, to catch up with family. His reaction after seeing the studio: "I'm not impressed." (He might have been joking. You can never tell.) His recent fatherhood has calmed him down some, he didn't turn over the dinner table even once! He's come and gone and is now up in NJ visiting our mother, where we will see each other again when I'm up for the Stationery Show. Before he left he filled his suitcase with BBH product to share with the villagers. Hopefully they won't have him deported.