Many years ago, back when I was in college, my best friend and I went through our requisite “Elliott Smith” phases, which consisted of: Buying every album he put out, including “The Gramophone Recordings”; seeing him live a minimum of 4 times; and smoking outside of our private school dorm windows while pretending to be broke, unkempt musicians. (Ed. Note: I’ve since quit smoking, but hipster posing remains one of my few ways to relax.) As you can imagine, these were the golden years of my life. I even had the opportunity to meet Smith around that time, after a concert he gave at a Virgin Megastore of all places, where I believe in a fit of nerves I told him face-to-face that it was obvious he hated every second of playing that corporate gig. While it was meant as an insidery compliment, that conversation hammered a serious wedge between my be-fri and I, who to this day remains mortified at my admittedly “mom-like” behavior.
Sadly, Smith passed away by what was billed as a suicide in 2003. It was a truly depressing set of events for a man with such talent. Smith always stuck to his guns when it came to remaining indie, and died tragically in true tortured musician fashion.
So you can imagine our surprise last night when easily the most indie of all reality competition shows, So You Think You Can Dance?, featured a montage featuring one of Smith’s more successful singles, “Waltz #2″. So if you happen to feel the Earth shake a little bit last night, this was why:
Here’s to hoping his Estate at least got a little cash out of it. (Tip of the hat to Zulkey on this one.)
