RIP Chris Cornell

[Brian Fowler]

3 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

AIC and Soundgarden were my favorites in high school, continuing into adulthood. I'm super into both. I wasn't as into Audioslave. I felt like the sum of the parts wasn't quite as good considering who was involved.

I think there was one great Audioslave album spread out over the three they released. There were some really great tracks on all of them.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

The best of both worlds here: Chris Cornell covering Layne Staley (Mad Season)

 

[OSJ]

10 hours ago, Michael Sweetser said:

The best way to put it for this area: a piece of Seattle died.

^This. Lots of our friends in other regions won't really get this and it's perfectly understandable (as it's very much a regional thing), Nirvana, AIC, & Pearl Jam were all of the Northwest and we loved them (and still do), but they weren't really ours they were like the cool kids that went to the other  high school, (the really cool party school that you wanted to go to, but you lived two blocks out the district) but when all's said and done, they are all of the Northwest and Soundgarden? Soundgarden was Seattle's band.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

4 minutes ago, OSJ said:

^This. Lots of our friends in other regions won't really get this and it's perfectly understandable (as it's very much a regional thing), Nirvana, AIC, & Pearl Jam were all of the Northwest and we loved them (and still do), but they weren't really ours they were like the cool kids that went to the other  high school, (the really cool party school that you wanted to go to, but you lived two blocks out the district) but when all's said and done, they are all of the Northwest and Soundgarden? Soundgarden was Seattle's band.

Some day, I'm going to make it to Seattle. Unfortunately, most of my musical hereos are gone, but it would still be nice, as I hear Seattle is beautiful. Maybe try to do it when the Yankees are in town. Call it my pilgrimage to Mecca, if you weeel.

[OSJ]

@Nice Guy Eddie: You know not how truly you speak... A trip to Seattle that takes to heart the city's great musical heritage has to literally involve a trip to Mecca, the Mecca Cafe, that is... Once you see the sign on the door that proclaims "Alcoholics serving alcoholics since 1929", you'll know that you've come to the right place. You should never be surprised by who you run into at the Mecca, members of AIC, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden have all been spotted there frequently, wrestlers Diamond Dallas Page, Paul Wight, and E.C.C.W.'s very own Juggernaut have been known to hoist a few there. Then there was the afternoon that this kid with a stack of horror paperbacks started talking about the genre with the guy playing the Addams Family pinball machine. The pinball player seemed to be pretty knowledgeable about the genre and so the kid started mentioning more obscure writers and publishing houses, confiding that Seattle had its own small press, Silver Salamander Press, whose editor/publisher, John Pelan, was doing some very cool things by up-and-coming writers like Lucy Taylor and Simon Clark... The pinball player was having a really hard time keeping a straight face, so after deftly catching the ball on a flipper, he extracted his wallet and passed over his Washington State ID card, so that the gentleman could see that he was actually talking to his subject of discussion... Yeah, the look on his face when he read my ID was worth a fortune... Just never know who you might run into at the Mecca... ;-)

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Love the story, OSJ. It helped lift my spirits a bit. Since yesterday, I'd say I've been feeling Minnesota. I don't think I've been looking California since I've been about five years old.

[Brian Fowler]

 

[OSJ]

10 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Love the story, OSJ. It helped lift my spirits a bit. Since yesterday, I'd say I've been feeling Minnesota. I don't think I've been looking California since I've been about five years old.

Cool! Retelling the story always lifts my spirits a bit; was one of the coolest things that has happened to me. For a minute I thought the guy was putting me on, then I realized he doesn't know... He even had the same "complaint" that I'd heard from others about The Blind God is Watching (a novella by Nancy Springer), one of the best things I've ever published and for my money far and away the best thing that Nancy Springer has ever written... Did I mention that it tanked horribly?  Here's the thing, TBGIW is like a very, very dark version of Geek Love or Nightmare Alley. It's a grim tale of just how far a person might be willing to go in order to feel their family's love and approval. As a fantasy writer, Nancy Springer has carved out a solid career writing what gets  labelled as "romantic fantasies", the sort of thing that generally features a teenage girl as the protaganist, usually trying to escape an arranged marriage to be with HER ONE TRUE LOVE, or win back her rightful throne from evil, usurping guardian, regent, half-sister, etc. There are generally cute dragons, unicorns, and/or talking kittens  prancing around for no particular reason other than that the targeted demographic responds favorably to cute critters frolicking about... 

