a firecracker waiting to blow

Apparently Ryan Adams has sobered up after years of hard core drug abuse. I saw him play in late 2004 and I have to concur that the dude was seriously trying to kill himself. By the amount of alcohol he put away during his fairly short set, I was amazed he still had the eye-hand coordination to form chords with one hand and strum with the other. The concert itself was maddening: 15 minutes of giggling and drunken rambling between songs but when he bothered to actually play music he was genius. He played a version of "When The Stars Go Blue" that I've never forgotten.


Anyway, I'm glad he's decided pull himself out of his nosedive; he's clearly a very talented songwriter who could obviously benefit from a bit of clarity and focus. I always suspected that he has a masterpiece buried in him somewhere - maybe now he's got the chance to dig it out.


Apropos of nothing: the cheesy 80's song that was playing on my iPod yesterday morning? Oh yeah, that would be "Summer of '69." Ryan wouldn't approve, but still it's a fun song.