I am not being sarcastic when I say that I hope if you (Jamie, Stewart, Bob) or any of your loved ones falls victim to a mental disorder such as depression, that you / they receive more compassion and understanding than you are showing here. You act like he did this intentionally -- like he wanted to be a drug addict -- like he wanted to be clinically depressed. He was very sick for a long time, probably 20 years or more. It's amazing that he lived as long as he did and actually managed to make 5 / 6 records plus touring. Depression is insidious -- it is self perpetuating -- it makes people drug addicts -- and it can kill you. The man was sick. He was either not properly treated or his disease was beyond treatment. His disease killed him. Would you say "fuck you" to the guy who's dying of cancer? Ain't no difference here. I agree with you that there is nothing good or romantic or positive about suicide or drug abuse. But Elliott was the victim here, not the perpetrator. I suggest you take a few minutes to check out a few mental health websites and then come back here with some understanding of these terrible and generally misunderstood conditions before you decide "it was all in his head". Respectfully, g On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 09:00:14 -0400 audities-owner@smoe.org writes: > All the more reason to stop romanticising this guy's musical accomplishments > as a means of appeasing our shock and horror at what a total waste of human > existance Elliott Smith was as a person. No one mentions his cowardly exit. > Great tunes or not, the guy was a loser. And by taking his life he fulfills > his career long ambition to prove himself right as a tortured artist. Alas, > he'll live on as a martyr right next to Drake and Cobain. At least he'll be > able to teach Cobain a thing or two in hell about good songwriting. > Call me heartless, but a heroin addict is not a role model...in any > profession. > You cannot tell me there was not an enormous level of > self-mythologizing in > this act, and for that, I can only say "Fuck you, 'Elliott' Smith." ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!