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Wow this is powerful, shocking and ultimately quite sad. While I never knew Ritscher, I am going to assume he was one of the people responsible for taping a lot of the Tuesday/Wednesday free and cheap jazz nights at the Empty Bottle which I used to frequent regularly. Ritscher's suicide, personal problems aside, is a strong commentary on how the war in Iraq can and does affect many people on a very personal and humanist level. It's sad, not only because he felt compelled to take his own life as a stance against the war but that so little has been written about it in the mainstream media. Thanks, Peter, for sharing this with all of us and hopefully something ultimately positive, aside from Ritscher's recordings, come from all of this sadness and madness.

Thanks, Peter, for posting this item. This is shocking and sad news, indeed. I spoke to Malachi numerous times, not just about music, but also such passions as food and travel. Whatever personal problems he was experiencing, I found him always upbeat and enthusiastic about these passions. His outrage at the war in Iraq, and his willingness to speak out (on this and many other international and local issues), is one more reason why he will be missed.

It's gonna really feel empty not seeing Malachi at the shows with his recording gear set up in the corner of the room. After years of e-mail dialogue about show postings and checking his site a couple times a week, I finally met him in person a few months ago when he recorded our show at South Union Arts. I was taken by the selflessness of his act of coming out to the show, paying admission, recording, and then sending off the cd-r (a fine live document which isn't easy to do) of the result within days of the show. He wouldn't accept reimbursement for any of it either. We chatted about Elvin Jones' last days on the drum throne...man I just can't believe this. Thanks for posting this Peter.

This has been tearing me up all day. I didn't know Malachi but I referred to his website almost daily, and his contribution to Chicago music seems invaluable. The saddest part of this whole affair is the thought that Malachi's profound, while difficult to swallow, statement will fade in poignance and import if it is not heard by enough people. Peter, I thank you for posting this, and hope that perhaps the Reader could devote some space to this complex, conflicted story, if only to ensure that Malachi didnt die for nothing.

Peter, thank you so much for posting this. I was acquainted with Malachi through working with 2 performance spaces a few years back, and he was always there at every show, really supportive, and so friendly and a real pleasure to talk to. I feel that this story is larger than Chicago, and needs to be discussed broadly. This sort of act does not happen everyday, at least not here. I'm truly saddened by this news and thank you for giving this due attention. Some other news outlets that have covered this, albeit with cursory attention, boil it all down to mental illness. It's so much more than this.

I deeply empathize with Malachi's discontent. It's a heartbreaking situation. Peter, thanks for sharing this.

i second all of evan's points. i only knew him informally, but our circles were exponentially concentric. let's please not let this fine and developed person die in vain.

Malachi was a devoted supporter of the Chicago music scene. He will be missed dearly. I hope he has found peace.

Thanks for writing about this Peter. I must have seen Malachi record dozens of shows, many of them performances that I still treasure in my mind. It was always a comfort to know that they were being recorded by someone who appeared to care so deeply about what he was doing. I never really met Malachi, but after looking through the galleries on his savagesound site I regret that I never had the chance to. It's heartbreaking that on a night that seems to offer some small hope for people who disagree with the way this country is headed we have to mourn another casualty of the callous nation we've become. I'm sure Malachi had other issues...but for most people I know art, music, and politics are all different sides of the same thing, in a way. I agree with Evan...people should know more about Malachi. It's a powerful story.

I just foundout tonite from 2 people that didn't know him at all, and they were very sad by the news. I can't claim to know him that well, but I was in contact with him constantly concerning shows at my cafe, and we would talk at our events, when he recorded, or at other venues. As a passionate politically minded person myself, I shared in common in beliefs as Malachi, except I didn't know it until now. I am very saddened by this loss. The savagesound page is a gem to chicago, amongst his countless recordings, presence on the scene, and beautifully discreet personality. The savagesound.com page was a major reason for me to move from baltimore to Chicago back in 02', holding a tight aware schedule of the happening jazz/experimental scene here. I have emailed him dozens of times, and talked about the advent of myspace to the jazz scene, to my cafe and beyond. I can't say that I knew him that well...but I feel his message in the manner that he left this world..."something must be done to take a stand and wake people UP!!!" Much love to you Malachi, wherever you are... from chicago

So are we going to just let this happen and do nothing to memorialize this man? Are we too going to accept the unstable, depressed angle some will attach to his act? A humane individual is affected by these things. Few people act. True spiritual conviction is rare. This last flame of a life flares to awaken us to action. Let not let his sacrifice be in vain, let it not be trivialized. What are WE going to do?

I met Malachi last fall when touring the East coast. He is one of the few people I met (musicians set aside) that I kept in contact with eversince. It is not very often that I meet an american who would appologize for what his country was doing to my part of the world so spontaneously. We went into a pretty powerful discussion about politics, that then lead us to music... indeed two sides of the same coin. Later I found out about his great contributions to both anti-war protests and improvised music through his website. Although I am impressed by the whole scenery around his act, I still think he was more useful to humanity alive and will miss him profoundly.

Wait, WHY IS THIS NOT MAKING NATIONAL NEWS? He immolated himself, iraq being one of the causes given? That is not something to be buried in a small local indie paper. i'm going to have to post this article around on the web.

Yeah, I'm with Jazzman. A friend forwarded this to me in NYC, and I'll forward this to others--but this REALLY DESERVES NATIONAL PICKUP.

Malachi seemed to be a given in the Chicago music community, which made it easy to overlook his enormous generosity and vitality. In his roles as a fan and expert documenter, he enabled relationships (interpersonal/social and formal/artistic) and fueled creative energy that radiates across the world from Chicago. I'm deeply saddened by his passing. Like Sharif, I'm concerned that Malachi's death might be a victory for entropy. In Malachi's memory, let's vow to be thorns in the asses of those who act as if US ascendancy is divinely ordained, and let's fill the void created by his passing and do our part to sustain creative life. Thank you, Malachi. Peace.

Yes, I work in New York, and i'm sending letters to local newspapers, in addition to ones i've sent to the Trib, which apparently didn't cover the story at all, and the Sun Times. Its true, this needs to be recognized.

It's our loss; I would encourage people to read Malachi's last words and take them to heart; he died for something he believed in, and I respect that decision though the price was so high. Thank you Malachi, you tirelessly documented and publicized our art form to a degree that made it clear you truly were a great lover of new musics. If no one truly knew him, the face he showed us was still one of virtue.

The fact that the mainstream media hasn't made mention of the action(s) of this obviously sensitive and intelligent man, merely lends 'support' to the frustration that he, and many like him, feel with regard to the circumstances of our world today. I certainly appreciate the sentiment in Floyd Webbs' comment with his post.

It does sound like Chicago, and the world, lost a very important part of the local activist, arts and music communities. But people who are psychologically healthy don't set themselves on fire for any reason. So while I don't think what he did was really politically motivated, I do admire his attempts to make a statement with what was, ultimately, the self-centered end result of serious medical problems.

Rumsfeld just resigned ...

How ironic that he was willing to make a sacrifice for his ideals that of course Bush, Rumself, Cheney, etc. (all service dodgers) would never make. I hope people see this for what it is.

I didn't know Malachi, but this truly is something sad. I know that he will be missed, and I do think that his message needs to be heard on National News ... This war has deeply affected all of us, and truly Malachi was the first one to step out and make a HUGE statement about it. Let's not let his message get buried under bullshit stories about celebrities and fashion designers, or other bullshit fluf. RIP Malachi.

you have to wonder why police sat on his death and releasing info--it happened on friday and there was a videotape next to his body? did the tape ID him? this should have been in sunday's paper, with his note/mission statement. this took too long to get out and you have to wonder what he had in mind in terms of impact and size of coverage...

cynthetica, according to Richard Roeper here: http://www.suntimes.com/news/roeper/126361,CST-NWS-roep07.article He was videotaping himself as he committed the act, so I don't know if he would have identified himself on that tape or not.

From what I've learned, his body was charred beyond recognition--gender couldn't even be determined--and while all circumstantial evidence indicates that the body is Ritscher's, the police are waiting for dental records to make sure it's him--results apparently due later today. It took until Monday before anyone in the jazz community realized it was he, so I don't know how the mainstream media would've solved the case before the police or friends

thanks for the roeper link tim, tho he said nothing of MR's mission...just implied he was mentally ill. i know they need dental records and all that for a proper ID--but MR was methodical, i am sure he ID'd himself on the tape--said something liek who he was and what he was about to do--before all the destruction began. anyway police need to go through lots of hoops before they ID. all i was trying to say is that i have a feeling, tho i could be wrong, that he wanted this in the news bigger and sooner than it has been.

This is very sad. But I don't believe his suicide note. I think he killed himself because he was lonely and depressed. As an intelligent guy he was, of course, opposed to the Iraq War but that's hardly a reason to kill yourself in the middle of the street during rush hour. No, I think life is imitating art... watch Taxi Driver and see if you get what I'm talking about.

But I still think this is a horrible tragedy.

Really? I think he was probably more inspired by this-> http://www.geocities.com/tcartz/sacrifice.htm Than by Taxi Driver. It's history repeating itself.

How can you dishonor this man with your numb cynicism? Doesn't his memmory deserve the benefit of the doubt?

when did this happen? i wish there was more news of this to splatter it all over america. enlightment i call it. enlightment for those to realize. enlightment to us all for all. enlightment for our earth and all who inhabit. shit. we are a bunch of fucking parasites in a shape of monkees. PEACE

I'm sad about the loss of a friend (yes, Malachi: friend), and about the loss of a vital contributor to the local and global community. I hope Malachi's life will continue to inspire others to be responsible citizens and passionate advocates for creative arts and progressive politics. "Look you have a life--use it! No one ever works alone!" (Kenneth Patchen)

Peter, thanks for covering this. Malachi's death affects the creative music scene throughout the entire country and beyond. His support and generosity towards musicians has helped literally hundreds and hundreds of people over the years, including myself. He will be missed.

Thank you for telling the world about this. It is overwhelmingly sad. It not only says a lot about war and peace but also about how isolated many are through no fault of their own. Our culture is sick. Empathy is dead.

To AW and others who feel that this was only the action of a depressed person, I would refer you to Malachi's own "mission statement" which begins by stating, "My actions should be self-explanatory, and since in our self-obsessed culture words seldom match the deed, writing a mission statement would seem questionable. So judge me by my actions. Maybe some will be scared enough to wake from their walking dream state - am I therefore a martyr or terrorist? I would prefer to be thought of as a 'spiritual warrior'. Our so-called leaders are the real terrorists in the world today, responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden. " Furthermore, the act of self-immolation has only happened 4 times in the entire history of the USA. Malachi makes 5. Not a very typical method of suicide... The other times were protests against the Vietnam war. Of course, Buddhist monks have been doing this to protest various situations for quite a while. Here is an excerpt and explanation of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc. "...the self-immolation can be seen as a "political act" aimed at calling attention to the injustices being perpetrated against the South Vietnamese people by a puppet government of Euro-American imperialism. In this context, Thich Nhat Hnah describes the act of self-immolation as follows: "The press spoke then of suicide, but in the essence, it is not. It is not even a protest. What the monks said in the letters they left before burning themselves aimed only at alarming, at moving the hearts of the oppressors, and at calling the attention of the world to the suffering endured then by the Vietnamese. To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance…. The Vietnamese monk, by burning himself, says with all his strength and determination that he can endure the greatest of sufferings to protect his people…. To express will by burning oneself, therefore, is not to commit an act of destruction but to perform an act of construction, that is, to suffer and to die for the sake of one’s people. This is not suicide." Thich Nhat Hanh goes on to explaining why Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation was not a suicide, which is contrary to Buddhist teachings: "Suicide is an act of self-destruction, having as causes the following: (1) lack of courage to live and to cope with difficulties; (2) defeat by life and loss of all hope; (3) desire for nonexistence….. The monk who burns himself has lost neither courage nor hope; nor does he desire nonexistence. On the contrary, he is very courageous and hopeful and aspires for something good in the future. He does not think that he is destroying himself; he believes in the good fruition of his act of self-sacrifice for the sake of others…. I believe with all my heart that the monks who burned themselves did not aim at the death of their oppressors but only at a change in their policy. Their enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred, and discrimination which lie within the heart of man." (full article) http://www.buddhistinformation.com/self_immolation.htm I am moved more than I can say by Malachi's action. It's very easy to play dime store psychologist at a time like this, but I prefer to take Malachi at his word and try to make sure this action is as widely reported as possible. Also, this videotape that he apparently made of the self-immolation should be made public as soon as possible. peace, Michael Zerang

Thank you Mr Zerang for saying that so I don't have to. The least we can do is take Malachi at his word.

I agree with everything Michael said above. Suicide is rarely for one single reason. Certainly depression and lonliness were part of Malachi's life, as they are parts of all of our lives. However, if they were his main reasons for his suicide, he would have chosen a different, less public and less painful method. I am certain that the method, the setting and his explanations were all carefully thought out as an act of love and protest. Whether we see them as such or not is up to us. Malachi was not one to call attention to himself and this act was meant to call attention to the situation that he so strongly believed was unsupportable that he would make the ending of his life his ultimate act of protest. Regardless of what anyone thinks of him or his mental state, do not lose sight of what he wanted this act to signify. We should be coming away from this asking ourselves if we have done all we can (politically - globally and locally, and also in interpersonal relationships) and what we have learned about love, freedom, patriotism and how we treat our fellow man. I feel that Malachi might have better got these points across if he had stayed with us, he clearly felt otherwise. Hopefully, his sacrifice will ultimately have the meaning that he intended.

Thank you for that, MZ. It helps to put his act in historical perspective: there is a history and a tradition to what he did. I do think we have a cultural tendency to pathologize acts like this: because the West fears death--especially a painful death--so much, mental illness is the conclusion jumped to. Which has the effect of negating his own powerfully stated reasons, which is a gigantic disservice to him and those powerful pieces of writing he clearly worked to put a lifetime's worth of meaning into. I'm going to miss him and I'm still struggling to wrap my brain around it in all sorts of ways, of course, but this was no "run-of-the-mill" suicide (if there is such a thing).

Many thanks to Michael Zerang and Rob Pleshar for their eloquent responses to AW. Almost any action for social change can be interpreted as irrational and therefore a symptom of mental instability. I do believe in treatment for serious mental illness, but sensitivity to injustice is NOT mental illness. To deprive this man's death of the meaning he obviously intended is one last act of the kind of violence that he was revolting against. I didn't know him, but I just read his mission statement. He said he felt called to serve his country. Chicago Area Veterans for Peace is having a rally to end the war this Veteran's Day (Saturday Nov. 11) at Wacker and Wabash (at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial) at 11am. It seems appropriate to honor Malachi Ritscher there, where those so moved can meet others who wish to continue his mission by working peace.

Thanks Michael. You said it better than I could. We need to respect this action, whether or not we can understand it. Peace

I hope that he will not be lost in our past like many, just HUMAN as he was. War is hell.

I knew Malachi to be unfailingly friendly and amiable and his work as a documentarian speaks for itself. He will be missed. I can't answer to his state of mind and I don't care to speculate. Brendan stated it so well. The deluded people are the ones who have plunged Iraq into a living hell where the pointless loss of life is an everyday occurrence.

"The monk who burns himself has lost neither courage nor hope; nor does he desire nonexistence. On the contrary, he is very courageous and hopeful and aspires for something good in the future. He does not think that he is destroying himself; he believes in the good fruition of his act of self-sacrifice for the sake of others…." Michael Zerang's post really brings home that this is an intensely spiritual act. I am not second guessing the man. I am moving my ass to action, to be more active, to make sure his sacrifice is known around the world. I redouble my own efforts to resist and come out of my own slumber. I have spread news of Malachi to India, Australia, Brazil, England and France. I am contacting every press preson I know everywhere. Democrats are back in power or sorts. Rumsfield is out...so what? Time to clean up the bushit left behind. Time to hold those Democrats who followed Bush to war to account for their actions. In the Bambara culture there is the Komo, a society of magical blacksmiths who see fire as transforming matter from one form to another...it about light...and letting ones light shine, to burn, to bring about transformation. Let his act transform us. If you not feeling it. No problem...just move back and stay out of the way...

Yes, unfailingly friendly, supportive and loyal. He will be missed. I am blown away by this whole story. Good bye Malachi!

Most people posting here no doubt knew Malachi through his art and political activism. I knew him through work and although I knew he was a very creative person, he was also a very self-effacing person; I didn't know the depth of his creativity and activism. We worked in different divisions of the U of C, and would chat when we ran into each other in the hall. Mostly Malachi wanted to talk about computers (what I do at work). I hadn't realized I hadn't seen him in awhile, and I did not make the connection with the story on the news Friday and Malachi until I saw his name this evening. His death is extremely sad, and if this is the right place to add condolences, let me add mine. Malachi was one of the nicest persons you could ever hope to meet.

may everyone without exception be happy. may respect and love be ordinary actions of vast benefit.

I didn't know Malachi well, but it was always a joy to talk with him at shows. I used to ask him about recording equipment; he was incredibly knowledgeable, and was utterly unselfish about sharing his expertise. His passion for the music, and for documenting it, knew no bounds. This is incredibly sad news. He will be missed.

I am trying to be comforted by the fact that Malachi took his life in his own way, his choice and his decision, on his own terms.... but I am terribly shaken by this. I am also very saddened by it. I like Malachi a lot and liked seeing and chatting with him at shows and I will miss that and miss him.

http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/74806/index.php A Chicago activist burns him self alive for the cause of peace. During the Viet Nam War, Buddhist monks in Saigon set themselves on fire to protest the war. The whole world watched as these martyrs for peace went up in flames. Last Friday, a man approached the "Millenium Flame" sculpture on the Kennedy Expressway near the Ohio Exit, and set himself aflame, leaving a not stating: "Thou Shalt Not Kill." The local media just wrote this off as another unfortunate case of mental illness. But it wasn't mental illness. It was an anti-war protest. Malachi Ritscher was a martyr for peace. Here is his testament: My actions should be self-explanatory, and since in our self-obsessed culture words seldom match the deed, writing a mission statement would seem questionable. So judge me by my actions. Maybe some will be scared enough to wake from their walking dream state - am I therefore a martyr or terrorist? I would prefer to be thought of as a 'spiritual warrior'. Our so-called leaders are the real terrorists in the world today, responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden. I have had a wonderful life, both full and full of wonder. I have experienced love and the joy and heartache of raising a child. I have jumped out of an airplane, and escaped a burning building. I have spent the night in jail, and dropped acid during the sixties. I have been privileged to have met many supremely talented musicians and writers, most of whom were extremely generous and gracious. Even during the hard times, I felt charmed. Even the difficult lessons have been like blessed gifts. When I hear about our young men and women who are sent off to war in the name of God and Country, and who give up their lives for no rational cause at all, my heart is crushed. What has happened to my country? we have become worse than the imagined enemy - killing civilians and calling it 'collateral damage', torturing and trampling human rights inside and outside our own borders, violating our own Constitution whenever it seems convenient, lying and stealing right and left, more concerned with sports on television and ring-tones on cell-phones than the future of the world.... half the population is taking medication because they cannot face the daily stress of living in the richest nation in the world. I too love God and Country, and feel called upon to serve. I can only hope my sacrifice is worth more than those brave lives thrown away when we attacked an Arab nation under the deception of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'. Our interference completely destroyed that country, and destabilized the entire region. Everyone who pays taxes has blood on their hands. I have had one previous opportunity to serve my country in a meaningful way - at 8:05 one morning in 2002 I passed Donald Rumsfeld on Delaware Avenue and I was acutely aware that slashing his throat would spare the lives of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people. I had a knife clenched in my hand, and there were no bodyguards visible; to my deep shame I hesitated, and the moment was past. The violent turmoil initiated by the United States military invasion of Iraq will beget future centuries of slaughter, if the human race lasts that long. First we spit on the United Nations, then we expect them to clean up our mess. Our elected representatives are supposed to find diplomatic and benevolent solutions to these situations. Anyone can lash out and retaliate, that is not leadership or vision. Where is the wisdom and honor of the people we delegate our trust to? To the rest of the world we are cowards - demanding Iraq to disarm, and after they comply, we attack with remote-control high-tech video-game weapons. And then lie about our reasons for invading. We the people bear complete responsibility for all that will follow, and it won't be pretty. It is strange that most if not all of this destruction is instigated by people who claim to believe in God, or Allah. Many sane people turn away from religion, faced with the insanity of the 'true believers'. There is a lot of confusion: many people think that God is like Santa Claus, rewarding good little girls with presents and punishing bad little boys with lumps of coal; actually God functions more like the Easter Bunny, hiding surprises in plain sight. God does not choose the Lottery numbers, God does not make the weather, God does not endorse military actions by the self-righteous, God does not sit on a cloud listening to your prayers for prosperity. God does not smite anybody. If God watches the sparrow fall, you notice that it continues to drop, even to its death. Face the truth folks, God doesn't care, that's not what God is or does. If the human race drives itself to extinction, God will be there for another couple million years, 'watching' as a new species rises and falls to replace us. It is time to let go of primitive and magical beliefs, and enter the age of personal responsibility. Not telling others what is right for them, but making our own choices, and accepting consequences. "Who would Jesus bomb?" This question is primarily addressing a Christian audience, but the same issues face the Muslims and the Jews: God's message is tolerance and love, not self-righteousness and hatred. Please consider "Thou shalt not kill" and "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". Not a lot of ambiguity there. What is God? God is the force of life - the spark of creation. We each carry it within us, we share it with each other. Whether we are conscious of the life-force is a choice we make, every minute of every day. If you choose to ignore it, nothing will happen - you are just 'less conscious'. Maybe you are less happy (maybe not). Maybe you grow able to tap into the universal force, and increase the creativity in the universe. Love is anti-entropy. Please notice that 'conscious' and 'conscience' are related concepts. Why God - what is the value? Whether committee consensus of a benevolent power that works through humans, or giant fungus under Oregon, the value of opening up to the concept of God is in coming to the realization that we are not alone, establishing a connection to the universe, the experience of finding completion. As individuals we may exist alone, but we are all alone together as a people. Faith is the answer to fear. Fear opposes love. To manipulate through fear is a betrayal of trust. What does God want? No big mystery - simply that we try to help each other. We decide to make God-like decisions, rescuing falling sparrows, or putting the poor things out of their misery. Tolerance, giving, acceptance, forgiveness. If this sounds a lot like pop psychology, that is my exact goal. Never underestimate the value of a pep-talk and a pat on the ass. That is basically all we give to our brave soldiers heading over to Iraq, and more than they receive when they return. I want to state these ideas in their simplest form, reducing all complexity, because each of us has to find our own answers anyway. Start from here... I am amazed how many people think they know me, even people who I have never talked with. Many people will think that I should not be able to choose the time and manner of my own death. My position is that I only get one death, I want it to be a good one. Wouldn't it be better to stand for something or make a statement, rather than a fiery collision with some drunk driver? Are not smokers choosing death by lung cancer? Where is the dignity there? Are not the people the people who disregard the environment killing themselves and future generations? Here is the statement I want to make: if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country. I will not participate in your charade - my conscience will not allow me to be a part of your crusade. There might be some who say "it's a coward's way out" - that opinion is so idiotic that it requires no response. From my point of view, I am opening a new door. What is one more life thrown away in this sad and useless national tragedy? If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country. I was alive when John F. Kennedy instilled hope into a generation, and I was a sorry witness to the final crushing of hope by Dick Cheney's puppet, himself a pawn of the real rulers, the financial plunderers and looters who profit from every calamity; following the template of Reagan's idiocracy. The upcoming elections are not a solution - our two party system is a failure of democracy. Our government has lost its way since our founders tried to build a structure which allowed people to practice their own beliefs, as far as it did not negatively affect others. In this regard, the separation of church and state needs to be reviewed. This is a large part of the way that the world has gone wrong, the endless defining and dividing of things, micro-sub-categorization, sectarianism. The direction we need is a process of unification, integrating all people into a world body, respecting each individual. Business and industry have more power than ever before, and individuals have less. Clearly, the function of government is to protect the individual, from hardship and disease, from zealots, from the exploitation, from monopoly, even from itself. Our leaders are not wise persons with integrity and vision - they are actors reading from teleprompters, whose highest goal is to stir up the mob. Our country slaughters Arabs, abandons New Orleaneans, and ignores the dieing environment. Our economy is a house of cards, as hollow and fragile as our reputation around the world. We as a nation face the abyss of our own design. A coalition system which includes a Green Party would be an obvious better approach than our winner-take-all system. Direct electronic debate and balloting would be an improvement over our non-representative congress. Consider that the French people actually have a voice, because they are willing to riot when the government doesn't listen to them. "Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government... " - Abraham Lincoln With regard to those few who crossed my path carrying the extreme and unnecessary weight of animosity: they seemed by their efforts to be punishing themselves. As they acted out the misery of their lives it is now difficult to feel anything other than pity for them. Without fear I go now to God - your future is what you will choose today. www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm His biography is here: www.savagesound.com/gallery100.htm Let's not allow this sacrifice to be written off as just another unfortunate tragedy. The tragedy is in Iraq, and Malachi Ritscher died to tell us all that. Malachi Ritscher is entitled to at least as much respect as those Buddhist monks in Viet Nam.

