John Lind:  

c era of the late 60's. If that path were followed to present times, how would it sound? That is what Last Rites seeks to answer. In other words, this is NOT a retro, remember when, trip down memory lane, or an exercise in nostalgia. It is very much of the present and future. At best, it's timeless, and makes a humble attempt to present something that defies these boundaries. Above all, I started my own band to hear what I wanted to hear, since no one else was doing it. As it turned out, other people liked it too. In 1990, Last Rites ended its San Francisco run after having suffered the blow of several past members' substance issues. I moved on to video production and broadcasting, working in a couple of TV stations. This proved to be a dead end (broadcasting, that is), so I returned to Florida in '91, moving into my grandmother's house in Sarasota as she was in a nursing home. I resumed earning my BA in Russian at USF and studied in Moscow for 6 weeks in the summer of '92 and again for 4 months in the fall of '93. During the second stay, I witnessed the October Uprising against Boris Yeltsin, when Russia came as close to civil war as ever since 1917. I worked for CNN as a translator, which set me up for a job offer in Atlanta. I was offered a job as an "online producer" in CNN's new division, CNN Interactive, in '95. I was really excited, but CNN was involved in a merger with Time-Warner, and ultimately the job never materialized. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed by this turn of events. I'd already returned to Jacksonville to help my mother with some personal issues, and have remained ever since. So after 20 years of promising never to return to Jacksonville, I'm back. It's the old "never say never" thing. The city's changed so much in a lot of ways, and not in others, unfortunately, that it's really not the same place I left in '75. My brother, who plays bass, and I are working on producing better recordings of my music, so stay tuned!