http://www.elliottsmith.com/

does anyone know what happened?

here is some more information:

http://nme.com/news/106511.htm


this is just horrible.

(Edited by ray davies at 6:11 am on Oct. 22, 2003)

Unbelievable. Heartbreaking.

Suggestion of suicide

here is the entire post from sweetadeline.net


"goodbye elliott
as you probably realize im pretty devastated about having to say goodbye to elliott. i've been so lucky enough to experience my own love and other's love of elliott and what his music has brought to us. its never easy to put into words what someone means to you. simply elliott was such a lovely man. i'll miss him so much. he was so kind and generous. he really made me feel so good whether being in his presence or watching him play a song or just driving in my car singing along. when i first meet elliott in 1998 after a show i was really worried to bug him for an autograph. it seemed like every article i read, elliott got into a fight somehow, so my perception was that you don't want to get him mad because you might get socked. well i was willing to take a chance that night and god i'm so glad i did. it was brief but it meant the world. with elliott holding a beer, i ran up to him asking for an autograph. with a soft spoken yes and a smile, he was willing to take time for me to sign my record. the fact he was willing to take time to do that for me meant the world. not only didn't i get socked but elliott put 'to charlie <3 elliott' of course that just made me love him more as time went on, i got to meet elliott more and more and spend a little time with him backstage. as always he was sweet to me before even knowing who i was. but finally i told him. i was nervous but he was so comforting. he even gave me a pat on the back. some of the things he told me were cool, interesting, honest and funny. the best moment to me was when he told me how much he loved the site. the thing is that it reflects on everyone who contributed to the site and visited the site. elliott told me he thought the site was really nice and that he would come and visit it especially to check out the set lists to see what he played before so he could play a new set. he thanked me for it but really he was thanking everyone because he appreciated how much everyone cared about what he was doing. he also thanked us multiple times! so many times people close to elliott thanked us for doing this for elliott too because they knew how much it meant to him. you guys really did make him happy and brought a lot of good to his life. as fans gave to him, he was willing to give too. all the stories i read and heard from fans were never negative. everyone's experience with elliott was always positive. from elliott putting fans who didn't get tickets for the show on his guest list to giving money to the homeless to simply hanging out with fans and going out for a beer. i wish i could put so much more because that just doesn't add to all the kind things he was willing to do for anyone. i wish i could remember everyone's stories and list them all for you. i wish i knew every word he said to me word for word to share with you. im sorry i wish i could say more. im sad. so how can you say goodbye to someone who was and is so wonderful? you don't because elliott will be forever in my heart and hopefully yours. i will always have his love, kindness, intelligence, humbleness, creativeness, greatness and so much more in me forever because that's what he was and i'll always love him for being who he was. i love you so much elliott. thank you so much from the bottom of my heart and soul for making me happy when i need it or i just wanted to rock out. thank you for bringing such much joy to your love ones, family, your friends and all of us. i really pray you heard all the great things you gave us. love and friends. i'll miss you so much. we will all miss you. see you in heaven elliott."

Well this is truly sad and I'm not sure if it's hit me yet. I really loved his music and I knew he seemed to be in some sort of bad state in the last few years with drugs and problems with this hand (brought on by his drug abuse or other factors?). It's really sad to hear regardless if it was suicide or not, though that seems to be, sadly, the obvious answer.

i really think i'm in some sort of disbelief.
that's devestating.

I don't know what to say right now without going into all the cliches. Maybe I should go ahead and say them. I'm at work right now and everything has just changed for me in the last 20 minutes. I don't know how I feel. Sad, angry, disapointed, and unfortunately, not entirely surprised. Nevertheless, while all of us feared this day would come, and while we even joked about Elliot's decay into a rock cliche, the "not surprised" factor doesn't make the loss any less devastating.

