First Photo Of Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda Grieving Chester Bennington’s Death

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TMZ have released the first photo of Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda since Chester Bennington’s death two weeks ago. Shinoda was photographed leaving a market with his wife in Los Angeles.

There is a new Chester Bennington mural painted on the back of a newly opened pizzeria in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.  The artist is Jonas Never, and it took him just two days to create the mural with spray cans and house paint, the artist told Variety.

“I used to take the pitching mound to the sound of ‘One Step Closer,’ ” said the former baseball player-turned-artist, who worked with artists Kryst and Kub to complete the piece. “When I heard Chester died, I immediately thought of that wall because I knew some of the band members lived in the Valley. I just texted Jim and offered to do it for free because it was the right thing to do.”

“I really didn’t want people to forget about Chester, his music… everything,” Never wrote to Entertainment Weekly over email. “I’d seen the wall while I was painting a couple other murals out there, but I hadn’t been able to think of a subject matter worthy of the visibility from the 101. Soon as I heard the news of his passing, I was like, ‘Oh man, that’s the spot,’ especially since the 101 is the way his bandmates would go back home to Agoura.”

Adds Kryst, “The relationship to Linkin Park’s music that I have goes way back as I went to school with [guitarist] Brad [Delson]’s brother and have friends who are really close with them. [Bennington’s death] hit really close to home. It made us proud that they made it and were very successful and getting the recognition they deserved. Because it hit close to home, I reached out to Jonas about doing a mural of him which he responded with, ‘I have a wall already. Let’s do it!’”

The depiction of a shirtless and smiling Bennington — painted on the rock-themed pizza restaurant Rock’n Pies — is visible from the 101 freeway near the Coldwater Canyon exit.

“I’d been seeing that big blank wall from the 101 and thought it would be good for something,” said Never, who also created a mural of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl for the front of the pizzeria.

With the blessing of Jim Connors, the owner of Rock’n Pies, Never and his team got to work. “I’ve been thrilled to see the reaction and hopefully the mural will keep his memory alive and give family, fans, and friends a place where they can kind of ‘visit’ him,” he told EW.