Along with myself in Los Angeles, Jon Luini in San Francisco, Margaret Davis and Keiko Uenishi in New York City and Seth Cluett earlier on the Chicago Now list, Malachi was one of the few members of a fraternity of dogged individuals doing relatively lonely work: spreading the news about difficult music to a farflung and remote public. His work was nothing less than an elevation of consciousness and shall be missed very deeply for a long time to come. We are all smaller because of his absence.

David, I think you mean Seth Tisue, but your point is well-made

Never before have I cried over the death of someone I knew of only after they had passed. I don't understand David's comment - can someone kindly explain it?

Thanks for clarifying that, Peter.

Any chance that the date he chose to immolate himself was Guy Fawkes day? "Remember, remember, the Fifth of November Gunpowder, Treason and Plot ; I don't know no reason why Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'Twas his intent. To blow up the King and the Parliament. Three score barrels of powder below. Poor old England to overthrow. By God's providence he was catch'd, With a dark lantern and burning match Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King! Hip hip Hoorah ! Hip hip Hoorah ! A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope, A farthing cheese to choke him. A pint of beer to rinse it down, A faggot of sticks to burn him. Burn him in a tub of tar,' Burn him like a blazing star. Burn his body from his head, Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead. "

i greatly admire Malachi for his kindness, conviction, candor, and expertise in both engineering and activism. he is one of a select few who exceeded the calling in both areas. i will miss him dearly and strive to continue the tradition that he upheld. i hope you have found peace, my friend.

I did not know Malachi, but from the sounds of it, I would have been drawn to someone of his character. This story has floored me and I am certain that many in this country are so fed up with what is happening, that what he did is almost understandable. I find this story be very tragic and found myself crying, not only for Malachi and his loved ones, but for the world as a whole. I don't think this was an act due to mental illness. I believe Malachi did this as a political act and anti-war protest like Thich Quano Duc and other monks had done in protest to the Vietnam war. But then, like I said, I did not know Malachi, so I can not be sure. My heart and thoughts go out to those that did know and love him. May he rest in peace. I am amazed that this has not made national news. I know of a jouranlist here in NYC and I will be sure to relate this story to her.

Malachi is my brother, I love him and I miss him. He was a gifted musician, writer, artist, electrical wizard, recording engineer, friend and a very, very serious peace activist. He was the most original, sensitive and empathic person I know and the horrific actions taken by our government since 9/11 weighed heavily on his soul. I suppose he carried in his heart the guilt we all should share for allowing our government to perform the unspeakable horrors in Afganistan and Iraq and he took a very personal action to futher expose these horrible atrocities. He is a victim of war as completely as the children at a bombed wedding ceremony or any of thousands upon thousands of nameless victims in the Middle East killed by policies we so apathetically endorse. He believed in his actions, however extreme they were. He believed they could help to open eyes, ears and hearts and to show everyone that a single man's actions, by taking such extreme personal responsiblity, can perhaps affect change in the world. I am proud of him; very, very sad, but very, very proud.

Thank you Paul, Tonight was a wonderful celebration at the Vandermark 5 show. People were finally able to let themselves go a little bit and laugh and talk about the times we had with Malachi.

I've met and spoke with Malachi on several occassions... usually before or after recording a set @ the Empty Bottle. I was always so inspired by his absolute dedication... to documenting, supporting and promoting the local creative music scene, and to his personal beliefs... that our country needs to be cleansed of the bastards, liars, and parasites that feed off of our indifference, ingnorance and fear. It's rare (and special) to see anyone "truly dedicated" to anything that isn't self-destructive, nullifying and banal. He was. The question is asked in "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, "What is the most depraved type of human being?" "The man without purpose." Malachi Ritscher had purpose. He was a messenger telling us, "WAKE-UP! You don't have to stand for it!" I don't pretend to know him and haven't seen him in over a year, but each time we bumped into one another he was always enthusiastic, warm and really funny! He was an inspiration to me in life and now in death. He will be missed and remembered... and he will be rewarded for his sacrifice! "Without fear I go now to God - your future is what you will choose today." - Malachi Ritscher

Malachi sounds like a very aware and brillant man. I'm sorry to read the reality-based world is now without him.

Burning yourself up is such a waste it really is. Suicide is for the weak!

I had many great conversations with Malachi during my 4+ years employment at a local chicago music venue. Malachi was always inspired by love, art, food and music.....in fact most of our conversations always started and ended with these topics. i feel deeply saddened by the lost of this great man, who made it a point to help people in their times of need. ...and I just wish i, or someone could have been there to help Malachi out before he felt it was time to leave us. my condolences to his family. RIP Malachi

Thank you all for your kind, generous, thoughful condolences and reflections upon my unique and wonderful brother and his actions. I believe Malachi (Mark to me) was being true to himself by doing what he did. I wish that he knew how much people valued what he contributed to the world so that he could still be here to spread his message of love and peace. Certainly his contribution to the music world has not been in vain. There's a memorial concert planned for this Sunday at 5 p.m. I'm not sure where, but I'm sure that someone you know does. Please try to come. I would love to meet you. Bless you all. Peace to you, Malachi-Mark.

Sad as this whole story is, and I hate to be so harsh, this sacrifice was unnecessary. If he had truly wanted to make a difference…Why waste his life away by burning himself? Now, I didn’t read all the comments(I am at school and didn’t have the time nor the inclination), but I read the article and his testament as posted by Indymedia, and I must say it seems he was taking a cowardly way out. Of course “There might be some who say "it's a coward's way out" - that opinion is so idiotic that it requires no response.” So that opinion touches no heart that sympathizes with this action. Let us rather call this the selfish way out. What of those who loved him and will miss him? Even if they didn’t know him, his life was wasted to satisfy his own ideals. However valiant that may seem to activists everywhere, he is only hurting other people. However fulfilling a life he led, he still had more to live. Fifty is practically the prime of life, with new technologies and methods of treatment being realized every day. I understand his cause, and it was very good one...The death of someone innocent is a terrible thing. I just wish he would have applied his philosophy to himself. But off of that subject, I have a few problems with his views anyway. The one that troubled me the most was this little bit of hypocrisy. “I have had one previous opportunity to serve my country in a meaningful way - at 8:05 one morning in 2002 I passed Donald Rumsfeld on Delaware Avenue and I was acutely aware that slashing his throat would spare the lives of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people. I had a knife clenched in my hand, and there were no bodyguards visible; to my deep shame I hesitated, and the moment was past.” “God's message is tolerance and love, not self-righteousness and hatred. Please consider "Thou shalt not kill" and "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". If God didn’t care about every single human life he wouldn’t have sent his only son to die for us. To God every life is precious and to America “All men are created equal.” So to rant about the lives of innocents in Iraq and then try to kill someone in America who may not be the best person speak a fatal flaw of character in him. No one else has to listen to me. I am only a child…but even this child understands that life is precious! A gift given to us by God, or Allah, or monkeys! I don’t care how you think we humans came to be, but we are here now. We are here to delve into life’s joy and sorrow. This is an awful story. I am sad that such a seemingly quick-witted and philosophical man chose to take his life. I am sorry that any activist would do so. Much more could have been accomplished if he had kept on living and fighting his fight. One person burning won’t end a war. People in Iraq burned…The war still goes on. Call me naïve. Call me a child. Call me sheltered. Call me crazy. But this I know. Carpe diem. Seize the day…Don’t let night fall before you have truly enjoyed the sun.

I realize my last comment may have seemed harsh, with words like hypocrisy and selfish. Let me also say that I am happy for him. I'm glad that he found a reason to live and a reason to die. It seemd to me he was a man with great belief in his ideals, and that is a rare thing in America today. I was merely stating my disagreement with those ideals, for mine are very different. Please, do not take my comment as disrespectful or disgraceful. I did not mean it that way. TO his friends and family I send my condolences. I hope he can rest in peace.

Mark Ritscher (I refuse to call him Malachi, as that was not his real name, but that of his son, which he assumed after he decided it was too good for someone else) was mentally ill and selfish. His son was not estranged from him by choice. His family is grieving the loss of a man that left them many years ago because the illness was all that was left in the end. Art and music can be made to caress a hurting world, but this is no place for it. Take this as it was - a cry of anger and a painful look at depression and unmedicated mental illness. It was not beautiful. It was not peaceful. He has left lives in ruins. If that was his message and his intent, then he has been successful. His grandchildren will not know him. Any further memorialization of this cruel act is nonsense.

I spent much of last night reviewing Malachai's words and pictures and recordings in an effort to understand who he was, and why he left us. Of course, the picture painted was incomplete, but it reflected genius and beauty and love and conviction. And deep, deep sadness. I would greatly relish the opportunity to meet with his friends to learn more about him and his life and his world. It appears that there is now a gigantic void left in the local music scene, particularly the jazz scene, and it needs to be filled. I have messed around a couple times with recording but certainly have not mastered it. I would greatly relish the opportunity to learn so that I can perpetuate the recordings that Malachai so selflessly and importantly preserved for the world to enjoy. Malachai and I are true kindred spirits with respect to our absolute love and passion for live, spontaneous, and creative music. Please, please email me with any guidance you may have, it would be so very much appreciated. (kbrenns@yahoo.com)

Go shit in your hat, lady. We all knew the man in varying degrees and we're all a little "bummed out" right now, to say the very least. I'll bet all those people who loved and thought highly of him didn't think that "illness was all that was left in the end". Coming in and stinking up the wake like you're doing only makes us think he killed himself because a) he was protesting the Iraq war and b) to get away from you.

Let's refrain from hostile posts like the above message, or else I may start deleting them. Feel free to disagree, but do so with respect and restraint.

Please imagine what his son must be feeling.

"There is a lot of confusion: many people think that God is like Santa Claus, rewarding good little girls with presents and punishing bad little boys with lumps of coal; actually God functions more like the Easter Bunny, hiding surprises in plain sight." -- though it appears a bit confusing in Malachi's writing when he speaks of "God", the above statement seems to go a long way towards explaining his personal feelings about such a thing... which is obviously a far different view than the prevailing Judeo-Christian one. It appears that Malachi gave a lot of thought over a long period of time to these ideas. Saying his actions were simply the result of mental illness seems like a comfortable way of summing things up, but this is disturbing and begs a lot of questions.. as it was intended to be. I didn't know the man, but as upsetting as this is to me from a distance, it is difficult to imagine the grief of his family, friends, and acquaintances. Clearly he was not wasteful, in life or in death...

I didn't know Malachi well, but we shared a squadrol the night the war began in 2003. The 29 men in that wagon were among the 800 arrested that night as Mayor Daley reacted to having his city on the world stage as a center of anti-war resistance. We sat for about 4 hours with our hands cuffed behind our backs, and I was pleasantly surprised, when we introduced ourselves, to learn that Malachi was also a union member - and I believe a member of my union, Local 73 SEIU, at the University of Chicago. I just learned of his death today. This is terrible, sad news, and more blood that Bush and the imperialists have on their hands.

Malachi's path and my own intersected many times throughout the 90s when I lived in Chicago. We shared an interest in the local music scene, and were both involved in documenting it, albeit in different ways. He always took the time to say 'hello' and have a bit of a chat. He was a singular individual, in many, many ways (not all of which were apparent to me at the time). I really appreciated his wonderfully dry sense of humour. He made me laugh with a wry comment or an aside numerous times. I've been picturing the way a slight smile would slowly creep across his face in recognition that you felt the same way about something, or got one another's joke. That smile was like a secret handshake. ***** Making the choice to end one's own life does not always belie mental illness. In many (perhaps most) cases, it does. But it is possible for a rational, reasonable, sound-thinking individual to make that decision, and carry it out. Accepting that as truth is a scary thing for a lot of people. That being said, I have no idea what part, and to what degree, Malachi's mental health played in his final choices. Nor do I believe it right to speculate. The meaning of his final act is now, ultimately, up to each individual who cares enough to think about it. The best we can do is try to make it positive, however we interpret it. Teach peace. Write a letter to your Congressman. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Attend a Pro-Peace rally. Volunteer at your local hospital. Become an advocate for mental health awareness. Take your elderly neighbour grocery shopping. Play a benefit concert. Bake some pumpkin bread for your co-workers. Donate the money you make working today to your local foodbank. Call your parents tonight and tell them you love them. Hug your partner, your children, a little tighter tonight and tell them you love them. Tell each one of your friends that you see today how much you appreciate them and why. It is up to us. Now, and always. My thoughts go out to all of his family, and close acquaintances.

the word is spreading a bit. this from idolater.com http://www.idolator.com/tunes/free-jazz/the-most-heartbreaking-story-youll-read-all-day-213566.php

Act by 'martyr' to protest war in Iraq a futile gesture November 9, 2006 BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist http://www.suntimes.com/news/roeper/130292,cst-nws-roep09.article feel free to e-mail Mr Roeper here: mailto:rroeper@suntimes.com

If you think that taking one's own life (the term "suicide" doesn't seem exactly appropriate here) a priori determines mental illness, then there is really no point in having a discussion. The fact is, Ritscher carefully explained on his website what he was doing, and there is a history of such protest. It is truly an insult to the man and his cause to say he was just acting out of illness or cowardice. It's far far easier to overdose on sleeping pills than it is to feel one's body engulfed in flame. At the same time, his website made reference to loneliness and depression, and it may be a disservice to Ritscher and to other depressed people to ignore it. While this may have factored into his decision to take his own life (I didn't know the man, and I hope no one is offended by my hypothesizing here), it certainly didn't determine the means or circumstances. "The metaphor for his life was winning the lottery, but losing the ticket. In the end, the loneliness was overwhelming." "The handwritten manuscript of his 'fictional autobiography', titled "Farewell Tour", was under consideration by publishers. It had a general theme of shared universal aloneness, and was controversial for seeming to endorse suicide after the age of fifty. " "What is one more life thrown away in this sad and useless national tragedy? If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country." -Jesse Kudler

Hello all. Richard Roeper of the Sun Times has written an editorial today about the incident: Act by 'martyr' to protest war in Iraq a futile gesture November 9, 2006 BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist According to some who knew the man who set himself on fire along the Kennedy Expressway last Friday, it wasn't a suicide. They're calling it the act of a martyr. The man who doused himself with gasoline and lit himself near a 25-foot-tall sculpture titled "Flame of the Millennium" was Malachi Ritscher, 52, a local musician and anti-war activist. The medical examiner ID'd Ritscher on Wednesday through medical records. Friends were already convinced it was him. One admirer of Ritscher sent me an e-mail with the Subject Header: "It was Martrydom, Not Mental Illness." "Do you remember the Buddhist monks who publicly burned themselves in Saigon to make an anti-war statement during the Vietnam War?" he wrote. "Something similar happened in Chicago ... [The] man who set himself aflame ... [was making] a powerful anti-war statement ... delivered just as America was making an important electoral decision about the war in Iraq. "Not all people who kill themselves are mentally ill. Most major religious traditions, including Buddhism and Christianity, teach that death is something to be welcomed. And death in the service of a greater cause, like peace, makes you a martyr, not mentally ill." I'm not so sure the two things are mutually exclusive. Remembering the man Ritscher apparently penned his own obituary and posted it on his Web site. In the third person, he says he was born Mark David Ritscher in Dickensen, N.D. in 1954. He moved to Chicago in the early 1980s and changed his name to Malachi. "He was the modern-day version of the 'renaissance man,' except instead of attaining success in several fields, he consistently failed, and didn't worry too much about it," says the obit, which mentions a number of Ritscher's interests and activities, including jazz, photography, poetry, painting watercolors, concocting a hot sauce recipe, working as a licensed stationary engineer and collecting everything from books to knives to glass eyes. "[Ritscher] participated passionately in the anti-war and free speech movement," says the obit. "He was arrested at a protest on March 20, 2003, and spent the night in jail ..." There's also mention of a son "from whom he was estranged," and two grandchildren. Parting words In addition to the obit, Ritscher left a long farewell note on his Web site. "My actions should be self-explanatory, and since in our self-obsessed culture words seldom match the deed, writing a mission statement would seem questionable," he wrote. "So judge me by my actions. Maybe some will be scared enough to wake from their walking dream state -- am I therefore a martyr or a terrorist? I would prefer to be thought of as a 'spiritual warrior.' Our so-called leaders are the real terrorists in the world today, responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden ... "When I hear about our young men and women who are sent off to war in the name of God and country, and who give up their lives for no rational cause at all, my heart is crushed. What has happened to my country? "I too love God and country, and feel called upon to serve ..." Ritscher describes an incident in 2002 in which he claims to have had a knife as he passed within close range of Donald Rumsfeld. To his "deep shame," he didn't attack. There is also discussion of God's role in the universe, the two-party system, and the Bush administration. Throughout he comes across as intelligent, passionate, bitter, angry, disoriented -- and disturbed. Brendan Burke was a friend of Ritscher's. "Malachi was an incredible and gentle soul," Burke said in an e-mail to me. "He was very well known in the jazz community in Chicago. He was completely dedicated to preserving a record of the Chicago avant-garde jazz scene. He would show up at jazz shows at the Empty Bottle or other venues and set up his mobile recording rig, once or twice a week, every week ... Malachi would drop off a recording [with the artist, but] he'd never take any money. He just wanted this music to be documented, and he recorded thousands of shows. "We know Malachi was deeply committed to the anti-war movement, but he had also suffered from depression and other difficulties from time to time. We'll all miss him terribly and are really at a loss right now." My sincere sympathies to all who knew Ritscher. But with all great respect, if he thought setting himself on fire and ending his life in Chicago would change anyone's mind about the war in Iraq, his last gesture on this planet was his saddest and his most futile. May he find peace now. ---- This is one of the most difficult experiences i've had to wrap my head around. It was a tragic gesture that can't be erased. A man was destroyed by his own passion (and other darker things). I'm glad that the family has come here to share their stories of Malachi/Mark. If our loss, as a community who socialized or worked with Malachi, is deeply felt, I really empathize for the family that may not, acc. to "Ritscher Woman" have gotten to interact with him the way a lot of us did, and in the way that we did. My heart truly goes out to them at this time.

Roeper doesn't offer a single bit of evidence or argument to back up his position! He just jams in "But with all great respect, if he thought setting himself on fire and ending his life in Chicago would change anyone's mind about the war in Iraq, his last gesture on this planet was his saddest and his most futile."

It's worth pointing out that, in his obituary, Malachi writes that he had been a member of alcoholics anonymous since 1990, and viewed sobriety as a second chance at life. 16 years of sobriety is no small task. And while many view alcoholism as a mental illness, actively fighting it is probably one of the best ways to lead a well-examined life. It's another reason why I think we should grant him the clarity with which he claims he acted. That's no solace to the family he left behind of course...they deserve all the sympathy in the world.

i am deeply saddened by this loss. I did not know anything about his personal problems, but the savagesound website was among my favorites, and i will miss that dearly. That alone is a huge loss to the chicago underground music scene. I had found out about so many shows on that site that were not listed anywhere else. He will be greatly missed by people like myself that did not know his personal story, but had the same interests and enjoyed his website very much. Thank you so much for posting this tragic story.

I sent a letter to Mr. Roeper.... It's not a futile gesture! (Referring to your piece about Malachi's death.) I say this because YOU wrote about it, people wrote YOU about it, people are commenting on Peter's blog in the Reader about it, (including members of his family) and people are commenting on my blog about it (http://blog.myspace.com/ladyj333) and the news of this act is spreading through the community. Because of this I do not feel that his message is lost. It is unrealistic to think that one man believes his own act will end a war, or have the impact you refer to but it is causing many to stop, read, and think about what he has done and it's meaning to them personally, regardless of their final judgement or opinion of the act. Why is life on earth so precious anyway? That was a question that popped into my head while reading his Mission Statement. On the one hand he is protesting loss of life and alternately he takes his own to make a point. I found it all to be quite significant and moving. It is making me take inventory of myself and stop and think for one day about everything I believe in and how I live my life. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I didn't think it was all in vain... though he was preaching to the converted about the war... I am saddened that I will not get to speak to Malachi again. -------------------------------- A special note to family members. I recently had a close relative die suddenly. No one in my immediate family had been in contact with him lately as he had distanced himself from us for no particular reason other than time and space. It was common knowledge that he wasn't the most emotionally stable person in the world yet at his funeral so many people came out (the obit was the same day as the funeral) to say wonderful things about him and the impact he had on their lives. They discussed the pureness of his soul, the utter kindness and unconditional friendship they felt from knowing him. I found this experience the definition of bittersweet. I felt sad and confused and also overwhelmed with peace that if someone was to leave this earth suddenly that people could get together and discuss the impact he had on their lives. I hope at the very least you can see that although you were frustrated by Malachi's supposed mental illness and unavailability that you can see that he had a tremendous impact on so many people. My thoughts are with you and your family and also with everyone who knew him.

