Back in the early 1990s, I was stationed at Onizuka, just off Highway 101 in Sunnyvale. I worked with a guy who was dating a SF rock station DJ. Bush and Pearl Jam, among others, were playing in area clubs. The DJ was often involved locally in arranging these shows, so she would take him with him sometimes, enabling him the chance to meet the bands. I went a few times and ended up meeting the guys of STP, Pearl Jam and Bush. ‘Meet’ is a generous expression. It was more like they would generally nod at me (or stare) when my name was given. Sometimes one or two would chat with me, but the meet place was usually hot, crowded and barely lit, and they were getting ready to do a show. I was just trying to stay out of the way.

Here’s the twist: my friend was dating the DJ in secret. He spilled the news to me once while we were having a few beers. Why this was secret was never explained well. I didn’t care; it was their life. If they wanted to keep their dating secret, that was their biz.

Those three bands all were on the cusp of making it big when I met them; once they did, I never met them again, but I bought their albums and enjoyed their music. I ended up making a personal favorite CD for driving around and that CD included music from them, along with the Cranberries, Blind Melon, and a few others.

Bush’s ‘Comedown’ was the first song on the CD. I’ll always associate it with blasting down Interstate 280 in my RX-7 as it played. The weather was usually gorgeous, and it was a fine time for me to be alive, and the song’s lyrics fit: “I don’t want to come back down from this cloud. It’s taken me all this time to find out what I need.”