The last time Mike played with Alice In Chains was 1994.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrs6xsdG6c

Please....Many other professions are equally if not much more taxing and a great majority of the people who work in them ( commodities traders, Contractors in commercial or residential, medical surgeons, justices..etc...etc....) do not have substance abuse/addictions. If you look around at the music industry you will be surprised to see a lot of people who have always been clean, even if at some point they took a detour..

Not to be callous here but being a musician does not guarantee a short life due to slow suicide by substance abuse or a faster route.
As a matter of fact, there is nothing romantic about becoming a rotting corpse. Sorry to be graphic here but I am not sympathetic to doping, Iv'e seen it, have had friends who have died from it or who may still and it is pathetic.
No one produces great art wether it is music, fine arts or anything that requires a clear mind to be creative when obfuscated by whatever substance.

It's unfortunate that another person has died prematurely, but the only way substance abuse can be minimized is by looking at the problem with open objective eyes and honestly admitting that it isn't romantic, cool, or fashionable. It is eventually deadly, is pitiful when you look at before and after and is not what productive responsible people do.
If any one wants a wake up call, just go down to your local morgue and visit the auto crash victims of yesterday who were drinking and driving. Or worse, the ones who just happened to be at the wrong place, wrong time when the DIU drove by and thru them....

I won't say RIP because this is too often and need not occur. It is unfortunate that our society glorifies medication for anything from a hangnail to anxiety attacks because of personal choices.....Absurd..

"..Insanity is defined as repeating the same scenario and expecting a different result.."

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

O.K. I agree with most of your post, and there are other vocations that tax a persons wherewithal as much as the music business. But, they are not as heavily exposed to the population as movie stars and musicians. And the FEW that I call lucky to escape "addictions" that being just one of the problems, others include Nervous breakdowns, exhaustion, Insanity malnutrition etc. etc. This has affected Many stars and musicians across all genres. The fact that you refer to as it being glorified by many just proves that it has been a widespread problem for years and years, only now, It is much more in the open than it was 50 or 60 years ago. in music, Country, Rock, Blues, Jazz, actors from stage and screen have fell victim. I think the list of people with negative issues due to their "stardom" seem to get noticed a lot more that those who have led a more sedentary lifestyle. I never tried to excuse this type of behavior in my post. I was just making a statement. as you referred to dealing with substance abuse with open, objective eyes, Wishing someone who died of an O.D. to Not R.I.P. is hardly a good example of objectivity. Peace

I did not wish him not to RIP, but it is easily preventable and it goes around in circles when every time this happens everyone just goes off on the despair theme instead of really addressing the issue.

Tragic.... Yes.....reckless...absolutely....I have known two people who did much worse. One took a shotgun, ended his life in his apartment with his girlfriend present, ( I have known her since she was 10 years old.
The other was an equally insane scenario, his relationship with his life partner had ended a couple years prior, they had a daughter, she had found someone else and had been very happily together for quite some time. He kidnapped the boyfriend ( husband today ) tied him up to a boulder at the North Light, went back to the house, shot his daughter while she slept and then took his own life. This was the house next door to ours, less than 100 feet away.
In both cases drugs played a factor..

So for me Overdosing or mayhem resulting from substance abuse really angers me because it is so pointless and destructive. Everytime I hear about these kinds of results I don't feel sympathetic because more often than not people close to those persons knew full well but did not think it could turn tragically ugly.
The two examples preceding, being from a small town we all knew each other and each others family quite intimately, still we did nothing yet we all knew something was very wrong long beforehand. That is not acceptable.
We are responsible for our friends and/or family members and when something seems off, we have to say something, even if it means ruffling a few feathers.
I prefer ruffling a few feathers than having to face 20- 40 people I know well at a funeral.
No thank's, been there too many times...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

NO. Addiction is anything BUT easy to deal with. A 20 year old kid is introduced to a drug he doesn't actually understand the dangers of. He becomes an addict. Any attempt to clean up will likely fail.

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

If a 20 year old kid doesn't know to stay away from a drug (you fill in the blank of which drug), then his parents/guardians should be slapped, held down and forcibly sterilized. It's not the parent's fault if he goes ahead and does it anyway, but it is their fault if they don't educate him.

My parents didn't sit down with me and say, "Ok, son, here's what heroin does to you, here's what cocaine does to you, here's what..." They just explained the general problems of taking, using and abusing drugs, and told me that they would be very unhappy if I were to choose that lifestyle. They started talking to me about this when I was in my 'tweens, and that wasn't common for my generation (born 1970). Subsequently, I am the rare guy of my age group who's never even smoked a joint (or a cigarette, for that matter).
*(I'll admit I was immature and I kept Miller Brewing Company in business for a few years, but I quit that before it became a problem when I was 28).

My parents weren't judgemental about drug use, they were just factual and straightforward.

I do the same thing with my daughter. When she was about 5, a song by Hendrix came on the radio. She liked it and was bopping her little head around. I asked her if she would like to go see him in concert. She said, "Yeah! Let's do that!"

"Well, we can't. He's dead because he abused drugs."

That has made a bigger impact on her than the DARE program or things like that; just the simple fact that a talented young man was lost to us forever because he wanted to alter his reality a bit.

...and now, we have to add Starr's name to that list.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Shouldn't you be doing your homework boy?

Yep. You should. But no!!!! You are on the internet spewing your knowledge about life.

Awesome.

(Did your mommy put a pop tart in your lunch bag today?) I hope she did.

Kids are smart. They know how the world is.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrs6xsdG6c

It is really bad, so many good musicians!

My wife told me about this the other night, she said "Did you hear the Mike Starr died?" I said, "how do you know who Mike Starr is?" "He was on Celebrity Rehab." For a split second I thought my wife had good taste in music... but once again she proved me wrong.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

What was that about?

I don't know Floyd personally, but from what I read, he's got his head screwed on straight...especially for a person his age. Let's be a bit more respectful to our little brothers and sisters here.

In the words of Frosty the Snowman, "Be cool..."

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Geez that was rough, if I was more surprised I'll probably say something like "I'll show you a pop tart," but these posts don't surprise me at all.

Some kids are smart but they're still human... everyone can succumb to something its human nature.

Lately I been thinking about giving up posting for Lent because of all the negativity I been seeing in these past couple of months (serously? what's been happening? I can't be the only one to notice it too...) but now I'm really considering giving up the Fender forum for good...

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Kid: "Hey Smokey! Where did you get your name?"
Smokey the Bear: "Well..."
(former user jimbo612)

Hey Smokey, Don't let it get you down. There is still a lot of good points of view on this forum, you know that a lot of folks don't use forums to learn anything new, or consider another's point of view, They think it's a sounding board for their viewpoint and once they type it on their keyboard, It's fact. I don't like everything I see on this forum, or in the world these days, but one should keep an open mind along with their ideals and consider another viewpoint. The bullying and name calling makes it real easy to see just what type of person is posting . I don't have time to feed that drama, and hopefully others feel the same way. Peace.

Marvin: very true... I think I just been having a down week and been noticing it more. I feel a lot better now that I vented in that last post

and plus, I never know when I'm going to be needing guitar help anytime soon... And I find this to be the best place to turn too.

Nothing like sage advice from wise friends like you guys

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Kid: "Hey Smokey! Where did you get your name?"
Smokey the Bear: "Well..."
(former user jimbo612)

saw that coming after CR

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