Vintertainment
(Fka "Wine and...") We pair wine with enetertainment! Wine and movies, TV, music, books, and comics with guests from both the wine and entertainment industries.
Vintertainment
Wine and Books: GLOW The Autobiography of Rick James
When superstar Rick James passed away in 2004, an autobiography was rushed out to the public. But biographer David Ritz was never satisfied with that edition, and many years later releaed this definitivie edition, GLOW: The Autobiography of Rick James.
Cobbled together from numerous letters and diary entries that James had written in prison and after, mixed with stories told by Ritz in James' voice, GLOW tells the story of an impulsive musical prodigy who witnessed the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
We listened to the entirety of James' discography while reading this book, and paired wines we think are perfect to match the book AND James' music!
DALLAS' WINE PAIRING:
Las Jaras 2024 Slipper Sipper Nouveau - 49% Zinfandel | 33% Carignan | 16% Petite Sirah | 7% Vermentino
DAVE'S WINE PAIRING:
2022 The Prisoner Red Blend - Zinfandel with the unlikely mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Syrah, and Charbono.
Read a more robust write up on both wines here: https://vintertainmentstudios.com
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Are you not entertained? Real good time! Dave and I'm Dallas and this is Ventertainment. We have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes those opinions are spot on. Sometimes they go down easier with a glass of wine. This is entertainment. The wine and entertainment pairing podcast. Are you not Vintertained? Welcome everyone to the glowing inaugural first full episode of entertainment, formerly known as the Wine and Pairing podcast here at Vintertained. Wait, what happened? Okay, never mind. Go ahead and start over. You said Vin-er-tain-ment, I said woo, you said wine and I was like boo, yeah, that name sucks. I just heard you in the background go, wait. we changed it. That name sucks. Who came up with that name? What a loser. Ah, indeed. It was us. We did. Payment analysis, why NAND was me. Anyhow, are you not entertained? Welcome everyone to the glowing inaugural and first full episode of entertainment formerly known as the wine and pairing podcast hold for booze from Dave. Nope, nope, nope, that's gonna be an excerpt At entertainment, we delude ourselves into thinking that you want to hear the curious and often insightful blabber that we spew about all things wine and entertainment because we know that deep down in the very marrow of your bones you want, no, need to be ventertained. Okay, I promise that's the last time I will make that pun. Anyway, at the end of the day, who knows? Anything about wine? Furthermore, who knows anything about entertainment? We sure don't. Well, that's not totally true. We... Know what we know and we know what we like and we can help you find the best pairing for whatever it is you're planning to read, watch, or listen to. Now, but before we get to the entertainment, why don't you smash those subscribe, follow and like buttons? It's how any podcast grows, reaches new listeners. Also, please leave a rating and or review at least if you're going to leave a nice one. Those help our egos grow and reach new eyes and ears. 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Dallas has no idea. He's like, what do we offer people? I don't know. Who fucking knows? You can if you become a paid subscriber, which by the way, the paid subscription right now on sub stack is only $2 a month. So you can support us very easily for very little money. We know these days with all the Patreon's with all the sub stacks with all the crowdfunding. It's very hard to support independent voices in media right now. So we want to let you spread that money to as many people as possible. So just two dollars a month. I'm already going to forget what the annual rate for that. I think it's twenty dollars a year. So a little bit less. Substack makes it very hard to like set these prices. You have to give it as discounts. It's weird. But anyways, I've set it to where it's very affordable. where you can support us and keep supporting all your other people. It's not going to break your bank. So that is what is going on. We're going to have a sub stack post regaling everyone with our current subscription options. And that should be dropping later this week or early next when this episode either right after this episode drops or right before, but the prices are already set. So that is what it costs. And you can unlock, yes, the uncut interviews. You will also uncut subscriber polls. Subscriber chats, you will be able to have pairing directories that break down all the different pairings we've ever done historically for all the different pieces of entertainment. And those are only available to paid subscribers. You can always go back and you don't have to listen to every single episode. of this podcast to find them out. you all do. You do damn it. Sorry. Sorry. I'm getting in Dallas's way. I'm ruining everything here. But now today's episode is brought to you by the funk, the king of punk funk. In fact, none other than Rick James in the form of the book glow, the autobiography of Rick James with David Ritz, which not incidentally was selected by one of our subscriber polls, which going forward, you better be a paid subscriber if you want to us choose what it is we're going to cover. All right, Glow, the autobiography of Rick James with David Ritz was released in 2007 by Simon and Schuster and documents the life of Rick James aka James Ambrose Johnson Jr. who was born February 1st, 1948 in Buffalo, New York who would go on to become an iconic American musician, singer, songwriter and producer best known for his fusion of funk, soul and his meteoric fame in the 1970s and 80s considered to be either. Prodigy or genius by many James's personal life would often be overshadowed would often overshadow his artistic accomplishments the book is co-written by David Ritz whose resume of black and soul biographies and Autobiographies is long and storied including pieces on or with Aretha Franklin Marvin Gaye Ray Charles and the temptations but Before we get to the book Let's see what we're pairing Dave. What you got buddy. I give I'm going to give we're going to give hints of what we're pairing. That is the current iteration of this show where we're to give hints up front. See if you can. Yeah. Tease you. See if you can guess what it is. I mean, it's really hard. There's so much fucking wine out there in the world. So many beverages. But see if you can get in the right ballpark of what it is we're talking about and we'll reveal the actual specific wine at the very end. So for me, I've got I am I am sipping and I paired. with not just this autobiography, but with Rick James's discography. I think this is what you drink with his music, whether you're listening to any of his records or whether you are reading about how he created all these records and what his life was like during all that time. I've got a red wine blend. In fact, the best selling red wine blend in America that sells for over $25. And it has held that status for a decade running now. It's a jam session. It is jammy. So it is a jam session in all meanings of the word. But it's a jam session of different red grapes, which is a lot of what Rick James's music is. It pulls all these different influences, especially for the time. think listening to Rick James's music now, there's a lot of times you're listening to it and you're like, how was this exactly groundbreaking? But you have to remember at the time he was coming into Motown Records and this music was pulling in influences and re-orchestrating them in ways that hadn't really been done before. So, you know, James and Prince were kind of coming up at right, roughly the same time, and they were breaking a lot of boundaries independently of each other. James got there slightly before Prince, so he kind of fucking hates Prince, and Prince kind of fucking hates him. They were like those peers that were warring it out, duking it out for who was going to change black music the most at that time. And so this is a jam session of different red grapes. It's sweet, silky and sexy, just like Rick James himself. And it is thematically very on point for Rick's story, as we'll discuss in just a few moments here. Dallas, what do you got? Alright, the wine I chose is vibrant. It's a red blend firmly rooted in the California wine making expression. It has a nod to the old world style. It is unapologetic and not unlike James himself, and it's also very unfiltered and full of raw fruit expression, direct quote from some of the literature on this wine. Again, just like Rick James. Yes, yes, I will say I was almost certain I was going to have to pick something similar to what you just described because and funk, right? It's like punk funk. And I'm like, well, it's going to be a punk ass, funky ass wine, isn't it going to be? But you know