For Donna...

In my mind, one of the coolest tributes anyone has given to an artist...

Donna Summer - Gone At 63

Numerous media outlets are reporting the passing of musician Donna Summer this morning.  She died at the age of 63, after a long, private battle with cancer.

Summer was the Queen of Disco.  Hell, she was the very definition of the genre.  Speaking for myself, I was never much of a fan of disco myself, but I always liked her songs.  She was one of the rare singers in this world that could effortlessly convey emotion.  When it comes to the disco era, that was hard to come by.

My favorite Donna Summer song, hands down, was 'On The Radio'.  From a very young age, the song affected me.  It still does.



On a side note, I'll share my fondest Donna Summer memory.  When I used to work as a strip club DJ, I made it a tradition to play Summer's 'Last Dance' at the end of each night.  Typically, songs in a strip club are limited to two-and-a-half minutes or less.  It maximizes the rotation of dancers, and prevents one from spending too much time giving a lapdance to someone that's skeeving them out.  I would play 'Last Dance' in it's entirety....all eight minutes and ten seconds of it.  Needless to say, I pissed a lot of women off.  The regulars loved it.  Some would get in the habit of waiting for a lapdance until 1:45AM.  Eventually, it got to the point where all of the dancers would mysteriously wander back into the dressing room for the last half hour of the night.  My "tradition" didn't last long.

Remembering Kurt

Note:  I usually don't make a habit of reposting my articles.  In this case, I couldn't think of the words to better describe my feelings about one of my idols.  A couple of minor edits have been made, but essentially, this post remains unchanged from last year.

Eighteen years ago today, Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home, the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.  

For my generation, it was our "John Lennon moment".  A voice for everything that was inside of us, as fucked up as that voice was, had unexpectedly left.  Looking back, maybe not so unexpectedly.

Long before his death, Courtney and Kurt were media fodder for their heroin use.  No one knew the true depths of Kurt's addiction until years later, when the biographies and the VH1 'Behind The Music' specials would air.  At the time, we knew nothing of the multiple overdoses or failed suicide attempts.  We saw a rock star, and someone who acted, in public, the way that we would think a disenfranchised, brooding musician with a "fuck it" attitude should act. 

Unless you were the most ardent of Nirvana fans, you likely knew very little of Cobain's undiagnosed stomach problems.  Few outside his inner circle discussed details that he could very rarely, even when sober, keep any food down.  Or, how he often would use heroin as a way of alleviating unbearable stomach pain.  This later led to untreated depression and body dysmorphic disorder, as a result of his gaunt appearance.  He essentially became a poster boy for being troubled and suicidal, and the world let him end it.

Within months of his death, the death of grunge followed.  Vedder, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, and the rest of the megastars from the Seattle area from the early 90s, had become monumentally ineffectual.  The following couple of years saw the emergence and popularity of the "imitator" bands like Bush, Silverchair, and Stone Temple Pilots, but, for the most part, the remainder of the decade showed a complete 180 in the public's taste in music.  Listeners now preferred jam bands and hippie rock;  a trend that would continue until the early part of the next decade.

In October of 2002, after a lawsuit was settled between the remaining members of Nirvana and the heroin and Oxy laced Yoko Ono of our generation, Courtney Love, an agreement was made to release a locked away final Nirvana single.  'You Know You're Right' had it's original vocals and lead guitar recorded in studio by Cobain just 10 weeks before his death.  Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl later came in and recorded their roles.  Eight and a half years after Kurt Cobain's suicide, and after the demise of the "Seattle sound", the song debuted at number one on the rock charts.  Frankly, it sounded ahead of anything on the radio at that time.....in 2002.

So, what of Kurt's legacy?  What legacy?  In 2007, VH1 called 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' the "Greatest Song of the 90s".  It was two places ahead of the Backstreet Boys' 'I Want It That Way' (#3), and five spots ahead of Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back' (#6).  

Kurt became a playable character in the video game 'Guitar Hero 5'.  Once you unlock him as a character, though, he sings not only the Nirvana songs, but all of the other songs on the game as well.  So, if you've ever wanted to see an animated Kurt Cobain sing No Doubt, Coldplay, or Stevie Wonder, this may be the game for you.

