Nico Blue Hoon was born in 1995, to Shannon Hoon and longtime, girlfriend Lisa Crouse.  Later that year, after a particularly disastrous performance in Houston, Hoon launched into an all-night cocaine binge. The next day, on October 21, 1995, Blind Melon was scheduled to play a show in New Orleans at Tipitina's. When one of the band's roadies went to the tour bus to wake Hoon up for a sound check, he was unable to rouse him. An ambulance was summoned and Hoon was pronounced dead on the scene at the age of 28. The cause of death was attributed to an accidental cocaine overdose.

Nico is 13 this year. I'm sure she wonders about her dad.  I miss Shannon, too.

Released posthumously, the eponymous album Nico is one of my favorite albums of all time, made up of a collection of published and unpublished songs. Soup (below) will give a soulful earful of the beautiful sound that is Blind Melon.

There is a fund set up in Shannon's memory that will help to provide an education for his daughter, Nico Blue. You may make a donation, if you wish to:
Nico Blue Hoon Education Fund c/o Shapiro & Co. 9229 Sunset Blvd., Suite 607 Los Angeles, CA 90069

Blind Melon - Soup

03-Soup.mp3 (3.17 mb)  

The clothesline of cold eyes
Is washing away the face before
Now tell me what's wrong you see everyone's gone
You gotta do your best to decorate this dying' day
This dying' day

All over a bowl of bitter beans

And outside way, way up high I got a cosmic mist hanging over me
And now, I want that rocking chair outta there
Cause he's no longer living here
It's no longer needed here

All over a bowl of bitter beans

And I got a corner store and that's all the more
For me to praise upon the holidays
And now I'll close my eyes really, really tight
And make you all go away,
I'll make you all go all go away

And I'll pull the trigger and make it all go away
And I'll make it all go away, I'll make it all go away