what? I want a different direction in the ultimate end. But yeah, go ahead. And the the winemakers are Eric Sussman and Joel Burt for any of you people out there who are really into see the sort of the culture of wine Those two names might be very familiar to you. So that's that's our day ever seen the documentary Blood Into Wine. That's right. That was they feature prominently there. They are winemakers themselves these days and they show up as and yeah, they're very funny in Blood Into Wine. They have a great schtick all throughout. So look that up. I believe it's on Tubi for free right now or the Roku channel. One of those two, maybe both. Who knows? But go look that documentary up. great. It's great documentary. Anyway. Real quick Dave, what was your history with, well, start with Rick James and then the book. Have you ever heard of the book or what was your familiarity with James? So I hadn't heard of the book, which is not so I mean, it was not surprising to know that Rick James had an autobiography that was published like most celebrities of his caliber. I'm like, well, of course, there's a fucking biography somewhere out there, you know, kind of a thing. And in fact, this book that we I'm sure you're going to get to this here. But Glow is the second autobiography of Rick James that came out. They kind of rushed one out right at time of his death. And then this was the better, more like The guy who was helping Rick write his autobiography was like, this was not ready when it was pushed out the door originally. And Glow is the version that is quote unquote ready. Now, funnily enough, I am pretty sure, like, was I aware of the song Super Freak by Rick James? Yes, I was. I grew up with MC Hammer. So I remember that whole, like, you can't touch this. That is a sampling that. do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do was a sampling of Super Freak and which MC Hammer like barely credited. so Rick James sued him and actually won because it was so obviously the music of Super Freak. Now that said, I am pretty sure while reading this book, I listened to Rick James's entire discography front to back as he would talk about recording something. And I went all the way back. I listened to the few songs of the Miner birds. when he was doing that in Motown in his early early years, the great White Kane album that came out. And then everything of his solo career that was popping out. I even tried to listen to a little bit of the Tina, I'm gonna forget her last name, but the ones he produced. Tina Marie, listened to some Tina Marie. So while I was reading this book, I listened to all his albums and I gotta say I was a little... I kind of suspected this might be the case, but I was still a little surprised. I was not familiar with a single other song outside of Super Freak, not one. All his other big hits, which were big hits back in the day, especially his first album, his debut solo album, The You and I, no, was not familiar. I was just like, yep, nope, this is the first time I'm listening to any of this shit as far as I can tell. First time I think I'd ever, I obviously had never listened to a Rick James album before, but I've heard, I've listened to them all now, but that's my background. How about you? Yeah, you know, Rick James, I had some aunts and, you know, it's curious, a lot of our music tastes is shaped by the people who were the generation right above us, of course, as children, least in general. it's the music that's around you as a child. That's sort of just in the ethos and in the, in the atmosphere. And, for me, growing up in the eighties, funk music was really popular because it was the music of celebration. It was the music of Friday evening when everybody worked really hard all week and they just wanted to let their hair down Saturdays, they put on their funk records. And it was all extraordinarily instrument centric. It was about people who were innovating on their guitars, on their basses, on the drum kits. They were Influenced heavily by Motown, of course by rock music by gospel music by all the you know, all the sort of things going on around them and punk funk funk in general became this sort of Fusion of the old world and then this sort of like launching into the future because they started to just innovate in ways that I've never been seen before I mean it was just kind of a mind-blowing little period in music and so Rick James being the you know the punk funk God You know, I knew lots of those songs I should say I heard lots of those songs on I have one of those memories where I can hear a tune once and It never goes away. Trust me. It's the bane of my goddamn existence You know it'd be I remember the first time hearing a Jones girls, I think it was a Jones girls which is one of the bands that he produced. And I remember the first time as an adult hearing one of those songs, knowing the entire scan of the song, having no idea what the song was about, the lyrics or anything. And I was like, God, I know this. know every note of this. What is this? And so I was like, oh, okay, Rick James. All right, that would be why. So I was very familiar with Rick James. And the book, pre-COVID, I got into this... autobiography kind of Era where I was really interested in reading the autobiographies of people that I didn't necessarily know a lot about and Rick James was on that list so I made this sort of long list Rick James in there a couple of producers from Old World Hollywood You know some rock guys Anthony Kiedis lots of people and this was one that I never got to and You know, we started last year thinking about, you know, where to go and what other entertainment pairings we could do. This is on that list. yeah, it's he it's a dynamic American character for, you know, good or bad. Yeah, he's he's a he's a complex character who created some great things, did some great things. But in his personal life, he was also a son of a gun, as many people would call him. So he was yeah he was a frustrating character to follow I will say that for me okay personally because he was and even though he admits and of course when writing this book or penning the parts that he himself wrote which according to the biographer you know while he was in prison he would write certain things spoiler alert while he was in prison there was a prison guy Yeah, there there was lots of prison. This is part of what was so frustrating with him is he would run afoul of the law constantly in very impulsive ways, often only talked into serving time and turning himself in or things like that, due to family or friends that were like, dude, just go just go take care of this. Like, it's not the worst thing in the world. Get it done. Come back. We'll figure it out. He has such an insane number of things that he does. Go joins the military. This is the military is thrown into prison for dissing the military is making music is running away to Toronto, coming back to Buffalo, going to Los Angeles, coming back. He's like, I'm getting nowhere in life. And at one point, I remember we were pretty fairly deep into the book. And he's like, I'm not all my other peers are making music, making albums. I'm not making anything. I keep getting having to like go to jail for like a year, year and a half to like do my time. And even while he's in jail, he's like doing his time. He only has a touch of time left. He breaks out. I'm like, what is fucking wrong with you? You are so close to finally putting this behind you. And he's like, and someone offered that they can figure out how to break out. And he's like, let's do it. I'm like, don't you have like two months left and you've already done most of it? Like, what are you doing? And the best part. is he's like, I'm getting nowhere. He's done all these things. And he's like, I'm 24. And I was like, Jesus Christ. So on the one hand, you're like, OK, you're so young, so impulsive. I kind of get it. But at the same time, you know, he's so impatient. He's so insanely impatient about everything. At one point, I remember he's like, he can't get work. You know, the music thing isn't really he hasn't broke. He has not broken out yet. So he's like, he goes to what Columbia to do drug or, or, or it was a Columbia to become a drug dealer. And he just does, and he goes there. then on the way back to the States, he's like hiding drugs in his bow tie. It's like in the center of his bow tie that he's hidden. Right. And he's going through the airport. He's selected for a strip search. So he strip searches. He's sweating bullets. He's like, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Now the only thing on his person is that little bit of drugs in his bow tie, which was this last little bit of drugs that he just would not leave behind. And so the rest is in his luggage, which they're not searching. They're just searching him. But at one point that he does a strip search, they're like, okay, put your clothes back on. He's like, thank God. As he's putting the bow tie back on the security guys like, wait. Let me see the bow tie. And he's