A May 8, 2017 Facebook post has surfaced from a fan named Mike Jackson who described seeing late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell on one of his last plane fights. He wrote, “Not sure what went on in Memphis this weekend but waiting on my flight back to Charlotte I sat down between Chris Cornell from Soundgarden (one of my all time favorite bands) and Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson.”
Randy Johnson photographed Soundgarden at some of their final shows before Chris Cornell’s death. Johnson took a haunting photo of Cornell leaving the stage on May 5, 2017 at Carolina Rebellion.
Johnson discussed his love of Soundgarden and photography in a 2010 SPIN magazine article.
“I listened to all types of music, and obviously when I got to Seattle I was very much aware of the music scene there,” Johnson told SPIN. “And Kim [Thayil, Soundgarden’s guitarist] is a very familiar face with the black beard. I saw him on the big screen in the KingDome where we were playing a baseball game that night, so I figured he must be a baseball fan.”
He also discussed photographing Soundgarden at Lollapalooza 2010.
“Kim told me shortly after that visit that they were going to be doing Lollapalooza and headlining, and I told him that I’d like to come,” Johnson told SPIN. “My schedule worked out great–I flew from Baltimore to Chicago the morning of the Lollapalooza show, hooked up with Kim and his girlfriend, put my suitcase down, and drove over to the venue with those guys and hung out, said hi to a lot of people, and then took pictures.”
Nothing left to say but goodbye. Chris Cornell at Carolina Rebellion on May 5, 2017. Photo by Randy Johnson. pic.twitter.com/e5rGIveJym
— Alternative Nation (@AltNationNet) June 10, 2017
