[NewMusic] RIP Michael Griffin

[arrington de dionyso]

This is a letter from Aral, Michael Griffin's daughter.  I'm not sure if many on this list knew Michael, he was based in Bellingham, WA for decades and played the electric violin in free jazz, free folk, noise, and death metal projects with intensity and abandon. He was and is a lovely, lovely man. 
 
 
Hi folks, I'm sorry to be telling you all this in such a relatively impersonal group email. Dad died early yesterday morning. It was very peaceful, and I think it happened as close to the way he wanted it to happen as Adam, Mom, and I could make it.  He decided last Wednesday that he wanted to come home from the hospital, so we worked with the hospital and the home health care agency to make that happen, and he came home on Thursday evening. Friday was a rough day, but he made it through. Sunday was rough again, and by Sunday night, we all knew which direction things were moving in. Our very dear friends Jordan and Corey were visiting that day, and at one point Sunday night, Dad asked us to take him out to the kitchen. So he sat around the kitchen table with us for a bit, and he had a few sips of coffee. It felt *so* good to be able to do that. Later that night, it became really clear that he was nearing the end, and we all just stayed with him in his room. Corey decided to stay, which was an amazing and wonderful thing for all of us, and we all sat around Dad's bed and held his hands and touched him, and we spent the night talking with each other and telling stories and laughing. When Dad had moments of lucidity, we told him what was happening and what we were doing: that he was at home in his bed, that we were there, that we were just being with him and hanging out.  At one point, he told us he was ready and asked us to take out the oxygen and the feeding tube, and we did, and we stayed with him until the end. It was so peaceful. He told us in the hospital that when he was ready, he wanted to be home, and he wanted to just get *really* comfortable and drift away. He talked about the Dylan Thomas poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and how alien it seemed to him to "rage" against dying. We made it the way he wanted as much as we could could, and he was surrounded by people who love him and that he loved. I want to thank you for the emails and the letters and cds in the mail. I read them to Dad, and he appreciated hearing from all of you.  We're not doing any kind of service or memorial right away. Adam had the *awesome* idea to turn his bedroom into a kind of memorial gallery for a while. So he's working on making it feel really comfortable, hanging art, making it a place that people can spend time with Michael. When we have that ready, I'll let people know, and folks can get in touch with us if they want to come and hang out for a while, in a low-key, have whatever kind of experience you want to have, kind of way.  Later, we're probably going to put together some kind of big memorial celebration party. I'd like to spread the word about that as widely as possible when we do, and I might ask for help with that. Also, if anyone has ideas about things to do for that, we're totally into having input from everyone. I can't imagine we'd be ready to do that for several months at least, so we're not feeling in a rush. Our energy for phone conversation is still pretty limited at this point, but I'll keep in touch with everyone by email as plans develop for this stuff. I'll probably be ready for some phone calls within a couple weeks, but for now there's a lot of adjusting to do. Also, feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might want to know. Anyone is welcome to email me if they want to be added to the email list for info about visiting and about the memorial stuff.  Again, I'm really sorry to have to communicate this so impersonally, but please know that your connections with Dad, and with me, are giving me a lot of comfort right now, and I send a lot of love out to all of you. Aral
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