May 18th ...

I give this blog post over to dear friend Jeff Buckner. His similar pain I felt with loss of David Bowie. Chris Cornell's sudden and tragic loss still stings. Why - so many ask. Jeff hits home with music. Music, to some of us, is family. They are an older brother, sister, lover, friend ... music can give you peace, make you think ... music can give you a friend in time of need. Thank you Jeff for sharing - may we all find peace soon with our losses, something I fear, Chris never found with the loss of Andrew Wood, Layne Staley, or Jeff Buckley.

May 18th

By Jeff Buckner 
Let's go back to May 18th, 2017. I had just awoken to the news of Chris Cornell passing. it hit like a thunderbolt, so unexpected, so quick, so much pain entered my heart. a sledgehammer to the soul. As much as I love music, really only two bands stand above the rest. Led Zeppelin and Soundgarden. Chris Cornell's music had got me through so many dark times. His lyrics we're jumping off the records into my brain into my soul..... his voice went through me like a supernatural being. I look up to many a musician, John Bonham, Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, Bon Scott. But then there was Chris Cornell, there was just always something about his music and his lyrics and just the person that he was that appealed to me from a very early age. The character that he was, the swagger, the voice, the poet. Not since Jim Morrison had I heard another human being speak so beautifully in songs. And then to find out his death was from suicide. I mean this is Chris fucking Cornell that's why it's so deep! Every musical artist is tortured in some way. That's what makes their art so beautiful. But if Chris Cornell, a father of three a husband, a son, a brother, a Rockstar can be taken down by depression.... a disease that affects 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. That's beyond heavy, it hits home. This is a guy who had everything to live for and yet couldn't beat the demons Inside of his head. That's some heavy shit. Here we are almost 7 weeks later. I can't shake it, I can't get over it, it's a bereavement so fucking heavy. I lost a brother.... an older brother. Growing up all of my brothers were shit. Friends sucked. But there was always my music, there was always Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog, always Chris Cornell. 

I write this now in memoriam to a man I never personally met, but to a man who saved my life more than once. Continuing to do so each day I get up to listen to his songs, albums. So I guess, in short, thank you Chris Cornell for being a brother and a friend. 

Whenever Chris lost a friend, and he lost a lot of friends, he would make art for them in words and song. So I wrote this for him. Thank you for your beautiful gift of creating listenable art. Rest in Paradise, Chris Cornell.