When I was young I had this coffee table book that profiled a bunch of rock stars. One of the rock stars profiled was Jim Morrison. His section began with a story detailing a degenerate night in which he ingested cocaine and imbibed blood with a witch.
I was devastated and disturbed. I couldn’t believe what I had read. My father, who knew the book was published by Rolling Stone magazine, doubted the yarn’s validity. Still, it took a long time before I got that tale out of my system and I could listen to The Doors again.
Laugh if you must but I just didn’t have enough life experience to realize rock stars were, for the most part, sad pathetic people you wouldn’t want to invite into your home for dinner. I was such an innocence child.
Nowadays, I don’t care about rock stars and the sordid details of their licentious and decadent lives. All I care about is the music (that’s why I can still listen to John Mayer). So when I learned that Rod Stewart once took cocaine anally I nary batted an eye.
Early in 2013, Stewart released “Rod: The Autobiography.” The fun read included the confession that he used to get high by taking cocaine suppositories.
What he and his friends did was buy cold medicine in capsule form from a pharmacist (called a “chemist” in the U.K.). They’d replace the cold medicine with coke and then stuck it where the sun don’t shine. The body would eventually dissolve the capsule and the cocaine would enter into the blood stream.
Stewart worried that snorting cocaine would damage his vocal chords. Yeah, that was his ONLY worry.
Obviously, the anecdote was included to help sell copies (by the way his book makes a great stocking stuffer). What I find funny isn’t that he revealed such an embarrassing account but the fact that it’s really not that embarrassing—at least by today’s standards—although it’s sure to make him the butt of more than a few jokes.
Of all the crazy things rock stars do nowadays, Stewart’s attempt to get high via the rectum so he can protect his voice reeks more of responsibility than reprehensibility. Dare I say it’s a cute story (relatively speaking of course).
It was a big year for Stewart. Also in 2012, he released a holiday album, Merry Christmas, Baby, and announced plans for a tour of North America.
Dubbed “Live the Life,” Stewart’s trek begins April 10 in Chicago and ends May 1 in Toronto. Right now, there are just nine dates planned, all in the eastern part of the U.S. For example, Rod Stewart and Steve Winwood visit Boston on April 13, Rod Stewart and Steve Winwood will be in New York City on April 19, and Rod Stewart and Steve Winwood roll into Atlanta on April 28 for a show at Philips Arena.
I don't have a crystal ball but it's very likely that more Rod Stewart concerts are forthcoming.
Since his recent touring partner Stevie Nicks will be busy touring with Fleetwood Mac, Stewart has tapped Steve Winwood to join him on the marquee. It should make for quite the night of blue-eyed soul.
More good news for Stewart fans, the singer is planning on releasing new material in 2013. Even better news, it won’t be like his American Songbook series but a “sequel to Gasoline Alley.”
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