today i experienced a wave of euphoria followed by a crushing blow. a shock that no one could have expected has dampened both my experience on this trip as well as the lives of many, many people. after my interview with jeff mueller, which went so amazingly well i was beaming, i received a phone telling me that just a few hours before i met with tim midgett of silkworm, the band’s drummer mike dahlquist was killed in a car accident in skokie, illinois. he and two other musicians were returning to work from a lunch break when a speeding car manipulated by a driver on a cell phone struck and killed all three men.
my heart sunk in my chest when i heard, not only because tim had spoken of getting me in contact with mike, but because i realized throughout our conversation he had no idea what was happening to his bandmate and dear friend. i spent the rest of my evening shaken by the haunting memory of tim with an illuminated, big and goofy grin creeping across his face whenever he mentioned mike’s name.
my heart; my deepest condolences go out to all of mike’s family and friends.
i don’t think it’s right to talk about the rest of my day and my evening with jeff mueller, just because i don’t want to diminish this tragedy. it’s too great a loss to turn it into a preface for a self-centered story. i’ll update tomorrow a very long, long update, about the evening with jeff and my day at the intonation festival in union park.
