Friday, June 24, 2011

Party Like A Rock Star

The world of rock and roll is not for the squeamish. Plenty of bad things happen to good people. Though to be fair, plenty of bad things happen to bad people as well. Plane crashes, car wrecks, and the ever-present overdose. Whether it's drinking, drugs, or bizarre combinations of the two, there's always a chance that too much will be just enough to end the most promising career. You know the list: Jimi, Janis, Elvis, Johns Bonham and Entwhistle and so on. Kurt Cobain and Shannon Hoon. What we seem to learn from examples, but not the lessons that might save us. Too bad, since the story hasn't changed much since Billie Holiday.
Singing the blues can be dangerous. Just ask Amy Winehouse. Now that Charlie Sheen has taken his show off the road, we have Ms. Winehouse and her attendant wreckage. What one might expect from a woman whose biggest hits asserts, "They tried to make me go to rehab, I said, 'No, no, no.'" She continues to appear every other year or so, fresh from whatever facility has most recently deemed her ready to show up on stage in no condition to do anything but start the clock ticking once again on how long it will be before we can add her to the list.
She has cancelled the remainder of her summer tour based on the reaction to her most recent "shambolic" performance in Belgrade. Whether her act is a roller coaster or a full-on freak show, it's hard not to wonder when someone will come in and pull the plug. Maybe we're all too busy anxiously awaiting the ugly scene at the end of the ride. Maybe we're hoping for a survivor's tale, a la Keith Richards or Ozzy Osbourne. Maybe we just enjoy watching train wrecks. I hope that she leaves the party before it leaves her.

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