As I ate lunch in the newsroom Tuesday, a co-worker from the advertising department ran in to announce the devastating news.
“Did y’all hear?” he asked. “Dave is dead.”
It took me a minute to realize he wasn’t talking about the Student Government concert but the musician himself.
Shock, dismay and a sense of hopelessness washed over me, and the newsroom fell silent. It was like the part of the movie where even the background music stops so viewers can feel the impact of the moment.
But, as fast as the newsroom stopped, it started bustling again. Reporters sprang to their desks, frantically moving from one Web site to the next trying to uncover the truth.
“Where did you hear that?”
“I got an e-mail link to CNN.”
Granted an e-mail link should have sounded suspicious, but this was coming from the same guy who told us Wally Pontiff died.
“CNN, someone get on CNN!”
After frantic searching we discovered the e-mail was a gag, and Dave Matthews is still alive and jamming. But I couldn’t shake the fragile feeling of mortality.
Despite the talent the music industry has lost in my generation, people like Kurt Cobain and Aaliyah, it never occurred to me Dave Matthews could die. He was one of the artists I always saw myself sharing with my nieces and nephews, the same way my dad shared classic rock records like Lynard Skynard, REO Speedwagon and Heart with me.
Dave was immortal in my mind, not because he’s Dave Matthews, but because I always associated rock stars dying young with the 1970s.
I always roll my eyes when people talk about how youth think they are invincible, because although I’m only 21, I, like most other people my age, have experienced loss. But this was a classic example of the realization that this can happen to me.
While this may seem like an overdramatic response to an e-mail, it should serve as a lesson to everyone to love and appreciate music. I know not everyone likes Dave Matthews, and I personally do not like country music. But music itself, whatever the genre, plays a powerful role in our lives.
It’s something we relate to and part of the culture we pass down to our children. Underneath the glitz and glam of the music business are songs which speak to us and lyrics we singer louder than the rest because they perfectly describe our feelings at that moment.
Music is special. It means the world not only to those who make it, but also to the people who appreciate it, live for it and pass it on. But the people who make it are human, and human life is fragile. Love and appreciate the music we have, because I know I’m not ready to ask what could have been for an artist whose work speaks to me.