Sat. Oct. 11

 Suicide. It's a lot of things, including the moniker taken by one of my favorite avant-rock bands, a duo consisting of Alan Vega and Martin Rev. I asked Vega about the name choice once and he said it was anything but negative - by raising the spectre of suicide and choosing to carry on day after day you're making a positive choice. But suicide has touched us all. Just recently the brilliant writer David Foster Wallace hanged himself, at 46. And now his name goes up on the grim wall with Hemingway, Plath and Hunter S. Thompson. In my rock world, the biggest loss was Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, the subject of last year's biopic "Control." Curtis, not yet 23, took his life in 1980. Joy Division's music - sad, gorgeous, gnashing - has stood the test of time. The Killers are the latest band to cover Joy Division. A lot of the latest new wave bands, like Interpol, owe a debt. Bono was proud to call Curtis a friend and called him the best front man in rock 'n' roll. U2 wrote "A Day Without Me" about him.

. There have been suicides, in rock and among those around me. John Ferguson, a well-respected Sunday arts editor at the Boston Globe, where I worked for years, decided to end it in the fall of 2004. The bitter "joke" at his service, that Fergie, a big Red Sox fan would have loved to have seen what happened at the end of that season. But he took an exit for reasons never quite explained. Last time I saw him we shared a wry joke. Did I suspect a thing? No. Who does? I guess that's the way it is most of the time. For someone, a very private door opens to the darkness, and something pushes it open wider and wider and there's a seduction that ensues. How, you may wonder, do these musings enter a Boston arts and events column? They're just a few thoughts on the subject because the Out of Darkness organization is sponsoring a community walk - "A Walk to Raise Awareness" - at Arsenal Park in Brighton at 10 a.m. Saturday Oct. 11. When I first heard about this it felt like a strange thing. We're all used to it, by now, the breast cancer and diabetes walks. But a walk to prevent suicide ... a different animal, not a disease, exactly ... and yet, why not raise the awareness? Suicide devastates so many more people beyond the victim. It's something we're not supposed to talk about, still hidden in the shadows. Shameful. By bringing this out in the daylight, maybe some good can be done. Register to walk or sponsor someone at the website below. It's sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Storrow Drive, Brighton, 888-333-2377 x23 www.outofthedarkness.org