By Roe Ann Rockhill
Lafayette Journal and Courier
Friday, September 27, 1996

    DAYTON- Weather was the only downer during a vigil Thursday at Shannon Hoon's grave site to celebrate what would have been the late rocker's 29th birthday.  But despite the rain, about 25 people - including family, friends, and fans from Lafayette to California - gathered at the Dayton Cemetery to share memories of Hoon, a Lafayette native and the lead singer of Blind Melon.

       "It's going much better than we expected," said Hoon's sister Anna Quatrocki of the event.  "We're all just sitting around sharing stories about Shannon and listening to his music." Huddled under a blue tent, the group played CDs, lit candles and left gifts by the grave site, which still is without a headstone.  Although drugs ended Hoon's life, the smell of burning marijuana was noticeable.

    While most of the visitors were strangers prior to the vigil, Quattrocki and Hoon's mother, Vernell Hoon, welcomed them like family members.  "We brought a bunch of his fans back to my mother's house earlier," Quattrocki said.  After seeing a message about the vigil on the Internet, Aubrey Maldonado and her sister Melissa left their own message saying they would be attending but didn't know anyone in Lafayette,  They took a bus from their home in Temecula, Calif., a small town between San Diego and Los Angeles, and arrived Wednesday in Lafayette.  "We saw Aubrey's message on the Internet and waited for her at the bus station holding this sign with her e-mail name," Quattrocki said.  "Anyone who spent three days on a bus to come out here jut for Shannon, we couldn't let be by themselves."  Melissa Maldonado said she started to cry when she saw Hoon's mother, Vernell Hoon, at the bus station.

    Shannon Keifer-Thomas said she and her husband Leonard drove up from Louisville, KY for the vigil because they felt Hoon's death was overlooked by the media.  "He was unique and brilliant." she said.  "He didn't get the farewell he deserved."  To say her goodbye, Keifer-Thomas brought a sketch of Hoon she completed in late 1995.  "I'm leaving it here as a gift," she said.

    Although Vernell Hoon didn't want to talk about her son, the company of strangers seemed to lift her spirit.  She passed out small bottles of dried flowers from Hoon's funeral along with green ribbons which Hoon wore when he performed.  Quattrocki said her mother wanted to give everyone something to remember the day because they had traveled so far and couldn't attend the funeral last year.  "It's really a celebration of Shannon's life, " she said.  "That's what we're trying to make today."