Rock And Roll Suicides

Two days. Two continents. Two concerts. Two deaths by extreme stagedive.

On Friday August 20, 2010, Charles Haddon, singer for British electro-pop band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, leapt to his death from a telecommunications tower behind the main stage at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium <full story in the Guardian>

On Thursday August 19, 2010, in Saratoga, California, just a few miles from my home in Cupertino, Michael Edward Pickels plunged to the stage of the Mountain Winery during a set by the folk rock duo The Swell Season. Pickels, 32, was out on $150,000 bail at the time of his death, and scheduled to be in court on Oct. 5 on charges of assault with a firearm, domestic violence and false imprisonment. <full story in the San Jose Mercury News>

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

The appropriate soundtrack to all this is David Bowie’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide” (Live) from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (The Motion Picture Soundtrack). Rock out with your..