In the last few days, I've been thinking a lot of the Grandaddy song 'Jed the Humanoid', mostly because of its no-bullshit opening lyric: "Last night something pretty bad happened, we lost a friend..." Admittedly, last week we lost a close friend and not a robot that found the booze and fizzled out, but those that knew Kirk Lawrence will appreciate the parallels.
Kirk was the nucleus of the first group of friends I made here in the U.S. It was in his living room that I first saw Desperado, Battle Royale, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai and Hero, at least a year before it came out in this country. Also, I have vivid memories of watching a cam-rip of Shaun of the Dead on his computer, the weekend it came out in the UK, again before anyone had heard of it here. He was a Spaced fan when there were very few Spaced fans - and we'd recite lines from it all the time. My musical tastes were also strongly moulded by Kirk's influence - especially in the hip hop field. Dude burned 'Phrenology' for me, among many others.
Also, here's one of Kirk's many hilarious poems, which is appropriate for this week.
I Love The Oscars!
What's everybody wearing this year?
What's in the gift bag? What's gonna happen? I'm so excited!
The only reason I haven't tried to destroy Joan Rivers
Is because I know that she can't be killed by conventional weapons.
We have to destroy her spawn, and that will make her vulnerable. Let the blood flow redder than the carpet!
Did I say I Love the Oscars?
Fuck the Oscars.
That's like, the same thing, right?
He was first diagnosed with a brain tumour in the summer of 2005. Those of us in Tallahassee were at the hospital just about every day. He fought through. He defied doctors' expectations for three and a half more years. Last Thursday morning, we lost him. There are plans for a Kirk Day soon - where everyone converges to Atlanta for milkshakes, kung-fu flicks and rock and roll. Kirk wouldn't want everyone sitting around being sad. He once made an mp3 of 'God Gave Rock N' Roll To You' from the end of 'Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey', with a guitar solo from Steve Vai. You can grab that below, and play it repeatedly.
Kirk D. Lawrence. 1981 - 2009
Condolences, Samir. There is no justice in a world where the good like Kirk are forced to make an early departure and somehow modern medicine is still keeping Dick Cheney alive.
I don't know the guy, but he sounds like a great guy. Really sorry for what happened, condolescences. Great idea on the Kirk night :)
Hi Samir. I'm Kirk's baby sister, Tiffany. Just wanted to thank you for acknowledging what a beautiful person my brother was. I feel him in my presence everyday that passes. Kirk also changed my through movies and music. He's the greatest that ever lived and on top of that, he was the prettiest man that I'd ever known. He will be greatly missed for the rest of our lives. Keep the party goin for our beloved Kirk. Stay strong, cry when you need to, Peace Out
Tiffany Lawrence
Hey what is that huge banner I keep seeing on my screen every time I open the comment box on your blog. I'm concerned because hackers tend to attack this same way. if69