Dreams

I found Chris Cornell's thoughts on a dream he had of former Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley to be quite poignant. Dreams are very powerful, for being so insubstantial. Only in a dream can you feel exactly as you would feel were that situation to happen to you, as your mind doesn't know the difference (well, mine doesn't anyway.) And it is very odd to dream of people you haven't thought of or seen in some time, and how pervasive thinking about that person can be until the effects of the dream wear off.

New Alice in Chains Album

I had assumed that the death of Layne Staley meant an end to another one of my formerly favorite bands, Alice in Chains. Apparently I was wrong, as they are now in the studio recording a new album with a new frontman whom I've never heard of. Staley's tortured voice simply can't be replaced, but I'll probably give this new incarnation of AIC a chance.

Also, in reading about AIC I stumbled across this old interview with Staley that came out a year after his death. Staley, like many rockers, was tortured by an addiction to drugs that he knew was killing him, and yet he seemed powerless to do anything about it. Staley's anguish produced many of AIC's greatest songs, but he paid too high a price for his fame and success.