Michael Dahlquist 1966 - 2005

Michael Dahlquist, the drummer for the Seattle band Silkworm, was killed last week in a tragic car accident. Apparently, an unhappy model, Jeanette Sliwinski, who was trying to kill herself (driving 70 mph & blowing through red lights) slammed her car into a car with Dahlquist and two friends in it. Dahlquist and his friends were killed immediately. Sliwinski was treated at the hospital and released to the Cook County Jail. She's facing first degree murder charges. The story is here and here.

This is one of those senseless tragedies you can never understand.

In the mid-90's, I was a big Silkworm fan and saw them numerous times live. Dahlquist was always a likeable guy who would banter with the band and the crowd throughout the show. Very charismatic guy.

I remember a show at Maxwell's in Hoboken after Joel R. L. Phelps had left the band. They were promoting Firewater I think and not playing much, if anything, from the Phelps era. Well, some dork in the front row spent the time between each song whining "Play In the West! Play In the West!" Quite frankly, it was pretty annoying to everyone at the show; not just the band.

Well, about half way through the show, as the guy started into his whine again, Dahlquist stood up from behind his drum set and screamed back at the guy in a mocking voice "PLAY IN THE WEST! PLAY IN THE WEST! WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE FVCK UP!! PHELPS ISN'T HERE ANYMORE! NOW JUST SHUT UP!" The whiner immediately pipped down and everyone else just started laughing. It was a pretty funny moment.