like, fuck. And this is a guy who's already done prison, right? Like he's already, this will be very bad for him. So thankfully the, the, the security guard takes the bow tie only searches the strap that, you know, connects the bow tie does not untie the bow tie. He's like, okay, you're clear. Gives it back to him. And I'm thinking in my head at this moment, okay, Jesus Christ, Rick, let that be the end of it. That was almost you done. right? Like just done. And what is Rick right in the book? He's like, I felt invincible. They were never gonna catch me. I'm like, fuck, what is wrong with you? What is wrong with you? So he is such a frustrating individual, because he takes the wrong lesson from everything, everything, the warnings, the issues, the problems mount and mount he winds up having Just just to jump a tiny bit ahead but like throughout his entire music career Not only does he not only was he did he have poor impulse control like this leads to alcohol addiction to drug addiction the drug addiction mounts from where it's like it's marijuana then it's cocaine then it's free-basing and it's like he goes way down the deep end and can never ever Pull himself out Which is ultimately, like going to prison is the only way he got clean is because he had to get clean by going there. He even goes to rehab centers, gets clean and falls back into his old habits over and over again. He cannot bring himself to live a semi sober lifestyle. And even and this is ultimately like just slight spoilers. and then I'll throw it back to you here, Dallas. But He even like this, even though he was kinda semi sober in the final years of his life post prison, like the damage was mostly done. even so, you know, he had issues, he had strokes, he finally died of a heart attack. And when during the autopsy, while he didn't have any hard drugs in him, he did have a lot of like this, just this medley of small things that he was on. Like he could never fully just live life without. I think that feeling of being invincible, like he always had to have something helping him feel more than human, more than just your day to day, especially aging human where it's like, yeah, you ain't your 20s anymore, man. And that doesn't feel the same no matter. even touring is gonna be hard. I feel like he was just that guy who like he wanted to be superhuman for his whole life and refused to allow himself to be anything else. So anyways, back to you. I think in terms of in terms of really serious addiction and also how early a person is exposed to Addiction often and you know depression and all that other stuff a lot of addicts Find it difficult to feel normal without Right the assistance right and that idea of him in his early years creating and Because he was such a wonderfully creative person. I said, many people who discussed him, discussed him in terms of prodigy or genius. And when he went off to, my favorite part of the book is when he went off to Toronto. And he's playing with, was it Joni Mitchell and all these people and he's revealing all these candid conversations and how these bands acts that would go on to become just monsters. monster stars, you know, were basically just guys who looked at him in wonder. know, you know, at 23, 24 years old, he's sort of looking around and going, wait a minute, I'm better than everyone here. I'm better than everyone who's becoming a star. But that impulse control got him every single... absolutely 100%. At its core, the lack of ability to control the impulse is often a part of the equation when it comes to addiction, part of the equation when it comes to self-sabotage. It always is there. And unless you address that early on, it's always going to be there. And what he managed to accomplish. And the other thing we can't discount here. and I've seen it in so many autobiographies and so many sort of illustrations of drug addiction, particularly with rock musicians and actors and people who are in entertainment, often they attribute their creativity and success to the drug. The sort of the experience of the drug. And once you get into that cycle, it is so difficult. to break because the industry itself has incentivized drug use. I mean, it's just no secret. probably was a well kept secret back then. It's not anymore like the way these bands tour constantly the way they do when they are that type of mega band is all it there are substances helping them live that life. And it's not just like a because that makes us feel good. It's like, it's how you can do a concert every fucking night. Every on end, and sometimes twice in a day, right? And it's like, you are performing. just done like some musical theater and shit like that. And like, it's exhausting. It is beyond, you are dead to the world the next morning. I remember reading an interview with Elton John where he was like, I would, you know, do a nighttime show. And like the next morning when he woke up, it's like he could bear like light hurt his eyes. He was so like everything hurt. His throat was raw. He needed like all this tea. wouldn't. talk for hours to save his voice for the next the next show coming up and it's like it yeah it it it takes more out of you if you've never truly performed performed to live audience with all your heart and soul which is what you have to in every single performance for the most part it's like it it's a lot. So drugs at that point become about maintenance and the infrastructure of Hollywood music and entertainment is such that a lot of these guys have record companies or labels or you know brass around them who are a never-ending source of these sort of maintenance drugs. So it is a cycle that once you're in it it takes a mammoth effort from God and everyone you know in order to get you to kind of you know break the cycle. So that's just sort of an asterisk on the life. Yes. Go for it. Two things I did want to mention about the Prodigy thing that you mentioned is one of the most, one thing that was quote unquote frustrating, but also kind of eye opening is, you know, this is an autobiography from Rick James himself and he never takes a moment to talk about learning music in any way, or form. Right. It's like he goes from like, I listened to this record. I like music. I could do that. And next thing you know, he's like, and I'm drumming and I'm playing guitar and I'm the piano. And I'm like, wait, where there there's something missing in that, he never for a moment is like, I had to learn basic chord structure. I had to learn like, what are my fingers even do on a guitar? Who fucking knows? Apparently, he just watched people play, listen to them play. And I'm sure there are, there is a little bit missing from this book in terms of like, I'm sure there was somewhat of a learning curve and whatnot, but he is plainly that person that he sat down to, he would listen to drums, sit down at a drum set. I think drums are what he really started with. And like, not only could learn how to play, but then like learn how to play at a jazz level with drums. Like he had that innate ability. And then even things like guitar and piano, like these were so shrug worthy, the learning of them were so shrug worthy to him that he does not talk about it at all. He just suddenly one day he's playing piano and guitar and you're like, the fucks man, wait, how did we get here? And so I do think that is indicative of how much of a natural talent he was. Now that said, there are his early bands, I really love that great white Kane album prior to a solo career. can see, right. I can hear it's almost like if his solo career was punk funk, punk funk, this was like Prague funk where, know, they're much more, they're longer songs, different acts, different structures, lots of crazy instrumentation going on throughout it. Personally, much more interesting than his pop music that really took off later. I like it a lot now I can hear he said that the producer really screwed with it and made it not that great. You can hear it like every song is like 10 minutes long and still fades out and doesn't come to an end. And so you're like, okay, wow. The producer was like plainly these are not the complete songs and they were they were heavily manipulated. But what is there is still really good and really interesting. I wish we had more of that because when he got gets to his punk funk, my biggest complaint with that music is one thing Rick from a per like, we could talk about impulse control, but also, Rick had an issue with like, and he brings this up once or twice, even in the book, where his where other people took him to task for this where it's like, all he does is have sex and do drugs. Like that's what he does. And it's all he sings about. You know his sort of the the zenith of his career much of that stuff is absolutely unequivocally about his hedonistic either informed by his hedonistic Lifestyle or it becomes sort of the soundtrack and he's actually gone on the record of saying a lot of the sex drugs and rock and roll He had to he felt he had to sort of engage in it right to find new things