The Music Man

(Contributed by Mike M.)

Dave was a couple years older then me and we went to different high schools. We met through some mutual friends at my school and as we were both active in school bands had something to talk about. Various musicians I met during the 80's had their own way of being adventurous, but none quite like Dave. He put a whammy bar on his bass, because he figured if guitar players can, why not the bass player? I remember other friends of mine who played the bass thought it was strange. Maybe it was, but while they were trying to convince kids in orchestra to borrow a violin bow because of something they saw Jimmy Page do, Dave was grabbing a welding torch and doing something original.



After high school he wrote and recorded an original song for a class called "Crusader." There was nothing unique about the song, other then Dave did everything! It was an original composition, he recorded all the parts himself for guitar, bass & drums. The vocals did require assistance in recording, but then he did all the mixing himself. Now, "musicians" do this with the aid of ProTools but in 1985 he had to do it all himself playing real instruments.



The last time I saw Dave was 1995 at an impromptu gathering for a friend in from out of town. We left the gathering at the same time and talked on our way to our cars. At the time, I would always quote Jimi Hendrix whenever I said goodbye to old friends I didn't think I'd see again. "If I don't see you no more in this world, I'll see you in the next one and don't be late." This is the last thing I said to Dave and rest assured Dave, I'll be sure to look you up when I get there.