On Friday, May 13 one of my greatest friends Zak Kleiner passed away.  I played in a band with Zak for 3 years, but even before that I went to see his previous band play all the time.  I always looked up to Zak as a musician, and he ended up teaching me immense amounts about music.  Before I played in a band with him, I had never really played guitar in a band.  He taught me how to play guitar like a motherfucker.  Before I played with him I was so limited by my own fear of disapproval.  Zak knew that you didn’t have to be classically trained to play great music, all you needed was a good imagination and a drive.  All you have to do is listen to the music he left behind to affirm this.  

I remember sitting in my living room with Zak, listening to T.Rex songs on repeat, stumbling through the riffs in preparation for our Halloween performance covering T.Rex songs.  For the show, we planned to only have one guitarist play the parts, and the other would play keyboards.  Zak knew I hated playing keyboards, and all I ever wanted to do was play guitar.  He stepped down in the drop of a hat to let me play guitar for this show, and he would play keyboards.  He didn’t mind at all.  Zak was humble beyond words.  He just went with the flow, and never brought any negativity with him anywhere he went.  I remember the Halloween previous to that when we played as the Misfits, and played such a raukus show that it nearly ended in the audience brawling over the near perfect orchestration Zak created for our band to play.  I remember driving out to Zak’s apartment in Oak Park every week to jam together and write new material together.  We had to take contant breaks to qualm the relentless attention his dog, Ramona, needed.  We would just walk around, go out to eat, walk the dog, and write songs, all day long.  I remember being thrilled that I was one of his friends to be invited to his wedding.  Space was limited for band members, and I was lucky enough to attend with our lead singer Sean.  I remember seeing the look on his face as we all gathered for this occasion, and how he looked when the love of his life put that ring on his finger.  I remember seeing what someone truly happy looked like.

Our band went through countless changes in the members that played, but Zak never gave up.  He always just said let’s find someone to fill the empty spot and keep on moving.  No matter if it was 3 people watching us on stage, or 300, Zak would play every show like it was his last.  He loved to play music, and didn’t care who was, or wasn’t, listening.  This is the great thing about music.  Although we all leave here at some point, we will always have something that will stick around.  I feel so lucky to have played music with Zak, as creating music with someone is one of the strongest bonds you can create.  He will truley be missed by all that had the pleasure of meeting him.