Where the Hell is Dave?
I met Dave Howard at Dallas' Richland College in my first journalism class ever in 1985. I thought Dave was cool because he liked new wave music a lot. Dave was more than happy to share his knowlege of all things new wave with me. That year he introduced me to not only to new wave dance music such as Belouis Some, but also to Rob, who's been my friend ever since. Rob and Dave had been friends since high school. They also bonded over new wave music --- two of the only 1985 graduates of Plano Senior High School who can legitimately claim they were fans of new wave music when it was actually new.
Dave went to London before me to study for a semester in 1986. And he came back looking just like Belouis Some, who's single "Imagination" hit number 17 in the UK while Dave was there. Dave had very blonde hair and developed a fondness for black clothing and leather jackets. And I believe at one point he told me he'd like to become more like the obscure Belouis Some if possible.
Dave went to tranfered down to UT in Austin shortly after I did. And his hair got even blonder as he moved further south. I spent a lot of time with Dave and Rob, who'd also moved to Austin. But getting Dave to show up for our shared foolishness was always a problem. Rob and I continually found ourselves waiting on Dave to show up. About half the time he eventually would. The other half of the time, he'd have some excuse --- a biking event that took up all of his time or his girlfriend of the moment would "kidnap" him, making it virtually impossible for him to see his friends. "Where the Hell is Dave?" got asked by Rob and I more times than I could count.
I stayed in touch with Dave long after college. We lived in the same hellish Tarrant County suburb for a while. Then I moved to Dallas and didn't see much of Dave anymore. I haven't talked to him since 1997 and have no idea where he is now.
I heard Belouis Some's "Imagination" on XM radio yesterday. And it made me wonder "Where the Hell Is Dave?" and if he still looks like his idol.
posted by john clarke at 11:42 AM
3 Comments:
Do you reckon he is still a flight attendant? I look for him every time I fly.
The last time I talked to Dave, he was no longer serving Cokes and peanuts. He'd moved over to the tech end of American Airlines and was doing something like computer graphics. Who knows if he's still with AA.
If I had it my way, I'd take a reunion with all of my friends I knew in 1989 over a stupid 20-year reunion of the people who didn't give a shit about me back in 1985 at J.J. Pearce High School.
let's see if we can make that happen...time to build bridges...
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