to write about from that perspective because that's people expected, you know Yeah, but but nonetheless, like going through his whole discography, I mean, that was one of the things is album after album. Sometimes the music would be a little more interesting than like the music itself. But the like, man, he's not a lyricist. I wish I wish he could have found a lyricist to work with that was a little more interesting than he ultimately was because he yeah, like the sex and drugs. I'm like, and another album about you know, sex and drugs and loving but even love was something I think he really struggled to define for himself because outside of sex because he was like, Oh, I love you. I love you. Oh, you want me to have impulse control though, because I love you. That's a problem for me. And I'm like, well, then that that loving that strong man, if you really can't get it together for this person. you he's one of those people that maybe if he could have done an open relationship, it would have like a he's plainly an open relationship kind of person. Seriously though Yes, because he would love someone and be committed to them at a certain level, but he could not stop sleeping around, right? Because of the impulse. And it's like he wouldn't go out with that as the the goal of the evening. But then he just go out and be like, whatever happens happens. And he could not stop himself from you whatever happens happens. That is purely the impulse. Yes. And he would even like, there were times when I, again, I wanted to throttle him so many times in this, the reading this book, but there would be times too, where he would be like, I'm writing this album, and I want to record this song. And Tina Marie was sick at that moment. That moment, it's like, you could have waited one week, and she would have been fine. And he's like, I'm looking for another singer like that day. And then she has to come in and sing the song while sick. Because she's like, no, no, no, no, no, I'm so sorry. I'm coming. I'm coming. And he would do that all the time. they were meaningful. So just a side note here. Yes, absolutely. You're correct. Uh-huh 100 % but one of the things about Rick's sort of quote-unquote geniuses relative, right? The people around him were accustomed to the chaos as a part of the machinery of Rick James and Tina Marie, know notoriously is well accustomed to Chaos of machinery, but what will sign it about that that song is called fire and desire and it's one of those songs Is a fucking insane It is the best singing he's ever done as well. Yeah, and insane song like it will. Both of them are just singing their fucking hearts out. It's still a timeless song. I there are places you play that, mean, honestly, I think most people over the age of 60 probably recognize the song because it was a hit and it was just a great song. that recording, the producer apparently told her that Rick was looking for another singer or something. He's like, you know, she was dead tired, dead sick, got up, came, recorded that song. This is the important part, guys. She too is another one who has had the term prodigy and genius associated with her because she's also another monster musician, but she recorded that in one take and then immediately went back to bed for a week with her sickness and it's fast. Great song. So go check that out there. It's fire and desire. God, yes, fire and desire is probably the best virtuosic song. Like those performances are just insane. But he would do this to people all the time where he's like, you're with me, you're my person, da da da da da. And the moment they had to say like not even no, no to him, but just like this exact second doesn't work for me. He's like, OK, I'm going to go do it with someone else then. And like zero patience for anything ever. So. there was that part of him that seemed and he seemed a little oblivious to that being an asshole trait, right? Like he did not define it as that he was like a little like if someone did that to him, he take issue like in a heartbeat, but him doing it to other people just he was a little like, so yeah, he's a frustrating character, talented, but frustrating and a little a little pigeon hole. I feel like he pigeonholed him. Self success just no one else wanted to hear anything else from him because he became the sort of god of the genre and right And when he did push himself a little bit, like the flag album, I think is one of my favorite albums. It was he was on the way out. He was in decline at that point. So people weren't really listening to him anymore. And the album didn't do well. But that was the first album where I was like, you're trying something different. And it's working like it's not brilliant, but it's good. It's at least very solid and Honestly, by the time I was done listening to all the sex and drugs album, I'm like, thank God. It was like a lifeline for me. was like, you can do something else if you just push yourself. And then the post prison albums are actually quite interesting. as well as got lots of things to say once he acknowledges that the sort of punk funk god of it all was an area he was sort of pigeon like you said pigeon hold it pigeon held it and you know a lot of that stuff that came later it's just it's great he's such interesting things to say and you know perspectives and musically he's trying new things like there's a way starts to get into some of the rap era stuff you know there's some spoken words stuff popping up yeah it's beautiful Beautiful. So let's let's talk about the book itself. Now a little bit in detail. I feel like my part right here. We've already really discussed just now. But go ahead and Dallas jump in with your it your bit here about the book and Rick James and David Ritz and where this book comes from what it's about what it does. So let's talk about the book in specific. like. So glow the autobiography of Rick James with David Ritz is a deeply personal account of seminal events in the life of Rick James The book is not simply a chronology But is in fact a diary of personal accounts in the life of this as we've already stated complex individual who has lived many lives as they say the collaboration between Ritz and James began when Ritz was asked to write an essay to accompany a multi-cd review of James's work Rich has gone on record stating that James was very reluctant to write the book at first, but sweetened on the idea after realizing that he had never definitively told his own story. And throughout the process, James was as open and honest as he could be, which scared a lot of people. Rich recorded many hours of very candid conversations between he and James for the book, some of which took place while James was actually incarcerated. The book essentially breaks down into six primary sections that kind of meander through James's life, not unlike a funk tune. Anyway, so we're gonna start with his early life. Any takeaways from his early life, Dave? Just real quick, the overview of the book is that it discusses his life growing up in Buffalo, where he's attached to his mother and the characters he spent time around that influenced the behavior, all that good stuff. and kind of initially where he got those germs of musicality and expression from. Yeah, no, just that impulse control because of running afoul of the Navy, going to prison, escaping from prison when he had already served most of the time, which wasn't a lot of time. And the sheer impatience. Well, also, yes, that also acknowledging that prodigy element where it's like he just seems to keep showing up and playing fucking instruments at major bars and venues. And you're like, you went from never touching an instrument to playing them. I'm like, you Have you skipped something here or am I missing something? And we don't know because he just doesn't talk about it. But the fact that the timeline is so condensed one way or the other, whether he's skipping that little bit of learning, it was a fast learning curve. He glommed onto this stuff at an insane pace that none of us could really imagine. And you know, that's that's when when people started to realize that and you know That's when the idea of genius and prodigy came because that's essentially what prodigy is right? It's having this sort of acumen that isn't accessible to everyone else or to you know, somehow sort of advanced and And he definitely had that my god. He definitely had that and that makes me also I think about other prodigies like Stevie Wonder Ray Charles who also have similar stories in their background where it was a it's called ear training of course and They would just hear a thing and that then became the basis of the musicality That was the baseline and they could sort of just build from that Which is just a magical concept first of all But anyway, the next section is rise to fame. This is the sort of insiders look at breakout years when his creativity was flowing and the desire was ravenous in the 60s and 70s. This area sort of peels back the curtain on some of his famous hit recording sessions like