Long Gone Day

By Christian Price, News9.com INsite Team

There are times that I like to sit and watch the world go by while listening to music. I like everything from classical to blues and everything in between.

On this particular day, I was listening to Mad Season, one of my personal favorites. Those who made up the group were all from different bands such as The Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, and Alice In Chains.

What started out as a jam session amongst friends evolved into a powerful, soul filled dark jazz album.

The front man for Mad Season was the late Layne Staley, lead singer for Alice In Chains. His voice could pull you into the song to the point of making you feel as if you were right there experiencing what he felt when writing the lyrics of the song.

The song "Long Gone Day" takes me back to a point in my life when I was in college surrounded by my best friends.

My wife and I would invite our friends over to our humble hobble and stay up all night playing chess, listening to Mad Season, drinking wine from a box. No worries in life, just enjoying good friends and good music.

Those days are long gone now. Our friends are now strung out across the world and we don't get to visit like we use to. Even the group Mad Season is no more since Staley died back in 2002.

Watching the world pass now is different for me. I'm constantly battling deadlines, digging for stories, and being a husband and a father. No more can I just sit and watch the world pass.

At least I still have my memories and music which, to this day, still transports me back to a simpler time.

I hope Staley eventually found peace. I'm searching for it myself.