Blue star, shine your light

When I was in college, I met a really cool girl named Melina. Melina and I shared a mutual friend, Elena. Elena and I went to the same high school and Melina had gone to school with Elena's sister. Elena was a year ahead of me in school but it just so happened that we ended up at the same college and living in the same dorm. Even though Melina and I both knew Elena, we probably wouldn't have become good friends had I not taped pictures of one of my favorite bands to my dormroom door. That band was the Deftones. Turned out Melina was a big Deftones fan as well and after meeting her, I had someone to share my 'tones obsession with.

I have so many great Deftones memories from over the years including the first time I saw them at Ozzfest in 1999; the time I caught Abe's drum stick when he threw them up into the air at their Tabernacle show in 2000; the time Melina and I bought tickets off a classmate for the sold out Big Day Out concert, praying that we'd get to hear "Back to School" live for the first time (which we did); the time we FINALLY heard "The Chauffeur" live after begging them forever to play it live; and the time we got to hang out with them one awesome night in Fort Mill South Carolina, making us the happiest girls ever in life.

While the Deftones are an incredibly talented band, one of the best things about them has always been their bass player Chi Cheng. I was fortunate to meet Chi on a few different occasions and he was always humble, incredibly kind and really appreciatve of the opportunity to play music for his fans. I remember one particular day in November of 2000 when Melina and I went up to Atlanta for a Deftones show at International Ballroom. Because we were super fans, we arrived at the venue really early (11 am to be exact) so that we could be one of the first people inside when the doors opened later that night. To our surprise, we weren't even the first ones there. A 16 year old kid from Alabama had made it there first. We thought, "Wow, how early did this kid have to get up to drive to Georgia from Alabama to make it there before 11 am?" We knew he had to be a big fan.

The weather was terrible that day. It was cold and rained on and off all day. While Melina and I had hoodies that kept us pretty warm, this 16 year old kid didn't have a jacket or anything and we felt really bad for him.

As the day went on we spotted a few members from the opening bands walking around and chatted and talked with them. But the highlight was definitely when members of the Deftones came out to talk to fans. Now Melina and I used to ask Chi questions on the Deftones messageboard pretty frequently. And somehow, with the hundreds of questions people would ask him, he would always answer ours. When we met him, he remembered the questions that we asked and we thought, "Wow, here's this big rockstar who actually knows who we are." And that felt really cool. Talking to Chi about music, politics and Buddhism, you could tell that he was really well informed about so many things and topics. But what came across the most about Chi that day was his kindness. When he saw that the 16 year old kid who had been waiting there all day was shivering because he didn't have a jacket on, he went onto the bus and gave the kid HIS jacket. I was truly amazed. Most regular people wouldn't have done that much less a rockstar. If we didn't know before, we definitely knew then that Chi wasn't just a rockstar. He was a good person too.

I mention all of this because a few weeks ago on November 3, Chi was involved in a really terrible car accident. His mother, Jeanne, has been updating the Deftones blog with Chi's condition. He's in a coma. While he's stable, his condition is obviously very serious. I pray for him every night. It's so funny how you can feel so connected to a band because of all of the times you've listened to their CD or how many times you've seen them in concert or all of the posters you have of them hanging in your room (I still have a little Deftones corner in my room in Atlanta). However, when you've met them and see what good people they are, it makes it even more difficult to hear when something horrible happens to them.

Luckily for Chi, he has a lot of people pulling for him between his band mates, his family & friends and his millions of fans. I also know that his will is strong and that he will fight to get better. So I ask you, if you pray, pray for Chi. And if you don't pray, send some good thoughts his way. If anyone else were in his position, I know that Chi would gladly do the same.

Melina and Chi in 2000