This happened two blocks from where I work. The story broke Tuesday? Just goes to show you Bush's might over the media.

All of the family should be treated with respect, whether they admire, or resent, what their loved one did. And Roeper at least did a balanced presentation. It's a dificult, complex issue, reflected by the split in this discussion, and the split within the family. It's hard for people to agree on something as spectacular, and sad, as this. We should treat each other, and Roeper, with respect. And we must treat the family with respect, whether we agree with them or not. I say that as the guy who wrote the email quoted at the beginning of Roeper's article. My opinion is clear. But it's only my opinion. I could be wrong. May his family, all of them, find peace and comfort. God bless those who loved Malachi Ritscher.

It has not been in the news because the whole concept is absurd. It does nothing to stop the war, Instead of killing himself he could have gone and cast a ballot on Tuesday. Obviously he needed psychological medical attention and neither his family, friends or doctors recognized it. I give my deepest sympathies to the family.

last time i checked, casting ballots doesn't exactly stop wars--if it does, great--but if that's the only tool available, to make a statement every two years with your 1 vote, cast on machines that are highly suspect, we are in deep trouble.

An American sacrificed himself through immolation and not one major media outlet has spoken of it- This is a cause an effect of the very tyrannical control that this American sacrificed himself for-Immolation is a shock tactic used by monks and other deeply enlightened souls to force us to acknowledge the horror that we complacently, knowingly ignore. His act was a sacrifice to wake some deeper collective conscience- it is completely beyond my comprehension and most likely yours as well. The one fact i know... His act is not mired down in cowardliness or selfishness.

Peter - thank you for managing this discourse. I am deeply saddened by Malachi's death. I had known Malachi for about 20 years, and while we were certainly closer 15 years ago, or more --- and I thought that we were FRIENDS, not just neighbors, back then --- I still had face-to-face or e-mail contact with him, often on a nearly weekly basis - up until last week. I really valued his dedication to the music scene and I tried to make sure that I thanked him for his hard work, every single time that he included a listing for my band on his website. I hope that it is appropriate to post this information here, as I had not yet seen it on the Reader site. Jason Soliday kindly forwarded me this information that was posted on the [chi-improv] mailing list: ------------------------------ Elastic will be hosting a memorial gathering for Malachi Ritscher this Sunday, November 12th, from 5-8 pm. For those of you knew Malachi, and perhaps those of you who didn't, please feel free to come and share some memories, and trade some thoughts on his life and death. Elastic 2830 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd floor Chicago, IL If you have anything that you'd like to bring (photos, etc.) that has some relevance to Malachi's life, please do. We'd like to display some of these items for everyone to share in. And please pass this information on to others who knew Malachi. There are many out there who will greatly miss his presence. ------------------------------ My best wishes go out to Malachi's family and his other friends. Thank you, Mark Solotroff

I cannot tell you how this man has saddened, touched and inspired me. I did not know him personally, and I can make no claims about his sanity from personal experience, or what painful dysfunctions his ex-wife and child experienced with him. Ritscher Woman, of course no one can identify with what his former wife and kid are facing or what they have faced for not being able to understand him. Without ever knowing him, I can identify much with him. Some people are born with a different sort of perspective (even my dad tried to put me on drugs for being 'spacey', and now I would put to shame anyone who would tell me to stop staring into space), and the fact that his siblings are able to identify with his perspective proves this all the more (since people with such perspectives tend to inherit them from a long line of people with unique life perspectives). I know you are convinced that he was mentally ill, but I hope, for their sake, that his former wife and child can make peace with his perspectives and actions one day. I know its hard to be very close to someone like Malachi, just as it is hard to be close to anyone who is a radical visionary, and that it is possible that he did things that seemed inexcuseable to emotionally hurt his former wife and kid or other family members. Even Gandhi was reported to having been physically abusive to his wife at some point in his life. But perhaps if they understood better where he was coming from, they would understand and not be so hurt by his actions on the surface of his life and relationship to them. Please understand that I am not trying to tell you that Mark never did wrong things to hurt his family. I am just saying that it is very difficult for someone with a brain like Mark had to reconcile the knowledge he has to a life of reality, and to live a 'normal' life. I am really sorry for the pain you might be experiencing or might have experienced on account of Mark, Ritscher woman, but please do not stop believing in what this person that you (at least at one point?) loved. I wish his siblings, parents, former wife and son my sincerest sympathies and peacefulness concerning his life and death and relationships he shared with them.

There is not a person who ever lived who didn't leave a trail of both joy and suffering behind them. It is our duty as the living to honor and accept both. As much as I agree with Malachi's stated reasons for his actions, I'm angered and confused by the selfishness of his suicide. How can you end suffering by creating more? How can you empathize so perfectly with the victims of a war yet turn your back on the ones closest to you? To paraphrase Voltaire: the perfect is the enemy of the good. In his desire for a perfect statement against an awful war, he annihilated all the good he could have done as a living person.

CBS2 news footage of the scene... http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_307085813.html

How interesting... He had a sign that read "Thou shall not kill" and yet he killed himself. Though his intentions were honourable he was merely a hypocrite as he did what his sign said not to. "Thou shall not kill." Words that we should live by.

In Iraq, people are having their names, addresses, and phone numbers tattooed on their bodies so that they can be identified more easily if they die. No rational person can feel anything but crushed by that. There are any number of similar horrific factoids about this war, all equally repellent, all impossible to get your head around. The “big picture” is even more grim than these little nuggets. For those of us not in positions to stop this insanity right fucking now (i.e., all of us), I don’t know if there are any sane reactions. Malachi made his choice about how to respond to this situation. I’m sure there were a lot of other factors that made this seem like the appropriate path to take, but that was his ultimate point: to protest the war. The war is still going on, one in a long line of horrific human events. Malachi is not still going on, one in a thin string of exciting and intelligent people I’ve known. I do not like this math. There is a long history of dying for ones idealism, by ones own hand or the hand of those you oppose, in an effort to forward your views amongst the larger population or, if not them, history. Malachi has made damn sure that everyone knows which side he was on. Personally, I wish he would have stayed around to fight the good fight. It might not have had the dramatic impact of immolating himself, but it would have allowed him to still be doing the things that made his life remarkable. I wish I had a chance to argue with him about this. Because I liked arguing with him. He liked it, too, and we could go back and forth over whatever for hours on end. I liked talking with him about nothing, about books, about music, about the things we both cared about. I wish we had done more of it, and I wish I hadn’t been so bad about keeping in touch with him over the past few years. And I wish he had stayed around to keep contributing good things to the world, something he undeniably did. I don’t doubt that he made an intellectual decision to do what he did. He was an extremely intellectual guy. That’s what I liked so much about him, that’s what I’ll miss. Ultimately, talking about his death, he is the issue being discussed, not the war. One could argue that I think that because I knew him, but I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think people who didn’t know him will say to themselves, “This war is so horrible that some guy in Chicago immolated himself,” but rather just, “Some guy in Chicago immolated himself.” There’s no equivalency between his death and the deaths in Iraq. There is no atonement, only more death. And as a fan of live music, as someone who used to look forward to talking with him about anything and everything, as someone who benefited from his insights – for me and those like me, there is the loss of a great individual. Whatever I or anyone else may think about his death, he led a remarkable life. I admired him. I’ll miss him. And yes, the way one corner of his mouth would start sneaking back into a smile of recognition, followed by the other corner – that’s a great memory. Secret handshake indeed.

i did not know this man-but i just read about him. this is very terrible. . . . i definitely wish he could have found a way to make the outcry against pointless death and violence he needed to without, himself, giving way to something not too dissimilar. . . . . though i admire his courage in carrying out the absolute ends of his reasoning and outrage- i am sure with such a mind as he appears to have had he might have found something to BUILD instead of REACT AGAINST. hopelessness is so thick on the landscape these days. . . . last night friends and i watched a documentary on Howard Zinn. Afterwards, we definitely felt we weren't doing enough to build an alternative world to the one we're in-- watching this film about this man who has utterly dedicated his life in a courageous, committed, and completely different way to ending war and fascism. malachai richter's death adds to my feelings of complete and utter disempowerment-- i hope when i wake tomorrow i'll have some idea of how to proceed. creating improvised, difficult, new, or different music is an act against fascism, war, and injustice. it affirms our right and human nature to create what is true to us, to create outside the system of production and commodification, and to create cultural communities on our own terms. if nothing else, malachi's terrible death reminds me of this, and that- true as all that may be- its also not enough. thank you micheal zerang for your words about the history of self imolation as a protest to war. there was a woman some years ago in the city of philadelphia who also commited self-immolation- also in protest of war. here is a website about her: http://kathychange.org/ from what i've read, the website was assembled by one of her close friends, who (together with some others) holds events every year to discuss what happened and why and what it means. certainly this man should NOT die in vain-- its easy to see from that obnoxious newspaper article that that *could* be allowed to happen. the events of these times are horrifying and disempowering and violent beyond belief. if, from his death, some more human community can be created, some discusssion wich leads to actions- anything to change these awful, awful times we're living in. . . . then we can take what some people would definitely consider a terrible loss or an act of self-directed violence and turn it to some good for all of us still here, extant, on the planet. that would be far better than atonement. . . . . i hope.

I was just e-mailed and informed of Malachi's death by a dear friend ... which brought me to this site to read comments by many acquaintances of both Malachi's and mine. I thank Peter for passing this information to us. My memories of Malachi were of a wondeful and most thoughtful guy who gave so generously of his time and support. He was one of two generous recording engineers who documented a series we had done in the late 80s. He was always willing to help in any way possible to help support and have the music heard. I am still shaking after reading the above, but I am proud and feel most blessed to have known him.

It never ceases to amaze me that there are people like this man who spend most of there lives as protesters of something. If you think about it most of them never accomplish anything. Did killing himself change anything concerning the war? No. Did he think the whole country would rise up and make the government do something about it? What a waste of a life. Although it seems he did a lot for the documenting of music, one can only imagine that with some serious mental evaluation and the proper drugs he might still be here doing just that.

A person with such an unusually intense level of passion for fighting the "good fight" would, then, normally take action, exploring what he can do (perhaps starting out with direct participation in local government), WHILE living out his natural life. Just because there is a historical pattern of political martyrdom, that doesn't make it ideal or FUNCTIONAL. Temporarily at best. Mr. Ritscher's rare level of passion in his beliefs, quite simply, turned inward and killed him... due to one form or another of mental illness. All of you evolutionists believe in science, specifically chemicals, don't you? Am I being crass? Judge with all your pretentious might. It is through a fantastic interpretation of this event, however, that one may become inspired to do something that they otherwise would not have done. One's only given life (in my opinion) is a ludicrous price to pay. The sudden loss of his life, coupled with the sorrow that his durvivors are left left, is the story here.

Although I did not know Malachi personally, he was a very familiar face at the Elastic Arts Foundation, where I have worked for nearly ten years to present free performances of underexposed, non-commercial music. Malachi was a devout supporter of experimental music and improvised jazz, having recorded and archived an estimated 2,000 performances for performers who otherwise could not afford to have their music recorded. Observing him from a distance at our shows over the years, I could not help but notice that Malachi wasn’t simply “down” with these innovative musicians, but was well-respected and deeply appreciated by them as well. Although he was not an accomplished musician himself, he was a legitimate peer of several genius musicians who treasured him. Malachi was an indefatigable “giver,” and a true original. I have great respect for his generosity and humanity. I am very saddened and hurt by his death. Although I do not and cannot ever endorse his disturbingly violent hostility toward President Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld, I cannot help but be doubly saddened by the fact that he committed this act just three days before the triumphant and heartening election results, and four days before Dr. Strangelove’s resignation. I wish Malachi had held on for 96 more hours, because the strong sense of hope that so many of us now feel just may have been enough to stave off his tragic death. The Elastic Arts Foundation (2830 North Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd Floor) will host a memorial gathering for Malachi this Sunday, November 12th, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. You are most welcome to join us, whether you knew him or not. RIP, Malachi.

I heard you, Malachi

your future is what you will choose today. As a buddhist and lover of improv jazz music and having familiarity with Malachi being "in the house" recording the music... I feel moved to take his challenge to be more AWAKE as I move forward in life. Thanks Malachi for enlightening me!

The blight of war and the light of music are such polar opposites in our world that severe convergences like this sometimes lead to a clash that echoes worldwide. Let us hope that brother Malachi's immolation was not in vain. Peace to all of the world, everyone from Fredo on down. Peace.

Without exception, you always warmed me. Thank you, Malachi, for 23 years of intermittent intersection. And now... in another form... to continue...

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post. There is no doubt that my brother was a complicated man. It's the synthesis of all of us that paints the picture of who he was, but none of us knew all sides of him. To Ritscher Woman: I too share your anger. I loved my brother, and I feel cheated that I didn't get to experience many of the truly beautiful parts of who he was. I am only now finding out about many, many things about him. We were not close, and when I read his own obituary, I was shocked to discover how little of it, I knew about him, particularly the good and fascinating parts. I wish that I had known him better, that he had shared himself more with me, and I'm also angry at myself that I didn't know how to help him. If I knew then, what I know now, perhaps I would've done some things differently, and yet I feel certain that it would not have changed anything. One thing I know for sure: he deeply loved his only son. He gave him the name Malachi because he loved the name. He also chose to take the name later because it spoke to him. According to my sister, Mark-Malachi told him that St. Malachi was the "lost prophet." I think that describes him to a T. Yes, he was conflicted about many things: that is clear from his writings. But he had many important things to say and he saw a great many things. He was, at heart, a gentle and sensitive person. He also experienced a lot of anger that he couldn't reconcile within himself. Yes, I'm sure his son in devastated. I don't blame him for all of the feelings that he must be experiencing, particularly right now, but all along. I have had many of those feelings too, as Mark-Malachi estranged himself from me for many, many years. It was hurtful and extremely painful for me. Things are only now starting to make sense. Eventually, I hope the young Malachi will forgive his father and also himself for not knowing the right thing to do....To all of you who have shared your support to the family, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We will keep your words close to our hearts and they will be a source of comfort in the days, months and years ahead. Bless you all. Peace be with you.

here is a new trope that i just stumbled upon... i think i have found something of relevance here, and further proof that malachi's actions were the result of careful thought and design. he merely overestimated his friends and people in general's ability to perceive and understand his brilliance. do you remember that movie, 'Waking Life'? It came out in 2001. Here is the website to remind you: http://www.wakinglifemovie.com/ There is a scene in this movie (which is actually real film that was rasterized over digitally as if someone had took an oil painting kit to it) where 'The Dreamer' is walking along with a man, who is, Alex Jones,(according to his Wikipedia Biography) a radical left radio talk show host in Austin, and Director/Producer of a film that came out just recently, 'TerrorStorm: A History of Government-Sponsored Terrorism.' About the only place you can find footage online of his character in the 2001 movie is on his myspace page. In the movie, 'The Dreamer' is walking along with Alex, and Alex is saying the following line (not for sure accurate here, but quoted at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243017/quotes): Alex Jones: "You can't fight city hall." "Death and taxes." "Don't talk about politics or religion." This is all the equivalent of enemy propaganda, rolling across the picket line. "Lay down, GI! Lay down, GI!". We saw it all through the 20th Century. And now on the 21st Century, it's time to stand up and realize, that we should NOT allow ourselves to be crammed into this rat maze. We should not SUBMIT to dehumanization. I don't know about you, but I'm concerned with what's happening in this world. I'm concerned with the structure. I'm concerned with the systems of control. Those that control my life, and those that seek to control it EVEN MORE! I want FREEDOM! That's what I want, and that's what YOU should want! It's up to each and every one of us to turn loose of just some of the greed, the hatred, the envy, and yes, the insecurities, because that is the central mode of control, make us feel pathetic, small, so we'll willingly give up our sovereignty, our liberty, our destiny. We have GOT to realize we're being conditioned on a mass scale. Start challenging this corporate slave state! The 21st Century's gonna be a new century! Not the century of slavery, not the century of lies and issues of no significance, of classism and statism, and all the rest of the modes of control... it's gonna be the age of humankind, standing up for something PURE and something RIGHT! What a bunch of garbage, liberal, Democratic, conservative, Republican, it's all there to control you, two sides of the same coin! Two management teams, bidding for control of the CEO job of Slavery Incorporated! The TRUTH is out there in front of you, but they lay out this buffet of LIES! I'm SICK of it, and I'M NOT GONNA TAKE A BITE OUT OF IT! DO YA GOT ME? Resistance is NOT futile, we're gonna win this thing, humankind is too good, WE'RE NOT A BUNCH OF UNDERACHIEVERS, WE'RE GONNA STAND UP, AND WE'RE GONNA BE HUMAN BEINGS! WE'RE GONNA GET FIRED UP ABOUT THE REAL THINGS, THE THINGS THAT MATTER - CREATIVITY, AND THE *DYNAMIC* *HUMAN* *SPIRIT* THAT REFUSES TO *SUBMIT*! WELL THAT'S IT, that's all I've got to say. It's in your court now. [sounds familiar, does it not? this sounds like a condensed guerilla version of his mission statement he posted at http://www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm] At the end of this monologue in 'Waking Life', Alex Jones is dousing himself with gasoline and lighting a match. The image of his burning body in the lotus position is a far to perfect replica of the pictures of the Tibetan monk's charred and burning silhouette still poised in that lotus position in Saigon to be ignored. In fact, when I was looking at the pictures that had referenced of the charred silhouette in the lotus position, I was like 'I recognize this image, but I have never seen this picture of the burned monk before!' I realized that it looked exactly like the image of Alex Jones burning in 'Waking Life.' EJ, I am so glad that you are willing to look beyond your own pain and the hurt that Malachi caused you and past the ontological decisions in he made in his life and by his death to perceive the very difficult insights he carried inside him. It seems to me that Malachi was relying on our ability to connect this to the bigger picture and get his message out.

When I came across this story, I was touched by it because it is the most powerfull statement anyone can make. I can associate myself very much with how Mr. malachi has set aside his selfishness ego and forfilled this act with courrage. I share the grief with everyone who has known Malachi in person. I wish I would have know him because to me he is like a saint. As a tribute I have written something on my blog in dutch (Belgian audience) http://useforsuccessonly.blogspot.com/ I am sure it reach readers in a very emotional way.

Thank you, Melinda. That is a stunning comparison. I hope you will be at his Memorial Concert on Sunday. I would like to meet you.

From Wikipedia: Self-immolation is the act of suicide, by fire. It is considered to be among the most powerful symbolic acts of sacrifice. It also may be a part of religious rituals (see ritual suicide). Death by fire is long and extremely painful, making it a powerful statement, a way of stating one's absolute dedication to a position or belief, such that it warrants literal self-sacrifice. There is also a possibility that the person committing suicide suffers from clinical depression or other mental illness. [edit] History Self-immolation, whilst not tolerated in anything but extraordinary circumstances by Buddhism and Hinduism, was practiced by religious or philosophical monks, especially in India, throughout the ages, for various reasons, including political protest, devotion, renouncement, etc. Certain warrior cultures also practiced it, such as in the case of Rajputs. A number of Buddhist monks, including Thích Quảng Đức in 1963, self-immolated in protest of the discriminatory treatment endured by Buddhists under the regime of the Catholic President Ngô Đình Diệm in South Vietnam — even though violence against the self is discouraged by most interpretations of Buddhist doctrine. Three Americans immolated themselves in 1965, in protest of the Vietnam War; the first was Alice Herz, an 82-year-old German immigrant who performed the act in downtown Detroit on March 16, 1965, prior to the University of Michigan Teach-in. The second was Norman Morrison, who performed the act after reading an article by a missionary about the destruction of a Vietnamese village by napalm. The third was Roger Allen LaPorte, in front of the United Nations building in New York City on November 9, 1965. At the time, he was a 22-year-old Catholic Worker Movement member. On May 10, 1970, 23-year-old George Winne Jr. immolated himself on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. He left a sign saying "In the Name of God, stop the war". On 8 September 1968, Polish lawyer and former soldier of Armia Krajowa Ryszard Siwiec burned himself during an official Communist ceremony in the main stadium of Warsaw protesting against the Warsaw Pact intervention in Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Five months later, in January 1969, Jan Palach immolated himself in Prague to protest against the recent Soviet military backlash against the reforming "Prague Spring" movement. A month later, another student, Jan Zajíc underwent self-immolation for the same reason. On 19 September 1970, the Basque nationalist Joseba Elosegui set himself alight and threw himself at the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who was presiding over a game of the world pelota championship in the Anoeta court of San Sebastián. Elosegui was arrested and Franco was not harmed. On 19 September 1970, Kostas Georgakis self-immolated in Matteotti square in Genoa, Italy, to protest the Greek military regime. Romas Kalanta self-immolated as a protest against the Soviet Union occupying Lithuania on 14 May 1972. This triggered a student uprising in Kaunas. On 22 August 1976 East German priest Oskar Brüsewitz set himself on fire in front of a church in Zeitz, near Leipzig, protesting against the oppression of the Protestant church by the East German regime. Two years later, on 17 September 1978, the priest Rolf Günther followed his example in Falkenstein, Saxony, probably for the same reasons. On April 7, 1989, the pro-Taiwan independence publisher Cheng Nan-jung self-immolated rather than submitting himself to arrest for having published a draft of the Republic of Taiwan constitution. His action was soon followed by the self-immolation of another activist during Cheng's funeral procession. In 1990, Rajiv Goswami self-immolated[1] in protest against implementation of job and University education reservations for backward castes to the extent of 27% in addition to the existing quotas of 22.5% in India, as recommended by the Mandal Commission. This sparked a series of the same by other college students and led to a formidable movement against implementing the policy. In February of 1991, University of Massachusetts Amherst student Greg Levey set himself on fire on the Amherst, Massachusetts town common in protest of the Gulf War. [2] In the 1990s several South Korean students also chose to self-immolate in the waves of mass protests against the country's then authoritarian government. On October 23, 1996, West Philadelphian activist Kathy Change self-immolated to protest "the present government and economic system and the cynicism and passivity of the people," as she said in her suicide note. MIT student Elizabeth Shin may have committed suicide in this manner. During the trial of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, one person in Sargodha self-immolated. On January 23, 2001 a group of people self-immolated in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China. The group were allegedly practitioners of the Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong; however, this is disputed by Falun Gong supporters, who claim it was a setup by the Chinese government as a part of the ongoing crackdown on the movement. In 2003 six people set themselves on fire in the Czech Republic, with four dying and two suffering severe burns. Most of the cases were in Prague. According to suicide notes the reason was depression due to the contemporary situation of the world [3]. Psychologists in the Czech Republic have warned that the frequent commemoration ceremonies for Jan Palach contributed to this phenomenon[citation needed]. On November 15, 2004, Mohamed Alanssi, a disgruntled former federal informant on terrorism set himself on fire near the White House. Secret Service officers put out the fire and Alanssi survived. [4] On May 27, 2006, two students in India set themselves on fire protesting against the Reservation (affirmative action) policies of the Government. [citation needed] On October 31, 2006, retired minister Roland Weisselberg set himself on fire [5] at a construction site in Erfurt, Germany. He died the next day. A letter written by Weisselberg indicated that he was protesting the spread of Islam, and urged Germany's Protestant Church to take the issue more seriously. On November 3, 2006, Chicago activist, music enthusiast, and sound engineer Malachi Ritscher, immolated himself alongside Chicago's Kennedy Expressway, seemingly motivated by discontent with the United States' occupation of Iraq. He published a "personal statement" and self-written obituary on his website, SavageSound.com. Next to his body was found a videotape and a small sign, on which the phrase, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" was printed.[6][7][8] A study of 22 young people who attempted self-immolation following the initial protest by Rajiv Goaswami in India found that these individuals did not have any identifiable mental disorder. They had experienced thwarted ambition and felt a sense of alienation. Ref Singh SP, Santosh PJ, Avasthi A & Kulhara P (1998) A psychosocial study of self-immolation in India. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, vol 97, p71-75

hello. on my site, bric-brac.blogspot.com, i'm compiling as much information about Malachi's passing as it becomes available. Links to tributes, statements, press, etc. I wish I could come to the tribute at Elastic this weekend, i really wish i could. I hope the family can make it, so that they can be consoled by those assembled.