Give It To Me Baby, Super Freak, and the dynamics between other industry giants and personalities like the guys from Motown and I Columbia Records. Thoughts Dave? Yeah, mean, also this is a good cautionary tale or not cautionary tale a good remembering that super freak, right? It was a song his biggest hit period like across everything and I mean, monster fucking. And it was not it was kind of just an accidental song. He was just sitting there listening to other recordings in the studio like they like listening to the tracks for what this album was going to be. And he was just fiddling around on his guitar and started playing that little Do do do do do do do do do do was just absentmindedly doing it. And the guy next to him was like, that's really catchy. That's really cool. You should turn that into a song. And he's like, OK. And then just sort of like improvise. She's a super freaky girl. You know, kind of a thing. And then like the song came together in like minutes, essentially. Right. He just like they just made it on the fly because they're like, that's kind of a cool little riff that you're just like mindlessly tooling around on your guitar. And this becomes. The biggest thing to some degree, this has to be the biggest bitch of having actual talent. That's here. Okay. Yes. I'm so glad you said that because while on one hand he was so happy to have that month that Monstrous hit that was the moment that cemented him in to one category one frame One cell like it was this was beat this was going to be the anchor for his existence from that point on and it is just and you can tell it's maddening to him. Well maddening but also like it's the song that he didn't give a lot of time attention care. It wasn't his baby It wasn't like the idea that he's like this. This is what I was meant to give the world It was a fucking here's one last song to throw on the track because it's like he wasn't even convinced by the doo doo doo doo You know thing he's like, it's really simple. I don't think I really want to put this on there But everyone else was like no, no, no, no, no, no that there's something there. That's catchy Do that and he's like fine and then it defines him Yeah, I know what that's like. So yeah, that's my takeaway on and also going back to the great white cane. I wish that had been a hit because I would have loved to see what he could have done with more complex arrangements rather than not breaking out until the disco era where things had to get simplified for him. Like punk funk became a thing because he mentions that like he was an into disco because it was a little too simple. But you can but punk funk is like one foot. deep into disco anyway, because that's what that era was. Disco is essentially an umbrella term for most of that music, right? It just, once they started with Studio 54, that became the sort of iconography of But in general, disco is everything. And so yeah, yeah. So it's such dance music. It's a little too repetitive for my taste. Whereas when you listen to the Great White Cane, it's as flawed as that album is, that music is so much more interesting. And I wish he could have launched a career on that. One other thing I enjoy about this period is he's in the room and when I say in the room, it's sort of an entertainment kind of colloquialism about people who are in interesting studio sessions when great albums were made. They're sort of just in the room in the corner listening or that kind of thing. But he's in the room when Marvin Gaye is recording some of this greatest stuff when... You know, Aretha Franklin, you know, I think there's a, there's a tidbit about him being in the room when the doors were recording something. I don't think it's in this book, but a couple of other bands. And so he's in the room when a lot of this stuff is happening and people are turning to him asking questions for, from his mute, from that, you know, from, from the genius, right? And it's just a testament to the fact that I do wish the Rick James that's on that album you were referencing had another decade to kind of just experiment and see where he could take this sort of prog funk kind of thing because I feel like we missed some great music if he was allowed to kind of explore a little more in that fucking area, Anyway, Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. We get to see, course, the dark side of his meteoric fame, face to face with his demons, the hedonistic lifestyle, which informs much of his art. Thoughts about the sex, drugs, and rock and roll day? no, just outside of the sex, drugs and rock and roll were, you know, again, his inability to which to some degree, you can't like, I think by this point in his life, you can blame him less and less because it's just, I feel like the industry as we've already mentioned, this is their not well kept secret, you know, right? It's just like, this is how they make super rock stars and superstars. And this is how you get through the day, the money. that he would spend on the drugs. That's the other thing is like he was a multimillionaire over many times over. money. So much money. is the same. No. And yeah. And he was a millionaire in the 70s and 80s. And he spent it all on drugs. All of it. And you have to you have to take a moment to just grasp how many drugs that Yeah, because he's not but that's another thing that that's a whole thing about Entertainment is very little of this Lifestyle is done in isolation So, you know you need people around you who? Prime the pump who? Understand the demon who feed the demon and those people also have lifestyles that need to be Financed and fed. So yes a lot of drugs, but also probably a lot of maintenance money spent Around the drugs, which is just also Fascinating. I mean, it's it's sort of its own little cottage industry in and of itself Anyway Personal struggles and redemption, of course, we told you he spends quite a bit of time in jail in prison in court rooms Yeah, being accused of abusive things and being in scuffles and tiffs of a professional and personal nature, which is what you expect when you combine this sort of prodigal kind of nature with drugs and, you know, the industry of entertainment. It's never going to be linear. It's never going to be clear cut and nice. So he ends up, you know, experiencing and causing a lot of chaos. Right. And I will say this is where this is part of him, though, as well, not just the industry, what what the industry did to him. It's part of why he fit into the industry is he always had this issue with like he never could handle problems of any kind. Right. It's like you were either doing everything he wanted or fuck you. And there was no in between. It was always one or the other. You were at war or you were. lifting him up on a golden pedestal. And this like because even with his legal problems, a lot of it would just come down to him lashing out, not even fixing the issue after lashing out. Like, you know, the person would just be like, fuck off. I'm just meh. I just want to meh. And you're just sort of like, God, do any step of the way one moment could have changed all of this and he could never give a shit for long enough. And, but this goes back to like how he would just drop people if they could not help him out in that moment too. Even the people he liked and, and you know, wasn't he did in his brain, he wasn't doing anything wrong about them. He wasn't wronging them in any way, but it's like, dude, you have to take like, you have to give other people some leeway as well. And he just, he's, he was really God awful at understanding. his place with other people and being kind or nice or loving or caring outside of just when he felt like it. And it got him into so many issues. And with all the drugs, understand that, well, clearly this person wasn't in his right mind. So, you know, it's not an excuse, of course, but that's one of those sort of, yeah, I would expect that from a person who was clearly, quote unquote, medicated out of their mind. Right. But even when he was younger and not medicated out of his mind quite yet, like this was this was just something in his personality, like that he never was forced to get better at. You know, it's like he just like he was able to make it without having to fix that personality flaw. And so it just grew and and, know, was spotlighted more and more. Absolutely. right. Love and relationships. Of course, he was linked with some famous and very famous and infamous women and people in general. There are some some curious conversations on the Internet about Rick James, the icon, because I say that because, you know, a lot of these stories are told posthumously, of course, and there's no one around to take issue with them or. correct them or add context. So yeah, if you listen to the legend, this guy was just everything you could imagine that was wrong with Hollywood. Hollywood and music and music with entertainment. But it was also like you can see why I became obsessed with nothing but drugs and sex is because like that was his life. He lived for