Everyone agrees there seemed to be two people inside Michael Dean Damron’s body. Onstage—both solo and with his band I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House—the Portland singer-songwriter projected a jovial badassery that was at odds with the person he was in private.

“He exuded all kinds of confidence and toughness, but he was such a softie,” says his friend and former bandmate Adam East. “He was such a hypochondriac, always dying of something, so when we heard he was dying, we could barely believe it.”

Damron, who died from liver failure on May 8 at age 61, was an Army vet, bouncer, show promoter and amateur boxer. He named his band for a quote by pugilist John L. Sullivan, and they were known as the “SOBs” among their fans, who responded to the intensity of tirades like “Westboro Bapt

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