Elliot Smith and the Big Nothing, pt. 2
In 2003, Elliot Smith was clean and ramping up to the release of his next album. In his last interview, he seemed cheerful and upbeat. A couple of accounts of his last shows were that he was not only lacking (Elliot Smith shows were always feast or famine; sometimes they were transcendent, other times he muttered and forgot lyrics, played chords with a ham-fist) but that he seemed vague and distracted, like he wasn't quite there anymore.On October 21, 2003, Elliot's live-in girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba, found him in the kitchen of their Echo Park home with a single stab wound to the chest. Initial findings indicated suicide, but there were no hesitation marks and there were tiny cuts on his hands that could be construed as defensive wounds. When the coroner refused to call it a suicide, Chiba stopped talking about the circumstances surrounding his death. The case is not yet closed.
We may never know which demons plagued Elliott Smith in the last moments of his life, but he left us with a treasure trove of dreamy, sad music, a rich legacy to a world he seemed to have such difficulty navigating.
We remember you, Elliott Smith.
If you would like to do more than read this website's account of Elliot Smith, you can:
Donate to the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund. (funds go to "Free Art for Abused Kids.")
Attend any number of Elliott tribute events around the country.
Go to the Figure 8 Wall, where fans can pay their respects.
4334 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California.
posted by kuaptic. @ 12:35 PM
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