Blog from a band that Cliff was friends with back in the old-school hardcore scene of NYC Cliff Heller- Rest in Peace On December 30th a friend of Six and Violence passed away. Cliff Heller from New York died in a skydiving accident on December 30th in Arizona. For those of you that knew him, you know how sad this is--for the rest, well, he was a true renaissance man--one of those rare characters who was a genius and could succeed in mainstream life and be a total radical freak and get away with it-- a true genius (and Subgenius). The story in the Staten Isalnd papers; http://www.silive.com/obituaries/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1168003836266840.xml&coll=1 I had not been in touch with Cliff for a long time, but my hazy memory recalls some great times spent with him and his wife Cathy in the heady days of college and post college NYC. I distinctly remember my firt impression of Cliff at Stony Brook--maybe because of his major in electrical engineering or god knows what I just presumed he was a geek--and then I quickly learned that not only could this guy hold his own in terms of caustic wit (perhaps outdoing ME!) he was also a bona-fide Church of the Subgenius type. Now Stony Brook in 1986 or whenevr I met him did not have many people who were hip to the Subgenius thing--I had been turned onto it via Devo and the "Book" which Jim Starace's older brother had from the 70's---so when I met a guy like Cliff, he stood out! I later realized what godddamn genius Cliff was--I was just figuring out my way around the metaphysical universe and he already had it mapped! I mean REALLY--and yet he was also a warm and straightforward guy. It was an honor to have him respect Six and Violence and have his smiling face at a gig. Hell, he probably could have formed his own band and done it way better than us--and yet he was a humble and supportive guy. I was lucky to have Cliff out to my my beach spot in Riverhead--a place I only have a few friends out to, and my girlfriend and I had Cliff and Cathy over to party at our flat in Setauket. These were heady days--I was on a pretty deep trip towrds self discovery, and to have people like Cliff in my orbit was very formative for me. I doubt he benefitted as much from me, but who knows! He was the intelligensia and COOL as far as Stony Brook went. I wish I had those converstaions on video. Cliff was one of the first guys I knew to get a propoer New York apartment, and to get a real job (while I was out driving a delivery van!)--he was one of my forst peers to get married--I was a bit in awe of all that grown up stuff. As I got more into a drunken haze in the post college years, New York was a blur of total mayhem--I remember many mental snapshots of hanging out with Cliff, but I was all over the place. I remember Cliff and Cathy being quite forgiving of some rather insane drunken behavior on my part at a party at their flat-- crazy stuff of youth---of course NOTHING phased Cliff---he was always quite amused it seemed. He had a 100% open mind and thrill for life. Which brings us to skydiving--I had mostly stayed in touch with Cliff's ex wife Cathy over since maybe the early 90's--and I had no idea Cliff was so into sky-diving. Obviously this was something that he was WAY into as he had somewhere between "4000 and 7000" jumps--- I'm not good at math but that would strike me that he was jumping out of planes on a pretty frequent basis! In my shock and sadness to process that "Cliff died" to the more semi-absurd "Cliff died SKYDIVING" I have to say, that totally sucks since skydiving is one of those elective things, not necessary to one's survival except on the existential plane (which was very important to Cliff). I guess I am getting more conservative in my old age. I guess I feel that since I feel that I have cheated the Grim reaper so many freaking times I will NOT ask for trouble. No skydiving for me, or anyone else in the Six and Violence as far as I can tell--waking up alive is a real thrill for us at age 40 since some of us are in fact dead already (RIP Paulie). Ray Amico and I wrote the Six and Violence song "Die for Fun" exploring this concept, albeit in a crude way. Ray wrote most of the lyrics and he references every extreme thrill that humans do, from jumping out of airplanes to jumping motorbikes, to running with the bulls, etc. I threw in some lyrics to reference other life-testing sports like drinking and drugs. In many ways, it is all the same. The philosophical question posed in the song is "why would we DIE for fun". When you have time read the article on Wikipedia.org about "boredom"--it is actually a key element of the human experience and a key motivator in our choices, sometimes to the extreme. So I sit here mourning the loss of Cliff Heller, and OUTSTANDING human being--not to put any one life on a higher pedestal than another, but, you know, we all do it. It always seems that good die young and the schlubs just drain the rest of us survivors. You know the deal. But I do have to think back to my reaction hearing about Cliff's death on the phone, and in my deepest Queens accent, saying "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANNA JUMP OUT OF A FUCKING AIRPLANE FOR ?????!?!??!?!" No offense to those people that like to jump out of airplanes, but seriously, with terrorists, diseases, George Bush, bad drivers and all forms of hideous monsters out to kill your ass every day, do you NEED to test the limits??? Well, as I was reading posts about Cliff, I found he had answered my question in advance (as you will se from other posts, apparently Cliff was actually smarter than everyone else and did always have the last word without ever being annoying) Cliff wrote about the possibility of death skydiving: "Most families of skydivers have already come to terms with the possibility. If not, they will. They are your family - they share some of your genetic traits - they WILL understand. If you are talking about your extended skydiving family, they know that the risk of pain and loss are part of the full spectrum of experiences in life." Very existential Cliff-- I wish you hadn't had to take it so far, but then it was a stupid accident, and stupid accidents happen everywhere my brother. At least you were here, at least you actually lived life to the fullest instead of just talking shit like most of us do. You did more in 40 some odd years than many men combined.
