…and they say the hookers in Thailand will kill ya!

This is one of those Hollywood mysteries that is going to build and build until actual proof is handed out, but David Carradine – what so many others are writing about everywhere – has passed on, leaving behind a flurry of rumors and puzzlement.

Without going into the details that anyone can read about anywhere at this moment, or rehashing the career of one of this century’s (meaning the past fifty-some years, not just since 2000) finest actors, David Carradine was 72 years old and has been a Hollywood Icon since the Seventies. He was found in his hotel room in Bangkok, dead, with ropes around his neck and genitals. Some reports say his hands were also ties behind his back.

He was in Bangkok to film a new movie.

Rumors are already abound that it was suicide, that is was murder, that is was auto-erotic asphyxiation. At this time, details of an autopsy have not been released.

I heard about this this morning, waking up early and routinely checking my email to see if school’s received my tuition money so I could start planning on spending… My first thought was auto-erotic asphyxiation, just like that guy who used to sing for INXS, before he died… That’s a pretty quick judgment call (not that I was the only one jumping to that conclusion…), but it also made the most sense – on the information and evidence given out.

I find it hard to believe that this man, although 72 years old and having lived through times any of us would know nothing about (I’m not saying that he had it harder than anyone else, but certainly not one of us could ever know what his life was like, for him),  who was enjoying a revitalization of his movie career and popularity, who had a beautiful wife and an extended family – I don’t picture this man to have killed himself. Not intentionally.

And it isn’t my place to pass judgment on someone playing with auto-erotic asphyxiation. Hell, most days, my shoes come untied three or four times a day.  And experimenting with a new way to get off may sound like a good idea, especially when far from home, with a few too many beers in ya (the film crew he was with reported Mr. Carradine had been drinking all day… I miss those kind of days…), and the hookers of the city are reported to be dirtier than the Port-a-Potties on I-95. Yeah, it seems like a good idea to take things in one’s own hands, so to speak…

I’ve never tried this thing, having rope around my neck while I move to orgasm. Hell, I don’t like to even have my belly button poked. But it does catch interest, and it is an endeavor where timing is essential. I am not going to fault someone for finding ways to get off pleasurably.

Still…

The verdict is still out on this, even as the Thai police are wrapping it up as “accident by mis-adventure.” Of course, his friends and family are not going to be happy about releasing a statement saying he died while choking more than his chicken, but I think the pursuit of a murder investigation may only be something to avoid such a dismaying verdict.

Was his hands tied behind his back? There has been reports that the family was informed so, but were they tied behind his back by another person, or by himself (which would be weird, how would you… you know, with your hands tied?). But the police also report that there is no evidence that anyone else was in the room with Carradine and video surveillance does not show anyone suspicious going in or out of his room (the hotel, in general, or particularily his room?).

And what motive would there be for murder? All the way over in Bangkok? Yeah, a greedy hooker might think she might get a few extra hundred from him dead than alive, but other than that scenario, it seems a ways to go to murder someone for any other reason.

Of course, we are talking about Asian police here. I’m sorry, that doesn’t completely put my mind at ease.  While they are sure that the world’s eye is on them in this matter, I don’t put much stock in their CSI’ing their way through this. Considering what they have a history of doing to their own people, my faith just don’t rest too strongly in a police force where torture is still an accepted practice (wait…that don’t do on here??)

My opinion is that is a mishap with auto-erotic asphyxiation experimentation. And, no matter what stigma would seem presumed to such, that does not lessen the man or his talents or the legacy he leaves behind. I do hope there is closure on this, but I hope that any closure does not scar the memory of a great actor who never really received his full merit.