Kudos my hero, leaving all the best

Nine years ago tonight I met Dave Grohl for the first time at night 2 of KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas at Universal Amphitheatre. I was six months out of college, in a job I disliked, slightly aware that the path I was headed down was making me unhappy, and not sure what to do about it. I left my apartment that evening wearing lavender corduroy pants, tall black boots, a black Volcom top, long grey sweater, and a red beaded choker that I bought on the street in New Orleans. I had a $175 concert ticket (I bought from a scalper) that I knew would get me a good view of the stage. It turned out to put me in the right place at the right time with the right person for the right events to quickly unfold into a moment where Dave and I were standing side by side backstage smiling at a disposable camera being held by Shawn Fanning.

When I woke up that morning I had no clue that would happen.

I drove home that night in some weird dreamy state with my mind blown, that something like that could happen to me. When the reality of it sunk it, it changed the way I thought. I ended that year shaken by the trauma of 9/11 and woken up with the realization that if I can meet one of my biggest heroes, I can do anything. And the next year my life completely changed, 2002 was when I really became a musician. Now I'm not gonna say Dave Grohl was responsible for me becoming a music therapist and world traveller. I don't mean it like that. But I do want to acknowledge how one crossing of a path can help spark something and create a pretty big shift. That's part of why I'm still a huge fan of the guy. I have so much gratitude for him helping me believe. Thank you.

Looking back, the best part is on that night I had no clue that event was just the beginning of many more beautiful chance encounters.

I very much like a good story about how people meet. I was looking at this archive of KROQ Xmas shows on Wikipedia and didn't know how far back it went. In 1995 line up included Foo Fighters, No Doubt, Bush, Alanis Morrisette, and Wesley Willis (amongst others) and this was an important one because this was the show where Gwen Stefani met Gavin Rossdale, and where Dave met Taylor Hawkins. At the same show! I went to this annual KROQ show four times (2000, 20001, 2002, 2006) and have very fond memories of seeing Incubus play with a string section, Weezer for the first time, No Doubt for the first time (so happy I cried), Coldplay's first American performance, and Foo Fighters playing a surprise rock set. However the 1999 show that I didn't go to also had a big effect on me. I remember listening to a live radio broadcast of it and feeling a deeply painful regret because my favorite bands were playing and I wasn't there. I refused to experience that feeling ever again. Sure made up for that one.