There was a point in my life when I thought I was going to be a rock star.  I was taking lessons like crazy and taking classes at one of the local community colleges (Scottsdale Community College).  I was so intent I got a job at a local music store and the whole bit.

Scottsdale Community College had a great music program at the time, not sure if they still do.  But they had recording classes with ADATs and all, at the time that was some pretty solid stuff.  So I was taking the Music Business classes and we had a project to write a paper and I was dreading it.  So I decided to email Dave Mustaine to see if I could email him some questions and he send them back to me so I could write the paper.  At that point Megadeth had their email addresses listed on their website and as it turned out it was really them answering.

So Dave emails me back and said he wouldn't do the q&a but "Maybe, your teacher would like a guest lecturor?".  I was pretty stoked.  Went to class the next time and the teacher was all for it.  Kind of crazy, the teacher was a pretty well known local jazz cat.  So I emailed Dave back and forth a bit, he told me to call his manager, I did and we set it up.

The morning of the lecture I was standing outside the building waiting for Dave to show up.  All the sudden this guy with long red hair starts walking up.  I was shaking be a young kid not far removed from Nebraska.  He was super cool, asked me if I was in trouble in class or something.  I said "no, why".  He said you are shaking.  I told him I don't meet rock stars everyday.

So he did the lecture and signed some stuff for the guys in the class.  He told lots of stories about how he got screwed on some early contracts and what to look out for.  Kind of the classic case of a band getting signed and owning nothing.  Megadeth was transitioning labels at the time or had just finished it and he had some insight about all that.  Wish I had video taped it.

I was super impressed that he did all of that.  I guess he had told another kid he would do a talk at his school but something came up and Dave couldn't do it.  He said he felt bad about it and did the lecture to try and make up for missing that other one.

After that the teacher kept bring up that I got Dave Mustaine to come talk and it got kind of old quick and I could feel the rest of the guys in class getting feed up with it as well.  So I didn't go to class much after that.  Oddly I got an A that semester and the next with going to class only a few times. :)

But got to say, I have met a few rock stars and not sure how many of them would have taken the time to come talk to a class like that.  Dave is a really nice guy and it has been years since all this happened, but he still has my thanks for speaking to our class.  It is a huge highlight to that period in my life and actually part of the reason I am a programmer now. :)

Thanks Dave!