Presenting Adam

It's raining today and I'm sort of in a rainy day mood so I figure why not tell a totally sad story so we can all be on the same page! I'll put up a disclaimer...

WARNING: SAD STORY!

Ok.

Anyway, back in college I was a Communications major (or maybe it's Communication? Singular? I don't even know. I was some great student.). Alot of my classes were really dopey (didn't stop me from getting C's and D's though). I remember one class we had to watch any movie we wanted then write about it. Some kid presented 'Terminator'. Another class seemed to be all about watching TV. Any channel you want. Then flip to another channel. Stuff like that.

One class was called 'Verbal Communication' or something like that (I swear sometimes it was like being in 3rd grade.) One day, the exercise in class was to get paired up with another student in class and talk with them for like 15 minutes then present that person to the class. I was paired up with this guy named Adam Katz. I remember him being a nice guy. A good guy. Anyway, he asked me questions about this and that I told him some stuff-- and then I asked him questions about that and this and that.

I found out Adam was a big time deadhead. Most deadheads I've met have this mellow niceness about them which is always comfortable. Because I think they're comfortable with themselves for the most part. They have that wide-eyed happiness over 'discovering' the Dead. A comfort. Adam had that. I never really understood the Dead but I always could tell there was something 'in' there. Like a great open secret. Adam had found the way in and was real happy about being there. He was totally into them.  I remember feeling jealous about the fact that he found his 'thing' (at the time I was clueless and wanted a thing too.)

Adam presented me to the class (I have no idea what I might have told him about me then as I was foggy at school) then I presented Adam to the class. Talked about where he was from and his interests. Most of Adam's answers were Grateful Dead related. Person you'd most want to meet? Jerry Garcia. Favorite thing? Listening to the Dead and Dead shows. Hobby? Dead bootlegs. Jerry this. The Dead that. Etc...

Here's the sad part. Sorry.

Not too long after presenting Adam to the class he was found dead at a Grateful Dead show. Maybe murdered or he fell or something. It was never clear. There was alot of controversy afterwards about how it happened and who was responsible so it made news and all that. Maybe he got in some scuffle with the stadium guards or something was a rumor. But it was hard for me to believe he was a troublemaker on any level. Or he'd be the cause of trouble. At least from what I saw, he seemed way too nice and shy. Here's an article bout it.

Anyway, I remember when word went around school that some student was found dead at a Dead show I was weirded out. When I found out it was Adam of course I like flipped out. I don't think I was ever so close to someone dying who was my age. That nice guy? That guy?! It's not like we ever became friends outside of the class but I remembered him of course. If he was alive today I'm fairly sure I'd remember presenting him back then because even in that 15 minute conversation there was something about him. His vibe or something...

Sigh. And that was that with that story. Not sure why I'm writing about it now. Maybe because it's a rainy day and I just felt like telling everyone what a nice guy Adam Katz was....

ok bye!

tOdd