12.31.03 autopsy

When the first news reports came in I was baffled by the fact that everyone believed the suicide theory. Of course it is true that I have been closer to more murder investigations that the average citizen. But still. Self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest are not a typical method of suicide. Maybe it was a deliberate choice; maybe something else happened:

Elliottt Smith Autopsy Inconclusive

I was too poor to buy music when I lived in Portland. I listened to what my friends handed me - demo cd's, their own work, the work of their friends. The early Elliot Smith albums are the soundtrack of my years in Portland, playing endlessly on my rickety half-broken cd player as the kids ran through the house.

The early and later albums played in every coffee shop we ever went to, and everyone in those places could sing along. Read the liner notes of your favorite indie band; figure out the connections between Elliot Smith and just about everyone you might admire. He was a melancholy genius but his skill takes precedence over the sadness.

No matter how he died, the loss is significant and terrible.

RIP

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