I found out on Christmas Day that Vic Chenutt died. He had passed away a few hours before after lingering in the hospital for a few days after his latest suicide attempt. It was his fifth (I think) attempt at it. This one took.
Very very sad. He was a big deal to Georgia Music, and traces of him were all over a lot of music and a lot of local culture that I care about. He was one of our great poets and one of our great musicians. I just recently got around to listening to him though, which makes me feel pretty dumb for not paying more attention. I had started checking his website for tour info. I wanted to be extra sure to catch him the next time he came around, since his health hasn't been great.
His death is very sad, but also infuriating. Part of what was dragging him down during the last years of his life was the tremendous difficulty he had with the American health care system. He HAD insurance. He made a decent living. His family was over 70 grand in debt from his bills. His insurance had paid out over a hundred grand, but it wasn't enough. He needed a lot of little operations for the complications from his paralysis. The latest thing was a kidney stone operation. According to an interview I read recently, he couldn't get that operation. It meant that he might lose a kidney.
Since he tried to kill himself so many times during his life, it's hard to blame that stress for his death, but it couldn't have helped. It's overwhelming to think about.
Here's a link to where you can donate money to his family to help pay off that medical debt, and below is a link to some music.
http://kristinhersh.cashmusic.org/vic/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV_5HtxV3H4
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