i'm outside your window with my radio

One of my favorite comments I ever got on a story I've written for the DI was on this review, in which I basically rip Ohio-based emo band Hawthorne Heights a new one. The day after it ran, a coworker came up to me in the newsroom and said, "I read your Hawthorne Heights review...I never knew there were so many ways to be mean." At the time, I was bizarrely proud.

Yesterday, AbsolutePunk broke the story that Casey Calvert, the 22-year-old rhythm guitarist for HH, had mysteriously passed away in his sleep. As medical reports aren't back yet, it's unclear what the cause of death was, but the band posted a message to its fans begging them to not buy into rumors, and that Calvert wasn't doing anything illegal that might have caused his death.

He was 22 years old, married, and, from what I can tell, the possessor of a bright future. It's a tragedy any way you look at it. And while I can't call myself a Hawthorne Heights fan, the struggle the band had against the evil of Victory Records and Tony Brummel is to be commended.

Essential Hawthorne Heights listening: "Niki FM," "Ohio Is For Lovers," "We Are So Last Year," "Light Sleeper."

-Anna