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In the late hours of Sunday the 5th of March. I received a phone call telling me my close friend and business partner, Marty Emond was dead. The sorta news you'd never expect to hear, it's still hard to comprehend. Martin was like a brother to me, for so long we shared the best and worst of times together. Setting up Illicit together and taking it to the world. The reasons behind his sudden departure are beyond complex! To me Marty was not of this planet, the first time I met him I couldn't believe he was able to draw so well. It just didn't seem possible to know someone with such extreme talent (and his skin felt funny too!) But Marty really was a special person. So modest, giving and caring. He accomplished so much in his life time and is a talent the world will never see again. I can't explain how much he will be missed by myself and the rest of the Illicit Family. He was so loved by us and will be so missed. The following was written by a good friend of myself and Marty's and read at both his funeral and memorial services here and in Los Angeles. It captures who Marty was not so much as an artist but as an unbelievably beautiful person. C U on the other side Marty! Stevie Bros Words
about Marty my sweet friend. Marty was my friend, an inspiration, a poet, a genius, a nocturnal flower, a gift to the world... quiet simply, Marty was the gift of love. He was snakeskin cowboy boots, he was rock n roll, he was Enter The Dragon, he was 'Throw up your motherfuckin goats', he was T.N.T, he was dy-na-mite, he was Night Train, he was flyin like an aeroplane and continuing in the immortal words of one William Bailey, he was absofuckinlutley 'one in a million'. That willey little Mullet that I loved so much - he always called me 'Mullet' and I always called him 'Mullet' (as opposed to 'Numb Nuts' which was Steve's name) - was such a genuine, loving and selfless soul. I truly believe that he really held on for a lot longer than he wanted to, essentially for his 'orphan family' of close friends whom he loved unconditionally. The final act of his life was something he did for himself. Make no mistake, it was not a selfish but a brave one. He was the single most selfless person I have ever known. Marty battled with depression, a disease sometimes hard to identify, especially if you posses the selfless guile as he did, making you think he was working through it and would be fine. He confided in me recently that he had been hurting for a significant number of years, the burden of which had been weighing heavily upon him. I guess that despite his continued efforts to battle it and despite the support of so many, he simply tired from the fight. He felt that he had lost something inside of him that he could not get back. Marty battled many things, things we may never know, but what we can be certain of is that he is now at peace with himself. Free from the hurt of past lives, free from the body that continually tortured him and and unfortunately followed him across the ocean to to a future waiting in colors only he would create. His sheer and unmatched genius with his art alone could not offer him the one essential thing I felt was missing... a feeling of being deserving, and that truly saddens me because so damn deserving he really was. He sought and found beauty and solace in the world and reflected it in his art, something despite the love of so many, he could not resolve within his enormous heart. He never required validation for his work or the success that it was most certainly about to bring him, nor did he he ever seek it as we all know. In fact a level of success on a global scale despite his burning ambition, was something he truly feared... ah Mullet always the Gemini. In his physical death he has found his ultimate peace. I have come to terms with this. He wants us to understand and I truly have felt him guiding me to this point of resolution. I know he is still around kicking out the jams with his famous Axl dance above the Sunset Strip, sleek in his cowboy boots and t-shirt that his beloved girl Liesje and I packed for him, for his journey to his own Paradise City... He's still around making sure we all understand and know that he is genuinely happier... and then he will finally go and I will also release him to fly free. I have been blessed with knowing him, spending time with him, laughing and crying with him, arguing the virtues of the GnR catalogue (including 'the spaghetti incident'), being a shoulder for him after the mental anguish he endured at the hand of his newly braided idol Axl at last years MTV awards... oh my god the misery! The tears were flowing like joy of the the bingo night meat pack winner at the Mt Wellington RSL, I can tell you. Marty was substance without weight and I miss him desperately. I will miss the sound of his Mullet laugh, miss reveling in his wit, swooning in his love, miss the click of our boots together in the shadow of the Hollywood sign that lured us half way around the globe to pavements for the spit of our stars. But perhaps more than everything I will miss listening to him hum the guitar riff of Sweet Child O' Mine for the ten zillionth time... Thankfully it will forever echo in my head with the gentle reminder of how "no matter how many times I hear Sweet Child O' Mine, I just can't get sick of it..." and you know what Mullet, I never will either. He's
got eyes of the bluest skies Oh
sweet child o' mine. Sarah and I love you my sweet friend. You will forever be by our sides in death as you were always in life. You are free. You have your peace. Fly
free like that aeroplane Mullet.
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