I sometimes have to wonder about the power of some people in world. People who maybe aren’t meant to have the immense power that they wield, or maybe the world isn’t ready for them yet. Some celebrities are just fluff, there simply for the viewing pleasure of the world. Others, in some rare circumstances, are meant to flare up like the sun was brought to the earth, and meant to change a lot.

And this time, I’m referring to Andrew Wood…

Most people out there do not know of him, or have never heard of him. Fair enough. He was the lead singer for a band called Mother Love Bone.

Funny, though.

We always identify a person by what they did. Not who they were, or anything like that. To say merely that this man was "just a singer" is to seriously erode the true understanding of the wide-sweeping affect that he has had on the people who knew him or his music.

I myself knew of him before he died; I also didn’t think much of his death at the time. Mother Love Bone wasn’t that big of an act where I grew up, but it was big enough to be mentioned on the radio. It took thirteen years for me to finally find a Mother Love Bone CD when I was looking for it. I found it in the most unlikely of places, and it was pretty much guaranteed that the guy I bought it from had NO IDEA what is was for the price for which I got it.

But some things that I observed…

First and foremost, hate me though people may for this one, and I really hate to say it… Andrew HAD to die. His music was far too much genius for most of the industry to have been able to handle then and even now, thirteen years AFTER his affect. He was too much for the karma around him. I can’t explain why, but there is a haunting feeling when I listen to his music. More on that in a minute. But simply put, the guy was WAY TOO GOOD to EVER be left here. He was called home. And suck though it may, I am happy for him. It helps to reaffirm my faith in God (or whatever), if you please.

But second of all, and this is where his true genius arises, is that even thirteen years after his death, I still feel him. Through his music. Through his voice. Through his sheer and raw emotion that I can’t shake and can’t get out of my head. From the wonderful tribute written to someone he loved – Xana La Fuente a.k.a. "Stargazer" – to the mournful, haunting, and hopeful lament of "Man of Golden Words." There is a genius in this song that I can’t even begin to describe. It haunts you, and it makes you think and feel. It makes you sad that he’s gone. It makes you understand WHY he’s gone.

I have to marvel that the main affect his death seems to had is that most of what I have read and seen refers to his not actually having died – just moved on, moved to Olympus. Fair enough. He should go be with the Gods and look down upon the people whom he has touched, either directly or indirectly.

And most people out there should hope for so much….

-Demosthenes

September 8, 2003

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