a reality shaker

This is tom pfaeffle. he was an audio engineer who toured with and recorded a number of albums from artists you certainly know and probably love. he was also an instructor at the art institute of seattle, where he was my portfolio advisor. I chose him because was the hardest, more no-nonsense guy there and I knew that if my work met his approval I had achieved something. tom opened a studio a few years back where I recorded an album with the band I was then playing with. I occasionally crossed paths with tom after, as the audio industry is a very small world.

today I found out that, while on vacation with his wife in eastern washington, he was shot dead. he mistakenly tried to open the wrong door with his room key and the guy inside (who must have been expecting trouble) fired two shots through the door, then opened the door to fire a third. all of this was right in front of tom’s wife. they got him to the hospital, where he died from the wounds.

tom had a lot of kids (the total count of which I lost track of at some point), and was the primary bread winner for his family.

I have managed to keep this blog expletive free up to this point, but this is just too fucking senseless.