Friday, July 4, 2008

GRAVE ROBBING A LEGEND

Like a tale out of some bizarre shadowplay, a vile hooligan who is likely lacking serious insight has wandered off into the wilderness with legendary Joy Division singer Ian Curtis' gravestone. As the new dawn fades we are left to wonder what would motivate such an atrocity exhibition of this magnitude in the first place?

Perhaps it was a desperate person doing this as some means to an end, or some misguided fan who came out of isolation to engage in this heinous act and make it into some brazen transmission of his own personal disorder. The gravestone has now been missing for more than twenty four hours, though even if it is gone for decades the eternal appeal of Curtis' brilliant music will last well beyond the next ice age.

Perhaps fans wills create a new ceremony to honour Curtis' memory, for missing gravestone or not music like this cannot be broken like glass or hidden away in some thief's private colony. Inevitably love will tear us apart at times, though the powerful music made during Ian Curtis' short life is like an unyielding heart and soul that beats and lives forever in the atmosphere above us.



(NOTE: If you can accurately identify all the Joy Division song titles referenced within this posting you will not only gain my respect and admiration, you will also gain a few top songs that I will send your way)

8 comments:

Randal Graves said...

In a way, I'm surprised that something like this doesn't happen more often to famous dead folks, especially if the gravestone, like this one, is less ostentatious in presentation and size.

"Hey man, where you goin' with that mausoleum?"

Barbara Bruederlin said...

I was stunned by this too. Poor Ian.

What a great idea for a contest though (which also translates into a beautifully written post). Here are my answers:

disorder
insight
new dawn fades
shadowplay
atrocity exhibition
wilderness
colony
a means to an end
heart and soul
twenty-four hours
eternal
decades
glass
love will tear us apart
ice age
ceremony
isolation
transmission
atmosphere

Did I miss any?

mellowlee said...

Oh.My.God! That is horrifying news :O( *feels sick* I do love the way you worked the song titles into your post

*sigh* I feel very badly for Ian's widow and daughter.

Comrade Kevin said...

Sad news indeed.

I always liked "No Love Lost" which is off the first EP the group ever did, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

Westcoast Walker said...

Randal - ever since the FBI starting setting up sting operations on the "celebrity mausoleum" section on ebay things have settled down a bit.

Barb - CONGRATULATIONS for getting all the song references! I'll send you an e-mail sometime in the next day or so with your prize.

Mellowlee - thanks for dropping by! I was kind of sickened by it as well, and this was my way of sort of playing tribute to Ian Curtis' legacy.

Kevin - "no love lost" is an amazing track - it might have been recorded under the name "Warsaw" which they used before they became Joy Division - I think it is included on the "Substance" compilation if you are looking for it. It's a great raw sounding track, and very Velvet Undergroundish on some levels (especially the spoken word part)

Barbara Bruederlin said...

Yay! I am so excited! Great contest!

mellowlee said...

It is a lovely and unique tribute Walker :O)

Allison said...

I thought I added my comment here before...odd.

Anyway, I hadn't heard about this, but to echo everyone else's thought, how sad and twisted. What would drive someone to do that, really? I enjoyed reading your tribute though, and I'm not surprised Barb managed to get all the songs right!