I am afraid of being melodramatic here, but after thinking about it, this is really the first musician that had a huge effect on my life to die in my lifetime. I liked Nirvana but Cobain didn't have even close to the same effect on my art, music, and poetry as Elliot Smith did. To see someone who has undoubtedly made your life better and brought you countless moments of joy fail in his own life is nothing short of tragic. I guess that is why I'm kinda choked up about this. Elliot Smith made my life better, and I only wish I could have reciprocated the love I feel when I listen to his music. It makes me really fucking sad when I think about all the tough times X/O and Either/Or got me through. And I mean really tough times, through my own fights with mental illness and other stuff I don't care to go into. Elliot Smith was one of the four songwriters that I really identified with, along with Jeff Tweedy, Paul Westerberg, and Neil Young. His music was at once cathartic and enlightening for me. I remember sitting in English classes reading bad poetry and thinking how I wished I could teach this class and turn people on to Elliot Smith. But most of all I remember all the times I'd be driving from here to Columbus, late at night, alone in the middle of nowhere, listening to Elliot Smith and somehow being comforted 'cause I knew "hey, here's a guy I can relate to, and there's hope for guys like us." Its not fair that I (we?) took so much from this guy and yet we couldn't save his life.

To this day, the chord progression and lyrics in "ballad of big nothing" when he says "And you're waiting for your brother to call, I saw him down in the alley, having had enough of it all" still gives me chills and makes me smile even after the thousands of times i've heard it.

By the way, now would be a good time to add your favorite elliot smith lyrics on the thread I started a few months back.

well stated, roadie. i am still shocked by the news. everything just feels numb today. ive just been walking around campus and i see friends of mine who have just found out and they have the same exact looks on their faces. It's just absolutely horrible.

Here's a complete report from VH1.com, and, yes, apparently it was suicide which makes it even more tragic.

http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1479869/2...?headlines=true

This absolutely kills me... Today is horrible... first I wake up late and then I get news of this... i really, really wanted him to die of old age...

Since roadie touched on the difference between Mr. Cobain and Mr. Smith: I listened to Cobain's music more frequently at the time of his death than I have Elliott's, but I was also too young to really understand the ramifications of Kurt's suicide and prior to that his drug addiction, while now, Elliott's has seemingly invaded my every thought since I heard about it this morning and the hope that he would overcome heroin was something that I carried around with me from day to day. As well, Elliott Smith's music had not only been a bonding point with my best friend from back home, but was also the first bonding point I felt with my present roommate.



(Edited by deathscythe257 at 10:26 am on Oct. 22, 2003)

I can't really add anything here. I think he was an absolutely amazing songwriter and musician. I just recently began to appreciate that fact. This makes me very, very, very sad. I hope we get to hear a lot of the unfinished album in the near future. The two songs I've heard are fantastic.

I loved his music as well, and I just can't believe this. This is incredibly sad news.

fuck.

It's strange. I'm beginning to take every celebrity death i hear about as much more of a shock than i have before.
I guess it just seems to me that all of these names (John Ritter, Cash, and now Smith) are just a lot more ... hmm...relevant to me. I never really got into Elliott Smith as much as you all have but i can easily tell by what you have written that it is a huge loss to many people. Maybe not on the scale of Cash but no less vital.
I just lost a best friend due to a drug related suicide and the emotions it evoked are perplexing and heartbreaking at best.
Keep strength, everyone.

I'm very sorry to hear that.

Drugs fucking suck.

Thanks...even though my entire life is different now because of it (he was the first person ive ever know who died), im doing much better.

And i completely agree.

That scene in the Royal Tenembaums takes a whole new meaning, huh?

I learned of the news this morning from deathscythe, and I've been in a stupid state of shock all day, even though (as previously stated), I'm not that surprized. I'm listening to Either/Or right now. I cried a little in the office this morning, I was happy I was alone when I heard about it. This has not been a particularly good day.

this is really sad. i heard about it from ray davies via the radio on the way to work this morning. today has been odd, to say the least. it's so weird. i finally got around to burning "xo" and "figure 8" (since i love every elliot smith song i had heard previously) just 3 days ago and have been listening to them ever since. what an awful time to start listening to his albums. i hope i'll be able to get something out of them (something like some of the rest of you got) other than just the memory of when i heard the bad news. i offer my condolensces to those of you who did.