Unlike Yoko, Courtney Love hasn't done much to preserve Kurt's legacy.  In the eighteen years since his death, the world has more to remember Courtney Love about than her husband.  She has focused more attention on her acting career, her music career, and trying to keep her name out of the tabloids.  Then again, Kurt wasn't John Lennon.  Kurt was damaged, perhaps beyond the point of repair.  He wasn't preaching peace and love and "Imagine", he chanted "I'm not gonna crack".  Regrettably, he did.

Touching Tribute To Whitney Houston In Dubai

This was recorded at the Dubai Fountains earlier this afternoon.  Very touching.  Thought I would share.

Breaking News: Whitney Houston, Dead At 48

Multiple news sources are confirming that legendary singer Whitney Houston has passed away at the age of 48.  While her publicist has refused to confirm the whereabouts of the singer's demise, TMZ is reporting that crime lab vehicles are stationed outside the Beverly Hilton hotel, and that sources are indicating that as Ms. Houston's location.

In the course of her career, Whitney sold over 200 million albums and singles, and ranks as the fourth best selling female artist of all time.  Though she publicly battled addiction at numerous times during her life, she will be remembered as one of the foremost influential artists of the century.

She will be missed.

 

Dan Wheldon, 2011 Indy 500 Winner, Dead In Las Vegas Indy 300 Crash (Video)

Dan Wheldon, the winner of this year's Indianapolis 500, died earlier this afternoon in a gruesome 15 car pileup at the Las Vegas Indy 300.  On lap 13, as ABC was broadcasting from inside his vehicle, his car became airborne, flew approximately 200 yards, and landed in a catch fence outside of turn two.

Three other drivers were injured in the pileup.  Wheldon was airlifted to University Medical Center, but the injuries he sustained proved fatal.  The other drivers were not notified of his death until after the race.  Following the race, the drivers took part in a five lap salute in his honor.

It is the first Indy Car fatality since Paul Dana's death in 2006.

While the video below does not show any blood or dismemberment, it is a violent, violent, crash.  Viewer discretion is advised.



Dan is survived by his wife Susie, and his sons Sebastian and Oliver, who was born in March of this year.  Our hearts and thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Quote Of The Day

"The world has lost a visionary.  And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."

 - President Barack Obama, on the passing of Apple founder Steve Jobs. 

Watch Steve Jobs Inspirational 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech

With the passing of Steve Jobs this afternoon, I thought it would be appropriate to post the following.  On June 12, 2005, he gave the commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University.  Months before, he publicly battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer.  That day, however, this billionaire who had never himself benefited from a college degree, revealed three personal stories from his life.  These stories make you think about yourself and your place in the world, and inspire you to do great things.

If you haven't seen this video, I encourage you to take the next 15 minutes to view it.  It will be the best 15 minutes you have spent today.  I must warn you though, there is a segment of the speech where Jobs talks about facing death.  In light of today's events, it made watching the video somewhat hard to watch.



One final note:  Steve Jobs was notoriously famous for keeping his private life private.  It is unknown as to the true nature of the latest illness that caused him to resign as Apple's CEO in August.  Many speculate that he had a recurrence of the pancreatic cancer, but it was never disclosed.  His cause of death may ultimately never be known.

His family did release the following statement this evening,

"Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family. 

"In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve's illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories. 

"We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve.   We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief."

Apple.com on October 5, 2011.

Breaking: World Mourns Passing Of Visionary Steve Jobs

ABC News is reporting that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, and the man that revitalized the brand in the nineties, has passed away.  In a large part, he has the way that we live our day to day lives.  With the IPod, and later with the IPhone and IPad, the world is a different place today because of his innovations.

When you go to Apple's home page, you are greeted by a full page photo of their founder, along with the words, "Steve Jobs 1955-2011".  Clicking on his image takes you to a statement by the company, it says:

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being.  Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.  Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

 In 2004, Jobs beat a rare form of pancreatic cancer.  In 2009, health conditions worsened, requiring him to get a liver transplant.  Six weeks ago, on August 24, he announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Apple.  Days later, photos surfaced of an emaciated and gravely ill Jobs being aided across the street in California.

