Moon over Shannon

by Andeh

Posted to Stories on 2004-05-15 12:51:00

I remember the first time I saw them. It was significant, because I was young. Now, the person I was going with was an old concert veteran. I, I was an amateur.
A “select few” from our school had gotten wind of this concert, and were going to go. Actually, I think only a handful of us were into the band enough to go. While we were all going seperately, we were damn excited.
Well, we got to the concert. For some, it would be their first.
I went in with Concert Veteran, and looked around at this venue. Small, yet wide. Dark and corridored and murky and damp. We’d missed the opening act, as many often do.
There he was on stage. Shannon Hoon.
He was a bit mystical, a skinny form of a hippy shape, with his long, reddish hair draped over his face, mumbling Southern drawling into the microphone, the songs of wonderment and peace.
There he was, and it was interesting to see someone we’d seen on tv, before, to like beyond just the video they played of bumblebees and joy.
The other music the band played was filled with sorrow, and pondering. It was beautiful stuff.
It was sheer magic to hear songs you’d only hear on tape, come to life.
I must have stood there barely able to move for over an hour, because being new to the concert scenes can make you transfixed.
I found friends from other schools there, and danced with them for the first time.

My crush was lost somewhere in a sea of arms and legs, as people attempted to gently mosh to the alternative “hippie” music.
I loved the other songs a lot better than “No Rain”.
I imagined later in life a time we’d all like to come across, to open a wide gate and come into a field of similar people whether they were in bee suits, or not.
Shannon sang about how he “grew from a seed to a tree”, and his wail was lovely.
He had a sheer presence, he was like a gentle music-note cascading Morrison.
After the concert, I was in awe, and shocked, and in a deep trance from being new to the whole concert scene.
The lights had gone on, the band had disappeared, and we all filtered out into the night’s parking lot.
I ran into my crush and their friends. We all had wide eyes and plastered big smiles. We knew we had just shared something special. We had all bought t-shirts. I found it really funny.

Ol’ Shannon and the gang were seen sporadically throughout the next few years. People would hear about Shannon taking drugs, or the band taking breaks, taking a long time on the next album, or so forth.
I read everything I could get my hands on, about the band, for I could connect with Shannon’s lyrics.
I got guitar magazines, and practiced some songs.
I saw a picture of his in one of the guitar magazines, him looking pitiful and bent over a mound of what looked like hash, his reddish greasy hair hung over his body, but you knew it was him. I stared at that pic a long time. I wondered about what was to come.
Not only were Blind Melon a great band, but most of the kids I’d gone to the concert with were now bonded with me for life. I now talked to my crush regularly, and became best friends with one of the other concertgoers. I guess that band made it even more special, to me.
Blind Melon came out with another album, and we the fans were ever so excited. They had a minor hit with “Galaxie” but we wanted more. Some were saying the band’s sound had changed. The band seemed to be mysteriously disappearing, and again. We were all wondering.
And Shannon left this earth, as a “Select” Few of other rockers have, on this earth. Many said it had been a drug overdose, but I’m not sure if it really was so. So will we ever know?
I’ll never forget the band. I got rid of that t-shirt before Shannon even passed on. But I had taken a picture of it, before I gave it away. I didn’t want to forget the memories.
Shannon, I will never forget the memories.
Dance on, and share your wonderful voice sing over us, in Heaven, lad.

“My mind is a mind that I have come to know
And my eyes can’t conceive a world that cannot grow”

“And then maybe you’d see why we don’t mind being blind
As i was as a little child
And I’m feeling better when i’m high
With a red light shinning on a little unity
I’ll probably be in a little while.”

(above quotes are
Shannon Hoon/Blind Melon
lyrics)






The Literary Kicks message boards were active from 2001 to 2004.