Preston Grover
November 17th, 1987 – June 2nd, 2011
Preston Grover was man with a passion for the people and a true creative spirit. Some of us can say that Preston saved our lives in so many ways by simply being himself. Some of us can say he was a friend, a brother, a son. All of us can say he was an inspiration. Today we honor a life taken too soon.
Here is something to listen to while you read how he touched people’s lives… let his inspiration live on in your daily lives and in your music. Feel free to leave comments with your own thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Golden Vortex // NYE 2010 – 2011 by Preston Grover
I once knew a man who, with my most sincere efforts, could not be explained by any language. However, the life he led lends us a hand to what we really cannot fully express about him due to the great nature which embodied his Ora, but we must try because he did. The kind of details that must be recalled to help identify who this man was will not be overly difficult to accomplish. For the abundance of good works were extremely prevalent to observe as he did things for others often. I watched him stretch out his hand over many situations and life would spring forth, including within my own soul. This man would talk and consider, in deep dialog, circumstances about ones perception coupled with expounding his thoughts with excellent accuracy leaving the person with insight and courage. Gardeners have been referred to possess a green thumb, explaining the talent it takes to care for plant life, this man did that for Human Beings. On many occasions we met and drank coffee together, where sometimes we enjoyed a toasted bagel with some cream cheese spread about them, and as we drank that coffee we would talk about the deeper things in life, the subject matter that made us close friends. He was like a Shepard, who cared passionately for those of us whom he loved and loved him while selflessly listening as he always was. I will miss my friend dearly, as I know others will do the same. He made a strong impact on my life and I could never forget and as I journey through my life he’ll be with me.
To our friend, Preston Grover – Blake
Preston and I both shared the vision of bringing people together to experience music, dance, art, and people. It was what made us friends. The party he threw was actually the very first party StirCrazy ever actually did. He created StirCrazy’s first logo, and created our first flyer, which is still one of my very favorites. He is gone much too early, we had so much to conquer. I will never forget his positivity and his uncanny devotion to bringing people together to celebrate music, art, and people.
- We must keep dancing. Preston will be missed.
His outlook on this world was unlike anyone I have ever known. He wanted nothing but to light up the darkness and bring people together. Preston was always really good to me. Even as an outsider coming from the east coast when I first met him, he was always accepting. When I had questions about the music business, how to approach certain aspects… he had the answers. He also had a way of explaining the answers so I would walk away with a certain sense of hope, and immediately feel better and optimistic. So I feel he deserves this tribute … for being such a good person and touching so many lives. We will keep the music loud and the bass high… Rest in peace homie. Carry your message of love, light, and togetherness with you into heaven.
- SackMagazine
Real Eyes
Thursday June 2nd at 7:44 pm I texted a good friend Hey Preston, hope you’re doing well <3 and enjoying your time off <3. At 7:46pm, I received the message that this friend was no longer with us, as Preston Grover had decided to take his own life.
The day I met Preston I have very little memory of. My only memory was that he created a feeling through music that impelled me to find him again, to seek more of that feeling. At that time in life I was scared. I stood in the face of true understanding but still under the weight of my own darkness; I was hysterical. I would be connected to the meaning of my experiences and then immediately push that meaning away, because it was ‘crazy’ or ‘unrealistic’. I was living the life of a person I did not believe, and everyday’s decision making brought me deeper discontentment. It was no accident that I felt directed to Preston, Preston restored my soul to this life.
Preston loved to learn, he seeked meaning in all that he came to know, including himself. I believe that in this time of society, sadly we attach ourselves to what is not real, what distracts us from feeling intuition, with the intention of staying grounded and upholding the rhythm of a structure we’re told is right. This is true everywhere in the world and everywhere in time were we can study a hierarchy of powers. To truly see things with our intuition, we must close the eyes of our lower consciousness and see without filters the universe layered into realities that each have their own system of potentials.
In our many talks, Preston’s favorite subject was the practice of neurolinguistic programming, a skill I had put upon myself to learn immediately prior to our paths crossing when I had needed that knowledge to escape a dark person’s influence in my life. Neurolinguistics is the practice of translating the pathways of our subconcious energy into words so that we can understand from a universal perspective. At that time, it was because of this level of perspective I had climbed to that I could not connect to anyone and was alone with my understanding. Preston reached in to me from his own curiosity, but underlying that, an intention for seeking universal tools of inspiration. No day will go by that I won’t continue to live on the journey Preston’s existence attracted me to. I know I am meant to repeat this experience as I will again cross paths with Preston’s existence in the universe; I am continuing to let that influence my direction.
In the 48 hours before his departure, Preston came to me in a way I had never felt from him before. He came to me in fear. I would like to share this intimate departing gift he left me because I know the purpose of Preston’s intensity. It’s purpose was to inspire people to believe in themselves- whatever beliefs that exists inside each of us, or in other words, what is real.
I stood facing the door to my apartment, folding Preston’s white sweater he had lent me two days before at Lightning In a Bottle. It was the middle afternoon and during his work schedule, so I was folding it to take and drop off at his home right then. So as I was folding, I heard a knock at my door which I never receive because I live in a gated community. So I heard this knock and no answer when I asked “who is it?” and I opened the door. There stood before me a Preston I had never seen, his shoulders were slightly forward and his eyes deep with confusion. I welcomed him inside, and from there we entered a space in time that held more stillness than I had ever experienced with him before. He began by speaking in apologies for the things that he had done in the past that hurt me, and unlike he had ever done, he verbalized his appreciation for my existence in his life as a giver and nurturer to him even in the times he spilled his pain on to me. You see, my relationship with Preston was in that I was in love with him and Preston could not attach himself, but he would become possessive – an evil he was aware of and would consciously deny his behavior a right to. For me, the only way to be in Preston’s life was to be my TRULY ATTRACTIVE self and to serve his soul, not to serve his body. It was on this day of conversation that Preston shared with me a deep fear he had realized during an overwhelming state of self discovery. He truly feared the feeling that he was becoming alone, and without an ability to embrace his feelings his senses knew others would also not be able to.
Preston lived for creating community and a positive environment; he told me that day that without his feeling positive people who liked him would not continue to support his achieving that. I am so grateful that Preston gave me the practice of giving my best self to others, because it was in this conversation with him that I came to realize it is truly necessary. I reflected on what I had learned in the context of he said to me and told him that he should sit with his feelings and allow them to overwhelm him until they pass. In his search for constant positivity, I believe he missed the valuable act of embracing one’s feelings as a gift of life. Every one of our feelings is of divine nature even the ones which don’t feel good. We need not deny ourselves emotion to stay positive because it is the propensity of intentions that move us toward positive or negative.
So I said all of this to him and he thanked me for the beauty of my smile; and I thanked him for installing his precious energies in me. I shared with him the realizations I had come to during Lightning in A Bottle, which he knew were of credit to his guidance. I have found my inner divinity because of my belief in the creator, and it’s voice through intuition as well as the wise teachings of Krishna. I shared with him that my belief in the creator humbled me so I could connect to the feeling of my soul’s purpose in this life without having to see the connections from a perspective too high. Preston’s honesty through his facial expression at that moment continues to shake me… He spoke of his struggle with intuition as it required a blind faith he saw was irrational. He said, “Maybe my purpose in life is to inspire great leaders”. I said, “Be humbled in knowing we are all ultimately dumb, we all cannot answer to ourselves the same questions of existence. To see your purpose, you climb to a perspective that is above the lives that surround you, stay here. Stay here where we all are with you.” We cannot see Preston here on earth; he is alive in the feelings his life creates for us. Preston sees us, Preston always saw.
