Those of you that may have stopped by here over the
years have probably figured out that my alter ego is that of a high school
physics teacher, a profession to which I am passionately devoted to. The high
school that I teach at is located in semi-suburban Los Angeles, and lies in a
picturesque location; hence, the school is periodically used for location
shooting for various television and movie projects, some quite well known. For
example, the original Brian De Palma film Carrie,
the Michael Keaton comedy vehicle Multiplicity,
and the Disney remake of Freaky Friday
have been filmed on campus, just to name a few. We actually have to turn away a
number of requests from production companies and studios as their work would
intrude upon the students and the school day, in general. However, we do take
on some projects, charging a fee as you might imagine. These funds are sorely
needed to enhance our various academic and extracurricular programs.
At any rate, one of our front office people, Rocky,
acts as our media liaison and knows that I’m a big time metalhead (that
information is common knowledge on campus). Lo and behold, he gets a call a few
weeks ago from none other than the management of Megadeth, requesting that the
school be used for location shooting for the music video to accompany the new
single from Megadeth, “Super Collider.” Normally, we’d probably turn away such
a request, as the management asked to shoot on a school day near the end of the
semester (most of the requests that we okay take place on weekends and during
school vacations).
However, Rocky knows that I’d get involved in some manner,
and approves the request, mostly as a personal favor to me. Naturally, the
administration has to approve, and they were fine with it, as the shoot would
be done on a very small scale. Dave Mustaine and Megadeth would be coming to our
school.
Surprisingly enough, word of Megadeth’s appearance
at school did not get out. I certainly kept my mouth shut, not wanting to jinx
the opportunity. Megadeth were scheduled to be on campus on a Friday, arriving
at noon and then filming various scenes until the evening hours. At about noon
during a break in classes, Rocky calls me up in my classroom to give me some
details. Dave Mustaine is going to be conducting an interview for Fuse TV
during a break in the music video shooting, and Rocky and I volunteered my
classroom to be used for that interview. Dave was informed that I was a fan,
and said he’d be happy to meet me.
The school day ends about 2pm, and the production
crew arrived in my classroom to start setting up for the interview around 2:45pm. At about
3:15pm, Mustaine walks in with a few people from his management team, and comes
over, says hello and shakes my hand. He’s very friendly and gracious, and we
chitchat about the school for a few minutes as the crew gets ready. I helped
the crew prepare my classroom for the shoot a bit, and made sure to position a
few physics items and texts on my desk, which will be in the background during
the interview. Dave sits on one of the student desks and the interview begins.
The first few questions posed by Fuse TV mostly have to do with the video and
the reason for the name of the song, “Super Collider.” Dave talks about how
he’s using high energy physics as a metaphor for forbidden love, as the song
talks about a love affair between young kids, and not everyone approves. Given
that Mustaine has a daughter in high school, it’s not hard to see where this is
coming from.
After only about five minutes, however, the management team
interrupts, telling Dave that he needs to get back to the set to do some more
shooting. Not wasting what might be a very small window of opportunity, I ask
Dave for a quick autograph and photo, to which he graciously accommodates me.
Unfortunately, given that my Megadeth collection is now wholly digital, the
only item that I had available for him to sign was a copy of Decibel Magazine
from last year when he appeared on the cover. He chuckled when he saw the
magazine cover, grinning sheepishly and saying to me, “Great photograph, huh?”
I laughed and said, “I didn’t know that you had that many fingers.” He laughed
at that, signed the magazine, posed for a photo, patted me on the back and
shook my hand again, and walked out.
By this time, word had started to get out. Two
students were hovering outside my door, trying to get a glimpse of Mustaine,
one of whom is one of my top students in algebra-based Physics AB, a very
bright student named Stevie. Stevie plays guitar and has a future of enormous
potential ahead of him as he plans to attend the University of California at
Santa Cruz in the fall. I motioned him and a friend of his, Kevin, inside,
telling them that Mustaine would be back. Stevie is clutching a worn, tattered
vinyl copy of Peace Sells… But, Who’s
Buying, a second or third edition pressing with both Combat Records and
Capitol Records logos on the back.
Mustaine comes back in the room about 20 minutes
later, and conducts the rest of the interview, which mostly has to do with
upcoming plans for Gigantour and his use of Twitter to connect to fans. Of note
to many readers, he responds to some of the criticism that says that “Super
Collider” is not heavy enough. He laughs, and basically says that fans
expecting rehashes of “Black Friday” on every single song on every single album
from here on out are not being realistic. He is comfortable with the music that
he is writing, and he’s pleased with the results that he and his band mates
have obtained on the new album.
The interview is over, and Mustaine prepares to
leave. Stevie and Kevin have been patiently sitting in my room with me watching
the interview, and I nudge Stevie that this is now his chance. Stevie
approaches Mustaine and politely tells him that he is a great admirer of his
work in Megadeth and would he sign his album. Mustaine graciously shakes
Stevie’s hand, and asks him how he is doing in school and is he working hard.
Stevie says that he is, and I make a point to tell Mustaine that Stevie is one
of the top students in my class. Mustaine is obviously pleased to hear this,
signs Stevie’s album, says goodbye to me, and then walks out
After a few minutes of discussing the experience
with Stevie and Kevin, they depart to see if they can get the rest of the band
to sign the album (they do, although they could not actually meet the other
members). I had to go home, anyway, at this point, and did not attempt to track
down anyone else from the band. Apparently, they were all in their production
trailers at this point, anyway.
Here’s what I take away from the experience. Say
what you will about Mustaine’s current religious views and his politics, views
with which I definitely do NOT agree. However, what came across to me is
that he is comfortable in his life as a family man, and he has wholly left his
wild past behind. He seems to be writing music, in part, from the standpoint of
a father, and it was obvious to me that he genuinely cared to hear whether or not
Stevie was doing well in school. He enriched the experience of this young man
in my classroom, and that’s all that mattered to me.
Post-script: I do have a couple of missed
opportunities to report. First, it would have been kind of neat for Mustaine
and I to talk physics, given the metaphor used in “Super Collider,” but there
just wasn’t any time to do so. Second, I also meant to offer my condolences to
him on the recent passing of Jeff Hanneman, but simply forgot in the excitement
of the moment, and, third, I could have asked him about that whispered rumor
that James Hetfield is one of the guitarists in Ghost…
4.jpg)
