THE WASTING OF A TREASURE

Brian, more than any of his contemporaries, seemed to have invented the rock-and-roll lifestyle. It was as if he had chosen to become the Crowned Prince of Stonedness.  This role required that Jones remain constantly high.                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                  ETHAN RUSSELL

In 1962, Brian Jones initiated a blues band he named the “Rollin’ Stones.”  His IQ of 135 may have contributed to his ability to pick up a new instrument and play it well within half an hour.  It was because of Brian’s musicianship that The Stones created a sound unique to the ‘60’s.  He also excelled on guitar, his favorite being a teardrop-shaped prototype Vox Mark VI.

As Mick and Keith emerged as songwriters, Brian watched his band stray from its blues roots.  Depressed, he resorted to extreme drug and alcohol abuse.  In June 1969, Mick and Keith “fired” Brian from The Stones.  One month later, he drowned in his swimming pool.  Some say accident, some say murder, but for some, 3 July 1969 truly was “the day the music died.”  This is my tribute to Brian.

THE WASTING OF A TREASURE

Regarding the untimely death of Brian Jones
28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969

one man,
young, but spent
heir to a threadbare future
blond and beautiful
black and blue

he purchased his dreams,
lavish, eccentric, excessive
trifled away his limited time,
the passing of his days
shrouded in matte black

one man,
young, distracted,
disillusioned by life
harmony corrupted to discord
diamond diminished to dross

he fashioned a chord
he shone like the sun
but light exposed truth
he escaped to comfort
in a self-induced shadow

he sacrificed himself
to extravagance,
directed by vices
he slighted the treasure,
laden with the ashes of dreams,
he sank deep

in the depths I found him
he cried all the time
I saw him in a teardrop