If You Really Wanna Know What Happened To Jay Bennett...

• Hi, I wished to ask if I could possibly quote you for my college report?

• Elsewhere, I posted a story about Jay's Good Records in-store from his <em>The Palace</em> tour so many years ago. Thought you Dallasites would like it. I would've liked to see Noah Bailey say something about Jay's passing--hell, I'm pretty sure it was his copy of <em>Being There</em> that I burnt in the first place--but so be it. http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2009/05/26/jay-bennett-1963-2009

• Nah.. I agree with Anon. No facts. Just pointing out absurdity. And he didn't check it, it was forwarded to him. There ain't nothing wrong with getting ideas from wiki about subjects before writing about them. Its a good launching point. He writes mostly about local music and there really ain't any wiki sites for many local bands. Pete is fine. This is like all those damn sites where I read a review and then you got all these bitches pissing and moaning the preference of crunchy or creamy peanut butter. Quit yr graphic design job and start a band folks. Dig out that sand from yr vagina.

• there are no facts here to check. that's the point.

• Jason, if this was meant to be a dig at Wiki, perhaps in the interest of fair disclosure, Pete should tell us how many times a day on average he actually uses it to "research" or "fact check" whatever it is he is writing about.

• Goddamn. They were just pointing out the collective unconsciousness of wikipedia. It hardly has anything to do with any of the parties involved. What a bunch of bitches. You sound like a bunch of old women. Maybe Lilles is upset because an old dude with dreads died and he hopes he gets better press when he goes. If thats the case, he should keep writing those stories for the DC9 at night blog.

• he died of a broken heart :'(

• m and m right, right all anybody knows about jeff tweedy is from one vanity project done almost 10 years ago-that's entirely what anybody would base their opinions of him on -not the years of 'insightful' interviews or his abrasive, arrogant stage presence, or his obtuse, meaningless lyrics that actually usually say much less than a smashing pumpkins song - and nobody was ever actually accusing wilco of having anything to do with what happened to jay-that was a bad joke but a joke nonetheless...... and don't be mad about that bag of baking powder i sold you -i used it to buy wilco tickets!

• Daryl, your post is EXACTLY why it was irresponsible to reprint that garbage from Wikipedia. People like you and Ilona (lil black cloud, aka the bipolar Expo Park coke dealer) are now prosecuting Jeff Tweedy and the guys in Wilco in the court of public opinion - when all you or anybody else knows about the band is what you've seen in that documentary. You don't know how Jay Bennett died. Nobody does yet.

• i'm with anon at 11:20 this is the only thing i've laughed at all day. I knew Jay and will miss him and that line on wikipedia was hilarious and most of you are dumb.

• and freedman makes a late rally!

• Seriously, I'm as huge a fan of Jay as anyone, but this blog was obviously a shot at Wikipedia more than anyone else. Damn you pete for your sense of humor and daring to post something about bad about Wikipedia, the most obviously true source of information of our time! (That last part was sarcasm, just to let everyone know)

• pete! how dare you have a sense of humor! i'm appalled. no, really. appalled. uh-oh, should really be in italics?

• Great musician. (however) Obviously not easy to get along with (see the movie, you know the type) He had been out of the band longer than he was in the band. I am sorry that he is dead, but I don't think it has a thing to do with Jeff Tweedy. It's not Jeff Tweedy's fault musicians don't have health insurance. Perhaps if he knew how to get along with the main songwriter and leader of the band, he would still be in said band. If you wanna be mad at someone, be mad at Diana Ross. Next time you listen to "Back in my arms again" change the lyrics from "Flo she don't know cause that boy she loves is a romeo" to "Flo she don't know cause she died on welfare". Still it's really sad and that's all.

• thank god for darryl on this one you guys are all hypocritical stone throwing idiots -except for liles -he's just the guy that can clear out a party probably faster than anybody you know (you should charge for this service) what you guys should be talking about is how bad wilco has SUCKED BALLS ever since bennett 'left' the band and what a prick tweedy is for letting the whole thing air out in that snoozeamentry film 'I AM SUCCEEDING IN SHOWING THE WORLD WHAT A DOUCHE I AM' -poor tweedy battles the industry and wins! rip jay and lay off pete -esp the idiots about 'content theft' -good god almighty

• wow, this here's a lot to do about nothing. bottom line, wilco kinda did kill poor jay. he was so vital to tweedy's success yet he got kicked out like a dog and it was all there for everyone to see in that damn movie. i loved that line jay had about his solo album "my beloved enemy." when someone asked him if the title was a reference to tweedy, bennett said, "if so, it would have been called "my fucking enemy." anyhow, his death so early in life is sad, but lambasting pete over a wikipedia joke is mountain out of a mole hill territory.

• I agree. Bad move, Pete.

• Massive props to Anon 3:56... As for Bob and others, I can't help but think that Mr. Bennett would have giggled at the Wiki entry. I met the man once, long ago, and he seemed to have an extraordinary sense of humor. It was a giggle-worthy entry, and a good giggle is hard to beat when you're dealing with the loss of a talented musician who was so deserved of far more attention than he ever gleaned.

• This baseless and unfounded accusation has now been deleted from the Wikipedia page dedicated to Jay Bennett. Thanks to Anon at 3:56 for offering an appropriate and humane study of this gifted musician.

• Wow. Absolutely flabbergasted that you would choose to repost something so vile and insensitive... regardless of your motivation for having done so.

• liles thanks for the intelligent response. you've opened my eyes. guess we're done here.

• Anon, I think I get it. The Dallas Observer apparently isn't a real newspaper and we should never take any of this stuff seriously. Thanks for clearing that up for us.

