From
"Il Messaggero" July 4th 1999
Mark Sandman's
death, Morphine's leader
His
last words: <<Thank you Palestrina>>
<<Thank
you Palestrina. It's a wonderful evening, it's great to be here and I wanna
dedicate you a super sexy song>>.
The last words
pronounced by the Morphine's leader Mark Sandman at 11.15 pm of Saturday
evening, a few moments before dying, will remain impressed into the memory
of all the audience who attended the "In the name of rock" Festival. At
47 Sandman passed over in this way, with the bass guitar in his hand, under
the frightened eyes of the thousands of people which, never like this year,
crowded the Prince's Park. They saw him falling behind, while he was talking.
<<It seemed a joke - a fan explains - but when I saw the saxophonist
to throw away the instrument and run onto him I felt my blood icing>>.
In a few seconds from the audience (standing motionless, in a respectful
silence) came out two male nurses (one from the Coronaric Division of Palestrina
Hospital) and a doctor who rushed on Sandman.
After less than
5 minutes, an ambulance came in through the free road prepared by the organizers,
but it was too late.
Police and doctors
confirm: any use of strange substances, it has been a natural death. That
strange pain to the shoulder who afflicted Sandman since a couple of days
it was the hidden signal of an incoming cardiac arrest, a cardiac arrest
which ended his life in the middle of a concert that he really wanted to
play. <<It's all so incredible - one of the members of the "Nel nome
del rock" association tells, touched - He was a great man. During the two
days he spent in Palestrina he wanted to visit everything, he was in raptures.
He also made us change the schedule: he wanted to sing half an hour more
than our agreement >>. While he's talking, Enrico pick up the faded flowers,
under the stage. <<He wanted them - he continues - It seems it was
a habit, but today it has all a different meaning>>.
Among the "Nel
Nome del rock" boys there are many red eyes and bitterness. There's the
will of give up the last festival evening.
But Queens of
the Stone Age are coming from U.S.A.
<<Don't
stop everything - Dana Colley, Morphine's saxophonist, recomends - Mark
wouldn't have wanted. He lived for the music, he died with the music.
Da
"Il Corriere della Sera" 4 Luglio 1999
E'morto sul palco
della rassegna «Nel nome del rock», a Palestrina (Roma).
S'è accasciato
davanti al microfono e a duemila spettatori, con il suo basso
a due corde stretto
tra le braccia, ed è arrivato già senza vita al vicino
ospedale. Mark
Sandman, 47 anni, fondatore della cult band americana di low
rock Morphine,
è stato stroncato da un infarto dopo avere interpretato una
manciata di canzoni.
Pubblico e organizzatori sconcertati. Esclusa dai
carabinieri l'ipotesi
che la morte possa essere collegata all'assunzione di
stupefacenti.
Considerato uno
dei migliori bassisti d'ogni tempo, Mark Sandman (originario
di Boston) aveva
fondato i Morphine nel '90. Prima aveva fatto parte dei
Treat Her Right,
gruppo dal carattere blues. I Morphine sono una band molto
particolare,
dalle sonorità inquietanti, ipnotiche, fumose e intense, in
bilico tra rock
'n' roll, jazz e cantautorato, e dall'impostazione
strumentale alquanto
singolare. Infatti, oltre al bassista e cantante
Sandman, ne fanno
parte il sassofonista Dana Colley e il batterista Billy
Conway (che ha
sostituito Jerome Deupree). Quattro gli album all'attivo
della band: «Good»,
«Cure for pain», «Yes» e «Like swimming»
del '97,
pubblicato dalla
Dreamworks di Spielberg, Geffen e Disney.
A Sandman piaceva
raccontare un aneddoto riguardo al nome del suo gruppo:
«Una volta,
passando una frontiera, un poliziotto mi chiese perché ci
chiamavamo Morphine.
Gli risposi che era un omaggio a Morfeo, il dio greco
dei sogni...
E allora il poliziotto commentò: "Proprio una buona
risposta!"».
From"Il
Corriere della Sera" July 4th 1999
He died on the
stage of the «Nel nome del rock» Festival, in Palestrina (Rome).
He felt down
in front of the microphone and two thousand people, with his two chords
bass guitar in his hands, and he arrived lifeless to the near hospital.
Mark Sandman,
47 years old, founder of the american low rock cult band Morphine, has
been killed by an heart attack after singing a few songs. Organizer and
audience astonished.
Police excluded
that the death could be linked to drugs overdose.
Mark Sandman
(from Boston), judged one of the best bass players ever, founded Morphine
in 90s. Before he was with Treat Her Right, a bluesish group. Morphine
are a very peculiar band, with hypnotic and uneasy sounds, emotional and
thick, between rock 'n' roll, jazz and author's singing, and with a very
peculiar instrumental impostation. Infact, besides the bass player and
singer Sandman, there are also Dana Colley, the saxophonist and Billy Conway,
drummer (who replaced Jerome Deupree). There are four albums out from this
band:: «Good», «Cure for pain», «Yes»
and «Like swimming» from '97,
edited by Dreamworks,
the Spielberg, Geffen & Disney's label.
Sandman enjoyed
to tell a short story about his band's name:
«Once upon
a time, crossing a border, a policeman asked me why our band's name was
Morphine. I answered that it was an homage to Morfeo, the greek dream's
god... So the policeman concluded: "Really a good answer!"».
