Have you ever heard of the curse of the White Bic Lighter and the 27 Club? Let me get my flashlight as you gather around the camp fire.
One October night I was out with a woman I was dating. We were outside of the iconic Metro Chicago having a smoke and a toke together. A man who looked like he was part of a Mighty Mighty Bosstones cover band approached me. He had an unlit cigarette in his hand and asked me if I had a light. I took my lighter out of my front pocket and handed it to him. He held it in his hand as if I gave him a macabre dying mouse.
“I…I cant use this man”, he held his hand out and I retrieved my Bic lighter. His hand was trembling. He seemed scared.
My date handed him her Bic lighter. In a soothing voice she said, “Here. It’s red.”
“Thanks!” He said. He grabbed the lighter, lit his cigarette. Handed the lighter back to her, looked at me, and said, “Be careful, man.”
He walked away from us into the night.
“What just happened?” I asked her.
“Your lighter’s white,” she said taking a hit.
I looked at the lighter in my hand. It was, indeed, white. This explained nothing to me.
“So?” I asked.
“It’s bad juju to some stoners,” she said.
“Why?” I asked.
“27 Club,” she said.
The 27 Club
I had a reference point now, but it did not explain anything. Rolling Stone Magazine calls the 27 Club, “…one of the most elusive and remarkably tragic coincidences in rock & roll history. The idea became known and explored more deeply after Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994, with rock fans connecting his age to that of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix “
Rock and Roll, as well as pop culture and entertainment in general, has lost some of it’s most prolific and beautiful voices at the age of 27.
This list contains powerful and sublime voices we lost too soon and cherish their art decades later. The ones I mourn are Blues Legend Robert Johnson, Brian Jones, Alan Wilson, Jimi Hendix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan , Dave “Zander” Alexander, Jean-Michel Basquiat, punk legend Mia Zapata (who will be a Fem Friday soon), Kurt Cobain, Kristen Pfaff, and Amy Winehouse.
There are others. The 27 Club has over 40 inductees in it’s dark membership.
All dead. At 27. The causes varied. But when you put them all together it is an eerie mix of addiction, suicide, and freak accidents.
Many music journalists who write about the curse of the 27 Club often invoke the supernatural. Sometimes they will speak of astrology. Other times they seek meaning in numerology. And because we live in the modern age, conspiracy theories are brought into this modern mystery.
They were all talented social commentators who changed the arts in a short time and were taken too young. It is a little eerie.
But what does this have to do with white Bic lighters?
What Does the 27 Club Have to Do With Lighters?
“You mean Jones, Hendix, Joplin and Morrison? That 27 Club?” I asked her.
“Among others?” she said.
“What do white Bic lighters have to do with that?” I asked.
She took another hit and said, “After Cobain died, people said a white lighter was on him. It was part of the autopsy report. And it turns out all of the members of the 27 Club had one on them too.”
“Is that true?” I asked her. I had never heard this before.
“Bic lighters didn’t exist until the 70’s. So unless a bunch of them were killed by time traveling assassins, no. It’s not true, but it’s a fun story to tell when you’re high.”
“What about Cobain?” I asked.
“Does it matter?” she replied. ” I never read the guy’s autopsy report. He killed himself. He had a depression problem, not a lighter problem.”
“So why were you so cool with the Ska guy?” I asked.
She shrugged. “It’s kind. It’s not my myth. His superstition isn’t hurting anyone. Someone walking around a ladder or stepping over a crack in the sidewalk. Who cares? Your lighter freaked the guy out, mine didn’t. Not a big deal.”
I nodded and we went back inside to go hang out with our friends. The matter was resolved and harmless, I thought. I was wrong.
The Drive Home
On the way home we had another couple in my car. We told them the story of the Ska guy and the lighter. We also included my date’s thoughts on harmless myths.
The girl in the backseat said something that stuck with me.
“Some myths are scary and deadly.” She said.
“Like what?” I asked.
“There’s an organization that believes there’s no link between HIV and AIDS. They say it’s the meds that treat HIV that gives you AIDS. People have literally died because of this. Fuckin Foo Fighters did a fundraiser for them (Dave’s body count is literally a body count). Some people believe rape myths like I am asking for it if I wear a dress or drink alcohol and that I can’t get pregnant if it is a legitimate rape. These myths are believed by people that pass laws and rape people.”
Her boyfriend joined in. “Yeah, man. There’s some weird shit out there about autism and vaccines. My little sister’s autistic, but she’s awesome and I love her and she doesn’t have polio. I’m with her, man. Some rando wants to use a red lighter or believe in ghosts, you do you. But when the myth hurts people, that’s fucked up.”
Halloween Fun and November Horrors
Enjoy the fun and spooky myths of Halloween. Tell the legend of Bloody Mary and dare to look in the mirror as you say her name. Enjoy the rush! See a scary movie, tell a scary story, toss your apple peel behind you and see if resembles your true love. Is there something mysterious to the 27 Club or is it just a common tale of excess and self destruction at a common age with fame and a life moving too fast?
Remember, there are myths, that unlike white Bic lighters, are dangerous. They are not myths told by stoners or WICCANS or kids taking turns with the flashlight around a campfire telling spooky tales. They are the myths about Haitian Immigrants, refugees, alpha males, sexual assault, mental health, and human rights.
These myths are scary, dangerous, and carry deadly consequences. There are things you can do about those. You can vote, you can challenge misinformation or memes that makes incredible claims without citations. You can also learn to vet information with the tools we gave you, the modern news consumer. I recently used those tools for this story. Turns out that not even Cobain’s lighter was white. I am, however, intrigued by time traveling assassins. Who hired them? Was it Tipper Gore?
Stay totally awesome! Stay true to you!
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