Pete Figueroa (1967 - 2003) R.I.P.

Every so often, something happens that's a painful reminder that I'm getting older.

Last night, my mom called me to tell me that one of my best friends from high school, Pete Figueroa, had died on March 13 in Reston, VA at the age of 35.

I first met Pete in high school at a basketball game. I'd just started playing bass and was playing for my high school pep band. At halftime of the game, I was leaving the gym, heading out to my locker to pick up something or other (I don't remember what). Pete was in the doorway and accosted me, wanting to know if I was interested in playing bass in a rock band.

Everyone knew who Pete was. During high school Pete had many medical problems, most of them brought on (I suspect) by the fact that he was morbidly obese, even at that age. Many people didn't want to deal with Pete; preferring instead to stand back and ridicule from afar. Well, I've never been that way, so I said "hell yeah", and thus began a strong friendship that lasted through high school.

It was with Pete that I had my first ever performance playing bass on stage. It was with Pete that I wrote my first rock song. It was with Pete that I learned never to judge a book by its cover - see, Pete was an incredibly smart guy. He was one of the nicest people I knew in high school. He was also an amazingly gifted guitarist - completely blew me away when I first heard him. I was lucky that he had enough patience to put up with me as a very beginning bass player.

With Pete, and our friends Brett (who's known Pete far longer than I) and Leif, we had a band called "In Trance", named after the Scorpions song. One year, we played at the high school talent show. (We lost - one of the judges' comments was "Wow ... that's loud") But we'd played our own original song called "Under Fire", doing all the trademark mid-80s guitar machine gun movements, etc. There's even a picture of me singing lead at that show in my sophomore HS yearbook ...

Pete and I went on to write other songs. He'd spend the night at my place and we'd be up all night, playing and writing songs quietly downstairs so as not to wake up my parents. The only one I remember at all from that time is one called "Dreamworld" ... and I only remember bits and pieces of it; a few of the lyrics and one of the riffs. The lyrics at first talked of a world of shapes, spheres, and cubes - the only line I remember verbatim is that of the chorus:

"You never know what will take place - in the dreamworld"

The last time I heard from Pete (we had kept in contact throughout the years after high school, on and off) was around a year or two ago. He'd lost a LOT of weight, was getting married, and was moving to Virginia. It was such a happy and positive email that I didn't always get from Pete, and it made me very happy to read.

Well, Pete ... you've now gone to that dreamworld place we thought of oh so many years ago. I hope your journey was painless and that you are in a better place. I'll miss you - and I'll never forget you and the effect you had on me and my life. THANKS, PETE!