Dave Kehrer

In memoriam David Kehrer 1959-1997

David Kehrer was a character. He was also one of the most genuine human beings that I ever met. Dave was a great teacher and shared with me all manner of knowledge. Dave introduced me to SCUBA diving…we dove together in the Great Barrier Reef for days on end. He taught me things about sound engineering and wine and how to pick up beautiful women in New Zealand. He told me things about stocks and investing and how to run a corporation. He shared his insights on relationships (both bad and good), and even gave me advice on the timeless themes like family and beauty and land and time.

He convinced me that I could wear contacts and that sticking your finger in your eye wasn’t all that horrible. He gave me books about snipers and detectives and pamphlets on alternative medicine and smart drugs. He showed me how to make cappuchino.

Dave taught me to jog and put up with me when I got winded after a mile. He told me when I was being an ass, and managed to make me laugh at my own mistakes. When I nearly levitated out of the water after seeing my first shark (a mighty beast all of about four feet long), he didn’t give me a hard time. He and Belvedere bought me a ton of sushi and sake’ on my last birthday, when I was sure than no one would remember that I was turning 28. Dave and I toured together for long stretches of time, and I think I spent more time with him than I did with my second wife.

I watched Dave live his life with panache, with style and with bravado. To me, he lived his life the way that he would SCUBA…diving in deep, not just to look around, but to become a part of that world. And this is not to say that he was some happy-go-lucky road guy…he had his share of troubles, just like the rest of us. He lost a brother and his father…he had been through a lot of really bad relationships with women. I watched him go through emotional convolutions over his ex-wife for, literally, years following their divorce. He had Hepatitis, and not just one kind either, and I saw him pick some really bad stocks. But he still went on…He sent money to his ex when she needed it, he fought the Hepatitis with everything he could find, he fell in love with a beautiful woman from France, he drove from Tulsa to Finley after a Toadies/Butthole Surfers show to be with his Mother and put his Father to rest, and still made the next show.

He was my friend. He meant more to me than I can probably express here in mere words…I never expected that one day I would find out that I would not have the chance to share sake’ with him or talk about women or go to the firing range or listen to him turn a crap sounding band on stage into something listenable. I never got the chance to tell him how much he taught me or how much his friendship meant to me. I always assumed that there would be another sushi bar, another dive trip, another tour bus and long, smooth highways to share with him. I hope that he knew that, and I hope he knows now that all the people whose lives he touched are poorer now that he has gone, and that we will miss him at load-in.