This is completly ludicrous, as noble as he may say his cause was.

My friend at Ropeadope Records was kind enough to post my email to him on the homepage of the website - www.ropeadope.com. The word is spreading, as it should.

"though there are indications that he may have had other issues as well. "He had a son, from whom he was estranged (at the son's request), and two grandchildren," reads the obit." His son, Malachi Ritscher, did not request to have no contact with his father. Also, the man who took his own life is actually Mark Ritscher, who took his sons name after he was divorced by his wife due to his constant physical and mental abuse. Mark also contacted Malachi and told him that he wanted nothing to do with his son's children. This man was no saint. And I will not let him become one. I will also not let him tarnish the real Malachi Ritscher's name with this ordeal. The truth will be known.

EJ, I will be at Elastic for sure. i will ask around for you?

Anon./Ritscher Woman: understandably, anger is a form of grief, but I don't think anyone here is talking about making M. out to be a saint, a martyr, or whatever. I think everyone here is trying to be positive about this; I dont think any of us really understand it. Folks here are just hashing out the memories we've had of him, and trying to be constructive in dealing with this death. I'm sorry that you have the feelings that you do, and I'm sorry that, in life, you and your family had difficult times with M. If displays of mental illness was the alienating factor of your relationship with him, it speaks volumes for why this happened in the first place. But sadly, there's not anything we can do to change it now. I'm hoping in time you'll come to terms with the feelings you have about M. so that you can help your family to heal. I wish that, more than anything, for you.

Well, "Anon.", if you want "the truth" to be known by making such serious allegations, how about starting by using your real name. But whether or not any of your allegations have any merit, there is no single "truth" about anyone - we are all complex human beings. There are no saints, but particular words, activities, sounds, visions, etc. can be inspiring. Whether Malachi (nee Mark) was a perfect man in all of his private and public activities is not the issue. Peter blogged about him because of his indisputable importance to the local and global music scene. We are expressing our sadness and appreciation while trying to wrap our heads around the radical nature of his selfless (*not* selfish) final act of protest. Please show some consideration, and fling your mud anonymously elsewhere.

I have tried not to enter into a tit for tat with Malachi's son's wife (whom I've never met) but I was around for that part of my brother's life and it was not quite the way it was presented by Anon. Ritscher Woman. After his divorce my brother was prevented from having contact with his son and when contacted when his son came of age, he wanted no relationship-only money. My brother was deeply hurt, a pain that he carried the rest of his all too short life. Later efforts at reconciliation which I personally tried to facilitate met with no success. I am fascinated that ARW wants to make this all about his son, it is not. For everyone involved I would appreciate respect for my brother whether you agree or disagree with his thoughts, feeling or motives, he was a human being who felt the need to sacrifice himself for a greater purpose. There are disfunctional relationships in every family and this part of my brother's and his son was never reconciled nor will it ever be. Shannon, please don't let your anger consume you-you didn't know him, I don't think any of us did.

Wish you would have let us HELP you. You were not alone, but now you have left us alone only to wonder "What else could I have done to Help Him" We will miss you more than you ever thought and that is what the real Tragedy is.

I haven't seen Malachi in well over a year, but I used to see him often. I always found him to be a kind amiable fellow. He was no more odd than anyone else in the music scene. He never struck me as "mentally ill". In reflecting on Malachi I realized that the two best recordings I have from when I played music actively were done by him. Thank you Malachi. Now seems like an improper time to pass any sort of judgement on him. It was good to have known him. Malachi, I hope you have found peace.

"I heard you, Malachi" Bravo Dmitriy, beautiful and elegant. It bares repeating over and over. I heard you too Malachi.

I was the one who posted the Anon comment. I am the 4th son of Mark's ex-wife. In this matter, my only concern is my brother, Malachi. I did not know Mark, and I feel sorrow when anyone passes away.

My condolensces to all family and friends. I wish I could be at the memorial on Sunday.

If you wish to talk to me, you may do so in person if you are my friend or my family. As this is my first time writing to anyone directly, I would appreceiate my name being left from your remarks and your pointed comments. My husband and my children are the only people in this entire event that matter to me. DO NOT attempt to bring me into this fray.

Sha**** - May your family have the peace of faith in the God that works ALL things for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purpose. We love you guys.

Paul, Of all the people on this world :I know my father. How dare you presume to know anything about our relationship! Where were you during the intervening time? Did you live with and love a schizophrenic for 35 years? Did you EVER come by for dinner? Did you ever even contact me on purpose? NO! You called me once on accident. I tried once to reconcile with my father. In Feb 2003, after calling and calling, I tried a blind email to his website. He sent me a letter in reply indicating he wasn't ready. DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT? Did you even talk to your parents or sister and discuss how I had dinner with them Oct 30th 2006 and I agreed to try reconciling with Dad again? DID YOU CALL ME WHEN MY FATHER DIED? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN HE DIED IF YOU WERE SUCH A GOOD FRIEND? You have not been 'around' for any part of his adult life. You spoke to him on the phone (only in the last few years) and saw him maybe 3 times. How many times do you think he mentioned any conversations with his family to me? NONE. How many YEARS did you live with his schizophrenia? NONE. What right do you have to say anything about our relationship or attack me? NONE! In the end he was still my father and I was just giving him time to get over his anger. In my heart I am still a little boy and he is my hero. I love you father, Malachi 5 Ritscher

It's sad, of course, to read of the passing of any law-abiding human - especially under such bizarre, painful circumstances as Mr Ritscher's suicide by fire. My prayers are with him, his family and those who knew and respected him. That said, what a nutjob. Every day, military men and women are fighting and dying in Iraq and most -- I know some who have been there and met others who have returned -- believe they are doing so for the country they love and the people who make it great. They are fiercely devoted to protecting each other and proud to serve America and preserve its values. One of these values they proudly put their lives on the line for is the right of all Americans to speak out for what they believe -- no matter how contrary it might be to their own beliefs. They treasure our support on the homefront. So now, some young man trying to do his job with honor and return home to loved ones will have this mind-boggling episode to sift through. That their efforts to preserve our great nation and defend its people is so repulsive that one American would rather kill himself in a horrid fashion than lend support, or at least acknocwledge and thank them for their sacrifice. It certainly sounds like more issues were involved here and I do send my regrets to those who knew him. However, my first alliegiance is to the people whose morale and mindset may have been compromised by this act. They need to know we care, regardless of whether we agree with the cause or not.

Dear Malachi, I love you and hurt deeply for you. I am sorry for your loss. You are entitled to your feelings. Let's keep family issues, family issues, please. I would welcome the opportunity to hear directly from you. I know you have my e-mail; you have sent me photos of your children, and I wrote you after the first time. I have learned many things about your father in the last few days that I hadn't known before. It's been a healing time for me. If I can help, please write. Love, Ellen

Without checking into possible para political angles and provisionally taking this at face value, yes this should be plastered all over the MSM. Talk about taking info-war seriously. At least it ought to be sent to every newly elected official and preferably plastered onto W's tricycle or whatever the fuck he drives around in. I have no problem understanding the mind of a suicide bomber, it isn't mysterious or unfathomable, while not as pre-meditated it's the same reason people jumped out of the burning WTC.... no option. Here's a thought; did Jesus commit suicide by police, ie the Romans. He knew what was going to happen. When the Buddhist monks in Vietnam set themselves on fire it made a huge psychological impact here in the States. Of course it was widely reported. http://www.buddhistinformation.com/self_immolation.htm Quote: While Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation has received little attention from religious scholars, it has been interpreted from both a religious and political perspective. From the prevailing point of view he has been "exclusively conceptualized as a transhistorical, purely religious agent, virtually homologous with his specifically religious forebears and ancestors." Therefore, his self-immolation is seen as a "religious suicide" and is religiously justified based on Chinese Buddhist texts written between the fifth and tenth centuries C.E. On the otherhand it has been pointed out by both Thich Nhat Hnah and Russell McCutcheon that by contextualizing the event in 1963 Vietnam, the self-immolation can be seen as a "political act" aimed at calling attention to the injustices being perpetrated against the South Vietnamese people by a puppet government of Euro-American imperialism. In this context, Thich Nhat Hnah describes the act of self-immolation as follows: "The press spoke then of suicide, but in the essence, it is not. It is not even a protest. What the monks said in the letters they left before burning themselves aimed only at alarming, at moving the hearts of the oppressors, and at calling the attention of the world to the suffering endured then by the Vietnamese. To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance…. The Vietnamese monk, by burning himself, says with all his strength and determination that he can endure the greatest of sufferings to protect his people…. To express will by burning oneself, therefore, is not to commit an act of destruction but to perform an act of construction, that is, to suffer and to die for the sake of one’s people. This is not suicide." Thich Nhat Hanh goes on to explaing why Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation was not a suicide, which is contrary to Buddhist teachings: "Suicide is an act of self-destruction, having as causes the following: (1) lack of courage to live and to cope with difficulties; (2) defeat by life and loss of all hope; (3) desire for nonexistence….. The monk who burns himself has lost neither courage nor hope; nor does he desire nonexistence. On the contrary, he is very courageous and hopeful and aspires for something good in the future. He does not think that he is destroying himself; he believes in the good fruition of his act of self-sacrifice for the sake of others…. I believe with all my heart that the monks who burned themselves did not aim at the death of their oppressors but only at a change in their policy. Their enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred, and discrimination which lie within the heart of man." Quote: This famous picture was on President Kennedy's desk that day. As a result, Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation: Accelerated the spread of "engaged Buddhism" that had begun in Vietnam in the 1930’s. Led to the overthrow of the Diem regime in South Vietnam in November of 1963. Helped change public opinion against the American backed South Vietnamese government and its war against the communist supported Viet Cong. The social and political impact of Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation was far reaching. It was reported in the New York Times the next day and a copy of the fach Quang Duc in 1963 has been followed by the self-immolation of several monks and by the continued activism of the "rebellious monks of Hue" against the communist government in Vietnam over the past three decades. Would I do it? I've though of it but then I think of a lot of things. In a way, it's more elevated than gunning down someone else. I asked my father who survived concentration camps what he would have done had he had a weapon when the Gestapo came for him, with all he knows today, meaning his wife, his family, life, and ME! if he would have shot back. He said YES, which would have been suicide by police unless something terribly unlikely happened. I don't know, still thinking.

it is too simple to chalk malachi's death up to untreated mental illness OR a glorious and heroic statement. it was a twisted and quiet clearly conflicted blend of the two. he spoke of "opening doors," making changes, and of total hopelessness. he fell into the trap that too many of us are falling into-of repeating what we've all tried for too long. we see no changes and we keep on protesting with the same tools and the same catchphrases and the same speeches. his words were passionate, yes, and honorable, but were they really revolutionary? the impact of his death was important, but not because it will get his message out-i think everyone is already well aware of that message. his death is important because it signals the path we are on. it is a perfect metaphor for the inevitable conclusion that our current methods will have. he spent his life looking for action that will change things, but ended it for the same message that he spent his life preaching, without success. his message will reach those of us who are concerned with the movement. the importance of his message will be acknowledged by those of us who agree with it, but anyone else, anyone outside of our belief system will dismiss it as mental illness. the media won't pick it up, of course. it may receive momentary coverage around the area and among "us liberals," but the mainstream media will never go within a 100mile radius of it. it's not digestable enough for the media, and the fact that people seem unaware of this is shocking. the status quo will not be disrupted. his death is a wakeup call, that's for sure-but not to post his manifesto across indie messageboards (although that's certainly an appropriate response)-it's a wakeup call to find new solutions. when i learned about his death, it didn't wake me up to the need to protest harder, it woke me up to the need to protest DIFFERENTLY. this, i think, is the true power of this clearly momentous action. it's a powerful and timeless metaphor of the toppling tower, the fiery destruction of the old ways. it's not enough to simply keep doing what led malachi to see self-immolation as the only logical response. that is not a logical response. following in his footsteps will not get us anywhere. it's time for us to put our heads together and come up with a new path to salvation-one that doesn't end in hopeless self destruction.

Amen, Sarah. Amen.

This guy killed himself. The fact that he did it with fire does not make him some kind of hero. It does not make him thoughtful. It does not make him wise. It certainly does not make him right. This man committed a horrific crime in order to become a celebrity. His story will not be told by the media because it is irresponsible to encourage sick people to kill themselves. Some people will do anything to get on TV. Anything.

"This man committed a horrific crime." A crime? What? Against whom, a statue? So sue him. What about the dupes that go fight in this stinking war? Criminal? Immoral? Sue them, sue their leaders. Sarah, I'm with you, partly, because I choose a different path than Mark, but I'm not analyzing his presumed (unless you knew him) psychology, just sticking to his statement: "I am amazed how many people think they know me, even people who I have never talked with." "I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country. I will not participate in your charade - my conscience will not allow me to be a part of your crusade. There might be some who say "it's a coward's way out" - that opinion is so idiotic that it requires no response. From my point of view, I am opening a new door." "Without fear I go now to God - your future is what you will choose today." Well, that is his point of view and we have the choice to give our meaning to his action.

Remember, it is not how much you love, but how much you are loved by others that counts. Malachi loved well and was much loved by others. He cared deeply and that is why total strangers are talking and caring about his sacrifice.

I only had the pleasure of meeting Malachi once, and it was just this last summer. I don't even remember which show it was, at the Empty Bottle. He approached me after overhearing me talk about a show I was working on, and later chimed in to inform me that he'd already had it posted on Savagesound.com. I found it disarming how courteous, heartfelt, and enthusiastic he was about music in general, and I could tell that he was very intelligent, though he made no efforts to show it. He offered a few helpful contacts and we maintained regimented interaction via email after that. After reading his mission statement and obituary I can only express deep regret about how I never got to know him. It's passionate and lively. I think it's tragic that our current climate drove him to that point, but I don't condemn a person choosing their own death. I've been a proponent of it for a long time. Aside from the fact that his motivations were political, the notion that a man can set himself on fire on a major expressway and not get more than a blurb in the Sun Times is a poigniant enough statement, especially in terms of suicide, regardless of Malachi's intentions. It seems he was a raw, rare bird in a world of people with heads full of cotton and skin made of rubber, and what he did was a brilliant work of art.

Inspired by this man's actions, I am quitting my job working for the government.

Deny it as you will By reading this thread His sacrifice has impacted your life I can only hope His message will Be heard And changes will be coming Go in peace my friend I will never forget you

Every Saturday morning I would set aside the best two cinnamon rolls for him at the cafe I work at... sometimes three.

I'll add one more comment to this thread and I'll leave. You're all nutjobs. Nothing personal. In this country we have a right to be a nutjob; we have a right to be anything we want to be. And if someone tried to censor your ability to be self-absorbed notjobs, I would lay down my life for America's promise that every man is a king, or every man is a nutjob, if he so chooses. So, everyone who gathers at the beatnik coffee shops, listening to the Mammas and the Pappas, thought he was a great guy who would do anything he could for you. Mainly, this consisted of being good company for like-thinking folk who live in a country that still guarantees everyone the right to think and live as they chose, within in the laws of society. He also appears to be a selfless contributor to the Chicago jazz scene, and an integral part of it. Good for him; good for y'all. But almost everything I've read on this site parrots the same tired crap the far-left polic-sci elbow-patch-jacket prof. shit we all bought into before growing up and becoming productive members of society. Enjoy your suspended adolescence -- I almost admire it because growing up was tough, and my stint as a young, clueless idealist held unlimited possibilities, short of paying the rent on time. The man set himself on fire and burned to death; it is dumbfounding to read how many of you think his sacrifice is worthy of honor. It was a waste of life, and a gargantuan setback to the cause of those who want an immediate end to the war -- regardless of the destruction and religious fascism the Iraqi public will face in our absense. Grownups, i.e., those capable of making such decisions, do not share your martyrdom of a man who set himself on fire as validation to end the conflict. It's not something that will make it past the House, much less the Senate and the White House. One person spoke with true feelings and heartfelt conviction on this webfeed. That was this guy's son. He's angry, frustrated, greiving, distraught, emotionally overwhelmed. Because I think his Dad was a narscassit ego-maniac who found it easier to talk jazz and radical politics with you than spend time with his son. It's about responsibility. He was all too happy to be part of some theoretical movement that made for good indignant rants against The Man with like-minded individuals. But he couldn't face the tangible, every-day realities of family, particularly his son. That's a lifetime of dodging the real for the theoretical. Again, my thoughts go out to all who are saddened by his loss -- however, some of you seem so inspired by it that you appear glad it happened. Mostly, my thoughts are with his son. I wish him peace. In fact, I wish everybody peace. Him and his family come first, though.

I knew Malachi (or should I say Mark) casually for the last ten years. We began by talking at improv shows about music and eventually art, travel, food, philosophy and spirituality. He was always welcoming and thoughtful. I feel like we had become closer friends in the last couple of years. He came to the last two Mardi Gras parties I had and seemed to have a good time. I know he loved New Orleans. I remember bumping into him several times in Lincoln Square on Sunday mornings. I was heading off to teach a yoga class and he was on his way to Cafe Selmarie's bakery to get some of their almost perfect cinamon rolls (see photos in his website). I'm so sad to have lost him as friend, still trying to wrap my head around all this. One thing I've learned from this, don't let a relationship stay so casual for so long. Let all of us make the effort to reach out to people in our lives who make a difference. Invite them over for dinner, meet them for coffee or a drink. Go for a walk or a bike ride together. Talk. Get to know each other better. Connect. We may not have another chance. Om Shanti. Peace.

whatever wrote: "I wish him peace. In fact, I wish everybody peace." Wow... your statements certainly act in the opposite of "peace". You belittle those that you disagree with and simplify an obviously complicated situation in order to organize it within your limited view of the world which obviously has little room for the "nutjobs" that you speak ill of in one sentence and pay lip service to in the next. Frankly, you sound like a drone from Fox News and it is truly disgusting in this context. These people truly want peace, while you seek to stir up war. Why?!

The suicide note confirms my initial assumptions - an act of self-righteousness and self-pity. All we have left is a wasted smores moment...

I agree with bryan. Please refrain from hurtful comments here. I have chosen to post here because of all of the supportive, compassionate and insightful people who cared about Malachi, need to grieve and remember, and want to understand. We need not judge him, even if we disagreed with his opinions or actions. None of us walked in Malachi/Mark's shoes. As he said himself, no one really knew him, even those who thought they did. Please, let's be kind and gentle with each other at this sensitive time. Peace to all. Ellen

Whatever, typical passive aggressive. It usually starts out with "I will defend to the death your right to speak out" but ends with slander. Have you ever heard of a hunger strike? Oh I'm sure it's only "Libruls" and adolescents who do those, yeah, because they don't want to grow up. Right, like those adolescent Guantanamo detainees who went on hunger strike. How about this for adolescent behavior; signing up with the military to go fight for our 'freedom" Think Tillman. Shall I too say "it is dumbfounding to read how many of you think his sacrifice is worthy of honor"? Well it is because he thought he was doing the right thing, regrettably this has proven to be wrong. That is not the case with Mark.

One has to wonder about the motives and reasoning of individuals who use a forum like this one, in a situation like this one, to anonymously post blatantly negative, inflammatory, judgemental and hurtful comments while people are mourning the death of a human being. Please folks, don't breathe more life into these posts than they deserve by responding directly to them. I wish I were in Chicago so I could attend the memorial gathering tomorrow evening. My thoughts will be with all those who do. My thoughts continue to be with everyone who is grieving the death of this man.

Last time, I promise. The guy called me a Fox puppet, or something like that. I don't watch Fox, and the O'Reilly dude is a horse's ass. I'm an independent, not a GOP or a Dem. This peaceful man apologized for not killing Rumsefeld when he had the chance. Rumsfeld is gone; his administration has made a worse situation of a war that probably shouldn't have taken place to begin with. He didn't listen to his generals. He didn't listen to anybody because of his far-right arrogance. The far right and the extreme left have created a divide where there is no middle ground for progress or compromise; or the consideration other people's views. This site was posted on AOL so I thought it was an open forum. I'll leave y'all alone. Mourn your friend and remember the things he obviously did to make him such a trusted and valuable friend to you all. Peace -- Larry.

My condolences to Mr. Ritscher's friends and family. Although I never knew him, I appreciate the valuable work he did in documenting the avant-jazz scene in Chicago - as I mentioned on my radio show last night, it's easy to pick up a Ken Vandermark album that credits Malachi Ritscher as engineer. His passing leaves quite a void. Peace and love.

What kind, what caring and progressive people you all are! Mr. Arvo tells us that someone being burned alive is a work of art This entire thread demonstrates one thing only; there is nothing worse, nobody more callously selfish than old hippies.

On the contrary, there is nothing worse, nobody more callously selfish than those who pass judgment on those they know nothing about.