• i'll concede that it's probably in poor taste, but this blog covers pop culture in no small amount, which, in and of itself, isn't lacking in poor taste.. i don't understand what kind of news people were expecting here. it's the non-print "blog" of a freely distributed local advert conduit written by borderline volunteers. people seem shocked to see something off-color here...

• I didn't see this email from Jay Bennett's mailing list posted here, but thought it might have a place in this discussion: Our good friend Jay Walter Bennett left us this weekend. As news hits the wires so instantaneously these days, we thought it was important to share some thoughts about our friend and brother before any rumors got out of hand. First, let it be known that Jay was in a really good place these past few years. He had returned to the area he loved--the �Twin Cities,� Champaign-Urbana--and resurrected his studio, Pieholden Suite Sound, with the assistance of many dear friends and allies. Jay had been busy making music. He recently had released an intimate record entitled �Whatever Happened I Apologize,� and he was looking forward to wrapping up his new work, �Kicking at the Perfumed Air.� Proud of finishing a trilogy of records, including �Bigger Than Blue,� �The Beloved Enemy,� and �The Magnificent Defeat,� Jay loved the balanced yet ironic album titles. He was also looking forward to engineering and releasing Titanic Love Affair�s previously unreleased record, as well as starting work on �The Palace at 4 a.m. Part II,� the follow-up to his post-Wilco debut with Edward Burch. �Jay the Academic� had also reemerged, pursuing his umpteenth degree at the University of Illinois, and he was thrilled to be t aking graduate classes again. As many of you may be aware, Jay had finally found the courage to put his Wilco issues out into the public forum. After a long, four-year process (and therefore very much unrelated to his impending hip surgery), formal filings against Wilco were finally initiated. This task was very emotional for Jay. He was a �lover,� and this confrontation was not easy for him. With the exception of his final period in Wilco, Jay looked back on his time in the band with great fondness and pride. While he was dismayed that some people may have formed a narrow perception of him via the �documentary,� all who truly knew him understood that with most entertainment media, editing is usually constructed for dramatic effect and presents only a small part of a larger, more complex reality. So, please spend some time this week engaging in Jay�s favorite passions: listen to a Nick Lowe album, watch some Mythbusters on Discovery, play Warren Zevon�s �Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,� rent Pay It Forward (one of his favorite movies), write a song with the TV on and the sound off, and focus on how Jay always concluded his communications: �Love, Jay.�

• pathetic and shameful posting this stuff. not to mention insensitive to jays family, friends and fans. you are a hack, pete freedman.

• Anon, this "validation" (not in the literal sense, of course) occurs over time. Wikipedia is fluid; no doubt the original notation concerning Bennett's death will change once an offical cause of death is determined. By reposting this item on the DC9 blog, this original malicious notation will now exist in the Observer archives forever. At the very least, referencing Bennett's death in a satirical manner shows very poor taste at this particular point in time. The current headline now stands as an arrogant declaration of fact; otherwise the word "Really" would either appear in italics, or would have quotation marks around it. However you look at this, it's way too soon to be making light of the situation.

• henry, please stop pretending that this is the damn WSJ.

• i don't care for the blog post, but only a jackass would sue over that. Is that the answer to everything? Tie up our courts with stupid, money-grabbing lawsuits?

• Great JOURNALISM, hack! Dragging Literary Lake for something so, obviously, false and to waste digital ink casting your self-righteous Ego onto the coattails of Death... makes you seem as cognitive as a Muskrat. I hear the National Enquirer might have an opening. Good luck with that.

• I'd expect this kind of careless posting from a fan blog. But from a newspaper? Is this what you're doing to compete with the news blogs? You should be ashamed of yourself as a journalist for posting this drivel. But my guess is you're a sorry excuse for a journalist or you wouldn't have done it in the first place.

• geez.. im as critical as most regarding the content of posts around here, but, gaw. lighten up. i don't see anything being particularly validated here. move on.

• I wouldn't want to be in the office once Wilco's publicist sees this. I can't imagine the band will be too accommodating when the Dallas Observer submits an interview request for the upcoming tour. In fact, if I were Jeff Tweedy and the other members of the band, I would partner with Wikipedia to sue the living daylights out of the Dallas Observer for libel and defamation of character. Calling somebody a murderer? Pretty serious allegation, even by proxy. To repost something like this without permission from the source- and with only the words "Yeeeesh, right?" provided as context- is just beyond bush league. You don't know any of the specifics of the legal situation between Bennett and the band, and you're obviously too lazy to attempt to provide any measure of backstory. To you, apparently, the story lies in the fact deranged people are allowed to post anything they want on Wikipedia. (That's news?) Thanks to this post, Village Voice Media has now "validated" that particular deranged person with a wider audience. There are hundreds of Wilco fans in this area who are still grieving over the loss of one of their favorite musicians. The guy isn't even in the ground yet and you're already reducing him to your tabloid-angle bullshit. Poor editorial decision, to say the least.

• Lame.

• This content is associated with the Dallas newspaper? CREEPY. I agree this is shameful. Slow news day? Your time will be better served shopping for jobs on Monster.com. Try to find one where you are out of the public eye

• Bucks sent this out that morning. I had his email and this grab before I even heard the news of his death.

• You should be ashamed for reposting this nonsense. It's bad enough that you lift most of your content without authorization from other sources, but literally cut-and-pasting an entry from Wikipedia (under any circumstances) is ridiculous. RIP, Jay. At least you won't have to deal with the online character assassins and insensitive media parasites any longer.

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