Exclusive Brethren Suicide - Kevin Richard Brandon

Kevin's Final Mix

Kevin Richard Brandon was a friend of my mother. He was 41 years old when he shot himself on May 27, 2006 in his home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He was a kind man who shared his wealth with all around him (strangers included). After giving away all his belongings and company in the US, he ended up winning back over 200k in online gambling, which he used to move to Mexico in 2004. He was a methamphetimine addict who used it to deal with his depression, made worse by the fact that his ex-wife wouldn't let him see or speak to their six children.

My mother and Kevin spoke every day for the four weeks prior to his suicide. When she hadn't heard from him for three days, she went to look for him and was the first to find him lying dead in his apartment. He left my mother, among other posessions, an iPod with a playlist entitled Final Mix.

Final Mix

1. Matchbox 20 - Shame
2. Matchbox 20 - Long Day
3. Cowboy Junkies - Misguided Angel
4. James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover
5. Dire Straits - Why Worry
6. Keb' Mo' - I'm Telling You Now
7. Miles Davis - Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World
8. Enya - Only Time
9. Kenny G - End of the Night
10. Collective Soul - Pretty Donna
11. Mark Knopfler - Last Exit To Brooklyn
12. Mark Knopfler - Last Exit to Brooklyn (Finale)
13. Pink Floyd - Goodbye Cruel World

Use the 'Extra Information' link to play Kevin's Final Mix - the song lyrics, if you can bear to read them, are available also.

I can't help but find this playlist chilling and heartbreaking. I think it's also an important message that if you know an addict, help them get the support they need.

"He was a kind man who shared his wealth with all around him (strangers included)."

"He was a methamphetimine addict who used it to deal with his depression, made worse by the fact that his ex-wife wouldn't let him see or speak to their six children."

"Goodbye Cruel World"

by Pink Floyd

Goodbye, cruel world
I'm leaving you today
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

Goodbye, all you people
There's nothing you can say
To make me change my mind
Goodbye