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...

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...

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/7480...

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-h...

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...


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...

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.