Thursday, February 08, 2007

DRUNKEN WISDOM

I am certainly fond of a glass or two of fine wine every now and again, but was always blessed with a stroppy nagging dwarf-like voice in my head that prevents me from ever really losing control, and therefore knowing pretty well where and when to stop before doing anything that in hindsight would be (too) regrettable and (too) embarrassing. Although for a while I did use to drink quite a bit before concerts, later, in order to prove to myself that it wasn't a prop, was surprised what a significant challenge it still was to do a number of shows stone cold sober - and happily, playing became just as, if not in many ways much more, exhilarating. And I can sympathise with performers who turn to the bottle - it's everywhere around you, and it really can take a lot of courage to get up on a stage in front of any number of people.

This collection of pictures is an object lesson in pathetic excess. Some observations: they look like murder scenes without the lonely Patricia Cornwell glamour, they're all hairy blokes and victims thereof (though I suspect that's more to do with the Scandinavian origin of the pics - in the UK piss-artists like this come in all flavours and genders), and far more than funny it's a deeply depressing comment on the human race.

5 comments:

Sypha said...

sobriety... oddly enough, I've never been tempted to drink beer or anything like that. The only liquid the body really needs anyway is water, so that's usually just what I drink, though I do enjoy juice. I'll never understand why drinking is so popular. Maybe it's the taste or something.

Fastcanoe said...

I see it as more the company one keeps, if any at all. Drinking alone provides ample entertainment and self stupidity. This said, dealing with fellow performers who suddenly find the cheese of their casio better than the outboards linked to it when drunk on stage is starting to grate.

bobdylansthumbnail said...

maybe this'll cheer you up

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070208/ap_on_fe_st/honest_cabbie

Unknown said...

I love alcohol. I have never passed out from it aside from laying in a bed or on a couch and falling asleep, and have only puked from it once. Alcohol brings about situations (good and bad) that might not happen otherwise, and it gives me a strange sense of energy. Lately however I have started to space out while drinking and get overwhelmed, even resulting in crying in public. I cried last night during the new David Lynch movie right near the end, that was NOT sad. I imagined people looking over at me and thinking I must really be affected by the film... pretty stupid. Sometimes I like alcohol even when it brings out the worst in me because it is a test for people around me, and, it's nice to know the worst aspects about myself as a person and things in my life really aren't so bad. The people that are taken aback by by my behavior - fuck them.

Unknown said...

I have some mental images, of one particularly alienated and terrible time of my life.

Passed out in the back of my hatchback car, parked in suburbia somewhere. Buried under laundry. With custom fangs( a present ).
( Could not drink and drive and my friends all went to the club, which was always never near where I lived. )

A unlovely sight, to see awakening at dawn. Less vampire than down and out in Suburban decay.