Health & Fitness
27, Part One
The hardest part about being a grown-up is remembering what it was like being a child.
Amy Winehouse died. Anybody else horribly surprised? I know I wasn't. But to be honest, it was "lack of surprise" mixed with "saddened as a person." Meaning, as a person aware of modern pop culture and a fellow entertainer who has not led that most pristine a path through life, it was an honest grief for the loss of a beautiful, talented, obviously hurting young life.
Where were the people who should have been there to help Amy Winehouse?
A talented young recording star with her whole talented life before her dies alone in her London apartment.
Know what? Thousands of talented, beautiful young people die every day, and they never get the front page of every media site and newspaper in the world. They're just gone.
It's sad enough that Amy Winehouse was lost. What's sadder is the loss of a human life who had a family who loved her and people within the industry who should have done a better job at their jobs.
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Done.
So, anyway, 27. Jimi Hendrix. Janis Joplin. Kurt Cobain. Amy Winehouse. All gone at 27. Wow. Just imagine the music Jimi, Janis and Kurt could be creating now if they were still alive. Mind = Blown.
So, the question I bring up is when do you talk to your kids honestly about getting older and partying? I mean, talking to them like real people and not a bad seventh-grade film strip shown by the A/V Club.
I've spent the last 30 years in the entertainment business. Spent the majority of that on the road and most of that time working with bands all over the world.
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How do I put this delicately? OK. I won't be up for sainthood at any time soon. Get it?
In the 1980s, I spent a weekend with Billy Idol and his retinue in a suite. Seventy-two hours. We weren't reading the Gideon's Bible and drinking sodas from the mini-bar.
Now, I have an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old who are as innocent as newborn babes one second, and are bumping and grinding to the latest Souljah Boy video the next. (To be honest, I have no idea who Souljah Boy is, but I do know I don't like how my daughter knows the lyrics to his songs.)
Which is making me realize: Just when do I start addressing the issues of drinking and drugs with them? Personally, I'd like to wait until they are in their 30s, but chances are that won't be an option.
Which means things are about to get uncomfortable for all of us.
To be continued ...
