WE hear sad story after sad story almost daily…..whether it is children starving or morons with guns killing innocent people or well…….. whatever.
Then there are the ones that hit you on a more personal level……
I am an old fart so some of my guitar heroes were masters like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton…..and this is where the sad story of mine picks up……
A tough break for Eric Clapton: The 71-year-old guitar legend says he now struggles to play at all because of nerve damage. “It started with lower back pain and turned into what they call peripheral neuropathy—which is where you feel like you have electric shocks going down your leg,” he tells Ultimate Classic Rock. It’s “hard work to play the guitar, and I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that it will not improve,” says Clapton, who recently released I Still Do, his 23rd solo album. His touring days might be finished, but Clapton says he’s lucky just to be here. “Because I’m in recovery from alcoholism and addiction to substances, I consider it a great thing to be alive at all,” he says. “By rights I should have kicked the bucket a long time ago. For some reason I was plucked from the jaws of hell and given another chance.”
How sad is that? One of the world’s best guitarists and he cannot play …..just sucks!
Linda Ronstadt now Eric Clapton…..just sucks!
We keep losing our greats and yet Bon Jovi and Ted Nugent are still breathing….where’s the justice there?
Saw an article too and almost cried. I’m developing a slight amount of neuropathy too due to diabetes, made worse by alcohol. Mine is not debilitating (YET) but my heart bleeds for us old fart’s loss of a GREAT musician. ~~dru~~
It is truly sad….chuq
Aye, sad, indeed. As he notes, we all have a lot to be thankful for, in that sense, for he’s given us his genius for longer than many of his contemporaries were able to…. I’ll miss his particular style of genius; it seems the very best guitarists always manage to mark their work with the unique stamp of their persona…
Great choice for an example, too; Some pretty fricking good company on that stage, with Steve Winwood, Carl Radle, and the two most excellent guitarists playing along whom I didn’t recognize… and both Stevie an Eric had great fun, playing/singing in harmony; you could see it in their eyes as they played the dual solo near the end…
Now I need to go look for the new album….
gigoid
Like I said…..Bon Jovi and Ted Nugent still breath…there is NO justice. chuq
*sad smile* Sadly, justice is also gone from the world. But, then, we humans invented the concept, anyway, so, it makes a perverse sort of sense we’d be the ones to destroy its relevance…
In the real Universe, justice doesn’t exist; we are the only ones who need it, because of how we treat each other, and other creatures….
Sorry, mini-rant… I agree, those two need to stop breathing soon, or, get out of the business neither should ever have been in… more irony, I guess.
It’s everywhere I look today….
gigoid
The rant is all good, LOL I just hate see so many of the greats from my days go down……sad….chuq
I agree with the statement of Mr. “Slowhand”: “… I consider it a great thing to be alive at all, …”
Some don’t get to still be alive at his age. Some never experience the adulation he has had throughout his career. And, maybe some have never been afforded the opportunity to be moved by his Artistry.
So no, I am not sad because: he is still alive; he is still appreciated; and most importantly (through the advent of the audio & visual technology) … there will remain an opportunity throughout the ages for many more to appreciate his Artistic brilliance.
True…but he will not be doing live performances….an experience I have had and he will be missed….
Aw, hard to get over the sadness 🙁
Yes it is …..