Golden Suicides: More Interesting - and Cultured - than Britney/K-Fed Baby Mama Drama
As some of you know, during my trip to Albuquerque this past weekend, I accidentally left my O’Hare-purchased copy of Vanity Fair in the seatback pocket as I deplaned in Denver…and I was engrossed in an article that I wanted so badly to finish that I bought another copy for $4.50 in Denver. This post is not about that article.
But it is about another article in the same issue. And a gripping article it was - with all the mainstays of contemporary pop journalism: love, intrigue, the “underground” art world, Scientology…
Here’s the link to the original VF article: The Golden Suicides
What really caught my attention about the article was the fact that the author is the ex-wife of the “priest” who, in the retelling of the story, befriended the ill-fated couple and rented the church rectory to them for a time after they moved to NYC following heightened suspicions on their part that the Church of Scientology was stalking them. Seems a little weird, no? The story itself is rather mysterious and certainly the couple had more than a few issues, but I found the writing to be ethereal in a way…with a touch of Romeo & Juliet and a dash of “whoa, this is so weird, it’s cool” - in an extreme hipster sort of way.
Anyway, lots of hipsters have since begun to investigate the deaths. See here, for example. Or here, if you want a more personal take on the couple, including links to his artwork - such as his work on Punch Drunk Love.