it and he never stopped getting it. Like he would just go out into the world and sex dropped on him. Yeah. his greatest hits it was he was still really James and people knew that with him they were going to get access to sex drugs and rock and roll yeah which just had the beast of course Tina Marie being his most famous romantic partner they had some amazing partnerships musically and then Tamara James was the relationship at the I would say Linda Blair might be his most famous. I'd never heard of Tina Marie before reading this book. I think most other people have. I don't. I'm obviously we're both obviously biased on that front, but I suspect Linda Blair because I do think movie stars tend to even movie stars that only really had one mega hit like there's something about that that hits the cultural like music is a bit more bifurcated in which groups of people know about musicians, whereas movies tend to be a bit more culturally universal, especially back then where big big movies were just big, the big movie. Well, I'm saying I'm not saying that Tina Marie is his most famous partner. I'm saying Tina Marie is his most famous relationship. The relationship with Tina Marie is the most notorious and most famous relationship. But yeah, Linda Blair definitely, which is also there's so much media coverage of the relationship between him, he and Tina and Linda Blair. It's beautiful. If you Google it, some of the headlines just... easy. Yep. And he wrote cold blooded the song. referring to to her. Her cold cold blood is such a good song anyway Legacy so of course James's genius in his musical life sits centrally as you know his influence on funk pop and Punk funk punk punk Punk is sort of undeniable the book recognizes that much of the sounds of the 80s is a direct result of the work I do enjoy hearing people talk about James or some great interviews online when they talk about what it was like hearing what he was doing in real time, hearing the records when they first came out and how electrified they were by some of the things he was doing. Also in terms of legacy, one really important thing, which you've probably mentioned a little bit here, is the MC Hammer. can't touch this sampling lawsuit. For those of you who don't know, in early 1990, MC Hammer dropped his monster hit, You Can't Touch This, which sampled James' super freak. While Hammer initially obtained permission and paid for the rights, a legal spat arose when James claimed the rights had not been adequately cleared and lacked proper compensation. Eventually, they settled out of court with James receiving writing credit and a lovely lump sum. On top of that, Many of you may only know Rick James as a meme, honestly. He was mentioned on the Chappelle show in the early 2000s in this very famous notorious skit where one of the characters is recounting a real event that happened, a number of real events that happened at parties with James in the 70s and early 80s. And they dramatize this, of course, and Rick James ends up coming away looking like this cartoon character version of Rick James, which is fascinating, but initially he was really upset. He appreciated the humor of it, but he was a little pissed that it was so cartoonish because he, of course, he always thought of himself as smooth and suave. But he was, I mean, you also have to remember the 70s and 80s, like culture moves on. So that version of what was totally natural then is cartoony now because the costumes, the attitude, the like, I mean, you, he, you look at his album covers back then and like, they're silly by modern standard. Like you look at it you're like, what were they thinking? Reverend silly there. Yeah garish in many ways. Yes, you know eye catching. mean that was the point right? You know real quick Dave Let's discuss the mention of Prince in the book before we move on here. We gotta share We've got to discuss a little Prince. What were your thoughts on that? It made sense. They were both young black men doing different things or wanting to do different things with music. James always, I think, wanted to be the people's person, right? He wanted to be the sex and drugs and have a good time. Like, you just come hang out with me kind of a musician, no matter how much he was, he was or was not like he only hung out with the elites anyway, for the most part, like once he was an elite. for the, that, I think that was the, like, he wanted his shows to be like, we're bringing you all together in with me. We're having a good time. Prince was never that right. Prince was like a totally different take on that where he's like, I am the artist and I am delivering a performance and a show with meaning or something where it's like, you are watching me. And I think they plainly rubbed each other the wrong way. They had two completely different takes on what. the where music probably should go, what it should do, how it should connect to an audience. Yet they were utter peers coming up at the exact same time, or take. Rick James hit just before Prince. And by the time they are, cause Prince then started opening for James when James was first a big, star. And then Prince eventually overtook James in terms of popularity, whereas James started to fade to Prince's credit, mostly because Prince was the more interesting. artist ultimately, at the end of the day for longer, I think than James, both of them eventually hit that state where they were struggling to find out like they had their impact, right? This is what we gave to music. And then by Prince, was so like by James, it was the mid mid to late 80s. And for Prince, it was kind of the mid to late 90s, where they were when he changed to the symbol, like in desperate search for new meaning in desperate search for new impact. when sort of that initial impact had come and gone and it's like, you have changed music, you have given people something they hadn't heard before, now what you got. And I think a lot of musicians struggle with that. They're like, no, that was me. That's what I had to give. That's my expression. But yeah, I can see why they rubbed each other the wrong way because they had completely different takes on what they wanted to with music. I think it's important to note that James is about a decade, maybe a little more older than Prince. So by the time Prince came onto the scene, James was already firmly locked into the pop funk god role. I think what Prince represented was partially maybe what James thought he should be, in a way, of allowed to Experiment we're talking about that prog punk kind of stuff that he kind of started with so I think a lot of that resentment came From from that, you know, it's sort of like this kid is starting where I kind of started but he's so openly accepted for this thing like right and Now, to be fair, Prince was from all reports, especially when he was younger. I don't think any of these guys got that much nicer as they got older, but man, was he a prick when he was young. Holy shit, was he a prick. What's amazing about that too, as a person who is often accused of being a prick, think a lot of it is just personality type. You interface with this person who's probably guarded because, you know, for whatever reason, so you don't necessarily have all the context. So lot of people who engage with this person probably just walk away saying he's a prick simply because the guy, know, he's one guy. Just leave me alone. Although although if it's true that Prince was doing the thing where he was showing up to other people's shows just to leave early on to cause the disturbance I mean that that is not someone being guarded that is someone being a fucking prick if it's true Okay, wait now. How is just me showing up just to hear and then leaving? How is that a- Okay, with with your entourage that you get up to do it as a group, you all get up and go at the same time and that you do this so often that you are now known for doing it in the music landscape to disturb to show that no, someone doesn't like you and it's walking out. I mean, come on, man. I'm a I refuse to co-co-co-co-sign that nonsense. had every right to leave with his his entourage, damn it. Anyway. You can listen to the fucking album. You don't have to show up and then just like walk out dramatically. Like, I mean, by all sound, by all reports, like Prince was a power. So there is that. There is that. So what about the parents? with pairings you get you get started while yours give us talk talk us through So let's see. The process of this wine embraces minimal intervention. The grapes underwent a carbonic maceration, a technique that enhances the fresh fruit character of the wine. As many of you may know, some may not. The method involves fermenting whole clusters and leading. before say what the wine is my friend say what the wine is no one has context no one has context I'm building a Alright. It's like a funk masterpiece. Calm down. Anyway, so. Without them knowing what you're Hawaii with pronounced fruitiness and high acidity, not unlike our Rick James. I chose the Las Jarras 