Initially I had planned to tell you about all of my Alaska adventures before commenting about the other low tide moment of my trip. (I say “other” because my biggest low tide moment rolled in having to contend with the beer cooler fire at Buzzy’s Country Store which I have already discussed.)
Capt. Jerry’s death preempted my posts about having fun in Alaska. So, I figured I would discuss another recent death that also made me very sad. It was learning of Anthony Bourdain’s suicide.
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| https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/world/europe/anthony-bourdain-suicide-france.html |
I was in Denali last week when I heard the news that Bourdain was gone. It bummed me out for the next couple of days whenever I thought about it. It felt like I had lost a friend in a way because I have always been a fan of him, his books and his T-V shows.
For some reason(s) that I probably should examine more closely, suicide has always had a strange effect on me. Sometimes I can write it off that it is because my close friend Doug Courtney went out of here that way when he was only 22. (For related post on this click here.) That association with it then always upsets me to hear about someone else doing likewise.
I also recall when the ex and I were in a couples therapy session in April, 1994 the day that Kurt Cobain offed himself. When the therapist asked me how I was doing, I made a comment about how Cobain’s death had upset me and made me sad. The therapist acknowledged it and then ploughed on doing what turned out to be the autopsy of my soon-to-be-over marriage.
Later on in the session, after I again mentioned Cobain’s death, the therapist very politely re-directed me by pointing out that Cobain’s death had nothing to do with the marital problems that we were there to discuss. He noted in his best psychobabble that while my feelings may hold some validity and may be worth examining some other time, the session before us was to work on the dissolution of the marriage. I immediately clammed up about Kurt. However, in retrospect, given the way the rest of that session and my over-with-marriage went, I may have been better off exploring why suicide affects me the way it does.
But back to Bourdain – this Sunday night at 9 p.m. CNN will air the first of the final two episodes of his Parts Unknown (click here.) If you have never caught any of his shows this should be a good one since it will feature him doing Mardi Gras-related things in a couple of Louisiana towns other than New Orleans.
I have Nirvana in what I call my Shooting Star category of Rock Bands such as Creedence Clearwater, Little Feat, Guns N Roses etc.. These were great groups that soared very highly, burned very brightly for awhile but then burned out just as quickly. 