Mark Linkous, 1962â€"2010

Well, it seems like spring is actually coming. So that is good. But the news that Mark Linkous killed himself Saturday is terrible. If you’ve are familiar with his story (short version: he was depressed) and have listened to his music, which he recorded under the name Sparklehorse, this is perhaps not entirely surprising. He almost died from an overdose of Valium and antidepressants in 1996, and here is a video for a song called “Saint Mary” he released three years later that has the same world weariness you hear in the music of Elliott Smith. But the news arrives and reminds you of the commonplace, everyday sadness of life and how some people seem to suffer it worse than others, and how some of those people make music out of that, and how that music can make other people feel better, and even alleviate some of the sadness, but maybe not the people making the music. I don’t know.