Today I write from far Seattle to somehow try to express my heartfelt pain, sympathies, and respects for the man and friend I always knew as Malachi, and for his entire family, wherever they are and whatever they are feeling. I can scarcely imagine what it must be like to walk in the shoes of his family in these difficult days. You deserve our respect and compassion, and I am angered some here have chosen to display anything but that toward you. Ironically, it seems to exemplify the very spiritual crisis that Malachi invoked in what he called his final Mission Statement. I do not speak for those people but, nevertheless, on their behalf I apologize to you all -- brothers, sisters, ex-wife, and offspring -- for such manifestly inexcuseable treatment. You deserve far better in your pain and grief, no matter what form that might take. Like everyone posting here, it seems, I too have been struggling mightily to come to grips with his death, what it was that led him to such an incredible decision, and what it might really mean. Every day since I learned of his death late last Monday night, I've struggled to understand and articulate my feelings about it, with no real success. Right now, all I really know is that I feel profoundly conflicted about it, and the whole thing is the very antithesis of simple...not to say that anyone's death by their own hand, for whatever reasons, ever is. If my words fail me here, I hope you (and he) will forgive me. I, too, am finding my way in territory I never imagined I would ever see. I knew him as a good friend, albeit not a Close one. I met him nearly 20 years ago, when he was a regular at Club Lower Links. Our mutual love for music and art that challenged preconceptions and expanded possibilities became the basis for our friendship. We were fellow travellers, comrade explorers, and shared a devotion to finding a new and better way, whether artistic, cultural, political, or personal. I make no pretense that I or we were any more noble for it -- I only know that this is what meant the most to me and, I believe, to Malachi as well. History and personal experience teaches me that such souls are almost always directly informed by a sense of profound alienation and, significantly, a overwhelming desire to heal that wound, for themselves and for the world we all share. Like any other soul, they are imperfect. And thus, their actions. Whatever the source, these are consummately lonely pursuits, and in such all friends are precious indeed. When one is lost to death or some other circumstance, it is felt at one's very core. That lonely place is made only more bereft. Not only for our loss, but for theirs. It is as if Evil has won. The Malachi I knew was a complicated person. And so while his death has shocked me it comes as little surprise that it, too, would be complicated. I knew him to be brilliant, perceptive, by turns deeply sensitive and extremely guarded (a common paradox borne of self-preservation), talented, witty, intensely curious about the world, sometimes very dark and other times remarkably puckish, and -- clearly -- deeply committed to his principles. While his self-penned obituary belittled his musical talent, I am pleased to have once induced him to share the stage with me and my then-band, as one of several didjeridu players...all the more fitting now, as the dijeridu is a gateway to Dreamtime. I have had the great honor and privilege to know a number of such people in my life, and even to count some of them as friends. Being a friend to such people is never easy or simple; loving them is only infinitely moreso. It is by turns a revelation and the most vexing thing imaginable. Almost without exception, my experience is that it is this sort of person who cries out most, implicitly or loudly, for compassion and some sort of understanding and acceptance. I am also taught that all too often, rightly or wrongly, they feel it is not forthcoming or just plain insufficient. Malchi is not the first such Friend Soul I've lost to death, though he is the first I've lost like this. I pray he is the last. How can any of us living here outside of their minds ever hope to understand the full truth of that? As decent human beings who profess to love our neighbor, we can only try that much harder to achieve that most difficult of marks. This, I believe, is the very nucleus of all great spiritual teachings, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, or shamanic. Vocabulary, schmocabulary...it all boils down to the same. Love, and be a good person, as best as you possibly can. I also believe that this precept is what Malachi, ultimately and with every fiber of his being, hoped to instill in us through his death. Did he chose a shitty way to teach us this? Well...it's hard to argue not, though I well understand and acknowledge the political precedent and spiritual intent. Was this the only factor at play in his decision? Again...given his own parting words to us, it's difficult at best to argue a categorical No. But does all that ipso facto mean his parting message to us was some "adolescent" lie, or his passion for justice disingenuous, or his pain at feeling his fellow and sister humanity suffer so beneath the noxious weight of injustice and folly and abject stupidity, or that any of those are not Real? Does any of this mean that the war against Iraq or the actions -- war-wise or otherwise -- of the current administration smack any less of hypocrisy, criminalism, cronyism, stupidity, arrogance, or as an abject betrayal of the very Christian teachings they profess to extoll? You may disagree, but I would say no once more. I say this as neither Republican or Democrat, or even Independent. I say this as a feeling dweller in this world. It grieves me even deeper still to see the deep wounds of his surviving family displayed here before us. I pass no judgement here, and it is profoundly wrong for any of us not personally part of that obviously complicated family history to do so. I merely offer these following remarks, if you might all forgive my temerity. To his brother Peter Ritscher, when I read your words "I am proud of him; very, very sad, but very, very proud" -- I burst into tears as I sat at my desk at work. To his son Malachi, when I read your words some moments later, I burst into tears again. Although from what little I can gather here the particulars were different and much less traumatic, I too was estranged from my own father for many years -- indeed, from early childhood. In my case, my father and I were finally able to make peace, something that was profoundly healing for both of us. In your case, you were cheated of this. You lost your father not just twice but irrevocably. I do not know you or your life, and you have no reason or obligation to give my words one whit of consideration. All I know is that as I struggle now to write these words I suddenly find myself weeping -- not crying, but weeping uncontrollably -- for the first time since I learned of your father's death a week ago. No son who has not felt the loss of their father, in life or death, can even begin to understand the chasm it leaves. Even a one-time wife or girlfriend may mourn or rail, but whatever their wounds and however justified their pain, they are of an entirely lesser realm. That is not right or wrong, it simply Is. As I am the first to acknowledge, I am not you. But in my own case, achieving a deeper understanding of my own father's spiritual struggles and familial traumas long predating my birth helped provide my own gateway to deeper understanding and ultimately -- no, miraculously -- compassion, and eventually, acceptance and peace. It is my deepest hope for you that someday you might find some similar understanding, with full recognition and respect that it in no way lessens the justice of your own pain and depth of your loss. If I may truly risk your understandble wrath, please may I offer to you the hugely presumptuous counsel that both "sides" are right and wrong at the same time. Call it Schrodinger's wound. Call it Rashoman. Call it whatever you like. But for the sake of yourself and your own children, try. Try mightily, and be true no matter the cost. Most humbly I say this. Only through compassion and understanding will this world become a better place. This, I believe, is what my friend born as Mark David Ritscher -- by any name and however pained -- would wish for us all. How...HOW...could that be wrong? For this is the greatest teaching of all. I have more to say, but no words to say it with. Today, I only wish the wide and private worlds were not such that led my old friend to burn himself to death, whether for principle, because of inner pain, or -- as I currently believe to be the case -- some mixture of the two. To the friend I always knew as Malachi, I am so very, very sorry we all failed you so. You, too, deserved far better. "There is no fire like greed, No crime like hatred, No sorrow like separation, No sickness like hunger of heart, And no joy like freedom." -- from the Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byrom.

Melinda, re the film "Waking Life" While Alex Jones is in the film it is not he who sets himself alight. Also he is not a radical leftist.

I think I'm all cried out; then another one of Malachi's friends or aquaintances shares a little part of how he touched their lives. Thank you Spencer and everyone who has shared their memories here. My family is trying to understand, to accept what has happened and I for one have had emotions I never knew I was capable of. Please let people know about his sacrifice, I am convinced that is what he wanted. He wanted to change the world, let's help him. And his wry little smile - I could hear it over the telephone, what a wonderful guy.

Bush made a comment "As long as we have Marines like Cpl. Dunham, America will never fear for her liberty" I would like to add, "As long as we have ordinary citizens like Malachi, America will never have to fear for her liberty." As sad and tragic as this is, i thank him for taking a stand.

His action was both sad & wrong. Pity.

I knew Malachi/Mark from occasional encounters on the Chicago music scene. I have a couple vivid memories to share. -He shared some toe curling, literally, apple pie with me at a show. Now that I know how he felt about cinnamon-based pastries, it seems even more generous. He insisted we go back to where he got it to get more ice cream, because that was very important. -I also have a strong impression from a concert at the Cultural Center. It was in the middle of a large gallery and I clearly remember the way he breezed in and sat down next to me on the floor. At that moment, he embodied a youthful fresh energy and enthusiasm that inspired me; his black Converse sneakers are also clearly present in that memory. -There was also a Valentine's Day when it was basically him and me and a few others at a show at the Bottle. He was writing something during part of the set and later handed me a small slip of paper with approx. 1000 tiny digits worth of pi. I think he was puffing his feathers a bit (I am female) and, yes, I was impressed. Definitely the best valentine I've ever gotten. I received news of his death early this Friday AM (one week later). I was on my way to a job in the basement of a University library where I sit essentially alone in complete silence for 5 hours. When I surfaced that afternoon, I walked out the door into an afternoon that was as dark as it was at dawn when I went in. There was a torrential downpour and the streets were flooding. I imagined that all my heartache from the morning had brought about my one true wish...the kind of cold hard steady lovely rain that may have foiled or delayed his awful plans. At least until I was ready. (We'd have had him around for a while.) I am in the process of being changed by his actions and the conflicted grief in my heart. I respect his wishes, but MY selfish wish is that he would still be seeking peace and transformation here with us in this messy place, sharing pie and pursuing music...being his fascinating complicated self.

Something keeps me coming back here. This time I was inspired to contribute after reading the hearfelt, emotionally gripping words of Spencer. Your contribution was brilliant -- an honest, even-handed eulogy for someone whose life as a troubled artist (a lot of them were: Guagin, Pollack, Charlie Parker, etc.)was summed up with a clarity of perception I have yet to see here. You spoke to his friends, his detractors. And you reached out to his family and clearly conveyed your sympathies to them -- the ones who certainly deserve it most. Your admiration for him was expressed so as to make it obvious that his passing and the loss of his companionship left a hole in your life now filled by the tears that flowed as you composed it. A couple of folks here suggested I was passive-aggressive (I've dated/married enough women like that, and have dealt with too many bosses who pursue the same tactic, thank you); or that I was ingenuious for stating my contrasting opinion on this whole thing while at the same time acknowleding your birthright, as an individual, to think otherwise. I stand by what I said, as I am so entitled. Accordingly, I recognize (though it's a rule of law that neither requires nor solicits my approval) that it is self evident that each individual inherently posseses the same rihgt of personal conviction. Maybe I'm sort of like Chris Christopherson's Profit, "partly truth and partly fiction... a walking contradiction." Anyway, Spencel managed to post a stirring tribute to his friend, Malaki/Mark, while at once eloquently addressing the conflicting emotions that hay have led Malaki/Mark to make such a harrowing, bewildering, self-destructive political statement, one that left family members to grieve on without the chance for reconciliation or closure. Thanks, Spencel, for at least putting reasoned, eloquent context to an act I don't believe I can ever accept as valid or meaningful. You captured his essence: a man strongly committed to his beliefs, yet flawed, as we all are. I'm not a war-monger, despite what some have suggested: I have friends over there and friends who have returned. I want my friends and all of our service men and women home safe; surely this also is their utmost desire. But their unwavering sense of duty and honor is such that they find it unthinkable to simply pull out and abandon the Iraqi people to a far more horrendous and oppressive state of violent anarchy that surely will reign in our absense (until order is restored). They didn't ask for this; but they know their job and they want to see it finished. Say a prayer for Malaki tonight. I did, regardless of my opinion. But please, folks, say a prayer also for the servicemen and women who committed themselves to protecting our way of life -- Malaki's included. Thanks, Spencer, for putting this whole tragic, incomprehensible debate in rational context for me. Peace -- Larry.

As I finish my morning coffee and read the last of this incredible giving of thoughts and condolences, I find myself deeply moved yet conflicted about Malachi's story. Intersections are underrated and often overlooked—whether they be happy, sad, tragic, complex or misunderstood. Their import is in whether they choose to be recognized, heard, discussed and, ultimately, comprehended. I certainly do not fully comprehend Malachi's fate, but I do believe this: Malachi's penultimate wish was dialogue, which so many of you have already begun. Whether Malachi was mentally conflicted is not the point, but rather, to hear what his heart had to say. I heard it, and I wish for this discussion to continue to evolve into something Malachi's heart would embrace. The sun is shining today. I promise to devote time to Malachi's story while I go for a run. I promise to call my family today and tell them how much I care for them. I promise never to lose hope. I am a small presence in a very large, dominating world, and I promise to take more concrete steps to make my voice heard. From very deep in my soul, my thoughts are with all of you whose lives intersected with his.

I just want post here to give my deepest condolences to Malachi's family and friends. I will miss him very very much. The emotions expressed here and the ones I am feeling about this are very intense- I'm afraid I don't have the capacity or understanding to really express myself about his death. All I know is many many people will miss him dearly.

I'd like to offer a few words in support and appreciation (as in "I appreciate his action") of Malachi's decision. I'd also like to say here, unequivocally, that while extreme, I feel his action had power and value, was essentially positive (given the insane context of violence we're working under) and was a well considered choice and as legitimate as any other. a far greater contribution, in my view, than the "work/shop/watch the game/LARGE BREASTS/driving my car=freedom/violence is entertaining and effective" obscenity that is promoted as a normal, reasonable approach to life in our culture. various people, from Ritscher family members to total strangers have expressed opinions questioning, belittling or denying the value, sanity, legitimacy or power of Malachi's action. they've described it as mental illness, selfishness, a futile gesture. One writer suggests that it would have been more productive to go vote. A number of other writers have pointed out that we're all entitled to our own opinions.... which I also happen to believe. So while, in my view, Malachi's action was a perfectly sane response to a perfectly insane society... and to being forced to finance, participate in or acquiesce to the barbaric rituals of violence and domination that it revels in; while sefishness... or better self-centeredness... seems the only possible starting place for determining how one will responsibly interact with and express to the creation/reality we inhabit; while I find considerable spiritual power in Malachi's action including, but not limited to, the effect it has of focussing, deepening and strengthening the determination of some of us who have become aware of it; and while, finally, I, like many others, have concluded after much careful deliberation that voting is a total waste of time... a charade designed to let off steam by giving people the impression that something's changing when, in fact, things are very much remaining the same; well, those are just my opinions and I am comfortable with them without needing to disparage those who hold other views. One thing I can say about the above mentioned writers however is this: they just don't get it. Malachi's communication is lost to them, or gibberish or unacceptable, because,(IMO), they are just not inhabiting the same universe as Malachi and some of the rest of us. This is not surprising or mysterious. To those of us on Malachi's side of the fence it's the most common daily experience.... that there is something so vividly clear and obvious to us while being completely incomprehensible (not even on the map!) to a sizable group of our fellow earthlings. Let me say from Malachi's universe that sharing a reality with you guys is very taxing to such as us! Michael Zerang gets it. thoroughly. The buddhist monks? absolutely. many other writers here clearly understand. And I understand. Malachi, I get it. The situation is urgent, and no act is too extreme in response to that which is intolerable- responding to the miraculous gift with violence and greed, turning the sacred into obscenity (while spouting piety all the way!). I never met Malachi, but I know him very well. Reading his last statements, he could have been me. about the right age, similiar spiritual/social/political orientation, a mix of alienation and a passion and concern for the raw energy that humans possess and express, a deep concern with the meaning and responsibility of being human, a desire to share something of value (the music... or the raw creativity under it) with others. I've also considered self immolation as a last resort. If I ever found myself unable to come up with a way to make a contribution to the evolutionary process from within this life, it seems worth considering as a posible course. (the buddhist guys obviously thought so. also notice that, unlike all U.S. policy since George Wahington, it dosn't involve burning some OTHER guy up. In that way it is the ultimate genteel response to endless institutional violence). Of course such things would be unnecesary if our collective reality had love, respect, sacredness and a deep appreciation for the miracle that we are (and inhabit) as its highest values. But, endless deceitful rhetoric notwithstanding, it does not. Those of us on this side of reality can identify each other easily and quickly. Sometimes it takes only seconds to confirm that someone you've just met shares this consciousness. Often then there is a bond, and a recognition of commonality, and a relative comfortableness. Because we both get it. Malachi, unknown to me yet still known, let others, relative or stranger, say what they will. I prefer to offer you respect and gratitude for your obviously thoughtful (if controversial) decision. I attest to the power of your action by saying that, like others who have written here, you have touched me deeply. I will not forget. I will not ever forget. Even though I never met you, I get the message. No time to waste. No time for inhibition in response to a completely unacceptable horror. (Our approach to each other hasn't changed since Attila the Hun: intmidate and dominate through violence!) Like others who have written here, I will redouble my efforts. Like others who have written here, you will have a place in my heart from here on out. thank you, and please accept my prayer that you are now in a state of peace, having done what you carefully concluded to be the strongest thing you could find to do.

Malachi- my comments above are sincere, but that's not to deny that I wish you were still with us. we might have liked each other had we ever met. peace growth love and evolution to all who wish them everywhere

Attempting Zen War wipes out another thousand, tearing humans limb from limb while I sit and try zazen I never sleep anymore I smell burnt flesh, my eyes sting and startle response is like a knife cutting through my routine I remember those monks on fire how still, how serene until one last wisp of green fire drifted and was gone

To understand Malachi's actions, one is required to go deep, learn more, listen without passing judgment, and wake up. Those who won't take the time to do those things won't get it. I get it Malachi. I hear you, loud and clear. Bless you for your most precious sacrifice.

I think that we owe it to malachi to follow thru in the meaning that he intended. Maybe others see this as meaningless, but look! so many people are thinking and feeling and contemplating where maybe they were slumbering before. It certainly woke me up. It was a beautiful sacrifice, and I'm proud of his courage. I am also deeply saddened by all of this, and my heart goes out to all those suffering over the loss of this beautiful man. Let's try to do right by his memory.

I didn't know the man, but I do know and respect someone who knew him well over twenty years ago. Because of the impact of his death on her I read the previous postings in this space. He was obviously a special person with a complicated life and an elegant political philosophy. Those who knew him write brilliantly of his impact on them in life and in death. I rarely read the local papers, but I did see the initial article of his death and thought it the act of a mentally challenged person. Our challenge is to recognize that the press often wants us to dismiss significant meaningful action as insanity, when, in fact, it is something quite different. I hope that the train of discussion reflected in these postings continues not only through the end of this war, but also through the beginnings of a true series of insights created by the death of a thoughtful man. My sympathies are also with his family. Spencer's comments are particularly moving regarding the impact of fathers present and absent in the lives of their children.

This modern daisy chain of your life and death again figure-eights me here. Link after link opened questions, articles, questions, spewings, portraits, accusations, graspings, condolences, stories. But to this room we keep returning : A holiday family gathering where we drink, bate, silence, slash, dodge, measure, cry, scream, undress, imagine, sit, run. And we return. Thanksgiving comes around too soon to those estranged from sleep. At the Big Table we find ourselves Knives in hand minds racing hungry yet Wondering where to begin.

Dear Disowned (Malachi Ritscher), Although I met your aunts and uncles and grandparents at the memorial last night, and sympathized deeply with all they were feeling, I sympathize even more with you. I know it must feel that so many are against you, and that they have no idea what you have been through or are going through now (not even your own family). As Mark's son, you've a right to feel anything that you are feeling and then some. Do not doubt your emotions. Only do not make presumptions about them that prevent you from finding your truth in the situation, from digging into what this all means to you. It's a time to question all that you have known, and to be honest with the answers. Our parents affect us more than anyone else. If we feel that our father has left us, we feel abandoned, and it affects us for our whole lives in ways that we may never understand unless we are willing to observe ourselves and willing to accept what is honestly there, break down walls, understand that many presumptions that we have based our perspectives on are really half-truths that have prevented us from knowing and understanding ourselves as well as the people close to us, surrounding ourselves with the people that refuse to put up with our bullshit, to face those difficult truths about ourselves, realize that victimization in our personal lives is often an illusion that we place ourselves in subconsciously. It is difficult to explain, malachi, but you and your father have inspired me to do this within myself--something I have needed to do my entire life. I know how hurt you must be by this and feel that no one is on your side here. It is not that I am claiming to know or understand what it is that happened or what it is that you need to do. None of us have a right to judge what has happened in your family or between you and your father and how you feel about that. Do not let anyone tell you that you are not entitled to your own reaction. Because of my own father issues, my tears are for you more than anyone else. It is not only because of how I have been inspired, but also the personal empathy that I feel, that I hope for your healing, your understanding and peace with your father's family as well as with your father. Be patient with yourself. Whatever you do to cope, do not blame yourself. You are not responsible for the larger picture and the things that made your father the complicated, difficult, and even hurtful (?) visionary who your father was. Be patient with your process, your anger, your frustration, and your confusion and hurt. Don't be afraid to let them come, and to let them be your teachers. Only keep moving forward, and remember that you owe it to yourself more than anyone else to understand who you are and what it is that you ultimately want for. my eternal sympathies and hopes for healing for you, malachi, melinda artistvs.artisan@yahoo.com

Malachi will be missed...was always there to record Vandermark. He was always quite supportive and willing to listen. Even though I had long left the scene for other musical endeavors he would never snub me and always took time to converse. I had been driving to my job that Friday morning about 7:15 and wondered what the Fire Dept. was doing by the Flame. I had thought they were perhaps honoring their fallen. And here it was one of Ours.

I worked with Malachi at the University of Chicago since he started here in 2003.We were in the shop talking on Oct.26th, and out of the blue Malachi told us he had purchased a grave at Calvary Cemetery and went there to lay down on the plot as he said "to check out how it felt,and to see if he liked its location." To us this was Malachi, he was always taking pictures in Cemeterys no matter where he was he would find one.I would like to ask His family if they plan to make this his final resting place? Also His wish was to have " I Dreamt that I was Dreaming" on His Marker.It was something He would say whenever He good use it to explain a feeling he had. I will do my best to see that His request is followed and give any help necessary. This would give us a place to visit and reflect.We will always remember Him.I will always remember that faint smile, what has been referred to as the secret-handshake Our sympathies to all His Family and Friends.

Hello friends of Malachi, The website is up and running! iheardyoumalachi.org It's still rough but will work for now. If you have web developing skills and would be willing to lend a hand, we could use you. E-mail me at jenn@iheardyoumalachi.org. Also, please, anybody feel free to e-mail me with content you would like to see up there. For those of you who couldn't be at the gathering last night, we are organizing a rally for this Saturday, November 18th at 1 p.m. If you disagree with columnist Richard Roeper's comment that Malachi's act was a "futile gesture" that will never change anyone's mind about war, or if you want to tell our news outlets to stop censoring, please join us on Saturday. The meeting location will be posted here and on the website (the "do something" page) by Wednesday night. Meanwhile, would you please send me your contact info so that it's easier to get in touch with all of you? Send your name and phone number via e-mail (the one you most often check) to jenn@iheardyoumalachi.org. If we stand by and do nothing, Malachi's act *could* be futile - nobody's mind can be changed if they haven't even heard about it! Come on Saturday. -Jenn

I am compelled to explain myself by my uncle’s slander (libel?). My mother left me with dad in the divorce because he convinced her that he would kill her and me otherwise. 3 years later he left for Chicago leaving me behind with mom. Mom paid for me to visit him every summer and I spoke to him at least once a week on the phone until I was 18. From the ages of 19-24 (about) we spoke on the phone at least once a week and went on a road trip together. Dad never paid child support or was finically responsible for me with the exception of paying half of 1 year of public college (he promised for support until I had a degree)and once paying a $1500 bill for me. This was the issue we fought once about. I always had rationalized that he didn't provide for me before because he was poor. When I called him in a panic because I had gotten in finical trouble again, he blew me off. I was crushed, as I knew he had just bought a second didgeridoo in the recent past. He promised me the world! He told me everything he had was mine! He told me if I killed someone he would protect me from the police or anyone else! He told me I was what gave his life meaning! I didn't speak to him for awhile after the fight as he had taught me that was an acceptable form of conflict resolution. I tried to reconcile with him, to no avail. My family lied to me and I didn't find out he had disowned me until I was halfway to Chicago. And then I found out that that the family was going to stand by dad disowning me. I stood by him through 3 failed relationships, pulled him off women he was beating, and told him how lucky I was to have a dad as wonderful as him. I have never discussed the violence, depression, or anything else about my life with dad with his family because I barely knew them. Not to fault them at all but dad didn’t have extensive contact with them for the majority of my life. His comment in his obituary was one final attack. I didn’t request him out of my life or to be disowned. Suicide is not the answer, and he had been trying to rationalize a reason for awhile. But please acknowledge that he still believed passionately against war, whatever the reason. Suicide is not the answer.

