skillet

Skillet (Gil Seifert, 1964-2007) used to work down at the Waffle House by the Holiday Inn just before you cross Interstate Highway 10 on 32nd and University in Tempe. They called him Shaggy because he wore his thick brown hair in a 70's white boy dread-lock fro. He banged his drum-skins for The Livers in the evening at the 7/11 in Gilbert on a used Tama kit, Zildgen cymbals, eight Ambience mikes and a single spinning-horn amplifier. He pounded out simple bomb-beats like a young Charlie Watts, but he had an Achilles Heel.

Skillet used big-time drugs. Strawberry-meth. MPMA. X. Guatemalan-Pico strong bud. Horse. Mexican Brown. A big big black ball of uncut Afghani and a pipe and needle. When he wasn't at work he was zombie-stoned or asleep.

Skillet didn't make the show Thursday night at Puerto Penasco in Sonora, Mexico so we went with an acoustic set and checked our cell phones for news. We figured he'd stopped at the Wal-Mart in Casa Grande, bought ice, a 30 pack of Bud and headed into the desert for a fix and a fire. Like so many times before.

I called Skillet's cell at 2:23 AM (according to my cell records). It was answered by DPS Officer Brent Shumway. He was investigating a single vehicle fatality in Sonoita, about 80 miles north and east of me. The plates indicated the vehicle was Skillet's F-150. The vehicle occupant had died but had no obvious signs of physical trauma. He did remark that "Dreamboat Annie" was playing on a handheld 8--track that had apparently been ejected during the rollover. I knew it was Skillet.

He didn't stop. He missed the turn at Sonoita. You can go left or right but you can't go straight. Skillet ran his '01 F-150 straight into the parking lot of the Trading Post south of the intersection. Seems he passed through with his foot on the gas but with his head on top just long enough to avoid the crowded restaurant. His truck came to a rest in the rodeo arena behind the truck-stop. He was so high he probably didn't feel a thing.

RIP Skillet. This is for you and your heart of gold ...