I think I started reading...forgotten the title...'Love In the Time of Cancers,' or sim about a week before he died, very beautiful writer, I remember walking - a foot taller than the little people with their I-kindles/porno, knowing I was nourished with every flick of the page. I stole the book actually from the in-laws, currently reading I Was A Kamikaze which is good also. He is probably still alive tho,' Japanese chap wanted to be a French teacher but became suicide pilot, parallels between us are remarkable.
Okay, I've been wrapped in death and thus lax in reporting it, sorry. First up, Jonathan Demme, director of "Silence of the Lambs"
Also, Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which I read when I was much too young to understand, and should probably get to again, has passed:
Jeez, you're like the grim reaper, Iain. Every time I see your name and an alert for this thread I'm like, "Great... now who died?"
That's...that's one of the sweetest things anyone's ever said about me. Thank you, @Cave Troll, from the bottom of my withered, blackened little heart.
That's some fucked up shit. Possible suicide... a wife and three kids. Had a long conversation with my cousin about the Seattle 5 today. Kurt Cobain, Scott Weiland, Layne Staley, Chris Cornell, and Eddie Vedder. Four of five dead now, and Cornell as the elder departed statesman at 52. Musicians really hit me in the balls when they die. I cried for like three days when Phife Dawg died last year. Not sure what the deal is with that. Probably since they all take me back to where I was and who I was hanging out with when all these guys were playing in the background. I remember seeing the video for Rusty Cage when I was like 13, getting my mom to drive me to the record store, sitting in my room peeling the shrink wrap from the Badmotorfinger tape, the way those inserts used to smell, memorizing all the lyrics and learning all the songs on the guitar, which was a bitch with Soundgarden because Kim Thyial used all those weird tunings. I'm only 38 and don't ever really feel old until I remember these old albums and discover that they're 20-25 years old.
I loved Soundgarden, I loved Rage, and I was thrilled when I heard some fantastic hijacked studio tracks from Civillian(the band that would become Audioslave). It was like they took all the best aspects of each and put a dash of Yucatan Sunshine on it. Then they all had to have different representation and argue about money. Civillian got shelved for a while, and once they got things ironed out Audioslave was born. The first album was good, the second was OK, after the third it was like they were just phoning it in. It felt like Chris was trying to write for Soundgarden again.
Sorry if I'm repeting anyone: Judge Wapner, Clare Hollingworth, Al Jarreau, Butch Trucks, and Jimmy 'Super Fly' Snuka have all shaken loose that mortal coil since Janurary first.