With an action like this, there is no one truth, no one answer, no single correct way to understand or explain what happened. It has many truths, some amazing, some sad, some tragic. Each of these truths has at least some validity. Each is entitled to respect. And that is especially so for the truths (all of them) seen by Malachi's family. I didn't know Malachi personally, but it seems that, in death, he left a legacy which reflected the complexity, contradictions and brilliance of his life. He was a human being. We're like that. We can be brilliant. We can be ruthless. We can be giving. We can be selfish. We can be loving. We can be mean. And we can be all those things at the same time when we want to. No-one has a monopoly on the truth of Malachi Ritscher's life and death. A person like Malachi has many, many dimensions, all of them true, all of them valid, all of them human.

To Jenn-- The Web-site is not up and running. What's your e-mail?? there is no way to contact you using that one!

My Heart goes out to you young man.In my Family there has been problems as well.I hope these events will make you stronger always remember the old saying. "You can pick your friends but you can't pick your relatives."Hang in there, are thoughts and prayers are with you.

I came across the story by chance while car shopping on-line(ironically - our car/oil obsession is the ultimate reason for his death, isn't it?) and am profoundly sad that it did not make the national news. It seems to me that he was trying to make a statement against the war and influence the elections, and the corporate-controlled media didn't want to let him do either. I hope that this story will ultimately receive national attention, perhaps in a documentary of all the ways people have tried to stop the war. He seems like he was a very decent, caring, intelligent, unassuming person who dissented from the mainstream on so many levels in the way he lived. I would also like to comment that people who are suicidal do not set themselves on fire by the side of the highway. They take pills or shoot themselves at home, to die as quickly and painlessly as possible. By choosing such a horrible, painful death, and by filming his own immolation, he was obviously trying to make a very graphic statement against the war. Since it's impossible to be heard in the US unless you are a celebrity or very wealthy, he was trying to bring attention to the issue and influence the war and the elections the only way he could, with his life, by copying a famous episode from the Vietnam war. I hope that he will always be remembered. Perhaps we should start one of those roadside memorials that mark the site of auto accident deaths with crosses, flowers, cards, etc.

Like so many here, I've been trying to wrap my head around all this since last week; while it feels foolish to post at this late date, I'd just like to meekly chime in that my love goes out to all of you in Chicago, and i can only hope that SOME healing can be gleaned from the ordeal. I doubt I have much to add that hasn't already been said more eloquently, but I suppose I'm one of those self-absorbed arrested-development elbow patch wearers and i need to vent for my own selfish sake. I am (apparently) one of the legion of "acquaintances" who didn't really know him. But he's an integral cog in the Chicago music scene I cherish and sorely miss (having moved to SF three years ago). I always enjoyed his company, and I'm deeply indebted to his outrageous generosity, rabid ears and attention to detail (he mastered the hell out of a few of my records, and recorded countless performances). It was disorienting enough not seeing him around and talking to him at the shows on a recent return visit... I'm unwilling to play the "political or crazy" game; I really don't see them as mutually exclusive. I hope we can honor the integrity, the passion, the freakish audacity of his act (thank you MZ!) while railing against the waste and betrayal. What chills me is the permeability of mental health and illness; as sarah addressed in such ringing words above (11/10) there's a paralyzing cognitive dissonance so many of us feel that's inescapably at the core of life as an American, as a First Worlder "benefitting" directly from blood shed in our names regardless of our convictions, good intentions, voting patterns. I'll confess to feeling this weight every single day, in my scrabbling attempts to mitigate the impact and make some feeble Good in its stead. From that perspective, I know there's a part of me that recognizes Malachi/Mark's (I only knew him as Malachi, but in deference to his embattled, cheated son...) decision as, yes, a logical conclusion to an unflinchingly principled argument. Not sane, maybe teetering on faulty premises, but somehow... CORRECT and frightfully compelling. It is wrong that this war be fought to maintain the status quo of my life as an American; I cannot cease to live as an American; therefore, I must cease to live. Q.E.D. Malachi, thank you/damn you/how dare you for coming to that conclusion. To his family: please know that those of us who knew (to whatever imperfect degree) and loved him within the "scene" will continue to value his contributions to our lives without in ANY way denying or belittling the agony and havoc he apparently wreaked within yours. For whatever it's worth, while I haven't lived with a schizophrenic for 35 years, I did experience the spiraling descent and suicide of a dear friend who was a genius and an artist and a card-carrying manic depressive, who was gentle and brilliant and fucked up, wounded and hurt and hurtful, so very right and so absolutely wrong both on and off medication. No hope, no need for reductive explanations or clinical labels. I still miss and love and thank him; I'm still furious with him and forgive him and will likely always continue in kind. I can't even begin to fathom what it would be like to have such a man as brother, father, ex-husband... I doubt it's much comfort to have strangers who know very little of the "whole" story eulogizing a man who was brilliant and beautiful AND sick, but I humbly hope that it is. peace.

I wish I could have been at the memorial last night. I have no doubt that it was special. I didn't know Malachi well, but talked to him many times over the last ten or so years. He always seemed to have a new piece of gear he was trying out. I saw him at Hottie Biscottie last year fiddling with a new digital recorder that wasn't working very well. I talked to him about the music that night, and he said if any of it turned out he would send me a copy. It couldn't have been more than a few days before it arrived. I remember the Atomic show at the Green Mill a couple years ago and I still have to chuckle. I sat next to the stage at a table that had two small mics about the size of a pen resting on a rolled up piece of shrink wrap, they were pointed at the stage and plugged into a small device that looked like a PDA. About 30 seconds before the band started he came over and quietly said "don't tap the table". I always looked for him, because he was so cool when he was recording. I was suprised the night the Velvet Lounge reopened, because he came over between sets and talked the whole time. He told me he had just logged number 1624 or something like that, and was telling me some of the stuff he had which included some Hal Russell stuff. He deffinatly was one of a kind, and I loved for that. It will never seem the same without him, and I know I will always look around for him at shows.

To Malachi son of Mark: Your late dad (forgive me)truly sounds like an asshole. Reading these posts reminded me to give my child more than one call per week. I would never want my kid to have as much of a grievance against me as you have against your dad. He may not understand the nature of the divorce and might not ever forgive me, but at least his mom & I remain on civil terms, his child support arrives like clockwork, and I never could imagine threatening my own blood. If one good thing came out of your father's futile and ridiculous self-immolation, it is that a weird thread I stumbled upon inadvertantly on the internet has motivated me to be a better non-custodial parent.

to peter margasak- I hope you'll leave this thread up for a while- it has real value to those who dismiss m ritscher as mentally ill- would you be willing to also apply that designation to bush/rumsfeld/cheney/rice et al who have engineered the deaths of many tens of thousands of innocents and poured gasoline (or is it oil) on a conflagration that is now much more likely than ever to engulf us here? or is that sanity? to those who call this act futile- please tell me, how many minutes in a given week do you devote to developing strategies to discourage this or any war? I'm guessing very few. to those who pointed out that the war has not ended as a result of this act - we know that. please refer to question immediately above. to those who contributed poetry- thank you. the poems are moving and they caused me to realize that any power in ritscher's act exists in the same realm as the power of poetry and will only be felt by those who can feel/hear the poets. to the various ritscher family members who have given a remarkable public glimpse into the the difficulty and pain you've experienced (and the other writers who have contributed their own stories in resonance with this)- wow. you are not alone. i see it everywhere, but to speak only for myself, my family is all fucked up and i absolutely hate it. i am completely estranged from most of my family members- mother, siblings, extended clan, ex-wife, and must sadly admit that it's way better. at least the rate of explosive incidents is way down. thankfully I've been able to remain close to my own (now grown) children and can see them often, but the general dysfunction has weighed heavily on those relationships as well. weddings, births, funerals etc. are highly charged events as there are several family factions that are estranged from each other and there seems to be absolutely nothing i can do about it except to try to maintain and expand my own humanity. unapologetic neocon- we probably disagree about almost everything but you've got one thing right... call your kid more. to those friends of m ritscher who expressed grief, emotional connectedness, loss, but could not understand or accept the decision and the action he took- claiming no knowledge of MR beyond his published statements but looking within myself I can see that for some of us who, due to whatever our internal geography might be, simply cannot accept the endless violence and lies, the war that never ends is an assault on the deepest part of our souls that cannot be ignored. because of who and what we are we absolutely must make the strongest possible response against this. to fail to do so would be to lose the most basic kernel of who we are. I can imagine no worse fate.... to lose myself... like the walking dead.... to know it.... and still have to get up and do shit every day. to all- MR's death (one death) has sparked some profound emotion and debate here as a shocking event. today I read in the Tribune that the baghdad morgue is refusing bodies due to overcrowding and that surviving relatives are being told to dig through piles of corpses to look for there loved ones. is there some bit of wisdom or insight that we should be gaining from this? Are his charred remains different in any way from the thousands and thousands and thousands- (no, make that MILLIONS! 2 MILLION in Viet Nam alone!) we have deliberately burned, directly or by proxy, in Iraq, Central America, North America(the Indians), South America, Africa, Asia....... ? as I've read through these postings I've come to the realization that MR's action, whether you love it or hate it (or him), exists in the realm of and was essentially a work of ART. this does not trivialize it. Art, like music, prayer, procreation and many other human functions is one spoke in the sacred wheel. this was an act of SELF expression. fucked up visionary abuser gentle nice insane concerned disturbed guy or whatever, what he was could only respond to what's happening in this possibly imperfect but certainly vivid way. This thread has addressed my own personal problems and circumstances in a deep and specific way that I never would have expected and rarely encounter. Thank you all and please accept my very very best wishes for you and your loved ones.

Dear Peter, Please keep this thread alive. It's is an invaluable memorial to Malachi, and a penetrating look inside the soul of America.

Ultimately the commentary posted as a response to this "event" underlies the fact that MR's contribution to the social construct was his death. The reality is that many of these posts take more time to analyze MR's final actions than their creators took to know him prior. Ironically MR called the ball correctly - after reviewing his own life he decided he would have more of an imact dead. Look at this thread - he was right.

what an idiot.thous shalt not kill indeed...and then he kilss himself.Pathetic

I have read a lot of the postings mostly from people who say they did not know him. I knew him for three and a half years eight hours per day.We did talk about Bush and the War but it only came up very few times during the years. We would even make fun of how bad Bush came across when he was with Tony Blair at a news conference.Sure we both did not agree with the War, but it did not come up like you would thinkit would have after reading his mission statement. He had trouble at work always thinking His Boss had a secret conspiracy ploting to get Him fired.Once he tried to accuses His Boss of stealing a stapler off his desk and would not let it go even after two weeks went by that's all he talked about was that stapler He went out and bought a new one and hung it around his neck just so His Boss would know he could not get that one. In Aug. we were able to transfer him to another shop, but it was for third shift which is from 11:30pm till 8:00am. He stayed on the day shift until he was familiar with our coverage area and buildings. We talked to Him about the change he said he loved it.Starting in Sept. he started working 3rd shift. He was always in a good mood joking around as usual. As I think back knowing what I do now, this cut into his recording time at the clubs. He was the only person on campus during those hours. He now had time alone for his past demons and personal problems to fester. But every morning he was upbeat. As usual he had his hot peppers and roll like he did most mornings. We would talk and the War was never the subject as you would think with only weeks to go before his suicide. On Oct.26 he told us of a grave purchase for 500 dollars. He said he went there laid down to get the feel of it and to see if he liked the location and we were all laughing about the way he describe it. His last day at work was Oct 31. He did not miss two days of work, he took 3 days of vacation to return to work Sat night. If you look at his last photo, those are the clothes he was wearing when he left work.If you notice he staged the shot to have an angels wing over his shoudler. He planned this in advance. He took three days off to take the photo and post it along with his mission ststement and obit. One co-worker remembers Him shaking his hand and telling him to have a nice life as he got on the elevator to leave. Remember we were in contactwith him on a daily basis for over 3 years. During that time Bush and the War did not consume him, not to the point to give up your life for. You all believe he was that devoted to the cause strong enough to die in protest that was not the reason. He was mentally ill,we did not know he was until we read all these posts about him and his past. Now all the pieces fall into place. You that have written he did something great should really sit down and look at the whole picture and clues on his web-site. If he was doing it to protest the War and his tax dollars being used to support the War where in the world does what He wrote in his obit have to do with His great War protest "Reportedly his last words were Rosebud.....Opps." I wish I knew what I now know about his past. I would have tried to get Him the HELP He so needed. I feel you people starting iheardyoumalachi.org are listening to the same voices he was. One persons comments were " Bush is behind keeping this story quiet that should show everyone the power he has over the press." Wow what else can I say. We knew Him and had more daily contact with Him than anyone on this site. Let's remember Him as what we now know He was a great Human Being but a very troubled soul.

What a damn idiot.

I have never met this person, but from what I’ve read about and seen both here and his personal site, I can firmly say that I used to be in a state of mind similar to his own. This is a state of black and white idealism that leads to alienation, misunderstanding and unrealized self-absorption. You feel that the world has lost something, and your mission is to restore it. You feel ‘apart’ from others – in some ways superior, and in other ways, afflicted. Luckily, for me, I was able to dig myself out of this hole and realize that I’m no different than anyone else… everyone has problems and mine are nothing special. I stopped blaming things like ‘government’ and ‘religion’, and realized that it’s all just human nature. I’m now at peace with the ‘human condition’ and realize that an idealistic mindset only leads to disaster. Sadly, it seems he was at odds with himself; he wanted to change the world, but couldn’t even make the necessary changes within. It appears he was so unsure of his own being and how others viewed him, that he authored his own eulogy; giving him peace of mind, for he is projecting onto others how he wanted to see himself. This man should not be idolized as some sort of savior. The people whose shoulders you would want to stand on do not turn their back on their own family. Unlike him, they are not concerned with projecting some sort of intellectual Renaissance man image as if they have something to prove. The façade he projected was merely a cover for his personal issues. Hopefully he, and this awkward cult following, will find some rest.

I only "knew" Malachi from seeing him at The Empty Bottle countless times. I don't believe we ever spoke since I'm horribly shy. Anyways, for those that care, the online indie "webzine" Pitchfork Media posted an article about him this morning. It probably doesn't delve into anything we haven't covered here, but considering the website likely has a higher readership within the "underground" community than say, The Sun-Times, it's still a good thing. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/39663/Malachi_Ritscher_19542006 My sympathy goes out to all his family, friends, aquaintences, and co-workers.

Your statement is right on. Glad you were able to pull yourself out of that state of mind. I think Mark could have done it, but not by himself. What was so shocking to us his co-workers was reading his mission statement. Over all the years we were together the War was never a problem that occupied his mind. We talked more about hot peppers and how to grow them year round in buckets.He wasn't a damn idiot as 'S' said. He was just as you described as if you spent a lot of time with him. I think you would have liked him as much as we did, and yes I agree he does have a awkward cult following that is as mislead and troubled as he was. I hope they can follow your path. We now know were the other path leads a wasted life. He would have been such a great person if he could have done what you did what a sad ending to one's life, we will always think of him and what he could have become if he chose another path.

Thanks for your reply. As someone noted earlier, sometimes when you meet (or read about) another person you feel connected instantly because of a shared worldview. This can give an amazing sense of satisfaction, but it can also lead to easy manipulation and/or groupthink. One must always remember that passion is the enemy of reason. If you are extremely passionate about something, it’s probably a good idea to take a step back and evaluate the situation. Mark was by no means an idiot or selfish; in his mind the actions he took were for the ‘greater good’. He firmly believed that his actions would change the world, thus he made the ultimate sacrifice. I’ve been in his place. I know what the feeling is like. It actually gives your life meaning – you finally know why you are here. These thoughts are addictive and give you drive. He never intended to hurt anyone. My guess is that by doing this, Mark partially intended to make up for the pain he caused his family. Not because he is gone, but because his family could finally be proud of something he did. One last note - I’m actually quite surprised Mark didn’t refer to himself as an autodidact (self learner). Being a political or ideological autodidact is akin to wearing blinders. You study, and study, and study… and possibly even become quite intelligent. But – if you fail to reason on all sides of the subject, you will just create a dichotomous “me vs. the world” attitude. Finally – as many have said before, we should not idolize him or view him as some sort of modern day hero/Buddhist monk. What we SHOULD do, however, is remember this as a unfortunate event - your stereotypical “misplaced youth” (adult, actually… just going for known terms). Remember him as a great man who taught many people many things… but don’t make the same ‘sacrifice’ as he.

This whole event haunted me for a few days and got me thinking... then the responses started pouring in here and it got me thinking some more.. As a recent father I take full weight of the responsibility to be that father to the fullest. I brought this life into the world, how am I going to equip this little one for the ups and downs and sheer absurdity of life?? Malachi-the son that was left.. what a terrible thing to have to go through. No matter the hurt and divide that was between you and your father Malachi/Mark, no-one should have to go through this.. and not so publicly. It's as absurd as life is. I would never wish this on my son, but take solace in that your father seemed to truly believe in the positive statement of his destruction, even though it is incomprehensible. I've suffered from depression for as long as I can remember. In fact, a month ago I decided that I was going to go back on anti-depressants. I could care less about who knows it.. ..'cause as far as I'm concerned there are only a couple people in this whole world that really matter to me and give me a sense of purpose and happiness - and I'm living for them. Damn right it's selfish - and to me that is the only true sane way to live. If you place your faith in mankind, you will be sorely disappointed. 9/11, "War on Terror", Katrina, and murders in my old neighborhood - hey humanity, you turned your back on me.. but what was I expecting anyway? See, in recent times I've given up on my past idealisms about mankind and I'm much better for it. Hey - I don't expect anything less than destruction, oppression, and carelessness when it comes to humanity. That way I'm surprised and pleased when the opposite occurs. Yeah, it can be bleak.. but wait.... ...what is real real stupid and sick about a society that typically pathologizes its enemies is that this stigmatizes mental illness in such a way that discourages open dialogue and keeps many that should seek help from getting the help that they need. Everyone's "sick"... some can deal with it better than others on their own, others need external help from other people or from medication. Absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. A fact of life, a fact of being human. Perfect, well-adjusted people are only in toothpaste commercials. So to all that want to simply sum up this situation in black and white idealistic terms, on either side of the fence, it just doesn't seem to completely work in the reality of the events and his life. The grass is not greener on the other side, those people on TV and in the movies are not having better sex than you are, and if given the chance.. the oppressed become the oppressors. So if you think the world is hopeless and dark and are sick and tired of the bleakness of current events, perhaps you should think about how you can positively effect the little bit of the world you are in contact with every day - your friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances .. talk about the Iraq War or whatever is weighing on your shoulders. The fact is that deep down inside we are all confused about life and afraid of death - we're so much more the same than we are different. Recognize that, if you can change peoples' minds through constructive dialogue then do so. Don't simply polarize the battle-lines further with inflammatory rhetoric. THere's way too much of that going around these days, and it's LAME! If folks want to get inspired by Malachi/Mark then that is fine, and I share that feeling.. but let's be realistic about this. How can we keep ALL this from happening? Not just one war or one man's struggle with his inner turmoil - ALL of it. We can conveniently paint the picture however we want depending on the point we'd like to make, but that doesn't erase what happened and what led him to do it. So if you really care about this, then address the human root of this destruction - BOTH the destruction of Iraqis and destruction of the self.

MTO, while I really appreciated what you wrote and it encouraged me to finish up some thoughts on this whole thing, I do have to take issue with this: "One last note - I’m actually quite surprised Mark didn’t refer to himself as an autodidact (self learner). Being a political or ideological autodidact is akin to wearing blinders. You study, and study, and study… and possibly even become quite intelligent. But – if you fail to reason on all sides of the subject, you will just create a dichotomous “me vs. the world” attitude. " ^^^This really puts the cart before the horse and unfairly characterizes self-learners in a society that puts more value on the certification of learning more than the knowledge gained from the learning itself. The sense of marginalization and alienation LEAD me to reject academia for my own learning, and not vice versa. As an autodidact, I encourage everyone who really cares about a particular subject to not simply accept the prevailing wisdom and to actively challenge your own interpretations. That said, MTO, thanks for your thoughts and insight.

More coverage from the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=530391 And a brief mention in Harper's: http://harpers.org/WeeklyReview2006-11-14.html Scroll down a bit for the reference, and it links to: http://harpers.org/Suicide.html#4559c20c37c58

(I didn't begin reading these comments with the intent to start a flame war, though I do think the BS police need to be called in on this one). MTO, I think your post belies your claim that you no longer see the world as black and white. You claim that "you've never met this person" but have only drawn inferences from what you've "read about and seen both here and his personal site." How is it that you can then "firmly say" that you "used to be in a state of mind similar to [Malachi's]?" Well well well.. look who's projecting now? In case it isn't obvious, you're projecting your history of black and white idealism onto Malachi Ritscher's! Think twice before you spew your enlightenment crap. So you've conquered your history of darkness and self-obsession (so you say...)? Congratulations. What does that have to do with anything? What does it matter if Malachi saw the world in black and white, or if he saw the world in a billion and one colors? His mental state doesn't subtract or add to any conclusion we can infer from his action. He knew what he had to do and he did it. He didn't do anything evil. He didn't rape little children or kill innocent people (unless you buy into that medieval hocus pocus that suicide is more akin to murder). So the question is then, what did Malachi do? For starters, he committed suicide. Second, he did it to protest the war in Iraq. Therefore, the self-immolation was done in order to reach THE WORLD. The suicide is a technique to direct people's attention to the war in Iraq. Sure, the suicide may have been and probably was mixed up with the mental illness thing, or the desire to perform some sort of magnanimous act, or to make family and friends feel sad, or an entire slew of things... but the fact still stands, based on the primary evidence of the suicide note which was written by Malachi's own hand, that Malachi killed himself in order to protest the war in Iraq. The problem is that Malachi did this act in order to motivate people to protest the war in Iraq, but he grossly underestimated the sickness of apathy that plagues this nation.

