[creedwisdom]

i am not really surprised, but rather shocked by the "attack" tone by mark and flip against stapp. it is hard to think back on all the times scott talked so glowingly of them, the unspoken closeness he felt w/his creative partner--i have always felt that scott looked up to mark from day 1, saw him as so cool, wanted to be like him, near him, since he experienced such struggle to fit in. how betrayed scott has to feel in this time!

the interview sounds, in some sense, like one with whiny, disgruntled fans rather than creative partners who struggled and leaned on one another together as they grew from pooling minimum wages and passing colds to and fro as they played for laundromat openings to rise to become the biggest selling rock band. the 1st leg of the weathered tour sold out almost instantaneously, then scott was hurt, fans got mad, and didn't forgive scott, and the entire rest of the tour became a tormented struggle. sure seems like mark & flip were right there in the throng. where's the loyalty??

as i've said before, my feeling is that scott SHOULD NEVER discuss chicago/the end of the tour PUBLICLY AT ALL! dreams die hard, and such a discussion would not only be inexplicably painful, but would violate the privacy and lives of his son and his family. no one has a right to something so sacred. all at once scott lost the ideal of his family, he lost his health, he lost his fans who could not realize the sacrifice of body and mind he was making, and perhaps, it seems, he felt he no longer had the support of two who had once been closest to him. they, too, may have been lost. No wonder he fell off the edge??!! who wouldn't have?

all great bands are rife with the love/indifference battle. but it takes all members to create greatness, and all are part of the demise. statements like , "stapp always seemed to have the problem.", keywords=ALWAYS & PROBLEM, are insanely petty & unrealistic. those really are some angry "bullets" aimed dead center at stapp.

every human needs forgiveness, and despite his claim, mark has not come to that place. he is a guitar god, but needs to nurture a little humanity.

blessings to all, tresa