Tonight I’m thinking about Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington. We were all still trying to regain our equilibrium after Cornell’s suicide in May, when last week’s news about Bennington knocked us down again. These artists, whom we so loved and admired, were burdened with an anguish so relentless that they chose the ultimate release. It’s unbearably sad, especially for their families. And because of their celebrity, it puts a pronounced and sobering light on the illness of depression and its devastating impact. Nobody is immune,…
Today is my 55th birthday. The Sammy Hagar tune “I Can’t Drive 55” keeps running through my head. It occurs to me that someday my kids will take my car keys away from me. After all, I am creeping closer to that golden age. I just hope to God that when they do, it’s the result of a high speed chase across multiple counties and not because of some embarrassing fender bender in a Costco parking lot. But back to the birthday, it’s a weird…
Two weeks ago today, our worlds intersected on the 12th Street Bridge. It was just the two of us. I was on my way home. You were seconds away from ending everything. I was unwitting. You were despondent. You climbed on the railing. I wondered what…but before I could even finish the thought, you jumped. Life had its way with you, dear one, and gravity finished the job. I was the sole witness to your final tortured moments. I was somehow able to call 9-1-1, to…
We’re all reeling from this week’s heartbreaking news about Robin William’s suicide. He was a ferocious soul with a soaring talent. He grabbed our hearts with the first “nanu nanu” and his mad unpredictable genius delighted us for decades. Oh how we loved him. And now in the wake of his death, we collectively grapple with this crushing loss and with the hard truth of Robin’s long battle with depression. Obviously, I don’t know any details about his life or the events leading up to…
My good pal Jason Parker recently posted a link on his Facebook page to an article about musicians and depression. It was from the blog "Behind the Music." The post was about a list complied by Health.com of the top ten professions with the highest rate of depression. Artists ranked fifth on the list. Further, artists who have a secondary job as a source of income, such as waiting tables or mopping floors, rank second on the list. It seems that plenty of musicians, writers…
