Killing Yourself To Live

… Is an interesting book written by rock critic Chuck Klosterman.
It’s about Chuck’s road trip across America to visit the death sties of rock stars like Duane Allman, Kurt Cobain, members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, (in a Ford Taurus no less! ) It’s a great premise, but Klosterman has an annoying habit of getting off topic and ranting about his personal life (which no one really cares about) but when he finally makes it to these sites, it’s a good read. I read the book 3 years ago and can still picture him trudging through the frozen soybean field in Clear Lake Iowa.
“It takes maybe 15 minutes to drive out to the gravel road near the crash location, and then it's a half-mile walk through a bean field. As I walk along the fence line toward the unknown marker, I find myself considering the relationship between plane crashes and rock 'n 'roll. If you're a dead rock star and you weren't a heroin addict, odds are you died in a plane….” Klosterman writes, “At one point, I start to think I must have made a miscalculation, because I've walked a long way and I still don't see anything on the horizon except more beans. Maybe I took the wrong road. I consider turning around. But then - seconds before I surrender and go back to the car - I find the spot where three legends died in one depressing coincidence.
This memorial is small. Without question, the craziest aspect of the Holly-Valens-Bopper death memorial is that nobody could ever find it by accident; it's just a tiny metal cross in the middle of deep nothingness, decorated with Bud Light beer cans and empty cigarette lighters and somebody's Blockbuster card.”

Thanks Chuck… but If there's a rock and roll heaven,
Well you know they've got a hell of a band