Remembering PeSt
R.I.P. Tempest Grace Gale
Click to viewPeSt playing with one of her homemade creatures at the Arts Wells Music Festival 2009 with Jeff Andrew
As feared and suspected, TemPeSt's death was indeed a murder. It has been a hard week for myself and a lot of the people I love. Pest wasn't just a friend, she was a fellow poet, musician, artists and creator. She was a part of our community and she was violently taken away from us. It is hard to see the faces of so many of my friends and community so broken by this... these are the people I love the most, the people I would give anything to never see hurt, or upset and yet here we all are in the throws of this madness. At least we've been here together, with each other and for each other.
News report from Friday, November 20th the day of her autopsy.
I have been to three wakes and done two performances in her honor this week. The funeral was today on Hornby, but due to work I could not make it. Another memorial will be held there next week which I hope to attend. Poets, musicians and friends have been flying in from all over Canada for support and to help support each other. There is a beauty and a power in knowing just how close this community is. We have all been here for one an other through this hard time and through all the sadness and anger there is so much love and strength. We are all lucky to have each other in this horrible time.
I still have bruises on my arms from the show I did on Saturday in her honor. It was one of my strongest performances ever- it was for her, for all of the ones I love who are hurt by this. I was rolling around on the ground, pounding my fists on the amps and the stage. It felt good... very healing. On Monday night the Vancouver Poetry Slam paid tribute to her along with many poets and musicians who had traveled from Victoria, Edmonton and even Winnipeg to creatively pay their respects. Alex (a.k.a. BlankSpace) and I performed her song "Sweet Oblivion" and afterward I performed a poem I wrote just the night before. It was the first thing I've been able to create since her death. I was shaking by the end of the performance, not because I was nervous, but because I was releasing so much through that poem. I felt a lot of her there, in that piece and I'm so glad I had the chance to share that.
The days are getting easier. I've been back to work since Monday and I am finally sleeping through the nights. I don't think I'll ever get over this- stuff like this sticks with you for your whole life- but I feel like I am adapting. I also feel like I've sent my kidneys and liver through hell this week. There's been a lot of whiskey and homebrew going around and I just want to thank my internal organs for putting up with me. And thank you all for putting up with me this week. I know I've been pretty distracted and jumping from city to city for various memorials and shows for PeSt. Thank you all for your understanding and for your love and support. I know a lot of you didn't know Tempest, but you still reached out a hand to me during this crisis. Thank you.
I leave you all with a video I randomly found a few months ago of Alex a.k.a. BlankSpace, Scott a.k.a. StrongCottonwoods and myself performing PeSt's song "Sweet Oblivion."
This is how I first became introduced to Tempest, it was through these boys and singing her song. Its a song about self medication, and speaking for myself I know I've found a lot of healing at the bottom of a bottle shared by friends this past week.