Blind Prophecy

I woke up this morning to really sad news from Michael at Salt Lake Metro. Our Arts & Entertainment editor, Eric Tierney, passed away last night. Michael told me it was kidney failure, but Valerie from The Center said that she was told it was liver damage from a good friend of Eric’s (apparently, he had hepatitis and didn’t know).

I was never really close with Eric, but we were friends and I admired him a great deal. He had amazing wit, turning a boring calendar section of the newspaper into a delightful read. One of my favorite turns of phrase he would use was to refer to Salt Lake as “the City by the Pestilent Sea.” He worked really hard to cover a variety of entertainment topics, from the Oscars to visual arts, dance, and theatre. He passionately cared about the arts, an actor and film producer himself who waited tables and wrote for us to support his arts habits.

The last time I ever saw him was earlier this month. Valerie and I had a lunch meeting at Red Rock Brewing Company, where he worked. Our waiter brought over a stuffed portabella mushroom that we didn’t order, then informed us that Eric had seen us coming in and had sent it over. I remember hugging him in thanks.

He was starring in a local production of Love! Valor! Compassion! and his picture has been in the Tribune promoting the show. I had promised myself I’d go see the production, but this weekend and all the inherent wackiness of Bob’s Event got in the way.

Last year during Sundance, I bumped into Eric often. He delighted in covering the events and seeing the movies. He even worked his way into the VIP lounge during the Scissor Sisters concert to meet the band and Alan Cummings.

The title of this entry “hitting home” is important. Lately, folks like official homphobe state sentator Chris Buttars have been making a big deal about how much more likely queer people are to die from various diseases. Using questionable statistics, they claim that homosexuality is unhealthy because us queers are more likely to die of AIDS, alcohol abuse, etc. It upset me to hear these sorts of claims in a kind of abstract, political way… but now, having lost a friend to untimely death (Eric was younger than I am), knowing that assholes like Buttars and his ilk are using devastating events like this to score political points… I can’t imagine a more despicable way of viewing the world. It lacks empathy, it lacks compassion, it lacks even the most basic elements of a decent heart in a human being.

In one of the films screening at Sundance this year, Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner, someone makes a point (and I don’t remeber if this was Kushner himself or someone talking about him) that for either theatre or politics to work requires from us the same basic trait: empathy. Without empathy, we cannot be moved by the recitations of actors. Without empathy, democracy becomes tyranny of the most oppressive kind.

I hope that Eric had a safe journey, and that a spunky goth girl who shares Eric’s love of Tori Amos was with him to guide him on.

Filed under: livejournal by Jere Keys