fakejazz.com

l to r: Tim Midgett, Andy Cohen, Michael Dahlquist photo by Viviane Oh

The last thing I expected to see while checking my email and tooling around on the web on a Friday afternoon was that Michael Dahlquist had been killed Thursday in a car accident. Apart from being an invaluable part of the fantastic rock trio Silkworm, Michael was, simply put, extremely nice and always engaging. From the first time I met him (after a Silkworm set opening for Pavement in 1997) on through other shows, email and mail correspondence, Michael was always genuine, funny and generous.

As for his drumming, Dahlquist was a sight to see when Silkworm would perform live. Fully cognizant of the amount of blistering rock-heat he would produce while playing, Dahlquist would typically remove his shirt shortly before the set and then promptly don a pair of gloves to aid his grip on his drumsticks. From this point he would go right into the rocking. Bombastic and precise, his drumming was consistently great and perfectly attuned to the interplay of Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen.

Independent music is truly diminished in light of Dahlquist's passing. Pull out your copies of Firewater, It'll Be Cool, and the rest of the band's catalog and celebrate Dahlquist's lasting presence. He will be missed.