Peace Out Options

[Tips]

I initially wrote this big text but I know no one cares. I still wanted to keep parts of it though, especially the part about Ed.

I joined this board in 2003.

I've been a huge fan of Live since 1997. Lakini's Juice is the first song from Live I had ever heard.

At first, it was the music I stopped liking (Birds of Pray and Songs from Black Mountain). My hopes came back with The Turn but then... you know.

And now all this shit that's going on! Accusations of rape against Hynes, accusations of physical and emotional abuse againt Chad T., Chad G. who seems to be sticking with Hynes, etc. It's all way too much. And from the outside, we're never, ever going to know the truth. All we will ever know is that there's a lot of very serious shit going on.

So fuck it, I'm following a band not a fucking soap opera and this is all too much for me.

Before I go, for what it's worth:

I apologize for talking about Ed like I knew what he was like and putting the blame solely on him for the past 10 years. I wish he would have been more vocal at the time so we could better understand his side, but seeing how he's handling things now, I now think he might have always been trying to keep it about the music and away from the drama and him firing the rest of the band seems to confirm this. He wants to move on with the music and let go of all the shit. I wish him the best.

I hope the very best for the victims. What they had and still have to go through is far worst than the bad soap opera going on around the band and they deserve to heal.

All of this shit could have happened in 1970 and it wouldn't have tarnished their legacy. But unfortunately, we live in an era where every thing needs to be public... so it's hard for me to listen to anything they've done, music about life and spirituality and love and not think about all of this. Maybe with time it'll pass but for now, Live's music is tainted for me.

I am no longer a fan of live and therefore no longer have any business being on this board.

Peace out

[Tips]

I hear you. It's almost not fun to follow them anymore -- shit is too serious and there are many reports of fans being threatened in direct messages for their opinions. What the band is going through is very serious, and it feels like the best thing to do as fans is to back away. I will likely continue to follow the drama because fansoflive.com is in my muscle memory, but it's not because the band's drama is fun -- It's more like a train-wreck I can't look away from, and the whole situation is very sad.

Wow I wasn't aware of that part (the threats). But yeah I hear you. I tried to keep coming here. At first, the drama was easy. Ed was mean, the rest of the band wanted to keep making music and so on.

Then what unfolded last summer was a curveball. It was not fun to see but ok fair enough. Chad T. got fired.

But now this shit is too heavy for me... I used to keep looking in the hope of it getting resolved (and Hynes getting fired) but this isn't going in a positive direction at all...

Ok it seems a little bit awkward to me...
You're telling us you've been a huge fan since 1997 and pointing out to their music, but because the talk on this board about the personal stuff of the band members and all the shit that comes with it, you suddenly decided to stop being a fan... ...What did the music do to you that made your choice?

I'm a fan for their music, that love will never die!

It has nothing to do with the talk about personal stuff on this board, which is just a conduit to real world events. The things I listed go beyond this board and in the real world. I stuck around during the The Turn era and there was a lot of shit going around here about Ed, Chris and the others. Hell I participated in that.

But rape, one band member sticking around with the person accused of rape... this is real shit, not just talk on a board.

If you're able to listen to the music regardless, then by all means go for it. I can't do that. They're not the first band I cut out of my diet because of really bad shit like that and I know they won't be the last. And every time it's heart wrenching especially for bands I've followed since I was a teenager. And this is especially true with a band like Live. You can't have songs about love and life and be involved in such horrible shit...