11.09.06
Malachi Ritscher’s Identity Confirmed
Peter Margasak reports on his Chicago Reader blog that yesterday the Cook County Medical Examiner has officially confirmed that Malachi Ritscher was the person who died by self-immolation on the morning of Nov. 3, 2006. This information will not appear in the local mainstream papers, which (like most) have a policy against reporting about suicides lest they lead to copy-cats.
If you happen to be in Chicago this Sunday, Elastic in Logan Square will be hosting a memorial starting at 5pm. I really, really wish I could be there to pay my considerable respects and to mourn together with old friends. If, like me, you can’t be there, perhaps you might consider pausing in your evening to remember Malachi, hail his contributions to the ephemeral arts of improvised and avant garde music, and contemplate the state of a world that would drive a member of Mensa burn himself alive in a desperate plea to remind us of that most basic of precepts: Thou Shalt Not Kill.
Better yet, decide what you can do to make that world not like that.
Saxophonist Dave Rempis, who is helping to organize the memorial at Elastic, sent the following to Margasak. “Malachi left many people behind who will greatly miss him, his sense of humor, his fierce individualism, and his selfless efforts in documenting the music for so many years. He was truly a unique and passionate person, who followed his beliefs unflinchingly up until the end. If you have anything that you’d like to bring (photos, etc.) that has some relevance to Malachi, please do. We’d like to display some of these items for everyone to share in. And please pass this information on to others who knew Malachi. There are many out there who will greatly miss his presence.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I really hope someone plays some didjeridu, that most ancient of instruments and — most importantly — a gateway to Dreamtime.
Goodbye, Malachi. I’m so very, very sorry we all failed you.
Blessed Be.
