R.I.P. Spalding Gray---a good man...

[Westegg]

They found his body in the river today. He was a wonderful artist, and a first-rate human. NYC won't be the same without him.

I'm depressed.

[AngryYoungMan]

1. They found his body in the RIVER?

What is this, "Billy Bathgate"?

Is there a newswire link?

[Westegg]

3. There's all the newswire links you could want...

...I knew him. I loved him. They found him in the fucking river. They indentified him dentally. What does Doctorow have to do with that? What's your point?

[MnFats]

2. Be careful. Depression can be a fatal illness.

His mother also committed suicide. He had tried before.
Seems like the brilliant ones are more likely to suffer depression.
If you got it, get help.

[gmoney]

4. Spalding was my answering machine message for years...

"Come to the bar. I'll buy you a beer, I'll have an orange. Tell me about your day..." from Swimming to Cambodia. Would still be my message today, except the machine went belly up years ago.

An incredibly talented storyteller, even though he claimed he couldn't make things up. "Monster in a Box" is a stellar piece of work, as is "Cambodia" ...it's all great stuff.

For someone who seemed truly terrified that he would have suicidal inclinations, the depression that powered the urge to jump off that boat must have been truly overwhelming. (If that's indeed what happened.)

My thoughts are with his family -- suicide is a selfish gesture, and his death may scar his kids as his mother's suicide scarred him. I just hope they can all find peace.

I guess to fans of his work, the one tiny bright spot of his passing is that maybe now some of the missing titles will finally be made available on CD and/DVD so he can live on through his work.

[CanuckAmok]

5. Oh, man....I guess it was only a matter of time.

Damn, this is some closure I DID NOT want.