One of the polarizing aspects of War protests are the attempts to interupt, shock, disturb, and sometimes disgust people into recognizing what they already know is tragic. those apathetic people will continue to be apathetic because it may be easier to go about your day accepting and putting aside something which is truely hard to fathom. Ghandi gathered a following of supporters and these supporters would pronounce his efforts along his protest journey. Ghandi was not depressed; he was hopeful. Protest needs to offer ideas and solutions. It is a sad state of politics when even the politicians maintain this sense of decrying the negative, antogonizing the opponent...the US is exhausted from so much lack of hope. I know this as I have dealt with depression on various levels. When I am not hopeful, I want to go to sleep; leave the world. If it were not for my curiosity in the hope of what could be, then why would I stick around? Remember public support for the Viet Nam War declined because people saw the war on every t.v. channel; there were only a few channels, no one could avoid it. Today we are bombarded with so many pacifying outlets of entertainment-not news...the sense of one voice representing one country is represented in thousands of tv channels, web pages, newspapers. The alternative media is too "alternative" for my mother to investigate. There is no sense of legitimacy since even I, a resourceful person loose touch with what is the news-why do I have to look for it. Why is it being hidden from me? So, I believe the only form of engagement in advocating what is real news (what is the real citizen death toll in Iraq?) is to turn off the computer, the tv and various rag mags and maintain dialogue with people. stop ignoring community interaction put down your cell phones. remind your friends and co-workers, and people you would normally not converse with..the person serving you coffee or taking your ticket.... by talking about Malachi and his Protest. Advocate for those that are depressed. no-one can understand the devastation of depression until it is talked about as real sickness like arthritis or diabetes. It is real and more common and by engaging in conversation about this mysterious phenomenon maybe the apathetics might not ignore it. human to human talk is always more effective. A peaceful public vigil seems to be an honorable reaction to the media's shameful lack of coverage.

AN OPEN LETTER TO MALACHI RITSCHER'S FAMILY Dear Ritschers, My thoughts are with you in this time of sorrow and grief. I know first-hand the heart-break and pain of truly considering and picturing a loved one taking their life in the manner that Malachi chose to go. I have to admit, that for 6 of the most difficult hours of my life on Friday, November 3, I was convinced that the black scar on that statue actually belonged to my brother. My brother suffers from manic depression, and no one in our family had been able to establish contact with him for some time. His therapist called me Thursday evening and said that it was crucial that we get him into a hospital immediately - and that he very much feared for his life. Not knowing which side of the pendulum his bi-polarity had swung, I stayed up the night before searching everywhere I could for him, and greatly fearing suicide. The next morning, my roommate and I eerily heard the story on WBBM as we woke. As details came in about a video camera and the statue, my fear grew. You see, my brother has a penchant for self-documentation as well, and a love for art and sculpture. As more details became available, I became more disturbed, and more convinced that it was him. I spent all day Friday trying to disprove my greatest fear. I spent hours at the site, talking with the special agents and state troopers on the case. Dental records were being collected. It was hell. I couldn't tell my family. I needed to wait for proof. Miraculously, in the late afternoon, my missing brother made contact with me - he called. It was at that moment that I experienced the greatest relief and deepest sorrow I've ever felt in my life. After another long and difficult stretch of coralling my brother and getting him into a psych ward, the pain was too much to endure. I got home at 2 in the morning, after 2 days with no sleep, and broke down. I cried for many reasons, but mostly for the man who took his life that day. Since that time, I've been reading the documentation of Malachi's life everywhere. I came to realize that this stranger was no stranger at all - I have seen him at shows around town. I have friends who knew him. In all of the accounts of his existence, it's been difficult to imagine a person so worthy of life choosing to give it up, and in such a painful way. But one thing that he deserves in death as much as he did in life was respect. Respect for the way he chose to live, and the way he chose to die. He was a brave man, an important man, and his life was not lived in vain. I extend to you my deepest condolences at your loss, our community's loss. It is impossible for me to say who I wish was the person who matched that story instead of Malachi, but it is truly a tragedy now knowing who it was. My sincerest condolences. -j

"Sorry about the mental illness thing, it's not something I would have chosen for myself." That's a quote from Malachi's letter to his executor Bruno Johnson, as reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel yesterday (link: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=530391 ). I knew Malachi well enough to consider him a friend, though I hadn't seen him since moving back to Chicago from Texas this past summer. The political intentions of his suicidal gesture were plainly sincere, but the nagging fact remains that the guy never denied his mental problems nor his porpensity towards suicidal ideation. In fact, he and I once had a long discussion wherein he described an incident of "losing time" and coming to consciousness in the MIDST of a suicidal act, with no memory of how he had gotten to that point, an experience he was understandably very frightened by. At the risk of sounding unforgivably flip, I tend to see the political overtones of this nearly imponderable tragedy as Malachi's way of making lemonade from the lemons of what he may have seen as his inevitable mode of death. Regardless, here was a man who left his mark on the world, in countless large and small ways. ¡Salud!

Malachi friends, We're ready to go on Saturday. Demonstrators will meet at Elastic to make signs and gather, then head over to the demonstration site together. Here is the official announcement: ************************************* Demonstration for Malachi Ritscher Saturday, Nov. 18th, 1 p.m. at: The Elastic Arts Foundation 2830 N. Milwaukee Ave. 2nd Floor Elastic is four blocks northwest of Logan Square Station (blue line) on Milwaukee. Details and destination site will be announced on-location. Sign-making materials will be provided. Bring a little cash to help cover expenses. Visit www.iheardyoumalachi.org. ************************************** After something like this happens, people tend to get depressed. A list of depressive symptoms includes: - "Indifferent, uncommunicative, silent" - "Selfish, unaware or insensitive about the needs of others" - "Takes alcohol and drugs in excessive amounts" Please, DON'T allow yourself to slip into depression. You are needed now...if we don't make sure people know of this, who will? America needs and would want to know the effect the war is having on its citizens. Your actions make a difference - don't let SunTimes columnists preaching fatalism and futility convince you otherwise. We can't bring Malachi back but we *can* make sure that his death is not ignored. Come do that with us. Jenn PS - We fixed a small glitch in the website, it should work properly in all browsers now. Thanks to Jim Newberry and Kevin Harvey for all of their work. If you need to contact me, use jenn@iheardyoumalachi.org or indiejennn@gmail.com as an alternate.

"mentally ill" people. the differently wired still have valid feelings and perceptions. If he was indeed mentally ill it does no invalidate his experience. There is a lot to learn from the differently wired.

Abraham Lincoln was "mentally ill." So was Winston Churchill. So were (and are) a lot of people we hold in high regard. It doesn't make them any less human, or their lives any less meaningful.

Jenn- If all of you would read about the note he sent to his friend Bruno at the site Scott Faingold listed in the above post I don't understand why you are exploiting this poor mental-ill man and using his condition to build a movement. Give this poor mans confusion some respect. The real cause for his suicide was not the war. Please take the time to learn about his mental condition. Devote your time if you would to helping other's like Mark instead of using him to promote your interests.How dare you promote your cause using his illness. I not returning to this site, so many of you just can not get passed your own obssions you have lost touch with reality. Not one of you know where Mark's going to be laid to rest, do you? Do any of you really care about Mark. We you go to his grave and pay your respects to the good person he was. All you want to do is use him to promote your own messed-up causes. What a shame. Stand-up on your own if you can! Let Mark rest in peace, as if you really care about him in the first place.

I actually just found out about Malachi yesterday from Pitchfork and was wondering if any of Chicago mainstream news or national news had reported on it. It makes me very frustrated that there has not been more attention given to this.

this thread is worthless without pictures of a burning hippy freak.

When are you available I will bring the camera. After a comment like that I would watch over and over. This site is for those who knew and cared for him. Go play in the traffic.

I write from New York City, having just read of Malachi Ritscher's death. Though it had been well over a decade since I had seen or heard from Malachi, I am deeply saddened by his passing, and shocked by its circumstances. I first met Malachi in the late 80s, as part of a group of musicians (among them my friend Spencer Sundell, who has contributed his own very eloquent memorial above) and music fans who had adopted Club Lower Links as their home base. After we got to know each other Malachi regularly attended shows by my band - often he was one of only a handful of people in the audience - and on one occasion his band, Want Not, shared a bill with us at the Heartland Cafe. As a struggling musician his support and encouragement meant a great deal to me. My condolences to his family and to his friends and fellow artists, in Chicago and everywhere else. It is truly a tragic loss.

Coverage from Le Monde (in French): http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3222,36-834560@51-829608,0.html

I see a lot of heartfelt condloences here, which is fantastic. I have deep sorrow in my heart for the family, especially his son. Obviously, there were deep issues that affected all concerned and this final action does nothing to promote healing and/or understanding. I think his son really summed this up with the simple statement: "Suicide is NOT the answer." Bravo. I don't know if folks intended this, but reading some of the comments it seems as if people are using their anger and disapproval of the Iraq occupation to somehow "cheer" this man's death. Rubbish - utter rubbish. No matter how you feel about the war - and for the record, I've been against it since Day 1 - this is nothing more than suicide. Get that through your heads, people: the self-immolation "sexes" it up a bit, but at the end of the day it really is the most selfish, disturbing thing one can do. He might as well have hanged himself, stuck a gun in his mouth, or turned on the car and shut the garage door - there's no net difference, the fanciful, mystical imagery of the Buhddist monks aside. I also find it to be counter-productive to the cause. This is because when the so-called mainstream media picks up on this, the real angle won't be the protest, it will be the "unusual" and very public manner in which this poor soul ended his life. We will get mention of a suicide note, but details will focus on how badly the body was burned, they needed dental records to ID the remains, etc. The reason for his death won't even matter - no one will pay attention. Hell, we'll be lucky if they even bother to mention how much he meant to the local music scene. Don't count on it. I think it's dangerous to view this as anything other than a pathetic last gasp from a man who was loved by many but was ultimately deeply disturbed and alienated from his family. The fact that he openly "apologizes" for NOT committing murder - even though it would have been Rummy - speaks volumes. How can one reconcile that with "sanity?" Again - my sincere condolences to the surviving family members. But please... don't try to put this man's suicide on a pedastel. My guess is that those who have praised this action have never experienced a suicide in their family or close network of friends/loved ones....

I happened upon this story yesterday and was amazed it hadn't reached the major media (I'm in California). I posted this "Post No Bills" link to my online journal and most of my friends hadn't heard about it either. Here is what I wrote today: When one commits suicide in our culture, it's something to be ashamed of, to not talk about, and even to lie to family members about, rather than reveal the tragic truth. And everyone judges that the person was in some respect insane. It goes against our basic, primal instinct to not want to survive. That's probably why it leaves people with such an awful, sick, unnatural feeling. However, what if Ghandi had died during his hunger strike? Would he have just be a forgotten, tragic figure? And what of the Tibetan pacifist monks that allowed themselves to be slaughtered rather than fight, are they also suffering a psychological illness because they did not put up a fight? Ultimately, I tend to agree that in this Chicago case, there must have been something chemically/mentally off with this otherwise very intelligent individual to take such a drastic step. Though I can't help but feel I should at least acknowledge his effort to bring meaning to his suicide, to make others take notice of the atrocities of war and open their eyes to the trauma our nation's actions had on him, this one individual. Because of this, it seems doubly tragic that the media is not covering the story. And that is why I felt the need to at least acknowledge Malachi Ritscher and bring his story here to those that hadn't heard, to provide others the chance to see his life devoted to music, his mission statement, his obituary that he wrote himself, and his last act of lone defiance against a regime he felt was destroying his world. It's most sad that he did not have someone in his life to stop him and redirect his helplessness, and that he didn't live to see the political changes of the election the following Tuesday. Rest in peace.

Miles, You wrote: "But please... don't try to put this man's suicide on a pedastel. My guess is that those who have praised this action have never experienced a suicide in their family or close network of friends/loved ones...." Your guess is wrong. I have experienced suicide with both close family, and close friends. What you say is valid. But what others say, including those who take Malachi at his word and see his death as an anti-war protest, is valid as well. I number myself among the latter. Express your opinion. But you don't have the right to tell others how to process facts which operate in as many dimensions as this. Each person will take away a truth from Malachi's death. Some of us will take more than one truth. None of us has a monopoly on the truth of Malachi Ritscher's life and death. Not me. And not you. By all means, tell us what you think, and how you feel. But respect what others think, and how they feel. Teach. Don't preach.

An old friend from high school sent me an e-mail today with a link to this site and story. The news about Mark is deeply , deeply disturbing to me on many levels. Mark was my best friend in high school in little Madison, SD. We thought alike, talked alike, were into all the same things etc. etc. We would spend many hours talking about deep subjects, listening to music, hanging out, dropping acid. We were both pretty much social outcasts in our little town and we wore this like a badge of honor. When we were about 16, we ran away from home to join a hippie commune out in the black hills run by some refugees from Haight Ashbury. After about a week we were picked up by the sherrif while hitchhiking somewhere and taken back home. There have only been maybe 3 or 4 people in my entire lifetime that I felt I had as close a friendship as I had with Mark. We stayed in close contact after he and his family moved to Lincoln NB some time later. After high school, he returned to Madison and we shared an apartment for a couple months. Some time later we got in a tiff about some petty issue and I ended up leaving the area a couple of months later. About 6 months later I returned to Madison and some friends told me Mark had announced he no longer considered anybody from Madison his friend and never wanted to have anything to do with any of us. This really bothered me and I tried to get ahold of him and make amends. He wasn't interested. I let it rest for a while and then tried to reach him again but with no luck. Then I lost track of where he ended up. I tried again and again to find him but nobody seemed to know what became of him. Believe it or not, I've been trying off and on ever since, doing endless google searches, looking in phone books of various cities, even calling various Mark Ritschers around the country. I tried all over again as recently as a couple of weeks ago. Now, I finally found him and he's gone. I don't know how to process what's happened. What kind of a cruel joke of fate is this? I've got so many intense emotions right now I don't know which one to feel. One of them is anger. Anger that he did this, anger that he never bothered to ever make any attempt to contact me, anger at what life can do to people. Ironically, our lives had some parallels: I also developed a passion for recording and have amased a bunch of recording gear and mics etc., have always been a musician that never quite made it, have struggled with depression off and on. Personally, I don't find anything noble in what Mark did. I feel cheated.

with one or two exceptions, most of the writers here who are quick to define m ritschers actions solely in terms of mental illness (thereby dismissing any more complex set of motives and de-legitimizing his action entirely) don't mention the war at all. Of course I have no way of knowing for sure but I wonder to what extent these writers are deeply, daily, troubled by the war. Again I'll ask: would one of you keyboard psychologists please venture an assessment of the Bush family's mental health (w, daddy h.w and grandpa prescott, who did his deals with Hitler DURING WW2). How about Dick Cheney? John Negroponte and his Central American death squads? If Ritscher's regret at NOT being able to murder Rumsfeld is a clear sign of INsanity, how shall we interpret Rumsfeld's lack of regret over stage directing the ACTUAL murder of tens of thousands? Are those who accomodate, accept, or endorse this endless brutality and violence (and the greed and lies that go with it) the sane ones? Or are those who struggle against it, however gracefully or gracelessly, Sane? Not being a mental health expert, I won't offer an opinion (though I have one), but I can tell you which group I like better. also- RE: MTO and his/her rude and dismissive description of (presumably) half of those posting here as "this awkward cult following". Awkward for whom? what about this awkward fucking war with it's awkward mountain of corpses? Here's a suggestion- let's try a total and radical revision of society away from greed and violence and toward taking care of the Earth and the people on it and see if some of us awkward cult types can relax a little bit. Ir MR had taken an overdose of pills in his living room his suicide would have remained a private event. He chose to make it a public event so here we are. I would have preferred no suicide at all, but since he did it I'll accept it and try to get the most possible value from the ensuing dialogue. Not the dialogue with thise who readily and patly dismiss him (who, for the record, I think are the ones with the mental/emotional/socialization ilness) but the dialogue among those who empathize with his stated concerns and who, whether they agree with the value or appropriateness of his action, are struggling themselves with some of the same issues. hopefully some clearer ideas will come from this. again for the record, my position is: work hard at it, think as creatively as you possibly can, communicate with others of like mind as much as possible, address the problem without inhibition, and save self-immolation as a very, very last resort. lastly, MR, like many of us, seems to have had several different lives. a difficult family life that lead mostly to estrangement, 40 hours a week at work where he revealed little of what was going on in him, and a life of choice recording music in which he seems to have been unanimously seen as gentle, generous, warm and helpful. If he was in AA and had 16 years of sobriety then he knew he had problems. It looks to me as if, however inept he may have been in some areas of his life, he took conscious steps to create at least one arena in which he was able to be a good person to those around him. The fact that he failed to mention the war in his note to milwaukee means nothing. He made a clear and direct public statemnt and sent a different letter addressing his private affairs. so what. If this act was futile, how futile is doing nothing at all?

Eerst Europa Doelstellingen: De Ci2i Verzekering (Ci2i) zal het nummer een gebrandmerkte pan Europese commoditized online verzekeringsmakelaar door 2010 zijn.

This is a very interesting story of a deeply troubled man.I know some leftist/ artists and malcontents.Many of them have serious mental and substance abuse problems and it's difficult to have a close friendship with them.Some of them suffer from anti-social personality disorders.America is a very dysfunctional society and mental illness is our #1 health problem.I really try to stay on a casual friendship level with these people.Getting to close to them is always a problem.I don't have the time or energy to get caught up in their personal problems.When you reject them they get angry and then you have to try to avoid them.Some of them are artistically gifted and very intelligent.Mental illness ruins peoples lives and causes so much pain for the families who have to deal with it.I feel so sorry for Mark's family and for Mark. The casual friends of Mark will never know what his family endured in their relationship with him.Fortunately for his casual friends Mark kept his problems to himself and so they only saw his good side.His family had to deal with his illness.Mark sounds like he was hiding his illness from most people by not having any close relationships which left him to suffer from lonliness and alienation.This helped lead to his depression and eventually to his suicide.Thanks to his families insights we are able to see the troubled man most of his casual friends never knew.There's nothing noble about suicide,Mark just couldn't face the lonliness and pain of failed relationships.It is very hard to live alone and unloved and in such a cold and heartless society.Let's all try to keep our families from falling apart.Don't ever give up on your kids.This is the message I get from this tragedy.The struggle continues.Much love to Mark's family.

First Europa Mission Aussage: Ci2i Versicherung (Ci2i) ist der Nr. eine commoditized on-line-Versicherungsmakler bis zum 2010 das eingebrannte pan-europäische.

This thread is getting nowhere. There is too much polarization and therefore no synthesis is possible. The common theme here is: A makes a point B counters C rambles about A & B … start over …

I'm sorry....but this man isn't a martyr, no matter how much you want him to be. The world moves on. He gave up. That's not love or caring about the world -it's one man saying F*** you, I'm out! If we are to be as responsible as he says we should be, and see things as they are, well...this is it. A final F*** YOU! That's all we get for our toil, our pain, our hard work to make it better. I love this world. I love it enough to keep living through the pain and to keep evolving along with our children. They're the ones who will be making the decisions. What was he telling them? Light yourself on fire and the world will listen? Sad truth: Nobody cares. Happy truth: with every death, something is born, and it might not be related to this incident, but it's equally important, though Nobody Cares. Something new, and great. One thing he was right about is the spark of creation.

J, with all due respect.. who here stating opinion is NOT "preaching" to some degree? Also, I am not disputing that he was protesting the war. He probably felt that by doing this act, he was committing the ultimate protest. My issue is with those who would choose to "glorify" this act, which is nothing more than cold, selfish suicide. If that's "preaching," well.. so be it.

You're right, Miles. Sorry for picking on you. I've tried to call out others on what I perceive to be insistence on one point of view, to the exclusion of others. But I'm not perfect, and not above a bit of preaching myself. I don't know. Malachi Ritsher's family posts here, so I've tried really hard to avoid getting too strident with my point of view. We should all try to do that, I think, out of respect for the family.

Thanks, J... much appreciated. I also like your advise of not getting too strident with one's POV, it really is about the family. Thanks!

Mark Ritschers Family {would did post here}, has been asked 3 days ago if they are going to honor His last request to be laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery in Evanston were he purchased a plot, also were asked about his request for the Inscription he wanted on His Headstone. I have not recieved any response from any of them. Does anyone out there really care about Him. It seems all of you are using His death to support your own causes and spew your own ideas. I just want to know about honoring his last request, are YOU !!! Have any of you even thought about what he wanted for himself. What a bunch of hippocras's. Come on lets here some more of your self-indulgences. Who cares about Him after the fact, I guess none of you including his Family. What a shame!!! I guess I will try to take care of as much as I can. I'll buy the Stone the grave is paid for. The only problem left is putting his remains were He wanted them. Wow! What a mixed up crowd

The Milwaukee newspaper article says he left a will. His executor or administrator determines what happens with his remains, consistent with the terms of the will. Are you the executor or administrator? If so, I'd be glad to help you, and I suspect I'm not alone. For instance, if money is needed for a stone, we could take up a collection at that rally on Saturday. I'm sure others would pitch in. If you're not his executor or administrator, it's really none of our business. Those choices were made by Malachi Ritscher in his will. We have no choice but to respect them.

Just figured I'd throw this out there: Any myspace members who have an interest in viewing / hearing web remnants of Malachi as a person can log onto his poignantly friendless page, http://myspace.com/savagesoundsyndicate , and check out some music (including a streamed recording of him blowing on Hal Russel's old horn) as well as a pretty wide-ranging gallery of photos covering the man's several "looks" over the years, a little more representative than the stolid war-protest shots accompanying the above article and the pitchforkmedia piece. Note: The sensitive and/or overly reverent may wish to beware, however - Malachi's morbid sense of humor is on flagrant display in a few of these pics, and they may be seen as disturbing or tasteless under the current circumstances. I personally found the page to be a sort of grounding reminder of the real guy behind all the encroaching, albeit self-ordained, martyr mythology.

To start having fun on MySpace you need to invite some friends and get the ball rolling!

i wish i could've met him. i see so much of myself in who i see him to be. but really, what i want to say is this: i dont give a fuck whether or not he was crazy or a saint or sinner or any of it (everyone is all of these things)....he was a human being with a human heart and the very act that we are all so confused by draws us to this forum to discuss what the hell is going on... even his family is participating. this reminds me of a greek tragedy, unfolding in real time....i'm haunted by this man, whose name we can't even agree on.....tragic indeed. this isn't a movie that we're watching where our interpretations become the story...this man had a definitive goal, a plan, an idea and he spells it out for all of us...and still there's debate. just listen. read...there is something being communicated and that is the core of what we should be talking about. he could've been me...or you...maybe not...at least take his words seriously. crazy, mentally ill, fuck up, genius or not, his voice is valid and it's screaming at us. just listen.

