Whether you’re playing music or watching music, the real beauty of the thing is the paths you cross and the friends you make along the way. (I suppose any common interest amongst people has that same effect. With me, it tends to be music.)
Jeff Setzekorn, along with his wife Jenn, was a member of “Camp All Ya’ll”, a group of folks we camp with up at the Strawberry Music Festival every year. Jeff loved capturing festivals and live music events on tape – upgrading to MiniDisc, last we spoke – and gladly sharing the results with other people. (My first memory of Jeff is a conversation about a worn-out cassette I had of a January ’06 Steve Earle show from the Great American Music Hall. A few days after that conversation, Jeff sent me the same show on CD. I’m listening to it as I write this.)
Last Thursday (12/13), Jeff and his carpooler were headed to their post office jobs in Pleasanton when a semi truck/trailer swerved into their lane, forcing them off the road. The driver is still in critical condition. Jeff did not make it. This story from the Modesto Bee relays more details of the accident.
(And just on the off chance that you might be reading this and know something about the incident, the California Highway Patrol is still looking for the truck driver.)
I can’t imagine losing a spouse. I also can’t imagine it happening so close to the holidays. I also cannot imagine swerving across a lane, forcing a car off the road and into a tree, and then continuing to drive on as if nothing happened. Keep Jenn in your thoughts and prayers. And take the time today to call or email someone you haven’t checked in with in awhile, just to let them know you’re thinking about them.
By the way: Being an avid taper, Jeff was pretty active in the Deadhead community. This link will take you to some other posts that Jeff’s online pals wrote over the weekend.
Dear Michael,
I am an old friend of Jeff and Jen. I never went to Strawberry but I know how much they loved that festival. Jeff went to Washington High School in Fremont and I got to know him from mutual friends at school and Dead shows.
I have lost contact with Jen and there are a few of us who are trying to get in touch with her to see how she is doing but the contact information we have is out of date. If you have an email or phone number for her please pass it along.
Thanks for putting up this memorial page, it brings back a lot of good memories.
I went through High School with Jeff. We went to many Dead gigs. You are right, he was an avid taper! He was devastated, when his brother Randy committed suicide. His Dad wrote the first novel on Belize, when it changed it’s name. I loved Jeff & will miss him terribly! RIP Jeffy:(