February 22 is going to be one of those dates I’ll just always remember. It’s the day Mark Lanegan left us and coincidentally the day Genesis P-Orridge was born. Both were irreplaceable guiding lights in my life... and both are forever cherished in their impossible absence. I look around and try but don’t always see much. If I spend the rest of my days with a void of guided kin and inspiration, I’ll survive knowing I loved and was loved by two of the baddest motherfuckers to ever walk the earth.
Amy and I are currently in the throes of songwriting and I recalled some advice from Mark on the subject that I’ll share:
“Was thinking of our conversation regarding songwriting and being too much in our heads. The truth is I do have to spend much time there to get anything accomplished and I need to have a fairly high degree of obsession to formulate tunes, records, etc. A rehab counselor once told me "passion is ok, obsession is not" but I realized for me, it has to be obsession, passion is not enough. I also recall a quote from Lou Reed I once read which paraphrased was something like "I do most of my work in my head. I don't know if anyone else considers thinking to be work, but I do"
Amy, Rainer and I left our home at 8:30 am to pick up some white lilies before heading over to Hollywood Forever to pay our respects to Mark. It was the first time we saw the recently planted headstone, which was strangely and coincidentally constructed, out of all of the people in the universe, by our friend Dan from West Palm Beach’s Aunt. It’s a lovely tribute to the Night Porter and Poppy King.
We then spent the rest of the day listening to Mark’s music. I’m going to share some photos from yesterday and then will follow up this letter with a new playlist featuring some of our favorite Lanegan sung songs.
Thanks to
for our daily attire:More Soon…
My love of Mark led me here originally - I was actually acquainted with your poetry before your musical output, odd as that is. That's a great playlist.
Thank you for sharing that video. And the photos of Mark's gravestone. Your words are treasures.