The Time I Dressed Up As Dave Grohl for Halloween
It was Halloween, a couple of years back. I decided to go to school dressed up as Dave Grohl.
The year before I went as Bruce Springsteen — my hair was shorter and it made sense. If you’re seeing a theme, you’re probably right. I just really wanted an excuse to carry my guitar around all day.
And, in case you’re wondering, aside from “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” neither of these names meant anything to my students. Still, the costumes had to be worn.
The end of a long day was finally drawing near. Halloween is fun, but exhausting. I am in front of the room, trying to rally my 8th graders to do some math before checking out completely. Even I am having a hard time keeping my thoughts on the task at hand. My Halloween playlist is lightly thrumming in the background.
The song “Zombie” comes on. Yes, I know it has nothing to do with Halloween and everything to do with the IRA. Doesn’t matter — the song totally vibes Spooky Season. I have several versions on the playlist.
One of my students looks up at me. In my recollection, she seems wistful when she says, “Mr. Wamsted, how cool would it be if you could play this song?”
Dear reader, I am more than capable of playing “Zombie.” The entire song is only four chords, and I know them all. I even know that the song is in E minor. And, remember, I am holding a guitar.
Get Jay Wamsted’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
I start to play along to the Cranberries, not at all quietly. My students start to sing. Same. Suddenly, I am having one of the greatest moments of my teaching career. The entire class is howling along as I thrash my guitar to the chorus.
“What’s in your head, in your head, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie”
At that moment my principal walks in.
For just the briefest of moments, it is like a record scratch in my mind. I wonder if I should stop playing. Then I decide against it. We all just keep wailing.
My principal stands there for a long moment, completely befuddled. I had never seen him at such a loss for words. At first I think there’s a chance that he starts to sing along. Instead, he just backs out of the door, ever so slowly. It was as if he had walked in on some terrible drama that he wanted no part of.
He looked like that meme of Homer Simpson fading into the bushes. We just kept wailing.
“What’s in your head, in your head, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie”
I assumed he would come back to finish whatever business he had been trying to attend to. He never did. We dismissed from school without ever seeing him again. Not only that, he never mentioned the incident to me. To this day I have no idea what he wanted or what he thought when he ran into a room full of Zombies.
Dave Grohl led class that day. But it was the Zombies who got Mr. Wamsted out of some boring administrative task on Halloween afternoon. And for that I will be eternally grateful.
You know I’ll have my guitar ready again this year, too.
{Like what you read here? I’m writing micro-essays from the middle school classroom all year long! Check out my website to learn more about my book or to follow along on socials!}
