Wow... just wow.

[uberreiniger]

Really more of a personal entry for me here. Some of you might know that I'm obsessed with a band called Saviour Machine. They play some of the most beautiful dark gothic music you can imagine. Musically they've been my guiding light for fifteen years now. I am not exaggerating when I say their music and words have sometimes literally been the only thing which has helped me have faith at times when I was ready to abandon it altogether.

The band is pretty much completely the brainchild of one man, Eric Clayton. He has been "working on" the band's final album for five years now. A man of few words, he's not spoken much about the reasons behind all the delays. Not having thought of them in a while, I decided to cruise over to the band's website tonight to see if anything new was happening. I found posted an interview from last August that's really left me kind of numb. Turns out the reason for the delays have been extremely severe, possibly life-threatening health problems on Mr. Clayton's part. He has Barrett's Esophagus due to 26 years of acid reflux disease. It's literally where your stomach lining begins crawling up your throat and is a precursor to esophogeal cancer. He has to get endoscopes and throat biopsies every three months.

It's left me numb for two reasons. 1) I have acid reflux. I haven't had it anywhere near as long as he has, but when I saw my doctor last month she really wanted me to get an endoscope ASAP. I guess now that I have benefits I'd better do it, huh? Especially after reading all the difficulties Clayton must now live with on account of his condition. 2) This man has one of the most beautiful, angelic, operatic voices you have ever heard. His voice can bring me to tears no matter how many times I hear it. The thought of his throat suffering permanent damage is like the loss of something priceless. I can't imagine possessing something that beautiful and literally having it erode out from beneath you.

This just stuns me. He has been a profound influence on who I am. I had the good fortune to meet him once about ten years ago and spend a few days in his company and he amazed me all over again with how kind he was. I feel like I'm watching a friend suffer. Knowing that his fate might be my future isn't helping at all.

This was really mostly just for me to get my thoughts out. I needed to. It helps.

Comments

[batchix.livejournal.com]

Oh my God... that just sort of hits me like a ton of bricks too. *hughug*

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

The full interview is at saviourmachine.com. He makes it sound like he's doing well and that his biopsies are coming back normal, but just knowing that he'll have to live that way for the rest of his life... it shouldn't happen to someone like him.

On a completely unrelated note...

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I've been on a Transformers G1 obsession lately. I don't know when or how we'd ever get together to film them, but I've begun a new series of scripts called The Galvatron Chronicles. It's basically the headaches and personal crises Galvatron/Megatron runs into as leader of the Decepticons. I mention it here because, well, I think what happened is that the pompous, megalomaniacal Eric Clayton that Dave and I always used to playact about just evolved down into small plastic toy form. Just replace twinkies with energon cubes and you're ready to go.

Re: On a completely unrelated note...

[batchix.livejournal.com]

It's ironic you mention that because dave started working on the astronaut stuff again. XD Unfortunately my brother wants his legos back so we can't film real legos obviously. If I can ever figure out Maya or 3dstudio animation I could probably model it all tho. :/

[hskinn.livejournal.com]

As someone who has a degree in speech pathology, and did clinical voice, let me second your doctor's rec on getting to an ENT and getting your endoscope done. Seriously. GERD/Acid reflux are no joke, don't screw around and ignore that recommendation. Don't make me break out my voice textbook and do some CANCER SCANS of DOOOOOOM!

It's really gross.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I will. It was just the lack of insurance that was keeping me from it.

[yaqui.livejournal.com]

I've only had the pleasure of hearing him sing live once. It was at Cornerstone and he took the stage with Deliverance for a song or two. I got to speak with him briefly and thought he was a cool guy. I hope he makes a full recovery.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

He's an amazingly cool guy in person, alright. I hope they can keep this in check too and that he can enjoy a long, pain-free life.

[adonijah74.livejournal.com]

God that sucks.

I too LOVE Saviour Machine and they have flat out moved me with their music.

I had the pleasure of meeting Eric at C-Stone 2003 and getting his autograph on Legend III:I. He was very cordial with me and (you'll understand why this is kind of funny), he had a heavy beard and was wearing a NY Yankees ball cap, and walking around in shorts. Yeah, it brings your "idols" down to earth pretty quickly.

Anyway, I hope he's doing better and will make it out of this. Not just because I'm dying to hear the final strains of the Legend Trilogy, but because he's a good person who doesn't deserve this kind of thing.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Yeah he's a scruffy guy when he's not onstage. He was the same way when I met him in '97, Yankees cap and all.

On the website they've got a release date posted for July 07. I really hope that stays true.