Jobs was a "technological philanthropist".  He believed that investing in the improvement of technology would improve the human condition, thereby making the world a better place.  He was a controlling investor in Pixar Animation Studios, and later sat on the board of directors for Disney.

Steve Jobs was a college dropout, who, together with Steve Wozniak, started building computers in his parents' garage, back in 1976.  30 years later, many would consider him the Thomas Edison of our day.  He had an uncanny knack of thinking outside the box.  He has changed our vocabulary, and the way we communicate.  He has changed the way we listen to music and watch movies.  Are we a better world because of Steve Jobs?  I will leave that up for debate.  But, I will say, that we are a changed world because of him.

On a personal note, my three year old daughter was playing on our IPad this morning.  At three, she already knows how to negotiate the device.  She knows which folders her favorite applications are in.

We purchased the IPad months ago to help educate her.  In the six months or so that we have had it, she has made a remarkable improvement.  With the help of a number of apps, she has learned how to write and recognize numbers and letters.  She knows what opposites are.  She can even complete 16 piece puzzles.  With the aid of the IPad, she is going to enter kindergarten head and shoulders above all of her classmates.  For that reason alone, I owe Steve Jobs my gratitude.

Jobs is survived by his wife, Laurene, and his four children, Lisa, Reed, Erin and Eve.  Our thought are with the family, as well as the Apple family during their loss.

Another Beautiful Remembrance Of Amy Winehouse

This one comes courtesy of Dorothy Surrenders.  I am posting it verbatim, because I wouldn't do Amy's legacy justice by editing it.

"For us she was a flame. Daughter of a cab driver. Voice of a soul siren. Heart of a lonesome poet. Amy Winehouse came into our collective consciousness a blaze of behemoth beehives and tawdry tattoos. But once we heard that voice we knew, we knew we’d been given a gift. That delicious ache, that raw nerve, that naked vulnerability. She was at once something so fresh yet so familiar. True talent always is.

Her troubles were no secret, those that kept her off the stage and in the tabloids. But we never really knew her demons, those that drove her to wring beauty out of pain. Or those deeper ones that took her away from us all too soon. So much written about her during her life was almost cautionary – my own words included. Still others mocked her mercilessly as the punchline to her own life. Those who make sport of others suffering found an easy target. Yet when it happened, somehow, it still felt like a shock to me. And, Jesus, was I gutted.

Gone at 27, that supposedly haunted age for our golden gods of music. Jimi. Janis. Jim. Kurt. And now Amy. Those who burned too hot and too fast and are now forever subject to the task-tsking of history. But this is no time for I told you so’s. Such talent. Such talent, gone.

I feel so much for the people who loved her and the people who tried to help. But I also feel a profound loss for all of us. It’s selfish, so selfish. But, my God, the music we're missing. The songs. The sass. The slur of unapologetic humanity. We won’t be able to see what would come next. What wonders awaited. What she would woo us with, all over again. Not too long ago, I told a friend I felt like I had been waiting for a new Amy Winehouse album my entire life. That it will never come seems incomprehensible. Cruel, even. Though I supposed we should be thankful that we had her at all. And, for her voice, there will be no final frame. It lives on forever. Find peace, darling bird. Thank you for the music."

Russell Brand Publishes Eulogy For Amy Winehouse

British comedian Russell Brand, known for his roles in such films as 'Get Him to the Greek' and 'Arthur', published a moving eulogy for Amy Winehouse on his website.  Winehouse was found dead in her London apartment yesterday afternoon.  A cause of death has not been determined, but most of the world is speculating that it was due to a drug overdose.  She has notoriously battled addiction for most of her adult life.

As a former addict himself, Brand is familiar with the lifestyle that may have led to Amy's untimely death.  He has been clean and sober for 9 years now, since the age of 27 (coincidentally, the same age Winehouse was).  He has also been a personal friend of Winehouse for a number of years, since before she started to sing professionally.

Today's piece is surprisingly eloquent and moving.  He doesn't hide the fact that he cared for her a great deal.  It is also a reminder of the horrible position you put yourself into when you love someone who is an addict.  As he says, "There will be a phone call".  Sadly, yesterday's call wasn't good news.

Here is his post, in it's entirety:

"When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone.

