RIGHT TO THE CHIN

Easy Bill. :-)

I agree with you to some extent, and yes, I have heard his first album. I think Elliott had(has) some things to offer us too... listenting to this new album is a different experience than the first one. It's meloncholy, yes, and angry, certainly. But there's something there I can't quite put a quantitative finger on that is redemptive. Elliott may well have been lost, he was certainly troubled, but don't deny the fact that he still has an ability to comfort, prod, and (yes) redeem through his work. I believe in common grace. And I believe Elliott was endowed with a lion's share of it.

Also, please, for the love of all that is holy, spell his name right. Two ts. 2. Dos. Both.

ha! if your old then I am the older I'm always going on rants about kids worshiping generally boring and unispired pop stars but I've been there I guess so what can I say.

Thanks for fixing the spelling.

"Christian Brothers" By Elliott Smith

No bad dream fucker’s gonna boss me around
Christian brothers gonna take him down
But it can’t help me get over
Don’t be cross it’s sick what I want
I’ve seen the boss blink on and off
Fake concerns is what’s the matter, man
And you think I ought to shake yourr motherfucking hand
Well I know how much you care
Don’t be cross it’s sick what I want
I’ve seen the boss blink on and off
Come here by me I want you here
Nightmares become me it’s so fucking clear
Nightmares become me it’s so fucking clear

This song is about being desperately addicted to heroin.
A bit more than melancholy, I'd say.

Granted.

However, Elliott had cleaned up as of his last interview. And don't tell me you've never felt sick of the hypocracy in the church.

I'm not trying to say he was perfect, or even that all of his songs are perfect, or even good for me. But there are some that make sense.

Cleaned up so much that he killed himself?

I'd trust the opinion of the knife in the chest versus the interview as the actual state of mind of Mr. Smith.

It's unbelieveably sad, yes. He WAS very talented. But even more lost.

A good point. But not the right one, now that Elliott is dead. We can't bring him back, not even to try and save him.

The candlelight vigil might be campy and more than a little obsessed, I didn't go, I don't know. But I don't think there's any harm in remembering a soul's passing, especially one who was so talented and who gave a number of people so much. And there's no harm in understanding him.

Go change the musicians, go comfort the hurting, go save the lost, go remember Christ. But I think it's possible to see His face in the face of Elliott Smith, or in the face of the bum on the corner... imago dei, man. God is busting out of all of us in different ways, be it through creativity, intelligence, sensitivity to others, or simply by the nature of being a mind and body shaped in his image.

Maybe the greater problem is not so much people gathering to remember a man's passing, but that Christians are evolving into little microcosms, where they don't give a rat's ass about culture or the people out in it. Covenant is guilty. I witnessed it for four years, was a part of it willingly for that time. Churches are becoming that way. My parents and their entire generation are only friends with their fellow churchgoers, and they're raising their children to do the same, in little Christian schools and Christian book clubs and Christian music scenes and Christian newsmags...

That's where I think I'll leave it. Whether or not we like Elliott Smith isn't really the issue. It's whether we can find God's lingering presence in the things that are part of humanity and work to both embrace those and bring them fully under the grace of an almighty God.

Not the right point? He's dead. He didn't have to be. Who's next?

How did you get the music argument and I get the political argument?

What the heck does Elliot's suicide have to do with religion? I know plenty of people who believed in God who chose to die by suicide. Expecting religion to save someone from suicide is naive, in my opinion.

And this vigil thing...it's done all the time when any artist -- musician or not, natural death or not -- created work that touched people. They hold vigils for Edgar Allen Poe: why not Elliot Smith?

Now maybe the word "vigil" is a misstatement by the group. After all the word, alone, conveys a religious meaning. Or maybe that's exactly the word they meant to use, and they are going to pray for Elliot at the end of the evening, for his soul to finally be a peace.

With regard to people "finding inspiration in the work of sincerely lost people" -- does it occur to you that maybe people find inspiration there because they, themselves, feel that lost, and appreciate an artist like Elliot because he wasn't afraid to talk about it? Why do you think groups like Linkin Park have such a huge fanbase?

Religion is great, and if you're one of the lucky ones who have found it and live a happier life because of it, then I'm glad for you. But not everyone has that or will ever have that or wants to have that -- not because they choose to be miserable, but because religion, like Elliot's music for you, holds no meaning for them.

Darn...I was so flusterd I left out the extra "t." KornSt@r can officially kick my @ss for that one.

...my point of the entire post was that Covenant College is a Christian school. That's how it relates.

If this was happening at UTC, I wouldn't have batted an eye.

I actually don't care for "religion" much, I should add. "Religion" saves very few people. Jesus does. When "religion" becomes a living, breathing relationship with Jesus is when "religion" actually works.

"...If they are they are going to pray for Elliot at the end of the evening, for his soul to finally be a peace."

This possiblity is contrary to the Bible they profess to believe, as he is already dead...

"With regard to people 'finding inspiration in the work of sincerely lost people' -- does it occur to you that maybe people find inspiration there because they, themselves, feel that lost, and appreciate an artist like Elliot because he wasn't afraid to talk about it?"

...But what do they DO with that inspiration? Glorify the work, or try to help the next person they see in that circumstance? I see a lot of analysis of musicians as being "geniuses" and "poets," whose work inspires, but all it seems to lead to is more and more depressed artists. And people thinking that being depressed is "cool."

Christians, supposedly, have an answer. Elliott didn't.

In high school, they showed us slides of dead bodies of drunk drivers and their victims. Sometimes you need to see the reality of the situation for it to have an effect. I never want to see those slides again, can we make sure that never happens again? The same goes for Elliott's fate.

I'm afraid this is coming down to a question of beliefs, and I know we will never agree on that subject :) I would say, however, that sometimes the answer isn't as simple as it would seem.

"Inspiration" -- Americans seem to take hero worship to an astoundingly high level. But I don't know that having a vigil, which is what we were originally discussing, won't be of help to someone who find themselves in the same circumstances. If they read his work and relate to it, then perhaps that will allow them to decide for themselves how they want their own lives to end up. Maybe just talking about it at all brings awareness and helps curve the issue you mention of normal people being labeld as "genuises" (though I think this is as much of a media issue as anything else).

The word "poet" is not related to "genius." While I do not think anyone is a genius, in Elliott Smith's case the word "poet" is apt.

"Seeing the reality of the situation" -- I'm not sure it's as cut and dry when it comes to suicide as it is with drunk driving. Any psychiatrist will tell you that if someone truly wants to die, there is nothing that can be done to stop him/her, short of locking someone up, which usually only postpones the inevitable. The statistics for multiple suicides in a family are high, which negates the "If I see it, I won't do it" theory.

But again it comes down to choice. Some will, some won't. Again we come back to the dangerous sector of beliefs. What I believe about religion/Jesus is very different from what you belief. So 'round and 'round we go ;)

Truedat. Makes me want to give up blogging. :)

Give up blogging? Not even an option! What fun would the world be then?

Stay with us...even if it's only to marvel at my poor grammar -- "...very different from what you belief."

:D