The Elliott Smith Mystery: Taboo You by Iman Lababedi and Alyson Camus

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Iman writes:
A month into writing about Elliott Smith’s death, I was amused by a readers comment that Rock NYC is amateur sleuthing.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
We are not sifting through facts  to play gotcha. We are begging people to enlighten us on Smith’s death.
Among the Smith’s family, fellow musicians, and hardcore fans, discussion of Smith’s death is taboo and I kinda see why: there is a tiring blindness to all the questions: a frustration over and beyond the loss of the man: a relentless numbing questioning with no answer in sight and every street a dead end. Like his saddest songs, like his saddest moments, it is an impenetrable blackness: a full stop, an end.
Who wants that? Why not celebrate his life rather than roll in his sacred blood. Perhaps, just like so many people have done, make it off limits?
And any way, in a worst case scenario what exactly could Jennifer Chiba be guilty of? If Chiba should say she is guilty of something (she might not be guilty of anything) what would that something be: Certainly not premeditated murder. There was nothing at all to be gained, and plenty to be lost as her case against Smith’s estate proves, by plotting and then killing him. Accidental homicide seems far likely IF ANYTHING IS LIKELY. By all accounts Chiba has moved on with her life and made another life for herself. What justice is served by, even if it could be done, putting the woman through this?
But the case is neither closed nor cold, it is an active case.

I pursue this story because so much is lies in this world and I want to know the truth. I don’t believe in taboos, I don’t believe in sweeping things under the rug. The truth is not belief, it isn’t a fairy tale. The truth is an end in itself and needs to exist for no other reason than it being so. It is the begining, middle and end. It is the real word. Smith deserves to have the truth known, those who love him deserve to know it whether they want to or not and I want it.

So I really don’t give a fuck if Alyson and I are wasting everybody’s time and I don’t care if we are the only two people who want to know it. We want to know how Elliott Smith died. Not helping us is the true taboo.

Alyson says:
A writer and poet, friend of Elliott, told me that looking for the truth was always commendable. The truth has always matter for me and Iman said it so well, the truth is not a belief, it is the reality. And right now we are just stuck with that, believes. I don’t care about what people believe, I just want the truth.

Since looking for it, I have seen first hand what a taboo subject truth can be in certain circumstances and Elliott’s death is one of these circumstances. Back in 2003-2004, I have heard there were a lot of discussions about his death that got simply censored on the official Elliott Smith message board. It was as if no talking about his death was allowed, and the reasons for the censorship were fuzzy to say the least.

Most people I talked to have said we will never know the truth regarding his death. It may be the case, I don’t know, but it had never stopped me. Actually, I find this argument to be quite an insult to human nature. Many quests are doomed from start but it does not mean they have to be forsaken.

If some people did not talk when Elliott died because they were in shock but also because they wanted to respect his privacy, it is time to rethink about all this. It is not anymore a question of privacy, he is dead. More than privacy he deserves the truth.

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