Here’s a great new Rolling Stone interview with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder about his ongoing interest and involvement in the West Memphis Three case. Given that Vedder is a rock god who could probably spend his off-hours doing anything he wants, the following passage is particularly poignant:
“Once you’ve visited Damien, you know, you realize that he’s in there every, every day. The first time, we were on tour and I think I spent the rest of the tour — three weeks to a month just, outside of playing the shows — I would just huddle in my room, in the smallest part of the room, trying to live like he was, just to keep my sense of urgency about it. I didn’t want to forget. So I kind of huddled in my room, in tribute, you know? Maybe two years later, I made it back to see him and that time was different. There was some progress on the case at the time or something that made it feel like it was reverse. Like, you have to go out and live in his name and in his honor and do everything, live each day like it’s your last because you have this opportunity that he doesn’t at this point.”