RIP.

(Edited by HaveSomeSoma at 1:51 pm on Oct. 22, 2003)

Exactly right. His music was powerful enough to get me through the worst things, and I feel so indebted & sickened because he gave so much of himself & his emotions to us, but somehow no one could give that kind of relief to him.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, jamiecarrol.

I just heard the news about 5 minutes ago. I can't believe this. I had just got into him about a year ago... this is so sad.

The world seems a little less bearable today. Elliott had the courage and depth to express so much of what I feel inside. I, like so many others, feel a genuine connection to the actual man through his words, melodies, and musical genius.

My grief seems trite though in juxtoposition to the emotions being felt by his loved ones; their loss is tangible and direct. I, as an admirer and fan of his music, lost a hero and a inspiration today. His friends and family lost something infinitely more important.

I have so many great memories of this man and his music, both direct and periphreal in nature. Since discovering his music in '97, he is one of the two or three artists that has remained in constant aural rotation. His music is without season, arching across the spectrum of human emotion. If and when I ever have children, I look forward to opening their lives to his music.

Earlier today I located the light blue Bic lighter I used to light his cigarette a few years back. It's not worked in years and sequestered in The Box. I thought I'd give it a try....smoke a one Camel for Elliott. Over and over I flicked and shook the lighter, but to no avail. Usually when things break there's nothing that can be done to fix them.

thank you to roadie, lauren, lawnwrangler and carl for saying a lot of what i have been feeling today. i've been having a particularly bad time of it this past week....... my little sister was abducted last wednesday and is still missing..... my dad is in the hospital. it's been a kind of fucked up time for me. and this, on top of everything...
elliott smith is the reason why i have two of the best friends i have today... i met droog54 when i asked him to play waltz #2 during his radio show.. and my previous college roommate and i would always listen to his albums and saw his 328 show, which was amazing and beautiful.
but i feel so numb.... his music was is a sedative...and i have gotten through so many things through his music... but i feel like all four of you expressed eloquently..... it's really painful to know that while his pain was used to be soothing and comforting to me, he was hurting so much, and i just don't know what it is like to feel that alone... to feel like you have nothing else to live for.... i don't want to ever know that place.
i wasnt' going to say anything, but after reading roadie's post....i felt like i was reading my own thoughts and emotions already put down....
i just feel numb. rest in peace, elliott.

I have nothing to say that could compare to what has already been said, but I felt the need to say something. I just love his music- nothing more, nothing less. I can't say I have an emotional connection to him above that, but I do feel horrible for anyone that is so tortured they feel suicide is the only answer, and even more sorry for their loved ones left to pick up the pieces.

i'm not sure what to say about this. very sad. i never even saw him play live.......

very sad.

i loved the man and his music. however, he's a selfish bastard for doing what he did.

i don't think you should say that... i don't think that's fair when you have no idea what he was going through. it's really easy to say "he left his family, his girlfriend, his fans, etc"... but you still don't know what kind of torment he was going through.....

Yeah, clinical depression and substance abuse is overrated.

agree 100%

I found this interview with Elliott from last March. I guess it was his last interview- it was also the most insightful one I've ever read, showing his kindness & humor & talking about his art as well as his many demons. The anecdotes edited from the original article are the best part.

Last paragraph:
"Days after the interview there is one thing Smith told me that stayed in my mind for one reason or another. Perhaps it’s proof of Smith’s new lease on life, but it’s certain his remark can be taken as a sign of the good times and better music to come: 'Thanks for coming around,' he said. 'You know, for a couple of years I dropped out of just about everything. But I feel better today. I think it’ll be a good record."

thanks for that link lauren. i enjoyed in quite a bit.

they have a couple of those under the radar magazines at grimey's for sale. they're the normal price, i don't think they're looking to make a buck, just to sell some to people who may want to have one in their hands...

I saw a few copies at CD Warehouse on 21st Ave a few weeks back as well. Not sure if they're still there, though.

I also thought it was an interesting well-writen article (with the exception of some glaring misuse of biochemical terminology).