Rock Minutes

It was the fall of 1990. I was heading off to Indiana University for my freshman year of college. I was supposed to be rooming with my best friend Josh. We had everything planned out. We were going to take over the campus. Our dorm room was going to be incredible. Josh had a home stereo system that was second to none. It was definitely way better than the clock radio with a double cassette deck I was rocking. We were going to combine our music collections for what would be the most powerful music collection in Bloomington, Indiana, or so we thought. In what at the time seemed to be a disaster of epic proportions our room assignments were screwed up and Josh and I would not be roommates in what would be the only year we would spend in Bloomington as students.

When we found out the news we were devastated but we had to make the best of things. We each moved into our rooms and awaited our roommates. Josh’s moved in first. His name was Jeff Martindale and he was a nerd. He and Josh could not have been a worse match and I thought it was great. Naturally Josh spent plenty of time in my room while I waited for my roommate to move in.

Finally one day I walk into my room to see my roommate had arrived. He was not there but he left his mark. I now had black shag carpet in my room. There was a Bob Marley poster on the wall. A wicker chair now sat in the room and incense had been burning and there were several ashtrays strategically placed throughout the room not to mention a lava lamp was in the corner. I was sure this was going to be a disaster and was convinced my year would be tragic. A few hours later my roommate walks in. He is smoking Marlboro Reds, wearing Jesus sandals, cut off shorts, and a tie dye shirt. He had hair down to his shoulders and was rocking a bandanna. I was pissed beyond belief. I was sure he would be a big dick and all of a sudden Josh’s roommate seemed like a pretty good guy.

You might be wondering why I am writing about my college roommate on a website dedicated to music. I will tell you why I am writing about him. Dave Callaghan (not “More Rockin” Dave) influenced my musical taste and knowledge more than anyone I have ever known or ever will know. I lived with that guy for 9 months 20 years ago and Josh and I still discuss the influence he had on us to this day.

After I recovered from the initial shock of meeting a guy that appeared to be a polar opposite from me I discovered that we both shared a deep love of music. The only difference was that he had a deep knowledge of music. Up until I met him I thought knew as much as anybody knew about music, especially when it came to comparing my knowledge to Josh. Dave made me realize pretty quickly I did not know shit but he was cool about it. Dave, Josh, and I spent hours in my dorm room listening to music. Dave played albums for us that we had never heard of up to that point in our lives. He explained why they were important and what made them great. He let Josh and I know there was a lot more great music than we were hearing on our local classic rock station. He actually had vinyl albums and would play them on his turntable. He would argue with anyone that an album sounded better than a CD.

During those 9 months we were exposed to classic albums such as Exile on Main Street, Let it Bleed, and Beggars Banquet by the Rolling Stones. Dave introduced us to Led Zeppelin albums and songs we had no idea existed. I thought Led Zeppelin was just the band that sang Stairway to Heaven until I met Dave. Meanwhile Dave could list every song Zeppelin had recorded in order starting with their first album. Dave loved Reggae and would often play it. At the time I did not appreciate it. He played The Band for me and I listened to Jane’s Addiction for the first time in my life with him. The very first time I saw the Black Crowes it was Dave who drove Josh and I to Indianapolis to see them. Even our musical differences seemed to be OK with each other. He could not understand my love of John Mellencamp while I could not understand how he owned multiple Oingo Boingo albums. There was not a day where music was not being played in our room. At times there were 5 to 10 guys crammed in our tiny room listening to music with us. It was a magical time in my life.

Finally April had arrived and it was obvious I would not be returning to IU the next year. Josh had already left a few months earlier. I packed my things while listening to the R.E.M. album “Out of Time”(an album Dave and I had dissected a hundred times that semester) and I was pretty sure Dave and I would lose contact. I saw him the following year once when I came down to visit and that would be the last time we would ever speak.

I often wonder what happened to him. I always imagine that he has a cool job that allows him to let his freak flag fly. Dave never seemed like the type of guy that would have 9-5 job like the rest of us. I wonder how his musical taste has changed. I wonder if he thought Nirvana was cool. I wonder if our tastes in music would still be the same or if we had drifted in two totally different directions. Most of all I think I would like to hang out with him again and listen to music and let him know how much he shaped the way I look at music 20 years later and I am pretty sure Josh would agree with me when I say I am glad we were not roommates for those 9 months in 1990-1991.

Later,

Nick

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