sonicdork.

Sure, I was hit hard by the passing and suicide of Vic Chesnutt…. and now to lose another one of my favorite songwriters/musicians to suicide is even more painful. As a songwriter and musician myself, Mark Linkous meant the world to me.

He was the king of the tortured, painful melody. Melodies so brilliant that, at times, they would give McCartney and Lennon a run for their money. But the pain and torture obviously took its toll…. and with it, Sparklehorse.

Good Morning Spider is one of those albums that has factored tremendously in my musical growth. I remember hearing it for the first time in 1999 at friend’s house in Chapel Hill and thinking that the sound was other worldly. While everyone was losing their shit over Radiohead, I was losing mine over Mark Linkous. Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot was out of print at that point in time and it felt like such a victory when I found a copy of it in a record store in Roanoke, VA. I couldn’t get enough of Linkous’ work. I even paid quite a bit for a copy of a Dancing Hoods record off of eBay.

I was always proud of Linkous for being a Virginian. Proud that my mighty Commonwealth could lay claim to such a musician. Fuck Dave Matthews. We have Mark Linkous. Once he moved to the Smokey Mountains outside of Asheville, NC, I was even prouder since I consider Asheville/Black Mountain to be my second hometown. I always hoped I would run into him at The Orange Peel so I could speak to him again, without stumbling over my words like a fanboy.

I spoke to him once, after a Mercury Rev/Sparklehorse show at Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill in 1999. It was a passing “hello” and “great show”…..I may have even uttered a word that I made up on the spot…. I couldn’t muster anything else. I was in awe.

I’m still in awe of the man…and terribly saddened that he is gone…. for whatever reason he felt that he had to go.