(Photo/Mike White Deadlydesigns.com)
Legendary Athens songwriter Vic Chesnutt is in a coma according to reports stemming from Kristen Hersh’s forum. The songwriter had apparently taken a large number of muscle relaxants about two days ago but wasn’t found until 12 hours later.
There is some concern about brain damage that may have occurred due to the extensive amount of time the drugs were in his system. For now, Chesnutt remains in a deep coma.
I’ll update this story as I get more info. For now, all our thoughts and prayers are with our friend Vic.
—————UPDATES 4:05 PM———————-
Still no word on where Chesnutt was at the time, working on that now. I’m not printing anything til I’ve confirmed, so check for rumors elsewhere.
The AJC has picked up the news and features a short blurb from Chesnutt’s record label. New York Times is on it now too.
————–UPDATE—————————
Look, I apologize for the earlier post that had reported Vic’s death. At the time, I had 4 completely reliable sources saying that he had indeed passed on. As the night went on, we had 4 other completely and utterly reliable sources say that Vic was still alive. I took down the RIP post because though I was sure at the time, I now have my doubts. Either he’s still in a deep coma or he’s gone. I’m trying my damnedest right now to find out what the fuck is going on because I’m just as pissed as you are. I apologize for the confusion on my end, I’m just trying to find out what happened to my friend and I can’t grab a straight answer.
UPDATE 12/15—————–
Ok, so I’ve decided to post my sources continuously now. Again, sorry for all this shit. You’ll have everything I do via Twitter so we’ll figure this out together, gang.
FROM FLAGPOLE’s TWITTER: Spoke with a friend who was at the hospital this morning. Vic Chesnutt is still with us although he is on life support.
FROM ATHENS BLUR, a retraction. Now to get some dye for those gray hairs they gave me.
athensmusicjunkie.com 
You don't print that he's dead and SIMPLY REMOVE IT! EXPLAIN! FUCK! You should be flushed.
it has been truly amazing to watch this one (apparently erroneous) blog post spread across the internet to the point that Billboard magazine was reporting his death as fact. They took it down though.
This was one of the last blogs to go forward with saying Vic had passed. Blaming the post on here for reports of Vic dying is wrong, and dumb.
To the anonymous posters blaming AMJ for this, that's not fair. Billboard in particular cited a completely different source.
FWIW every journo and blogger in Athens was working off the same sources; holding AMJ exclusively responsible is just plain wrong. We ALL made the same mistake. We have ALL fixed it. If anything, AMJ went with the story a lot later than the rest of us did and behaved in an exemplary fashion.
The REAL point is that Vic and Tina deserve every bit of support they can get from the music community at this sad time.
you were all using what source? This site is the source of a huge amount of the spreading because it is what others initially linked to. Then the links were going to the links but the initial source was almost always this site. I tracked it pretty carefully. The source Billboard cited was using this story as a source.
It is good that this site responsibly changed the post. It would have been better to truly confirm it before posting or use words like “reportedly dead.”
Anon. I can't speak for what other sources were used in Athens but a great deal of us heard from Chunklet's twitter that Vic had passed. I even linked to it in the initial report, along with another story from an “actual newsource” confirming. I waited until after I had gotten four independent confirmations from longtime sources that I trusted AND Athens Blur and Flagpole had mentioned something.
I took every precaution and again, I am very sorry. I will continue to try and figure out what the fuck is going on and how these wires got crossed.
My question concerning Vic is where is he now? What hospital is he located in? Perhaps he is still alive but he won't make it and they won't announce him dead until after Christmas. Maybe his family is waiting to pull the plug?
It wasn't this blog, it was Henry Owings from Chunklet who swore up and down that Vic had died and that he had a source. Any publication, Billboard, Blur etc, that said he was dead without picking up the phone or confirming with the source is responsible for their own mistake. It happens, remember when the whole world thought George Harrison had died like 2 weeks prior to his actual death? Thank you AMJ for making the retraction. It will only be a matter of time anyway. . .
Petty squabbling. A great man might soon be or already is a part of history.
I think a lot of bloggers, including those at Billboard, and those here, don't realize what the word “confirmed” means. It doesn't mean “other people posted it.”
Chunklet didn't swear up and down, he posted one thing that wasn't sourced. You have to confirm something like that, and another news outlet that is also using the Chunklet twitter as a source isn't confirmation–it's a circle jerk.
Jordan you've been really responsible and honest since the initial mistake and I respect that greatly. Others have not been so transparent or thoughtful.
I don't think anyone was being malicious or had bad intentions when they posted that vic had died, and i don't think they deserve to be raked over the coals for it.
having said that, real journalism would involve someone (anyone) going to or calling the hospital where vic is staying, or talking directly to either vic's family or his doctors before they report that he has died. that is what is meant by “confirming” a story.
The latest:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/vic-chesnutt-singer-dies
Well Scott, I did what I could with what resources I had. Again, sorry for all the confusion. I'll be raking myself over the coals for this for a long time regardless.
But it's been posted by NYT and NPR that Vic has passed. So there's the sources.
I waited until after I had gotten four independent confirmations from longtime sources that I trusted AND Athens Blur and Flagpole had mentioned something.