This weekend, specifically Saturday, is the three-year anniversary of the tragic death of Mr. Elliott Smith. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Smith's music, think back to the suicide scene in The Royal Tennenbaums, or every single poignant interation in Good Will Hunting. You know him. Elliott's whispery yet astute guitar work, and his subtle and sublime vocal arrangements have haunted me since eighth grade, and I want to take this time to say a word. I know that there are going to be countless tributes attempted this weekend, but it doesn't matter. I love Elliott. I feel like I know him better than I know my friends. I could pick out his fingerpicking in a sea of guitar work, and his careful overdubbing in a choir of gospel singers.

For those of you who shrug him off for being "too sad," take a moment ths weekend and try "The Lost and Found/Honky Bach" off Figure 8, or the triumphant and transitional "Sweet Adeline" off XO. If you are more of a B-side fan, check out "I Can't Answer you Anymore," a song that possesses the most beautiful bridge in all of music history. If you are, however, a romantic like me, please listen to "Angel In The Snow." These are the songs that articulated emotions I couldn't even fathom, and they did so artfully and with an understated understanding.

Nothing is ever going to bring Elliott back to us, but we are the lucky ones. No matter how many October 21sts come and go, we lived in a time when Elliott Smith held center stage at the Oscars, trolled around Echo Park, and made the sweetest, saddest, strongest music of our generation. Take a trip down Sunset Blvd and pay your homage at the Solutions Wall (seen on the cover of his Figure 8). As he once sang in "Waltz #2", "I'm never gonna know you now, but I'm gonna love you anyhow." You are missed, Elliott.

-Christina Gubala