Mark Linkous was an exceptional artist who spent most of his life in relative obscurity. Although he was somewhat of a hermit, his musical collaborations went far and wide, and included even my other unfathomable hero: David Lynch, someone Mark himself admired. But the music that touched me the most were the songs he made by his lone self, in his cramped spider-infested studio, all sounds of his surroundings, from creaking toy pianos to his mom on the answering machine, leaking into his whisper quiet songs. He truly created some of the most beautiful music I've ever known in my life.

One of the most meagerly courageous things I ever did was walking up to Mark when I saw him strolling along after a show in Utrecht, to shake his hand and stammer something about how much I loved his music. Although he was in a hurry, he genuinely appreciated it and thanked me - then he went on his way.

Mark took his life 10 years ago today. It sometimes still is hard to come to terms with the fact that he's no longer around.