Amy Winehouse

I suspect you weren't too shocked this weekend to read about the death of singer Amy Winehouse. When someone becomes a punchline for out of control drug and alcohol abuse, it's not shocking when they die.

But if you look through my archives, you'll see that I never used her as a punchline. To me, there was nothing funny about Amy Winehouse. It was always evident that she had a deathly serious problem. I hoped that she would snap out of it, but I knew in my heart that she wouldn't.

I saw an interview with her mother yesterday, and it seemed only appropriate that her mom's name is Janis. Janis Joplin is someone that Amy will always be associated with, because like Janis, Amy was 27 when she died. The others in the "27 club" are Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones and Kurt Cobain.

I joke about Keith Richard because he's still alive against all odds. But anyone who thinks that Keith is the norm should look at the list of the 27 Club. That's a far more likely destination when you go over the edge with drugs and alcohol.

At the risk of sounding a million years old, there's nothing glamorous or cool about being an out of control rock star, kids. And there's nothing cool about dying young and leaving a good looking corpse.

It's just tragic.

Chuck Berry

He may be a bit of a creep in real life, but there's no denying the impact Chuck Berry had on music. This morning's RAMP newsletter reports that his hometown of St. Louis is going to do something to recognize that...

Chuck Berry was the first person to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the inscription on his exhibit reads, "While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest...." It is in that spirit that Berry's hometown of St. Louis is preparing to honor one of its most famous native sons with a beautiful eight-foot bronze statue, designed by renowned sculptor Harry Weber. Apparently, bronze is very expensive, so KMOX/St. Louis personality Charlie Brennan has graciously spearheaded a fundraising campaign to help raise $100,000 to defray some of the statue's costs. The statue sits across the street from Blueberry Hill, a club where Berry, now in his 80s, has performed every month for the past 14 years, and Berry himself is slated to attend the statue's dedication on Friday, July 29 at 10am.

One of his first big hits was recorded right here in Chicago. It's still a great song 56 years after it was released...

Bruce's Eulogy for Clarence

It's beautiful.

Rolling Stone printed the entire text.

Clarence Clemons

Sad news over the weekend; Clarence Clemons passed away at the age of 69. My friend "BP" is a huge fan of Springsteen, and this is the way he describes the importance of Clarence to the E-Street Band...

"Without Clarence, there would have been no E Street Band, at least as we knew it. His contributions to “Jungleland,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,” “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run” are enough for an entire career. And that is just on a single album. I was listening to “Rosalita” yesterday while I was watering my garden and kept thinking back to all the times I’ve seen Bruce and the E Street Band (starting in Chicago on “The River” tour and most recently in Boston on the “Working on a Dream” tour) and all the joy that came from Clarence’s playing. Nobody enjoyed performing more than Clarence and his enthusiasm was contagious. Every time he had a sax solo, the crowd would erupt with a force like a touchdown being scored at Soldier Field. Speaking of Soldier Field, Bruce and the E Street Band played Soldier Field in August of ’85 on the “Born in the USA” Tour. I was there with 70,000 of my closest friends and it was A PARTY! In recent years, health problems limited Clarence and he had to sit for portions of shows due to hip and knee problems. But, you knew when it was time for the solo in “Badlands” (a song Bruce still plays almost every night on tour) Clarence would be there to let his horn howl. As Bruce posted on his website this weekend, his loss is “immeasurable.” R.I.P Big Man."

Aerosmith makes nice

Good news for Aerosmith fans from this morning's RAMP newsletter...

"Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has announced that the band, including once-estranged frontman Steven Tyler, will soon begin work on their first new album in 10 years. Using today's handiest news-delivery service, Twitter, Perry recently tweeted, "Whole band has plans to go into the studio with [producer] Jack Douglas second week of July to work on new Aero CD." Aerosmith have not released an album of new material since 2001's Just Push Play. According to Rolling Stone, things had become so strained between longtime friends Perry and Tyler that Perry didn't show up at Aerosmith's initial writing sessions earlier this year; however, the band did record several demos in Los Angeles a while back with tentative track titles that include "Bobbing for Piranha," "Asphalt" and "Legendary Child."

One of my favorite concert memories was driving to Springfield Illinois in 1984 to see the recently reunited Aerosmith perform. Tyler was so wasted that when he went down to do the splits during "Back in the Saddle" (the opening song), he had to be helped back up. He later fell off the stage, got his hair caught in a fan, and had a fist-fight with Joe Perry on stage. The stage went dark, and the band came back out a few minutes later (without Tyler) and did a few Hendrix songs before realizing they couldn't do it without their singer. The concert lasted about eight minutes, but I'll never forget it.