2024 Nouveau Old Vine. It is 65 % Zin and 35 % Karinon as I was corrected recently. Yeah, source from organic vineyards in California's North Coast. Regions like Solano County and Sui Son. It is plummy. There's lots of cocoa. There's lots of black fruit. The tannins are... So I got two bottles. And the first bottle... David, have you tried this yet? You did try this, Not the 2024, no, no, that's far too new. And it was so like, I was gonna go something, go with something much, much older, of course, but this book really made me sort of, I don't know, it made me a fan of Rick James's just catalog. It really, really did. So I wanted something that's kind of new because, you know, I'm dipping into his catalog, like for the first time and really kind of. you know sitting with it and trying to figure out the sort of ins and outs of where he was what he's attempting to do and you know a lot of the stuff like that Hollywood song I was telling you about on the record a lot of the stuff is just really poetic beautiful but a lot of it is really accurate and acidic and don't want to say this, I'm going say annoying after a certain point, and crying. We'll say, say, And I think this one. Rick James's music sometimes too, so I'm with you there. Yeah, but it is still really satisfying like and this this is a great bottle of wine It's probably gonna be even better in about three years three or four years and I'll probably have a deeper respect for James's catalog in a few years as well. So maybe we'll circle back around. Anyway, that's me the Los Havas 2024 Nouveau old vine And Los Harris, that's by Who Are the Winemakers Again? that is, God, I just forgot his name. Their name, Sussman and. The comedian. There's some of the few celebrities that started a winery that like are beloved by the wine world. Like they're very serious, they're very good at what they do. They also have like this weird irreverence, I suppose. 100%. No, they're very serious about their wines, but they are comedians. So they are very irreverent about everything they do as well. And this is their very minimal intervention. They're very like they do very younger, fresher wines are very, they're very nouveau in that way, where carbonic maceration in a lot of their wines, very much like a a bougeray nouveau style. So you're always going to get sort of lighter, fresher wines versus the heavier, more hedonistic now. On that note. Sorry, Joel Burke and Eric Warheim, by the way. Sorry. There you go, Eric Wareheim, Joel Burt. So on the note of hedonistic though, I went hedonistic. That's where my brain went. So, and on the topic of all of Rick James's incarceration problems, I had to pair this with the Prisoner 2022 Red Blend. This is a winery that was founded by Dan Finney in 2000, but sold to Constellation Bradens in 2019. So this is part of the. the new version or the large Constellation brand ownership of the prisoner, though word on the street that just dropped last week is that Constellation is looking to sell its entire wine portfolio this year. If wants to get together with us and buy it, we can do it, guys. Yeah, yeah, just we just need a few hundreds of millions and we're do it guys do it we can do it we can do it and So it might go to a group like Duckhorn or something like that at this point. We shall see No one is it's it's not confirmed that this is going to happen But it's very likely to happen because no one is denying it either even though it's been reported everywhere So that might happen, but for now, you know the prisoner It is a wine brand. faced minor criticism in 2021 for purportedly fetishizing incarceration on its wine label and other marketing efforts. The company decided against changing the brand's aesthetic due to this because but the imagery on its wine label. It's a key aspect of what makes the wine stand out on store shelves. It's also what helped the prisoner become the best selling domestic red blend over $25 for the past decade. Now, It's based on a series of etchings by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya. The prisoner's flagship label depicts a dark shadowed man bound by shackles. Created in the 19th century, the de Goya art is believed to represent the violence and inhumanity used against prisoners during numerous Spanish wars. So when Napa winemaker Dan Finney originally launched the prisoner in 2000, it was an arresting image, one that he received as an art print at the age of 13. And that came to symbolize the brand. Now, we have a quote here. Angela Knott's brand director at The Prisoner said, quote, as an art focused brand, we've always believed that art has the power to raise awareness and promote dialogue around difficult conversations. If we can use art to talk about something as important as mass incarceration, something the wine industry doesn't talk about usually, and create a platform for advocacy, that's something we're committed to doing after the killing of George George Floyd, think a lot of brands began, and this is Angela still talking, I think a lot of brands began to think about how they show up in the world. And as a brand called The Prisoner, we felt compelled to use art as a way to talk about things that are difficult, but we didn't just want to talk about them, we wanted to walk the walk and invest in some of the issues we were talking about. that year, the company made a $1 million contribution to the equal. Justice Initiative, a nonprofit committed to ending mass incarceration and racial disparity. It also committed to investing 100 million over 10 years in black and minority owned businesses within the alcohol beverage industry. In 2022, the prisoner launched Corrections, a limited edition wine series aimed at driving awareness to mass incarceration and supporting prison reform. Released annually, Corrections is created in partnership with a different artist each year. whose work reflects the wine labels cause. This 2022 red blend, it is, it's rich, it's bold, red and black bramble fruit, black licorice, it has this smoke and ash, maybe some people describe it as like a tar flavor, silky tannins and my God, folks, this is one thing I will give this prisoner red blend above all else. These are the silkiest fucking tannins I have ever experienced. in my life. I did not know what the term silky tannins meant until I tried this fucking wine. This is a sweeter wine than it's got high alcohol 15.2%. There is probably especially under constellation brands that tends to be the way that they leave a little bit of residual sugar in there to make it a little more palatable most palates. But I will say I finished this whole bottle happily. Regardless of the sweetness, it is probably a little sweeter than most wine nerds would think they like. but it is also bold, robust. It's got a lot of earthiness and those tar smoke ash flavors that really counteract that sweetness. That first sip, think that sweetness starts to hit you and you're like, no, no, no, this is gonna be too sweet. And then it doesn't. It backs off and you get another medley of flavors that really balance the whole thing out. And those tannins are so silky. This is, it's a blend of much like Dallas's, Zinfandel primarily, and then Cabsov, Syrah, Petit Syrah, and Charbonneau. And charbono tends to have that smokiness to it a lot of time. So and it's a Napa favorite up there. So they throw that into the blend. And it's not the same blend year in and year out. Charbono did not used to be part of the blend. is currently for the 2022 and 2023. So this is those silky tannins. This is a, you know, sweet, sexy wine. It is silky. This reminded me of Rick James. It is a blend, so it's a jam session of all these different flavors and all these different grapes and profiles. And 3 % of every bottle of this red blend sold online is donated to a rotating nonprofit supporting prison reform and individuals impacted by the carceral system. Currently, that is the Center for Art and Advocacy that is earning the 3%. This center is committed to prioritizing our formerly incarcerated artists as they develop their skills, innovate within their fields and take on new leadership roles. This is the official line of the Center for Arts and Advocacy. They look to affirm their value and voice by creating a meaningful space where they can continue growing and thriving. So with all of that, I felt like this is Rick James and what he gave a shit about and what he thought was unfair in his life in a nutshell. And then I think the wine just goes. brilliantly with sort of the rich dulcet tones of a Rick James song. Nice. Now all that said, folks, to wrap us up here, Dallas, what are your final thoughts here? Final thoughts, let's see on the legend of Rick James first I understand it I get the complexity of this Prodigy of this genius of this individual who had some sort of fire in him musically and In order to express that It came with the side of alienation of just about everyone else in his life I don't sit in judgment of that, but I do recognize that it is a one-sided and on the flip