Luke's the kind of person who couldn't help but make an impression on you. After spending countless hours commuting from LVR to our job watching children together at the lower school's after care program and every kind of shenanigan with TKYKAL, Luke made a huge impression on me, and he will be dearly missed. It does warm my heart, though, to see how he was able to share his gift for life, love, humility, humor, art, and music with so many others.

Luke is also someone I will always credit with crafting my love of music. His mixed CDs made such an impression on me that, through various mediums and music services I've made a point to make sure to preserve them so that I could always go back and re-live that special time in our lives. I've linked playlists of his mixed CDs here in case anyone would like to take a glimpse back in time:

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Dear Ray, Mary Beth, Hannah, and Grace ~

I am deeply saddened to learn of Luke's passing. May the God of all consolation be manifest with you during this most difficult time.In peace,

     + Pastor Thane

What a lovely young man from a loving family, I speak for all of us in my office.

Our deepest condolences . 

Luke was an incredible person. A heartwarming spirit with the wit and intellect to match it. We shared our formative years together, and there are so many memories and things that come to mind when I think of Luke. He had such a deep influence on me and I’ll always be grateful for the time we spent with one another. Below are just a handful of the ways Luke made an impact on my life, and how he continues to live on through them.

As you all know, Luke was a huge film buff. His knowledge of movies and appreciation for various genres was extensive. He introduced me to experimental film, foreign cinema, and “bad” movies–a perverse enjoyment that started with MST3K and descended into scraping the bottom of the rental bins in search of the worst movies ever. I’ll always remember the Lord of the Rings marathon we did in one day; truly torturous in the best way possible. Or when we snuck into a double feature of Wedding Crashers and March of the Penguins. The last time I saw Luke in person we watched the Hateful Eight in 70mm in NYC (Tarantino of course, just one of the many directors Luke introduced me to).

Koyaanisqatsi. Kontroll. Richard Linklater.

Games were another shared interest of ours and how our friend group passed most of our time. Luke was the all-time Blokus champ (most games really); he was always 2 steps ahead and had an incredible knack for learning games quickly and dominating. We used to play Settlers of Catan all the time, and he was the first to teach me how to optimize your resources at the outset to play for either longest road or point-based development cards, depending how the board came together. We once played dominoes while eating Domino’s Pizza and were just tickled pink at the concept. We even made up our own game “The Game”, that was played on a soccer field with hula hoops and tiki torches.

Egyptian Rat Screw. Katamari. Chairman Mao.

Growing up in the early 2000s was a time when technology, computers, and the internet were intrinsic with our social lives and freetime. Luke taught me how to use a Mac. We spent hours in that basement working on silly projects like El Greco horror slideshows, or adding $999 million worth of items to our apple.com cart. We lived in “newchat” a public AOL Instant Messenger chatroom that our friends would inhabit literally 24/7.

Zombocom. Wikiracing. qkrnxtl.

Hands down the best time of our lives was the summer of 2007, aka “The Best Summer Ever”/BSE, the last hurrah before everyone separated and went off to college. We made collages in anticipation of the season, as well as the inevitable “Most Depressing Fall Ever” that followed. That summer, we hung out daily. Slip ‘n slides, tubing on Lake Lakawanna, hiking through the woods behind LVR and CO Johnson, chipping in for a Wii to share amongst our group, The Kids You Know and Love. Running amok with scavenger hunts. We became regulars at Rachel’s Italian Ice, and spent a lot of time in basements. I’ll cherish those memories forever.

BLD. Ice Cream Sandwich Milkshakes. Clone High.

Last but not least… music. Luke had THEE most eccentric musical appetite. He liked so many different bands and enjoyed them all for different reasons. Half of my music library and songs I discovered during high school were because of Luke Mueller. He taught me the importance of actively searching for new music. Nobody was a more avid music listener than Luke. He had a love/hate relationship with last.fm, a site that tracks the music you listen to and makes recommendations based on your preferences. Unfortunately his high school era account is long gone, but his music history from the past 10 years or so is preserved here: https://www.last.fm/user/theo…

Listening to some of the bands and albums that rank highly on his charts show a psychedelic rock heavy interest; a genre he deeply enjoyed.

There are 3 songs I’d like to share:

Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols

https://open.spotify.com/trac…

The Dandy Warhols had a complicated relationship with Luke’s favorite band, The Brian Jonestown Massacre (watch the documentary “Dig!”), so that’s one connection. Luke hated me for loving this song because it’s the Dandy’s most mainstream pop-friendly track; I can see him finger wagging at me for selecting it and not some deep cut. But that was very much part of our never-ending music debates.

Shake - Ying Yang Twins, Pitbull

https://open.spotify.com/trac…

Byram. Shoprite parking lot. Luke in the passenger seat of my car, head cocked to the side, body rocking to the beat of this song as it blares at full volume. We’re talking head and torso violently oscillating from the hips, moving as one forceful gyration. It was one of the funniest moments I’ve ever experienced and always brings a smile to my face. I don’t know how he kept his glasses on while doing it.

Touched - Vast

https://open.spotify.com/trac…

There are some songs that raise the hair on the back of your neck; that inspire tears. We both liked this song, and I always told him that I was going to play it at his funeral. It has great range and the lyrics are particularly fitting.

Love you, Lakeman.

I hadn't been working with Luke for very long before we started talking about music. Although I enjoyed discussing politics, religion, and philosophy with Luke (I will never forget our time in Tautology Club), it's hard for me to focus on any task when engaged with someone both knowledgeable and intelligent.

About a week after saying that, he sent me a link to a new playlist he made: "Bite me, Steve (Vol. 1)" with the explanation "a response to your alternative rock playlist." Five hundred songs, representing nearly as many artists, 2/3rds of whom I'd never heard of before. I thought I liked a pretty good variety of music, but all the songs which I had heard on this playlist, I knew I hated. Never before or since have I been the target of such a high-effort troll. Here's the link to his work: 

https://open.spotify.com/play…

The last time we spoke, he gave me "homework," that is, music I needed to go home an listen to: David Bowie's last album, and Guster. Then he expressed his intention to create "Bite me, Steve (Vol. 2)" I can only guess what this would have included, but I decided to create an original playlist combining the underground themes on "Bite me, Steve" with some of my favorite songs. Now anytime I hear Beck, Prince, Leonard Cohen, or a dozen others, I will remember Luke. He brought so much light to everyone around him. He was really a source of love and peace in our wacky restaurant, and though I had barely known him for one year, I had hoped to have found in him a life-long friend.