Saturday, May 14, 2016

Moby Looks Back

The techno music pioneer has reached middle age, with a new memoir out about his struggles with alcohol, poverty and success.

 ...  Moby, born Richard Melville Hall and now 50 years old, has sold more than 20 million albums world-wide; his dozen official releases include “Play” (1999), “18” (2002) and “Innocents” (2013). It wasn’t an easy path. He grew up poor in an affluent Connecticut suburb and battled alcoholism for almost two decades.

 ... Moby was drinking heavily by the late 1980s, before becoming sober for a few years and then starting to drink again in 1995.

Read it all at The Wall Street Journal.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

False Accusations

Shameless self-plug:
"Simply stated, false accusations are aggressive lies, but we also know them in milder form as spin, slanting the facts, one-sidedness, tailoring the message, and so on.

"Note: I got the idea of the importance of false accusations from a book I am reading on alcoholism: Vessels of Rage, Engines of Power: The Secret History of Alcoholism.

"The author of this book, James Graham, makes the claim repeatedly that alcoholics very often engage in false accusations. In discussing this book with my partner, we came to conclude that Graham is right about this—false accusations do seem to be common among the alcoholics we both know."

My thanks to the author whose website is here.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Madonna

Swigging tequila from a fan's hip flask, Madonna suffered another onstage meltdown yesterday as she branded ex-husband Guy Ritchie a 'son of a b***h' ...

The 57-year-old singer, locked in a bitter custody dispute with Guy over their son Rocco, couldn't contain her emotions during a second mumbling show in Melbourne, Australia.

Her ‘chaotic’ appearance at the Rod Laver Arena included an emotional plea to the crowd, begging, 'Somebody take care of me please. Who is going to take care of me?'

... Erratic behaviour: Fans expressed their concern that Madonna was drunk as she performed in Australia. At one point she asked for a cosmopolitan cocktail to be brought on stage for her (circled)

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Retired-Alaskan-Airlines-pilot-pleads-not-guilty-flying-two-commercial-flights-drunk

  • David Hans Arntson, 60, was charged in January with operating a common carrier while under the influence of alcohol or drugs
  • Random test showed he flew two flights on June 20, 2014, with blood alcohol levels of 0.134 and 0.142; the legal limit for pilots is 0.04 
  • Flights were from San Diego to Portland, Oregon, and then Portland to Orange County 
  • Arnston could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the charges 

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Leonard Nimoy

Alcoholic alien who was my worst enemy - and best friend: Star Trek's William Shatner tells the emotional story of his friendship with co-star Spock  

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy became best friends after Star Trek

  • They had no idea they were creating two of TV's most iconic characters
  • Shatner played constant pranks, and eventually won Nimoy's friendship
  • Nimoy was an alcoholic, which he kept secret while filming the TV show 

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Downton Abbey star Brendan Coyle

Downton Abbey star Brendan Coyle got drunk on flight home from Thailand rehab centre, court hears

The actor who played Lord Grantham's valet Mr Bates in the ITV drama was pulled over by police in his his BMW convertible