Heart Beat

 It's okay if you don't know who Taylor Hawkins was. I know who he was, and now that he's gone it becomes increasingly likely that I may never see Dave Grohl perform live and in person. If that name doesn't ring your pop culture bell, that's okay too. Dave Grohl is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Foo Fighters, a rock band that was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I suppose I felt the need to include that last bit to legitimize my appreciation for them. Mister Grohl was also in a band called Nirvana, which has also been enshrined in that very same museum. And yes, I know that there are a number of individuals who appear on that list of honorees twice, as members of two different bands or also being such a Hall of Fame worthy solo artist. 

That's not the point. 

Foo Fighters were one of the first bands that my son and I completely agreed on. I believe that I did a pretty good job infecting and affecting my son's musical tastes. I also believe that as he grew older he helped shine a light for me on music that was recorded in this century. Foo Fighters were that sweet spot that does not exist primarily in either his nor my CD collection. Playlist. Whatever. Over the past ten years or so, we have made half-plans to take in one of their shows. Something always came up. 

Way back in the days before I had a son, I had aa similar hope about seeing the band for which Dave Grohl played drums: Nirvana. On the night they played in Oakland, I was across the bay taking in a much more low-key artist's show: Bruck Cockburn. I consoled myself at that time with the idea that I would almost certainly get another chance to see what was, at that moment in time, one of the biggest bands in the world. Four months later, Kurt Cobain killed himself and took my dreams of seeing Nirvana and their drummer with him.

I could continue to pine about how Taylor Hawkins' death affects my concert-going future, but the reality of the situation is that Dave Grohl has had to live through the deaths of his friend and bandmate Kurt Cobain only to wait just long enough to experience the passing of the man he has referred to as his "brother from another mother." That thunderous noise emanating from Taylor's drum kit has been silenced. Putting someone else on a stool behind it won't fill the void he left. 

Not for me, and especially not for Dave Grohl. Taylor Hawkins beat on the Terra with fury, and he will be missed.