NO-FI "MAGAZINE"
"The Water Is Half Outside The Glass"

Quin said the above statement to me today.

It's one of the best things I've ever heard come out of his mouth ever.

Here I am at 11:19pm, Tuesday night, in Eagle Rock in an office that overlooks my neighbors' houses. I just got back from my friend Pandora's memorial service. Pandora died of a drug overdose in Texas last week.

I met Pandora on the 4th of July, 2003 at the Silversun Pickups pad in Silverlake at a huge party where we recorded 4 bands for No-Fi "Radio". I was amazed at all the stuff she played as she DJed the party with records coming straight from her own Amoeba Records record bag. I own one of those bags myself. She played all the same stuff I liked (well, except for a couple metal songs she played) and most of it could be found in my own collection. I and many others at that party were instantly smitten with the rolling thunderball known as Pandora who had just got into town from San Francisco. Within a month she had many of the same friends I did.

So if you're a big No-Fi "Magazine" reader you may recognize her name from when she co-hosted an episode of No-Fi "Radio" or from when I co-djed a couple clubs with her (at Star Shoes in Hollywood for example). The night we DJed at Star Shoes with one of the guys from Interpol was a strange one. Pandora was crazy in a fun way. She was not exactly happy with L.A., but she was so fun to be around and was very open about every aspect of her life. In one night I knew all about her friends, her travels, and her sex life. While she drank, I didn't get the impression that she was into anything harder and this has been confirmed with our other friends here in L.A. One thing that was funny that night was when I played "If You Leave" by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark early in the evening when very few peope had arrived and she laughed at me saying that it was the kind of song that I should play only when people are wrapping it up for the evening.

She was right...and it was totally funny. The night had just begun and there I was blowing my wad before anyone had a chance to meet for the first time, fall in love, have their first fight, and fall in love again falling in to each others arms while listening to the sounds of OMD. Plus we were playing records in tandem so she had to come up with a song to match what I just played. The whole thing was...complicated. Very fun, but complicated. Another weird thing that night was playing records, turning slightly to my left and seeing Kelly Osborne's seemingly glowing head looking over my shoulder. Hey! How did she get into a bar when she's under 21? She probably used a fake ID. Kinda weird because it was definitely her.

So Pandora moved back to Texas (her home state) a little over a year ago and somewhere between then and now, she got into drugs so hard they had the ability to end her life. So I found myself tonight at a makeshift L.A. memorial service at The Parlour CLub in West Hollywood put together by Elvira (who designed the cover of this issue), Don Bolles and no-fi coverstar Darcey Leonard. They did a great job and I know that Pandora's L.A. friends were happy despite the circumstances. Elle and I put photos of Pandora up on a bulletin board next to a few of Pandoras dolls and wonderfully unusual things that she left here in L.A.. A book was made for people to sign and candles were lit.

Once most people had arrived, Dame Darcy (who is not the same person as Darcey Leonard as many people think) read a eulogy she wrote for Pandora and she was followed by Nora Keyes (of The Centimeters) just a day off her tour in Japan and Australia who revealed that she had known Pandora for the last eight years and first heard about her when another friend told her about a girl who ate fire and plunged 15 feet to the ground. This person turned out to be Pandora who ended up with a burn mark on her chest from the incident. Becky Stark was next and she sang a lovely song. Elle (Elvira) went up and talked about how quickly they became good friends and Don Bolles spoke about the humorous side of Pandora.

The room wasn't crowded, but it was attended by of some of the greatest musical talent in L.A. Various members of The Centimeters, Silversun Pickups, Earlimart, and Grandaddy were present. This was the first time that I've seen any of them in a situation not as just a friend or fan, but as someone who has lost a fellow friend. I don't like seeing my friends unhappy. I was sad going in, but seeing my friends sad made me even sadder.

Eventually I went up to say a few words about my friend and for somebody who practically lives behind a microphone, I suddenly was having trouble speaking. I related my story about DJing with Pandora and how like I played that song too early, and somehow I related that into how she left this world too early. Where did that come from? I've had a lot of problems this year alone starting with my car getting broken into, an aunt dying and now this. Suddenly I had realized that the reasons I shouldn't have played that song so early were like the same reasons why she shouldn't have died so young. She would never have the chance to meet somebody who might be able to help her find her place in this world or just do that something that made her feel like letting her roots down and give herself a chance to enjoy life a little more slowly. She did leave us too early and the world is that much worse without her around.

So we must go on. I'll never forget Pandora for that short time in this lifetime that I was allowed to know her. She is greatly missed by her friends here and all over this country.

So even before the loss of Pandora, I needed to start making things better than the way they were going and somehow mapped out all the issues we'll be doing for 2005. So that means that, as you read this,...I'll already know what we're doing for several months in advance. It needed to be done, because last year was a little underwhelming for me and I just needed to press the reset button on the magazine to get it running properly again. The fact that I moved everything over from our old server to ipowerweb's new server helped that. That's what January was for and here we are with a new issue; "The Lovebirds Issue Issue" (the extra "Issue" is for the fact that we all have a lot of issues over here). ;) This is also one of those rare times where I let somebody else do the cover. As I said before, my friend Elvira designed this issue. It's very different and I like it.


We love you Pandora...wherever you are.

Yr. No-Fi Pal,
Chris Beyond

P.S. Check back here Friday 2/4/5 for a photo gallery of pictures taken at the memorial service.

(Chris Beyond is the creator of No-Fi "Magazine" and loved to hear Pandora talk about the faucet method.)


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