Malachi Ritscher

Today is the anniversary of the death of Malachi Ritscher. Those of you who read my old POL blog may remember my posts about him. Ritscher was a supporter and chronicler of the Chicago free jazz scene, and a fierce opponent of the war in Iraq. He committed suicide by self-immolation as a gesture of protest. His death was largely ignored by the media, though commentary from bloggers eventually led to some press discussion.

There's a Wikipedia page on Ritscher, which you can see here. There are a number of interesting links at the bottom of that page, including one to his self-written obituary, and another to a suicide note he called a "mission statement." Some of his musician friends--including Jim Baker, who was featured in a recent post here--are giving a "Concert for Malachi" in his memory this weekend.

I didn't know the man, but his death is incredibly sad to me. I think of him as another casualty of the war. I'm glad his friends are remembering him in a way he would have appreciated.