Frustratingly it’s not a call you can ever make it must be received. It is impossible to intervene.

I’ve known Amy Winehouse for years. When I first met her around Camden she was just some twit in a pink satin jacket shuffling round bars with mutual friends, most of whom were in cool Indie bands or peripheral Camden figures Withnail-ing their way through life on impotent charisma. Carl Barrat told me that “Winehouse” (which I usually called her and got a kick out of cos it’s kind of funny to call a girl by her surname) was a jazz singer, which struck me as a bizarrely anomalous in that crowd. To me with my limited musical knowledge this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance; “Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric” I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable.

I was myself at that time barely out of rehab and was thirstily seeking less complicated women so I barely reflected on the now glaringly obvious fact that Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction. All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they’re not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil. Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50p for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his “speedboat” there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they’re looking through you to somewhere else they’d rather be. And of course they are. The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of the day with some purchased relief.

From time to time I’d bump into Amy she had good banter so we could chat a bit and have a laugh, she was “a character” but that world was riddled with half cut, doped up chancers, I was one of them, even in early recovery I was kept afloat only by clinging to the bodies of strangers so Winehouse, but for her gentle quirks didn’t especially register.

Then she became massively famous and I was pleased to see her acknowledged but mostly baffled because I’d not experienced her work and this not being the 1950’s I wondered how a “jazz singer” had achieved such cultural prominence. I wasn’t curious enough to do anything so extreme as listen to her music or go to one of her gigs, I was becoming famous myself at the time and that was an all consuming experience. It was only by chance that I attended a Paul Weller gig at the Roundhouse that I ever saw her live.

I arrived late and as I made my way to the audience through the plastic smiles and plastic cups I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened. Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! That twerp, all eyeliner and lager dithering up Chalk Farm Road under a back-combed barnet, the lips that I’d only seen clenching a fishwife fag and dribbling curses now a portal for this holy sound. So now I knew. She wasn’t just some hapless wannabe, yet another pissed up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes. She was a fucking genius.

Shallow fool that I am I now regarded her in a different light, the light that blazed down from heaven when she sang. That lit her up now and a new phase in our friendship began. She came on a few of my TV and radio shows, I still saw her about but now attended to her with a little more interest. Publicly though, Amy increasingly became defined by her addiction. Our media though is more interested in tragedy than talent, so the ink began to defect from praising her gift to chronicling her downfall. The destructive personal relationships, the blood soaked ballet slippers, the aborted shows, that youtube madness with the baby mice. In the public perception this ephemeral tittle-tattle replaced her timeless talent. This and her manner in our occasional meetings brought home to me the severity of her condition. Addiction is a serious disease; it will end with jail, mental institutions or death. I was 27 years old when through the friendship and help of Chip Somers of the treatment centre, Focus12 I found recovery, through Focus I was introduced to support fellowships for alcoholics and drug addicts which are very easy to find and open to anybody with a desire to stop drinking and without which I would not be alive.

Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy’s incredible talent. Or Kurt’s or Jimi’s or Janis’s, some people just get the affliction. All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill. We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care. We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalisation doesn’t even make economic sense. Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent that Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help and the help is out there. All they have to do is pick up the phone and make the call. Or not. Either way, there will be a phone call."

Amy Winehouse Found Dead In London Apartment

Very sad, but not unexpected, news for the music industry this afternoon.  Amy Winehouse, five time Grammy award winner, has been found dead in her London apartment.  An ambulance was called to respond to the report of a deceased woman being found.  According to London Police:

"On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.  Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death.  At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained."

Winehouse last appeared onstage three days ago at the ITunes Music Festival in London.  While she didn't sing during her appearance, she appeared, for the most part, sober while she danced on stage.



Amy notoriously battled addiction for most of her adult life, cancelling much of her current European tour in order to undergo rehab treatment.  Video surfaced weeks ago showing a disheveled and slurring Winehouse performing in Serbia.



Though her legacy will likely revolve around her drug use, for her fans, she will be remembered as a unique voice in a sea of bubble gum pop music.  She brought a level of class and seductiveness to modern music that had been missing since the passing of Billy Holiday and Sarah Vaughn.  She will sorely be missed.



An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow to determine the cause of death.  What a loss.