Grieving in the Digital Age

For some local musicians and photographers, the Internet became a way to memorialize the victims of October’s Seal Beach salon shooting and make sense of the tragedy. 

by Patrick J. Kiger

Video Grief

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Massacre in Seal Beach, California day 3 the memorial

The videos that Brian Davies uploaded to YouTube—including one he shot just minutes after the rampage and another, above, showing memorial tributes that followed—triggered a flurry of speculation and misinformation. See video

“Forever in Our Heart”

A montage of photos of Seal Beach and the shooting victims, accompanied by the pop ballad “Forever in Our Heart,” with original lyrics written and performed by Seal Beach native Vickie Hazlett See video

“Salon Meritage Seal Beach 2011 Oct 24th”

Documents the first lighting of a set of memorial crosses brought to the site, as well as a woman with a ukulele at the scene singing and playing the John Denver song “Sunshine” as a funeral dirge.  See video

“Boom—Eight Birds”

 Inglewood rapper Boom and Fresh Lil Rascals recorded this song as a memorial to the victims. It references a local sandwich shop, John’s Philly Grille: “Used to get a cheesesteak and some french fries/lookin’ at the TV, can’t believe my eyes.” See video

“There’s Got to Be a Better Way”

At a coffeehouse the night after the shooting, singer Alyssandra Nighswonger offered this lyric: “Well, a man stepped in a beauty shop, he took his gun and wouldn’t stop. When he was done, there were eight lives lost.”  See video

“The Only Promise That Remains”

A piano-and-vocal cover of a song by Reba McEntire and Justin Timberlake. The lyrics—“the world around us keeps on moving, moving”—are accompanied by unsteady cellphone video scanning the flowers piled in front of the salon. See video

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This article originally appeared in the June 2012 issue.

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