Saturday, February 11, 2012

Good Bye Whitney Houston 2-11-12

I want to say good bye to this beautiful woman.  She had so much talent, grace and beauty.  
 Her voice was perfect she had so much control over it and knew how to use it.  It's so shocking that we will never hear it again.  Apparently she couldn't shake her demons (drugs and alcohol) which seems to be the reason for her death.

My prayers go out to her child and family. 


Whitney you have given me so much joy with your music..  I thank you and will miss you,

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Friday, February 3, 2012

It's So Easy and Other Lies by Duff McKagan

I just finished reading this book.  It's So Easy and Other Lies by Duff McKagen of Guns N Roses.  Duff wrote honestly about his life with drugs and alcohol.  He completely turned his life around but not without a slip.  However he quickly realized he was hooked again and found help.  He is an amazing man to have been in drug hell and come back to be strong and working hard to better his life.  His story began before GNR with all the teenage punk bands that he was involved with.  In his late teens Aids and heroin was killing many of his friends, but he got lucky to only be hooked on alcohol at the time.     He at one point could have became a pastry chef because of his top skills.  However his real passion was the guitar.  Duff gathered all the best players he knew to become the band Guns N Roses.  In the infancy of the group every member had some degree of an addiction.  As the fame and royalties increased so did the addictions.  The first CD and tour moved fast.  The second CD took a long time to finish because of addiction and attitude.  Axl worked at his pace.  Even the tour was effected by Axl and his attitude.  He would delay the start time of shows.  The band would get fined by the areas which got expensive which wasn't bad enough but the fans would get restless and start riots.  When the tour was over everyone went their separate ways.  Duff tried to get them back together but some of the members moved on to other projects including Duff.  He did a solo album and toured.  After the tour.  He started to realize the size of his addiction.  He only knew where he played is by the stamps in his pass port!  At that point he went home to Seattle where his partying continued and where his pancreas exploded because of his alcohol abuse.  It took 2 weeks to heal and detox.   He started to ride his bike which was the only time he  the tremors and shakes would stop.  Duff started to eat right, exercise and go back to school.  He was really getting his life back.  Or develop a life without alcohol, which he never knew as an adult.  He met his third wife who gave him 2 daughters.  He also formed a new band Velvet Revolver and went to school for economics!  Amazing.  I'm so glad that he found a new life at 30 and didn't end up like some of his drug addicted friends.  If you were ever a GNR fan this is a book you should read.