Bonding at Van Halen Concerts
I was really shocked and saddened to hear about the passing of Mike Plant. We were very good friends in our Junior and Senior years of high school. I was looking forward to see Mike again at our upcoming 20th reunion.
I remember that we were both Van Halen fans (I know - very High School) and this is what I think originally brought us together as friends. I went with Mike to see Van Halen in the Meadowlands right after Sammy Hagar joined the group, but Mike’s favorite band member, like I think every teenage boy at that time, was guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
Mike was a very funny person who had a very charismatic and likeable personality. Even though I never was a big fan of Howard Stern, Mike loved Howard – the man he affectionately referred to all the time as "Sterno". Somehow listening to Mike tell Howard’s jokes was a lot more palatable and funny to me than listening to Howard’s own hijinks on KRock. He would always tell Howard’s jokes or his own with a certain endearing smile and twinkle in his eye that only Mike had. You were already laughing before he got to the punch line, because you knew Mike would know just the right insightful thing to say once the punch line came.
The insight that Mike had was a great reason why I think we became such good friends. I think of everyone in Darien, Mike knew who I truly was as a person the best, and I think he truly cared about those around him. When I had a bad case of Mono my Junior year, I remember Mike as being one of the people who would call me to keep my spirits up, even though I had not set foot in the High School for weeks.
I’m saddened by Mike’s passing, but instead of being angry at God for this, I thank God for the time he allowed me to know such a wonderful person in Mike. I’m sure Mike is headed up to heaven in his cream-colored, convertible Mustang right now and when he gets there it will be a lot louder with Van Halen’s "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" blaring.
Markus Bates
I remember that we were both Van Halen fans (I know - very High School) and this is what I think originally brought us together as friends. I went with Mike to see Van Halen in the Meadowlands right after Sammy Hagar joined the group, but Mike’s favorite band member, like I think every teenage boy at that time, was guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
Mike was a very funny person who had a very charismatic and likeable personality. Even though I never was a big fan of Howard Stern, Mike loved Howard – the man he affectionately referred to all the time as "Sterno". Somehow listening to Mike tell Howard’s jokes was a lot more palatable and funny to me than listening to Howard’s own hijinks on KRock. He would always tell Howard’s jokes or his own with a certain endearing smile and twinkle in his eye that only Mike had. You were already laughing before he got to the punch line, because you knew Mike would know just the right insightful thing to say once the punch line came.
The insight that Mike had was a great reason why I think we became such good friends. I think of everyone in Darien, Mike knew who I truly was as a person the best, and I think he truly cared about those around him. When I had a bad case of Mono my Junior year, I remember Mike as being one of the people who would call me to keep my spirits up, even though I had not set foot in the High School for weeks.
I’m saddened by Mike’s passing, but instead of being angry at God for this, I thank God for the time he allowed me to know such a wonderful person in Mike. I’m sure Mike is headed up to heaven in his cream-colored, convertible Mustang right now and when he gets there it will be a lot louder with Van Halen’s "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" blaring.
Markus Bates
posted by Andy Potter @ 12:26 PM
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