I only met malachi twice in the past year or so. once in NYC and once in Chicago... from these two brief encounters, I knew what an amazing person he was...

Wow, there is a picture on malachi's myspace profile to indicate every kind of man you all make him out to be!!! Although I cannot know what reactions he planned to get for sure, I keep finding little tidbits of ironicity in his actions versus the complex and multiple layered reactions that have been the result. It makes me wonder how much he understood would be the result of his actions. I also find it funny that he decided to have a myspace page with 0 friends--defying at least one of the premises for having a myspace page, but not all of them. I wonder if having no friends makes the marketers leave you out of their demographics collections. Personally, I side with many of your perspectives, and even simultaneously the ones that are seemingly opposed (they're really not--only flipsides to the same coin--or you can pick your own, perhaps even more accurate metaphor, if you like). I hope that every single person that has posted here can recognize that for every way that you try to 'take a side' or to polarize the issue, or put out the stark wager that all of us who see significance in Malachi's death as an anti-war statement must be looking through the same crazy glasses he was, that your perspective is all a part of what makes his act significant. For every perspective that is posted to this cross-roads discussion is laying a brick to prove more and more how significant and powerful malachi's actions (both in life and death, whether negative or positive) were. It has caused people to do many things, including listening to each other, which is a very difficult feat to achieve! Every single one of us has been affected by malachi's death (no matter what you might choose to call it or him, or how you might frame it or him, or no matter what malachi might have, in actuality, anticipated as a reaction, or no matter whether you knew malachi personally or not), and that is why we are here talking about this. Would we all be here doing this, if malachi had quietly put a gun to his head in his own apartment, or taken an overdose of drugs?--well, at least probably not to this extent. But regardless, we have all been moved in some way to discuss this. You can pick about a thousand, well no, probably infinite ways to respond or angles to argue, whether personally, politically, logically, etc. But the point of getting all of those points out there is how we can learn from each other on this. I agree with all the people who said that this is an infinitely complex issue where noone can really be 'right' or 'wrong.' We all need to suspend judgment long enough to listen to what people are saying, or we are going to miss the value of each person's voice. Even the asshole Unapologetic Neo-con has something valuable to contribute and should not be shunned. Rather than resenting someone for projecting their own issues onto malachi's situation, why not hear the validity of what that person is saying about themselves and how they are connecting with others situations? Rather than being freaked out about people's mental differences, why not be open-minded to what the mentally ill contribute to society. If anything they atleast can see through the facade of what most people have been trained to perceive as reality. What I love about this discussion is that noone can point fingers at one another and really say, 'No, you're not presenting a rational perspective.' Just remember that rationale ain't all its cracked up to be (and its about high-time in this over-intellectualizing society that we realize this). This is one where letting your feelings and intuitions creep through is going to teach you something about yourself. Listening to others is going to teach you worlds about alot! p.s.--these observations are not meant to be emotionally insensitive. i myself have shed many tears. i myself have feelings and sensations about human existence that i must not let turn my perspective into a tunnel vision of passion.

I worked with Mark everyday for three and a half years. He personal told everyone in our shop about his grave purchase. Then in his obit that He wrote he makes His point about the Grave, location and inscription again. Just because Mark made Bruno His exector does not garuntee his wishes will be carried out. His obit. is an open letter on His web-site defining His last wish. As you can read on this thread there is not one of His so-called friends even asking what's being done to honor His wishes. If the exector does nothing I will. Don't you understand He told everyone in His own obit. what He wanted, He told me personaly His wishes. But like everyone else on this site, let someone else do it I'am to busy with my own agenda, and my own causes!! I will give Bruno a chance but I know what He wanted.

An executor isn't necessarily the one who makes decisions about funeral arrangements, burial, headstones, etc. From my experience, those arrangements are usually made by family/next of kin, often times with no input from the executor - particularly when the excecutor is not a family member. I've seen families honor their loved ones wishes to a 'T', and I've seen them completely ignore them as well. In any case, Bruno Johnson is a good man who, I feel certain, is having as hard a time with this situation as anyone else directly involved. I also feel certain that whatever decisions he has been entrusted to make, will be made with the utmost care and attention to Malachi's wishes, both plainly stated and implied.

This was clearly a very stupid act (not to speak ill of the dead, but) - whose war was Malachi protesting against, the War of Sunni against Shia, of Shai neighbourhood against Shia neighbourhood? It is impossible to tell. Did Malaachi ever march to protest agianst middle eastern wars of appropriation (Iran-Iraq, Iraq-Kuwait)? Why didn't Malachi set himself on fire to prtest against the Anfal or against the draining of the marshes or against the prison which the Baathists used for the children of dissenters? People who say they are anti war so often seem to actually not give a damn as long as they're not involved - so the horrendous conditions in some of these countries have never been of interest, the actions of the death squads are not of interest, the struggle of dissidents are not of interest, what bother most people (certainly where I live) is George Bush.

Tim, The difference is that this war is being prosecuted by our government. That gives us a responsibility to take a position on it. You apparently support that war. Malachi Ritscher opposed it. I don't think any of us approved of the horrors Saddam Hussein inflicted on his people, and his neighbors. But that was not our government, and that's a meaningful difference. Saddam Hussein did not commit his crimes in our name. George Bush is committing his crimes in our name -- I realize you disagree with that characterization, but Malachi agreed. It's a meaningful difference, which many choose to ignore. War supporters frequently point to the evils of the Taliban regime, and ask war opponents why they didn't oppose the Taliban. The answer is that we did. We were criticizing the Taliban, and their mistreatment of women in particular, long before September 11, 2001. All the war supporters who harp on about the Taliban weren't there. We were. Steve, I don't know if it's right for us to start a conflict with Malachi's family and executor. Yes, I would very much like to see Malachi's wishes carried out. But not at the cost of of provoking a conflict within the community of his family and friends. You're right -- sometimes a person's last wishes are ignored by family and legal representatives. That would be sad, but I think sticking my nose into that is worse. I wasn't a friend of Malachi's. I'm involved in this only because he did something very public, which cried out for recognition by strangers. As a stranger, I think I can do something to carry out his last wishes, but only those wishes which were addressed to strangers. As a friend of Malachi's, you're in a different postion. I can't tell you what to do. I can say that it's usually a mistake to provoke a conflict over the handling of a person's remains. I've been involved in such disputes before, and it's not pretty. Let the dead bury the dead. But, since you're a friend, it's up to you what you do.

Steve, I don't think the family is active on this thread anymore. Don't worry about what's happening to Mark's remains. Even though I'm not involved in the plans I'm sure he will be buried in his plot, with his inscription. Last I knew, the body hadn't been released yet. The state police were still investigating the death. I don't think anyone in the family would do something else, unless worried about the security of the grave. I was also told that he requested that no ceremony be performed. I understand that we're all going through our own difficult emotions right now, but please, don’t lash out. We don't get to set any timelines right now.

I am amazed how many people think they know me, even people who I have never talked with. Many people will think that I should not be able to choose the time and manner of my own death. My position is that I only get one death, I want it to be a good one. Wouldn't it be better to stand for something or make a statement, rather than a fiery collision with some drunk driver? Are not smokers choosing death by lung cancer? Where is the dignity there? Are not the people the people who disregard the environment killing themselves and future generations? Here is the statement I want to make: if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country. I will not participate in your charade - my conscience will not allow me to be a part of your crusade. There might be some who say "it's a coward's way out" - that opinion is so idiotic that it requires no response. From my point of view, I am opening a new door.

Hello everyone, Tomorrow is the demonstration. We will meet at Elastic at 1 p.m., make signs and clarify details, and then take the el to the destination site. I want to stress that our purpose in gathering is one: to honor Malachi Ritscher. People have many different feelings about what he did and their voices should be heard. But if Malachi bore his troubles in isolation, his last act was an attempt to reach out to other people, to communicate something. His voice deserves to be heard, too, and we’re going to do our best to make sure that it is. I hope you can be there. Warmth, Jenn ************************************* Demonstration for Malachi Ritscher Saturday, Nov. 18th, 1 p.m. at: The Elastic Arts Foundation 2830 N. Milwaukee Ave. 2nd Floor Elastic is four blocks northwest of Logan Square Station (blue line) on Milwaukee. Details and destination site will be announced on-location. Sign-making materials will be provided. Bring a little cash to help cover expenses. Visit www.iheardyoumalachi.org. **************************************

America seems to be cracking up.So many mentally ill people.I can't believe all these comments trying to turn Mark's suicide into a heroic act.All these so called friends of Mark who were really just casual acquaintances are now so concerned about him. Didn't anyone try to talk him out of killing himself?And now they're trying to glorify his sick act.I know someone who suffers from depression and he is thinking of copying Mark's suicide to get attention for his political cause.I wonder how many other sick and confused people will be influenced by Mark and maybe even kill themselves?Did Mark care about how his family would suffer from his selfish act? Mark needed to get help for his depression and I hope some people tried to help him.Please don't try to make Mark's suicide seem so noble.There are sick people who might want to copy him like the person I know.Remember Mark and cry for this deeply troubled man and for the missed oppurtunities of helping him through his depression.I know people who have committed suicide and there isn't anything noble about it.It's a desperate act of someone suffering great pain.My sympathy goes out to his family.

Hello, I'm a freelance writer doing doing an obit piece on Malachi. If you knew him and would like to share an opinion or memory, please get in touch. My email is nickflop@gmail.com. Thanks.

Thank you so much for your information. Your Dad kept His problems to himself. For the three years I knew Him he Never Talked as if he even had problems. He was a great friend I will miss Him always. I just wanted to make sure his requests were carried out, that's the least I could do for Him. I wrote to you in this thread before, I also wrote His Co-worker. Be strong, many people are pulling for you. Always remember no matter what He didn't do as a Father he gave you the greatest gift of all LIFE. If you would like to contact me I put my e-mail on every post. Peter must have axcess to it, and I give Him permission to release it to you.

Act by 'martyr' to protest war in Iraq a futile gesture November 9, 2006 BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist http://www.suntimes.com/news/roeper/130292,cst-nws-roep09.article To Mr. Roeper, including everyone else who keeps REPEATING that this will not change the War in Iraq, I have this to say... Excuse me, but who are "you" to decide what is a considered to be a gesture in futility or not? Malachi Ritscher never said that by doing this act, the war in Iraq would end. He did however stand up for what his beliefs were, which is more than I can say for most people. Including you, with your weak words about him. A futile attempt to belittle someone I should say. Warm Regards, Tatiana

Thank you Tatiana and those many who had courage to see beyond the fear of the most unthinkable of self-projections. Thank you Nancy for the beautiful poetry, born by humility and compassion. Nothing is ever futile, let alone self-sacrifice. I see a clear line between finding an escape by a suicide and the making of a wake-up call, a door slam, most non-violent - to others, the most painful to oneself. Indeed, it is an act of a most enlightened of spiritual warriors. May the energy of this sacrifice save innocent lives, may the hero be remembered and may us all stay awake. It is all up to us - to hear Malachi. Peace be with you. Peace come to us.

Hey Hugo C...go fuck yourself

Scott November 10th - 9:46 p.m. Tell more, please.

Hello Malachi friends, The demonstration went well yesterday! We'll soon have pictures and news links up on the site. Our next focus will be on getting t-shirts out. I need some advice. We will be keeping the price on the t-shirts low and any leftover money will be used to cover our costs. But in the case that there were leftover money somehow or we ceased operations, we need to have a designated charity to give the money to. Does anyone know of a non-for-profit that supports new musicians? Please send any ideas to jenn@iheardyoumalachi.org Thanks! Jenn

Has the body been identified? As meticulously set and done, why wasn't the stone prepared? He said he would chose the time. It wasn't posted. Do the police still have th body. I heard of some fellows getting burned once. Identification was made by a very slight corner of an ID card, and nothing more.... and the Phantom video...and there are a lot of wierdos who sound just like Malachi said there would be.,..promoting mental illness, people he didn't know or ever spoke to... Back thirty years ago, what happened to revolutionaries like the Chicago seven? There are no gangs in Chicago? Who sues the city and gets paid and gets by with it? or, gets by with it? I mean, Malachi was the kind of guy that would hang a sign on himself that said 'shoot me', if he thought it would make a point, and that is about what he did, didn't he? How do we know he is not still alive and the body, if there was one, was not some vagabond or hobo? Just because he went off work and said 'have a nice life' to some fellow worker didn't mean he wasn't going to take his passport that he carried with him at all times and disappear to europe with all of the money. ...and come on...does the cover of the puzzle box say 'From three to four years'? Did you never read Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood'? I didn't, but I saw the movie, and I had a high school psychology class, and being a woman beater and not paying child support never made anyone a schizophrenic. Where are the medical records and ........what about the proper drugs? Does anyone know what they are? Or does everyone swallow whatever a pill-pushing showtime doctor lays on them? One thing about schizos, they don't know what they do when they are in their alter personality. Malachi, not Malachi 5, is the same as he ever was...which maybe had been a grievance to some, whether he calls himself cinnamon roll or pepper diaharea. I mean , who could compare his active life to theirs? Does everyone have as many interests that need cognizance? Or is he wierd because they just couldn't keep up with him? How do we know there wasn't foul play, and all of these big mouth guys are just playing on emotions, to distract the real issue? Who are they? Anything wrong with being an American these days? Suppose I said, ' Don't tread on me', the revolution has been and gone so what the hell is G.W. doing rubbing butt wipers with Tony Blair? Didn't anyone get the news about the two newspaper boys that started unravelling what happened to all of the money Sadam pumped out or Iran? ...and after getting wind that the Queen of England , G.W. , papa Bush, and the whole rest of the anybody who is somebody having their little mitts dirty in the matter stopped their investigation as soon as one of them was murdered, only two days after starting the investigation? Anything wrong with taking culture seriously? Where is the intelligence in the world? Out to lunch or just too busy to lead? Where were you when LIFE magazine covered the Democratic convention in 1968? Malachi was alive and his mind was very attentive. He was not a poser to the question. He spent his time thinking about ways of making his own non-pollutant petrol, a working class hero. Someone who knew his capacities and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. What does it mean to belong to MENSA? How many people have referred the matter to a pro-shrink about the matter? Whatever happened to Bobby Fischer? He is being persecuted all over the world by the U.S. government for his genius' opinion, and the fact that he would play non-diplomatic tournaments when the governement wanted to practice embargo. I mean, this is beyond high-school counselling. This is the big time, not tiddly winks. Where are his websites? I want to see them. What is this bunky 'I heard you site' with a retarded face as an icon and you sell tee-shirts? R u for real? I mean...the music issue.....who has never known that there is music in Chicago, and that you are there or you are square? Anyway, I thought suicides didn't leave notes?

I had often gone to Rash Audio Potential for music listings and learned of Ritcher's self-immolation by way of the Chicago Reader. Concerned, I read from this very long thread. This appears to be a truly sad series of events, in certain cases for those that were acquainted with Ritscher, but primarily for those that were in obviously complicated familial relationships with him. I hope that everyone within his sphere needing healing actively seeks and gets just that. In that sense then, his troubled actions can certainly be seen as having produced good. To those that have used this thread for various angles of political posturing (and, yes, Ritscher appears to have invited this), I would ask you to reflect on the obviously complicated story of this man, on which we all have reflected and commented. No-one on this thread has fully solved the puzzle of his life, actions and death. And I'd bet that Ritscher himself could not have done so. Similarly, many many things in life defy easy compartmentalization, despite appearances. In my opinion, in the face of a horribly complicated life and world, the answer is not rigid thinking - left,right or middle - but simply love for your fellow human beings. It has been said so many times before but seems alwasy to need re-stating.

>>In my opinion, in the face of a horribly complicated life and world, the answer is not rigid thinking - left,right or middle - but simply love for your fellow human beings. It has been said so many times before but seems always to need re-stating.<<

Hi everyone, Malachi's parents and siblings have put together a family statement which they asked me to post on the website. The link is: http://www.iheardyoumalachi.org/family.html Luz, Jenn

"he had requested cremation (done)..."

Malachi is an inspiration precisely because he thought about what he wanted to do and did it, with a painful clarity and determination and to summon an uncomfortable awakening in others. We have a responsibility to try to discern for ourselves what we must do, morally, tactically... and act on our best information and judgment. He knew why he was choosing the death he did, and, in part, it is already speaking loudly about the problem of corporate media inflicted silence. When a person burning themselves alive alongside a freeway with a thou shalt not kill sign beside them generates almost no corporate media coverage... regardless of the state of mind of the person sacrificing themself... there are bigger problems surrounding them. They're just taking notice... loudly, brightly. Thank you Malachi. And, if you're out there, can you fuck with a few of the assholes that seem to be running this world? Even a kick in the shins every day at 1p CT would be a start. May the sane spirit awake in the hearts and hands of the living.

funny thing about living, one needs to maintain that sense of superiority over death, and thus over others, because we consume the world and everyone needs someone to walk on. Dying necessitates giving up that certain egoism and surrendering to the minute glimpse of what we are in the history of man. Let death in, let us love again.

Hi Verlisse, your use of the four letter word is rather distasteful and your ramblings are somewhat confused,but your anger is evident.Insulting people with vulgar words who you don't agree with is is no way to have a debate. Please grow up!

For some reason we feel compelled to pass judgment on this man's action -- to approve or disappove, to find him saintly and selfless or sick and suicidal. But perhaps the power of such an act lies partly in the fact that it cannot be easily classified and thus tamed.

Hugo, you're not my type. Debates are for sophists, but used more modernly for insipid congenital idiots that can't concentrate on more than two words at a time, people as stupid as a board, like George W. Bush, for example. 'Fuck' is cop-bait. You are too much of a pussy to be one or the other. This is a matter of sacred hearts. If you play with fire, you get burnt. Have you got balls? You have no idea of the dignity, nobility, and beauty that the person you would spew your paltry mess over perpetuated in this world, a man whose kindness is unequaled in the capacity of an ordinry man. Bow your head in reverance.

I'm just now learning about this and I feel ill. I could easily have gone the way of this brilliant, isolated, hopeless man. What makes me the most upset is the lack of news coverage. Granted, Pentagon TV won't cover these things. What would we do without the internet? People of heart and soul are banding together and saying "ENOUGH"..... There's hope, people. The Republicrats can't do it. The PEOPLE can. Put your money where your mouth is. Give small amounts to progressive groups that spread the word. Boycott Wal-Mart, the Gap, and all sweat shops. Buy green! Get back to your spiritual center and pray your butt off! I hate to use Malachi's death as a soapbox....but his death has to mean something! This is an opportunity to spread the word that "THIS SHIT HAS TO STOP NOW".....One of my particular vehicles is 11-11TV.....Google it. Visionaries who see the upcoming planetary shifts and are helping others prepare for them. It's all GOOD! Information is seeding this planet so fast heads are spinning. I'm 54, I lived on Ashbury Street. I've licked envelopes, been arrested, marched, you name it, now for 38 years now and that's just THIS lifetime. Check out 2012, guys. Let's get our backs up again..... we're in the end zone here.

11-11tv is just one particular international site for people who see the number 11 everywhere. I've been seeing it since 1978...... I'm not nuts. 11 seems to be the most common code "word" used....there are tens of thousands of people seeing it. I'm not pushing anything.....just know there are lots more who don't know what it means..........

The loonballs are rapidly multiplying here now, Peter. Might be time to disable this thread.

If he wanted to prove a point... he most certainly did...death is the easiest way out of a conversation. Most of us will read the story of his death, sip our coffee and take one more bite of our egg mcmuffins before we turn the page to the sports/stocks section and go tsk tsk. Life is not a spectator sport...it is full contact and to think that someone is mentally stable by believing a flamable suicide is justified so that it will either a) speed up peace in the middle east b) change national policy c) give everyone a second and pause to reflect may help his family and friends sleep better but the truth is mental health is everyones concern and to ignore someones patterns of depression and then lumo those sessions up as a patriotic meloncholy leaves me ill. How long did this mans family friends, employers, social workers and doctors leave their heads in the sand? Worse than negligence is the stance of non-responsibility. I hope they reflect on in-actions.

You all are vey right, this was a sad thing. But notfor the reasons you set out. As I write this I know that I'll get flamed from all sides. His death was a waste. In thw end it will be forgotten. A few will remember it....but that is all. You have to quite ill to set yourself on fire...and his son said he was quite ill. The really sad thing is that one of his last statements was that he could do this and go to God in peace....lack of understanding here...i'm afraid he want be going to God....this should give te believers of realitive truth a really good chance to rant.

Malachi Ritscher felt that his death would carry a positive message for the world. I disagree. I will say this: life is a precious gift, not to be thrown away or spent aimlessly. Read Robert Monroe's book "Far Journeys" sometime. He gives a good idea of what some humans experience when they go out there into the universe thinking one thing will happen and it is surely another. One of the best things he says is that we, as humans will always continue on, DOING SOMETHING, even after we have given up our physical body. I think it is unfortunate that Malachi was an alcoholic, which it said in the article, and did not have a chance to get sober. Then he could have continued to do some positive work here. JMHO...

He had an estranged son with grandchildren. Divorced. No one "knew" him. He was a loner. Sounds like classic depression to me. He killed himself. He took the one thing in this world that is sacred and spit on it with gasoline. It's a shame he thought that was the answer. If only some of you that speak so highly of him had been there when he needed you most. Perhaps the world wouldn't be judging him as a suicidal nut case now. Instead you give validation to what he did, and honestly, no matter what you are protesting this is not worth it. Suicide is never the answer, especially not to something you aren't going to affect with this kind of action anyway. There lies his insanity... suicide for no reason but thinking there is a reason. The world will go on, media coverage or not.

I cannot condone the actions of Malachi Ritscher. To take ones God given life for whatever reason is a waste. If he felt that passionate about the war he should have continued with life. I also must ask where was Malachi and others that agree with him on the war, while the many thousands of innocent men, women and CHILDREN were being brutally tortured to death by Sadaam Hussein. Where are the protest for the genocide going on in the world today. Don't hide behind the war and protest against just the United States. There is plenty of evil in this world to protest against.

I guess the moral of the story is to take your medication and you won't commit suicide. At least there is one less mental case walking the streets.

How sad that a person could be so tragically wrong. Because of his actions, it makes it easier for the people who would immolate me and the people I love to do so....of course Malachai won't be here for it. Not only a fool, but a dangerous one, and thankfully no longer one who is breathing. AMF.

This is a great example of Darwin's Theory. He was mentally weak and now he's gone.

You know absolutely nothing about the workings of Darwin's Theory. Yeah, the guy's on fire and burns all the way up and doesn't try to save himself. Sounds pretty weak to me. I'll bet you think a guy who gets tasered repeatedly can just get up and walk, too.

The guy wrote on his own "suicide note" linked by this site that he regrets