Posted on 12/28/2016 1:48:47 PM PST by Rummyfan
I surprised myself by how sad I felt on hearing of George Michael's death on Christmas Day. It's the faintly depressing sadness that comes from being reminded, as with Amy Winehouse or Michael Jackson, that a longtime beloved comic figure in Fleet Street is a real human being whose pathologies have finally caught up with him. In contrast to Jacko, the principal victim of George Michael was himself. He died alone at his Oxfordshire cottage, his body discovered by a boyfriend whose relationship with George commanded no fidelity from the star. His protective publicist said it was a heart attack. The boyfriend carelessly revealed that, after years of other abuses, George had latterly moved on to heroin. He looked all of his 53 years and then some.
There was something touchingly sincere in the way his fans took to the internet to observe solemnly that it was his "Last Christmas". I always liked that song, mainly because I was impressed by the scrupulousness of George's feminine rhymes, which was unusual by 1984 and is even more so today:
Tell me, baby, do you recognize me?
Well, it's been a year, it doesn't surprise me...
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Amazing how Heroin comes out later than sooner in so many of these young deaths
Reportedly worth over 200 million pounds. There was some sense In there somewhere.
I enjoyed watching the freedom video last night. Versace had a fashion show with it where they walked out lipsynching
I always feel a mix of bad and anger at the ones who had talent but who gave into their demons.
Ironic that these were the lyrics to one of his hits:
Why Can’t You Do It?
Why can’t you set your monkey free?
Always giving in to it -
Do you love the monkey or do you love me?
Why can’t you do it
Why do i have to share my baby with a monkey?
Glad I was never into this guy’s musical drek.
The Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills is named after America's great cowboy humorist, famed for his catchphrase "I never met a man I didn't like". Apparently, most patrons of the park's toilet feel the same way.
...
Years ago, Artie Shaw, having outlived Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James et al, said to me, "My music was better than theirs, and my life turned out the best, too." It was an either/or deal for Wham!: George Michael won the former, and Andrew Ridgeley the latter. And perhaps, even knowing the final score, George would do it the same all over again.
“Amazing how Heroin comes out later than sooner in so many of these young deaths”
I guess now that that is more fashionable than saying AIDS ...
No matter WHAT the subject is, Steyn never fails to produce JEWELS such as:
“Ten years later, with a minimalist beard and a permanent scowl, George Michael looked like a Bond villain whose plans for world domination hadn’t quite worked out.”
“And so the years of sulking, suing and striking for the right to be respected as a great artist were obliterated in an instant, by one ill-considered foot foray under the stall divider, and George was back to square one, waking up to headlines like ‘Zip Me Up Before You Go-Go’”.
“George Michael won the former, and Andrew Ridgeley the latter. And perhaps, even knowing the final score, George would do it the same all over again.”
Yep. Having lived through it with a drug addict husband, You really CANNOT change the base nature of ‘who’ someone is and rarely do they even WANT to change even with Death or Disease staring them in the face on a daily basis.
Priceless.
I’m sure you listen to some seek that I’m glad I don’t listen to too. To each his/her own.
I usually like Steyn, but this article is pure pointless rambling!
That looks like a pretty typical 53 year old man to me. We can’t all look 25 forever.
For most of history 53 was ancient.
If that pic is recent, it doesn’t look like an AIDS related death.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman died from heroin too and he wasn’t a tiny fellow.
I thought taking heroin emaciated you. Or crack.
But that dead guy from Canada, Ford?, the mayor, showed that’s not true again.
Yes Steyn is witty, brilliant but verbose. For all his conservative insights, he’s a secularist at heart. He lacks the guiding star of Christ. So he wanders.
Rogers was talking about, IIRC, a politician. What he said was, “I never met a man I didn’t like—until now.”
My favorite (cruel though it might be):
“He [referring to Andrew Ridgeley] was contributing very little, partially through laziness and partially through accepting that what I was doing was going to be so huge that neither of us thought there would be any point in trying to collaborate when it would just dilute what I was doing,” said George, discussing his pop partner rather than his men’s room one [which, Steyn implies, involved essentially a “solo performance”, with the cop who busted him as little more than an observer].
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