side of that taking just the canon of his creations What he managed to do? With all of that what he managed to put into the world the people he managed to influence the ripple he sent out into the world creatively and artistically Undeniable and it's wonderful and beautiful thing even if looking back on it. It seems a little dated and one-dimensional but It's still a wonderful and beautiful thing and I'm having fun digging into His catalog right now as far as the book is concerned. I think it's a really solid Biography slash autobiography there were there's some lore that there were two versions and one was sort of a a little stilted that was released and eventually the very before he died and they were like, biography now because everyone's going to buy it. And so it went out in not ideal. for yeah and ritz and by the way a lot of the writing in this is sort of done by ritz in the voice of james because i was so familiar with the cadence with the the manner of speaking and that's then some of the book is actually written like letters that Rick James wrote to Ritz as diary entries kind of a thing. And so I do think it is a great use of the medium, honestly. It allows Rick James's authentic voice to come through, but it's also a very adept hand at actual sort of long-form writing. Speaking of Ritz, who's very familiar with the art form of the autobiography and the biography. So yeah, it's a good one. I'm glad we got to it. Yeah, what you got, Yeah. Wrap us up. Take us home. See ya. I will take us home. I mean, same thing when it comes to the book. It's a really good read. Some of it is because a lot of it is in Rick James's own voice and Ritz is trying to present James the way James wanted to be presented. There's there are some gaps, like there are some holes in the story where you're like, okay, they're kind of skirting over a couple things here and there. But for the most part, you're getting a really interesting insight into this guy and He's a frustrating character. He does not try to hide how frustrating he is either. Not really. He even admits to it sometimes. But at the same time, getting into the true background view of what it's like to be this level of celebrity, both wanting to be it, falling into it and falling out of it is always one of those things. It's a great cautionary tale for everyone. just wherever you are in life, whatever station of life you are, just remember you're part of a larger ecosystem. don't treat people like shit and don't squander your own talents and don't. So, okay, here on that. Or dude, we're all gonna die. We're all going to die. So this is a wine show where we just paired wines that we think you should drink while reading this book or listening to Rick James music. So I wanted to take a moment because wine is an alcoholic beverage. This is something that's been on people's minds and been in news and been in upcoming government policy discussions a lot recently, which is alcohol. And let's take a moment to talk about addiction. I've never been addicted to a substance. like alcohol or like free-basing cocaine that has not been something in my history, which to some degree I think is fairly lucky because I do have an addictive personality. You don't become a wine nerd, a comic geek, a cinephile, a bibliophile, any of these files without being more than a little bit obsessive in personality. But back in my college days, I did suffer through an anorexic phase. And actually, I think I was diagnosed officially with having the male equivalent of bulimia, which is intense exercising as the purge part of the bingen purge cycle of having bulimia. You fall into these things, of course, because at first you love the results. You feel great. You think you look great. You're living in a way most others couldn't fathom and accomplishing more than any of them, at least seemingly. Right. But the addiction eventually does overtake everything, everything else. Eventually you realize you're giving all your time and energy to the addiction. For me, I didn't have any energy left after not eating much and constantly exercising. I'd eat like a dry salad and then have to run for miles immediately afterwards. That was like how my brain thought of it. So then I would fall asleep the moment I stopped moving. I just had no energy for anything. And so eventually you wind up having no life outside of the addiction. Like you can't watch things, you can't read things, you can't enjoy life. like being social is such a chore. It's such a strain. If you've never experienced being trapped in a truly self-destructive addiction that you physically become dependent on, it's terrible. I had to get off campus. I had to move back in with my parents for a year during college, see a nutritionist. just the whole nine yards, other people were required to break me of that cycle. So to this day, I'm still an intermittent faster. I still lean towards those old bad practices that feel so much better to me than less extreme habits. That line that you trip over into addiction, it's always right fucking there. Just waiting for you to trip back over it for the rest of your life. which I have no doubt Rick James could attest to all the way to his dying day. So today, talking about a man whose life and talent were seriously impacted by addiction and alcohol being one of those addictions, even if not the most dire, I wanted to give more than just lip service to the importance of recognizing how many people struggle with drinking alcohol in moderation. Humanity is not known for doing this easily or even mostly. Even within the industry, the level of alcoholism is something of a non-secret secret. We imbibe more than we should regularly. Many, many people cannot drink regularly and keep their intake moderate. I understand that right now the beverage and alcohol industries are fighting a neo-prohibitionist movement or what we like to call a neo-prohibitionist movement that is using faulty science and hyperbole to demonize alcohol beyond its actual dangers. But that doesn't eliminate its actual dangers. Saying just consume everything in moderation doesn't make dangerous additives or trans fat or corn syrup in food any more okay. The use of all of these in our diets has lowered thanks to so many sounding the alarms and companies using less of these substances. Not because people just. stopped consuming them on their own free will. Like that usually is a recipe for disaster. Just expecting people to be able to moderate their habitual behaviors is never a solution, not one that works. So please, to everyone out there, I want, give this issue more than lip service. Lift up attempts to help people moderate their alcohol consumption, cheer those attempts on, talk about them with interest and hope. Don't wait for someone to call you out on it before you simply say, well, of course, that's OK. Of course, should be, they should always be moderate. If someone has to stop and ask you that in order for you to verbally support sobriety or moderation, that is too little too late. We can lift up wine as a craft and artisan product while also fully embracing new ways to keep wine from affecting lives negatively. If wine is truly about connection and bringing people together like we love to say. We have to care about people above the wine. If it reads as though you don't, then I'm sorry, you're just full of shit. Thus endeth this lesson. And that's gonna wrap us up. nice very nice that yeah very nice good way to end it Dave you know we speak a whole lot about his addiction but it is clearly a a very thick vein in his life and maybe ruin some of his genius and lots of relationships and yeah thank you for sharing that And on that note, this has been another episode of entertainment. I hope you are entertained as well as as ventured, been dedicated, been educated, been educated. It sounds very vegetable, but okay, cool. we will be back in one week for another one in entertainment pairing for your entertainment. Actually next week will probably be a fun interview special episode. So look for that dropping next week, but we will be back with another one in entertainment pairing for your entertainment very soon. Take care guys. Cheer those on who are looking for sobriety and moderation, drink and moderation yourself if you do enjoy like we do because we do. God bless you if you are one of those people like us who can drink in moderation and not have a problem with it because I, having suffered through something that I suck at moderating myself. Like it is hard and you don't know. I think that's the last thing I will say. You don't know what someone else's struggle is like. Like even if you struggle quote unquote to not overdo something, you don't know to what level someone else, how difficult it is for someone else to do the same. The amount of effort you put in to do it might still be scales, exponential scales less than what someone else has to do for that same moderation. So. Stay human, stay empathetic, be sympathetic as well. And cheers everyone. We will talk to you next week.
