Morning Mail – 7.25.11

The man said 'why do you think you here'
I said 'I got no idea
I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose my baby
so I always keep a bottle near'
He said 'I just think you're depressed,
this me, yeah baby, and the rest'

They tried to make me go to rehab but I said 'no, no, no'
Yes I've been black but when I come back you'll know know know

I don't ever wanna drink again
I just ooh I just need a friend
I'm not gonna spend ten weeks
have everyone think I'm on the mend

It's not just my pride
It's just 'til these tears have dried
(Source: Rehab, Amy Winehouse)

What is it about the age 27? Is there really some large propensity for people to die at the age of 27, or have these artists just all decided to call it quits at the same age for some unspoken reason. Jimi, Janis, Jim Morrison, Robert Johnson, Kurt Cobain, and for a more complete list, read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club

I have never been more anxious to wisen up and get my ass to 28 before something goes wrong for the kid.

I’m going to come back to this in a second, but there is something about people drinking and being near water that always baffles me. Do you know how many African-Americans cannot swim? A recent study showed that somewhere between 60-70% of Black folk can’t swim. So over the weekend someone asks me, “How does someone drown in 3 feet of water?” And I said, “Easily, they were drunk.” I’m all for a few adult beverages by the pool, but as a former lifeguard let me just say that alcohol and water might mix, but drunk and water do not mix. Alcohol affects your balance, judgment, reflexes and respiratory system. Throw on top of all that the alarming percentages of Black people who can’t swim and I’ll never understand why Hennessy is at a pool party.

I didn’t really get who Amy Winehouse was for a long time, in fact it wasn’t until a friend of mine played Tears Dry On Their Own for me that I realized that she was very talented. I listened to just that song all the time. I didn’t really want to buy into the Amy fad, but with time, I found that Back In Black was on my iPod. Not just the regular version, but the instrumentals and a live version too. I came to appreciate Amy for her music, addiction and the way she came to grips with all of it.

Blake Fielder-Civil might have been more toxic than Pete Doherty was to Kate Moss. Blake is allegedly sober now, I’m happy he saved himself. Pete Doherty can’t convince anyone he’s sober, and Kate Moss can only breathe through one nostril now. So I guess that’s that.

This all brings me to my last point about music and drugs. I think that there’s two people that I want to highlight here before I move on, Frank Ocean and The Weeknd. With the exception of those who spend most of their time talking about marijuana all those other musicians who constantly talk about drugs are dead or have had serious problems. I hope that we don’t look up in a few years and say, “Damn Frank Ocean could have been great if he would have chilled on the cocaine.” To each his own, he’s more than free to do what he pleases, I just hope that don’t end up being the route he takes.