No. 699 – Frying Pan

Performer: Evan Dando

Songwriter: Victoria Williams

Original Release: Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams

Year: 1993

Definitive Version: None

After a bunch of epic, ELP-like posts, how about a short, controlled burst?

Like a lot of people, I bought this album because of the Pearl Jam song, or the “new Pearl Jam song,” as the DJs called it while they played it endlessly on KND in Seattle when Scott and I were there in the summer of 1993. But I found other songs on Sweet Relief that were pretty good, with this being one of them.

I liked the concept of the album: A bunch of hot acts covered Victoria Williams songs, and she’d get all the money to help pay for medical care that related to her multiple sclerosis. But I didn’t fully appreciate it till much later.

Through Laurie, I’ve met three people who have M.S. in various stages—all of whom have had it at least as long as I’ve known them, so were talking almost a decade now. Laurie’s former boss is the furthest along, and the disease is definitely noticeable. She no longer can walk on her own and was essentially forced out of her job due to an inability to ensure her safety at work.

With Laurie’s uncle Jim, you notice the leg brace and practically nothing else. With Mirka, the founder of Mookie Jam, which is a project that’s similar to Sweet Relief—it raises money to give to an artist in Chicago who just discovered he or she has M.S.—you wouldn’t notice at all unless you saw her all the time. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have known if I wasn’t specifically made aware of it.

These three people are about the toughest people I’ve ever met. Me? If I had M.S., I’d probably just curl up in a ball somewhere. OK, maybe I wouldn’t, but I’d feel like it. Sometimes when you’re faced with extreme adversity, the simplest thing you can do for yourself is just keep on living. It’s the best form of rebellion.