The Bridal Party

Wu and Jake doing what they do, circa 2001.

Christopher Wu (or just “Wu”) has been Jake’s partner in crime since the age of 15. After meeting at The Head Royce School in Oakland, where they went to high school, the two of them became fast friends and have been close ever since. They’ve shared video games, science fiction book clubs, roller-hockey teams, fantasy football leagues, and movie-watching clubs, but music, in particular, has been a thread that has kept them together over the years. Besides being in bands together practically every day since they met, Wu and Jake have discovered countless musical genres together, have gone to hundreds of shows, spent hours digging through crates of records, DJed together, passed the time with Karaoke and Rock Band, and incessantly debated imaginary band names. Wu now lives in Los Angeles with his awesome girlfriend Sarah.

They think they're hilarious.

Jake met Jesse after Jesse’s relocation from Seattle to San Francisco in March of 2006 and the two of them hit it off immediately. It turns out Jesse’s band in Seattle, The Pulses, was already on Jake’s playlist, but neither of them figured that out until a few weeks later. The two of them share the love of music, comics, pen-and-paper rpgs, science fiction, westerns, and the Fast and the Furious series of movies, but they don’t see eye-to-eye on which X-men film is the best. Jake still wants Jesse to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion, the show that redefined the giant robot genre. Jesse lives in the mission district of San Francisco, where he works at Revolver, a record distribution company.

Jake and Karl at a bar, of course.

Karl and Jake have been friends since their first day together at Rice University in 1997, where they lived on the same floor of their residential college. They remained close throughout their time at Rice, and after school Karl moved out to the Bay Area; the two of them proceeded to tear a path through every bar in the South Bay and the Peninsula before settling on their favorite spot, the British Banker’s Club in Menlo Park. Karl and Jake are a force to be reckoned with on a foosball table, but only Karl is a force to be reckoned with on the tennis court. Karl lives in San Jose with his wife Nicole and their two lil’ doggies, Andrei and Toby.

Bros on The Greek Islands

Sasha is Jake’s older brother, and a force for calm and reason in Jake’s insane life. The fact that they are brothers is not immediately apparent given Sasha’s dashing good looks, but it becomes instantly obvious when you see them argue about anything (and everything). Sasha and Jake have been close since very early age, and over the years they have been travel companions, drinking buddies, and confidants. Sasha is a venture capitalist for CitiGroup, and lives in the Castro with his lovely wife Jen, who is also in the bridal party.

Hanging in Osaka

Trevor and Jake have been friends since they met in early 2000, Jake’s junior year at Rice University. Jake “took the first semester off” and worked full time for Yahoo!, and Trevor spent this time wondering who this “Jake” guy was that everyone kept telling ridiculous stories about. They hit it off immediately when school started back up again, and bonded further over their affection for Japanese culture. When Trevor lived in Japan for two years, Jake visited him there and the two toured the island, belting out late-night drunken karaoke sessions, getting lost in Kyoto, hanging out with monks, touring every museum they could find, drinking sake under cherry trees, and viewing way, way too many temples. Trevor and Jake have also been known to frequent other locales together, including anime conventions, a number of Las Vegas casinos, and Austin during the South By Southwest music festival. Trevor works as a lawyer in Houston and lives with his girlfriend Brea and their australian shepherd Gus.

Check out that Jew Fro!

Michael Dailey, also known as the bionic man, is one of Jake’s closest friends from Rice University. Ask Jake, or any one of his friends from Rice, to tell a crazy story about their time together: chances are, Dailey will be involved. As a founding member of the SBLV society and officer of Rice Rally Club, Dailey has always been an icon of fun and good times in Jake’s life. Dailey currently works as an attorney in his native Oklahoma and is raising two beautiful children with his wife Erin, and while he’s no longer the beer-chugging monster of his Rice days, he maintains as always his youthful spirit and carefree, easygoing nature.