So therein lies the problem of perception, I almost didn't read the submission when I saw the return address, as after all, I know what Nancy Springer books are about and while there may be a parallel universe wherein I collect the complete works of Anne McCaffrey and Piers Anthony and get positively giddy when a new Nancy Springer book is announced, said plane of existence is far, far away... Fortunately, the very first page establishes that we're dealing with the denizens of a freakshow, so I was on board immediately and quickly forgot that the story was by Nancy Springer... The problem was that Nancy Springer fans read the first couple of pages and felt betrayed by the author (I mean how dare someone spread their creative wings and try something new?) Our regular readers (save for those wonderful folk who trust me implicitly), either figured I'd started drinking again, or somehow had a momentary lapse in judgement as I'm not normally given to publishing stories about teen romance or cute critters cavorting on the palace lawn... Anyway, this guy made the very valid point that "John Pelan should have asked her to use a pseudonym as no horror fan is going to take a book by Nancy Springer seriously." 

That's the point where I realized what a cool coincidence was occurring and that I was getting the most honest customer feedback that I ever would or could get. 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I don't think Corey Taylor is too popular around these parts. My personal preference of his bands is Slipknot over Stone Sour, but the guy does have a set of pipes, and I think Stone Sour did justice to Chris & Soundgarden with this cover.

 

[The Natural]

On 18/05/2017 at 1:36 PM, Shibata Is My Homie said:

One of the few times that I'm speechless. As someone who has struggled with major depression like Chris did all of my life, sometimes you win that day and sometimes depression wins that day. Unfortunately, depression took over and won for good.

 

On 19/05/2017 at 3:56 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Story of my life. Everyday is a battle.

This.

[The Natural]

Listened to this and other Chris Cornell songs when the sad news broke.

R.I.P.

[Ace]

6 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

 

Appropriate. You wanna do a tribute to Cornell? Get the woman he basically called Seattle's Aretha.

 

[PetrolCB]

The classic SNL tonight was the Carrey/Soundgarden episode. Was bummed, but not surprised that it wasn't "Pretty Noose", but "Burden In My Hand". Which, I guess is cool, because this was always the one omitted from the old repeats. (Like how "Territorial Pissings", the destruction afterwards, and the group kiss was never on the first Nirvana episode)

Still though, the former is the better track. 

[Brian Fowler]

Yeah it's a good song, but I don't expect many tributes to include it for obvious reasons.

[Brian Fowler]

Recorded and released to pledgemusic backers last year, now available to buy with proceeds going to charity in tribute. (https://project86.com/digital-store if you want it)

[Brian Fowler]

Spoiler

You’re a prince, you’re a snare, you’re a shadow
You’re twilight and star burn and shade
You’re a sage, you’re a wound shared, you’re masked
You’re a pillar of smoke, you’re a platinum heart
You’re a brush fire, you’re caged, you’re free
Your vision pierces, you do not see
You are pieces strewn on the hillside
You’re open armed, you’re armed, you’re true
You’re a revealer of visions, you’re the passenger, you’re a never fading scar
You’re twilight and star burn and shade
You’re the secret veiled, you’re the secret revealed, you’re surrounded no more
You’re not there, now you’re always here
Youre a handsome groom, a loving father, a haunted stairwell
You’re the clear bell ringing, the mountains echo your song
Maybe no one has ever known you
You are twilight and star burn and shade

A poem by Tom Morello for Chris, spoilered for size.

[Brian Fowler]

 

[Brian Fowler]

And this one might rip your heart out

 

[Brian Fowler]

Eric Church paying tribute to Cornell by way of Cash.

[J.T.]

Oh, holy shit, Fowler.  I Am The Highway was melancholy enough while Chris was still alive. 

[Death From Above]

There's been about a million Black Hole Sun tributes and this is both the most left field for me, but also my favourite:

 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

On the day Chris Cornell is laid to rest. Jesus, it's been a week already.

 

[Brian Fowler]

 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

 

I'm not going to kill Axl for it. We know 2017 Axl can't sound like 1991 Axl. It's cool that GNR paid tribute to Cornell. It's fitting since they toured together on the Use Your Illusion tour. You know it had to mean a lot to Duff.

[Brian Fowler]

Yeah. He sounded pretty good until the high notes.

And having absolute legends pay tribute is nice. I still can't wrap my head around this death.