Ten years have passed, magazines have published their homage, people have made movies and books but nobody is facing all these discrepancies, and Schultz and Reyes have chosen to believe one version when the story presents so many contradictions they refuse to see.
Justice always matters but past the question of the LAPD either investigating or closing the file on Elliott, or punishing wrongdoers if indeed there are any, what does it matter whether Smith jumped or was pushed?
They play the tune very gently, close to the way Elliott was playing it. Zac Carper takes his most fragile-broken-tired voice whereas the soothing guitars and beach-like noise in the background fit perfectly the melancholic, intimate and sweet ambiance of the song
There were too many people in Elliott’s life and he only talked to a few of them, so he should not have made some grandiose declaration as if he had interviewed everyone close to him. It’s not the case at all. Actually, at this level he didn’t do much better than Benjamin Nugent
Over the years, rock nyc’s core convictions has remained that we don’t know what really happened that day and as long as Elliott Smith’s cause of death is left in legal limbo,we are not going to know what happened to him.Truth is justice, revenge on Chiba is not justice.
In 1999, Elliott spent some time in Paris
I almost didn’t recognize him first. He was looking a bit fuller, in really great shape, jumping behind the drum set at times, moving fast, looking quite different from the weak Elliott I had met at the Echo in October. After the show, I talked to him once again, I guess it had become a habit!
always great when a talented and famous musician, who has a clear insight into Elliott Smith’s work, speaks up his mind the way he does, as so many other people remain silent, probably too concerned by their own career? It’s always hard and courageous to take a stand
it is interesting to note that he was very unwilling to recognize he had felt that way a few years ago. Of course, it was before he had met with Jennifer Chiba… She approached him later on, said she wanted to participate in the movie, and everything changed.
I pointed out I have talked to people who don’t believe it was a suicide! He seemed to be more and more pissed off, probably already regretting to have come to LA to argue with this crazy woman… What can I say, you can’t sell me stabbing in the chest as a current form of suicide, and Schultz was particularly mad at me because I wasn’t impressed by his Scheinin interview.
As ‘Torment Saint’ continues to receive rave reviews and to be quoted everywhere as if it was the bible bringing new revelations, I continued to dig into it and find inconsistencies, discrepancies with previous reports. Of course, this is based on what I know about the case, and most people don’t pay attention to important details, which makes Schultz successful in his demonstration toward suicide
Neil Postman wrote that, when asked about the quality needed to be a good writer, Ernest Hemingway declared, ‘Yes, a built-in, shock-proof, crap detector’, and it seems that too many forget about this. And this applies to readers too, readers should be able to detect crap/bullshit too! Postman was citing pomposity, fanaticism, inanity, superstition (I would say belief) as major role players in bullshit non-detection
I met Abigail Russell about a year ago, she had contacted me through Facebook after reading a few of my posts about Elliott Smith. We exchanged numbers and even met at a coffee shop, Abigail had a lot to tell me, she had been in rehab with Elliott, had met him quite a few times and was missing him greatly.
I dare her or Schultz to find any misquotation in what I wrote. Unlike Schultz, I didn’t twisted what I have heard one way or another. ‘This interview did not bring any answer’ I wrote at the end of the post, and this was true. Conversely, Schultz seems to have found his, the one that fits so well with the title of his book
Schultz told me he spoke for three days to Dr Scheinin, who did the autopsy… and he doesn’t bring any new insight? He doesn’t put the controversy to bed, he ignores it.
[Ashley Welch and musician David Garza have organized benefit shows at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Ore. (Aug. 4), Largo in Los Angeles (Aug. 6), Scottish Rite Theater in Austin (Aug. 9) and Bowery Ballroom in New York (Aug. 10).
It is interesting that this series of benefit concerts is spreading over seas, may be it is the beginning of more of these events, as Elliott Smith’s music becomes more and more influential?
“I think Ian was hoping to encourage Elliott to make a simpler, more stripped down, organic (Ian’s words, not mine) record than Figure 8, which was his previous recording. Figure 8 (which I love) had a very far-reaching, ornate, psychedelic presentation.”
‘Everyone gets bummed when they pass the Figure 8 Wall on Sunset and it has been yet hit again by a tagger. Originally our idea was to just restore the mural with paint. But we got talking to Stephon at Solutions and Bart at Malo– and other people– and we decided to do something cooler.
After numerous TV appearances, Tom Grant is about to publish a book with Matthew Richer, ‘Murder at Lake Washington, ‘No Escape’ next month, a book which is advertised as an abundant collection of true stories never released to the public before, all connected to the circumstances surrounding Kurt Cobain’s death, and illustrating the incompetent investigation into Cobain’s death.
I have read that the more we remember an event, the more we try to assemble this little movie of what happened in our head the more our memory of it drifts away from reality. Memory is a strange animal, it actually doesn’t work like a movie, more like a puzzle we try to put together each time we remember an event, and we don’t necessarily get the same assemblage each time.
The truth is what counts. Elliott, especially being a philosophy major, would tell you that is what matters, not what you or anyone else would like to believe or like not to believe, as the case may be.
If Elliott committed suicide and Jennifer Chiba is innocent, she should be allowed to have a life free of suspicions. If I were at her place, exculpating myself would be the only goal in my life, I would have been talking to the police nights and days, taking all the polygraph tests that exist until they recognize my innocence and close the case
I am a pre-op transexual female who never even heard of Elliott Smith when he was alive, but his essence is firmly ensconsed within my heart and always will be, so much so that when I chose my new name I felt compelled to recognise his effect by using his chosen name as my middle name.
Maybe it is like a Mom who lets go of her sons and in a shopping mall, turns round and he is gone never to be seen again. The mother is left to relive the moment only this time she doesn’t let go of his hand.
Because she witnessed so many strange and disturbing things at the time, we wanted to talk to her, and it may happen a little bit further during this week.
If I was bartending on a Monday night and there wasn’t a lot of people there, that’s when Elliott would come in. We remembered each other from Portland and still had a lot of friends and music in common.
They only should have repeated that the incorrect spelling on the supposed suicide note was a mistake done by the police to clarify any other false theories, but beside this, it’s quite good,… Is Spinner reading rock nyc?
If Bruce Springsteen and President Obama got together and insisted the case be refreshed by the LAPD IT STILL WOULDN’T BE SOLVED. The initial incompetence destroyed it. And if LAPD fessed to the mistakes, they could well be sued by Smith’s family.
You can find the whole story if you just read a book or go on the internet. It is a very transparent story. There is no real hidden thing in the Elliott Smith’s story. It is a very short story with a very limited cast of characters
we were trying to get a song by Elliott Smith on the UK and US Charts, what would be your best bet? Which song could actually make it? It is a tough choice
The problem is not necessarily in getting 50,000 to buy a song but in getting 50,000 people to buy the song in the same week. So how do we plan to do it? I don’t have the slightest idea but, hey, that’s no reason not to try.
making movie, moving tribute
a death as complex as Elliott was
Contradictions not conclusions
The documentary pretends to be about a musician but there is actually very little use of his music
If you read my article [search “SPIN Mr. Misery” at http://books.google.com if you would like a refresher] Alyson, you know that I literally asked, “Was it a suicide? A murder?
