Rest in Peace Chris Cornell

Soundgarden and Audioslave front man Chris Cornell took her own life last night after performing with the reunited Soundgarden in Detroit. I had been texting with a Facebook friend about the concert when it was done. He was telling me what a great show it was, and how bigger things were coming for the band. He texted me later, saying that Cornell was dead. He had hanged himself.

I admit, until last night, it had been a few years since I thought of Chris Cornell. I loved his "You Know My Name," the first real rocker to be a James Bond theme in decades. I was never really an Audioslave guy, but Soundgarden was on my playlists long before Cornell became one of the founders of the grunge movement in Seattle. I loved their cover of the Ohio Players' "Fopp" early on and played that to death on mixtape after mixtape. I stayed with the band through grunge success, and remember the summer of 1991 with Temple of the Dog with Cornell on lead singing "Hunger Strike," which whenever it came on the radio I would yell back, "Domino's delivers." Fun times.

Here's the part where I usually say we've lost a legend, and he will be missed, and we have, and he is, but there's just something missing there. My good friend, and a terrific writer, Jessica A. Walsh, posted something on her Facebook wall that says exactly what is really on my mind. Chris Cornell seemed okay last night, he seemed amazing, and now he's gone. Here's what Jess wrote:

"Chris Cornell's apparent suicide is another reminder that what people reflect on the outside may not at all resemble how they're feeling on the inside. You can work, laugh, play music, hang out on social media, have a loving family, and still be dying inside.

"That's why we need to spend more time communicating and building relationships and being of service to one another."

Thank you, Jessica. And if anyone out there is feeling this way, please talk to someone, talk to me, talk to anyone. You have friends, you have choices, you have life, and it can all work out.

Bob Welch 1945-2012

Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist and singer Bob Welch was found dead today in Nashville. It was an apparent suicide based on a note found and from the self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest.

Bob Welch was with Fleetwood Mac in the early seventies before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band, and before Mac's triumphant Rumors album. In fact Buckingham and Nicks were his replacements. Throughout 1977 Welch battled Mac on the charts with his album French Kiss featuring the singles "Ebony Eyes," "Hot Love, Cold World," and the ballad, formerly a Mac song, "Sentimental Lady."

Legal troubles with Fleetwood Mac probably led to his being left out of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies when the band was inducted in 1998. In recent years, Welch had experimented with jazz and also released remixes of his earlier work. Rumors indicated Welch had undisclosed health issues before his death.

David Carradine Found Dead

Award winning actor, producer and musician David Carradine was found dead today in his hotel room in Bangkok. He was on site filming an unnamed movie. It appears to be suicide by hanging. Carradine was 72.

He was one of the sons of actor John Carradine, and probably best known as Caine in the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu." He was a god to us kids on the playground at that time, and doubly so when we became aware of his other work especially as Frankenstein in the original Death Race. David Carradine was the Man.

Despite drug and alcohol issues and a seeming disappearance from the public consciousness, he never stopped working. He was always involved in one project or another. He returned to cult status however in the title role of Quentin Tarantino's epic Kill Bill. We have truly lost a legend, and he'll be missed.


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