Joseph George Hornacek

08/17/2025, Jerry White Jr.
Joe was the star of the show. He impacted a lot of lives. . .and certainly changed the course of mine forever when he invited me over his house to “make some movies” back in October of 1990. I don’t have all the words right now. . .maybe I never will.

We’ve known this was coming and we were working on projects right up till the end, so I’ll still be collaborating with Joe as I continue to edit and tweak those songs and videos and blog posts. I’m grateful for the time we had. I’m thankful for his friendship and creative influence and for all the memories.

This video includes some moments from the movie we made, 20 Years of Madness. It doesn’t say enough, but I wanted to share something today.

Joe was a loyal friend. He was a true creative——a musician (guitar, vocals, drums, synths), artist, actor, writer, editor, improviser, zinester, and more. The music he made solo or with his various bands and collaborations will live on, as will his video work. There are still a lot of folks out there who have yet to discover this talented man, but I believe more and more will as time goes by. I’m going to forever miss you Joe.

Rest in Peace Joe. Thank you for your friendship. No one made me laugh harder or more than you. I’ve never met anyone more creative. I’m so glad we got to hang out and make movies and TV shows and music and zines and comics and art and memories. I’ll miss you brother. Love you.

Your friend,
Jerry

This isn’t an attempt at a definitive memorial, eulogy, or tribute. Those will all come in time, from me and many others. The words above were written the day after Joe passed. I will have more to say and much more to share.

08/18/2025, Jesus Antonio Rivera
I lost one of the most influential friends in my entire life. Joe Hornacek passed after a long battle with cancer at only 50. I grew up with Joe. From being teenagers to morphing into adulthood. He was the spark behind 30 Minutes of Madness, our 90s public access trip out of Metro Detroit alongside his best friend, Jerry White Jr.

Joe was complicated, but at his core he was a good person. A loyal friend. A true creative. Prolific. Poignant. Offbeat. Eccentric. Hilarious. Prophetic. He played guitar, sang, hit drums, loved synthesizers, wrote, acted, edited, drew, sculpted, skateboarded, built homes, made zines. . .dreamed. He showed me how to build worlds from scratch, how to keep chasing the weird ideas. . .and to not procrastinate and “Just do it! Go for it!”

His fingerprints are all over who I am today. The world has less color without his rainbow spectrums, but those spectrums don’t fade… they live on in the work, the laughs, the music, and the memories he left with us all. Thank you for everything you taught us, Joe.

RIP Joseph Hornacek 1974-2025
Jesus

08/19/2025, Lucian Piekacz
Joseph George Hornacek passed away over the weekend and his funeral service is this Wednesday, August 20. It’s at Modetz in Rochester. The visitation is from 10am to 1pm and the cemetery after that.

These are my last photos of him October 14, 2023 at Leo’s Coney Island where we had dinner across from Rochester High School, where we both graduated in 1993. This is shortly after he informed me of his 4th-stage cancer diagnosis. We went to his place after and watched a G.I. Joe movie, some YouTube videos of Bigfoot sightings, and other fascinating phenomena and some amusing things to laugh about. So, we had much of the day together to talk about things. Despite being in pain, he was still playful and fun to be around as always. I continuously sent him entertaining video links since then and he would often reply to them.

I saw him again twice last month at the hospital for a total of three hours and he was still playful, telling jokes, and asked me to empty a can of Pepsi down the drain so he could use it as a drum to strike and make music while immobile, attached to a machine administering pain medication. I showed him my Cub Scout pocket knife that is engraved with my name and “1982” because it’s the only surviving memento of our time together in the Scouts then. He remembered more than I do about it. Despite struggling to finish every sentence then, he began telling me a lesson he learned in the Scouts——the proper way to raise both the U.S. and Cub Scout flag together. With my brother, we all attended Hamlin Elementary School in the early 80s. During recess on the school playground, we would practice karate techniques in the sandbox——a cherished memory for us that he would often mention.

This month I was sending him the best artwork of his favorite movies, characters, and heroes that would surely give him some joy to see and momentarily escape the gloom of his situation; but, he wasn’t accessing the computer anymore in these final weeks, wasn’t replying as usual, and may not have seen any of it. Joe is greatly admired by hundreds, probably thousands, for his kindness, compassion, humor, enthusiasm, musical and construction skills, and profound creativity that was often spontaneous and surprising.

Lucian