“…I’m also angry about the talk of artists inevitably dying of drug overdoses.” + “…Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie had very long runs…” + ” Beethoven did not become an alcoholic…” + “There’s no necessary connection between artistic talent and drugs and alcohol.”

THE NEW YORKER

February 4, 2014

Grief and Anger:

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Posted by David Denby 

CALL: 

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/02/grief-and-anger-philip-seymour-hoffman.html

I’m angry about his death for two reasons. One is simply that he can’t be replaced….

I’m also angry about the talk of artists inevitably dying of drug overdoses. Some of this talk may be cant. Fifty years ago the same was said about jazz musicians—they lived out at the edge, baring their souls as well as their craft every time they played, and it took the life out of them, so they had to turn to heroin. Really? But Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie had very long runs, and heroic actors like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, both in their seventies, are still alive and working very hard. Beethoven did not become an alcoholic, and neither did Picasso nor Matisse. On the other hand, anonymous men die in the street every week from heroin. There’s no necessary connection between artistic talent and drugs and alcohol. We don’t really know what Philip Seymour Hoffman’s demons were, but he was a man acquainted with despair, and now some of us are feeling a little of that, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RESPONSE:

deetler 1 hour ago

 Its very sad that his three young kids, all 10 years old and younger, have lost a father whom I’m sure they will miss immensely. Hoffman however never had to fear being incarcerated for life as would some young black man caught with 70 bags of heroin. His prestige, fame and fortune insulated himself from that fate. And if he sought treatment Hoffman would not have had to wait years to get into a program as would most any other schlub. Hoffman never would have had to worry about being a convicted drug felon who would never be able to rent an apartment or get a job once he disclosed his criminal record. Hoffman surely had demons and may have been mentally deranged, but he was definitely an intelligent man who knew how to seek and receive help. He seems to have led a charmed life and met with great success. Its surely is a great tragedy that he was apparently so self-adsorbed that he was more concerned with his own inner conflicts than the welfare of his three young innocent children, his still loving partner, his mother and other family and friends. Life is not easy for most people. The chances are that most of us will experience relational conflicts and family break-ups. But we still try to make the best of a bad situation and I honestly feel that the majority of people try to do the best they can for their kids. It is sad indeed that Hoffman did not have the strength of character to do the same.  

MontyJohnston 12 hours ago

 The stories I’ve heard of people who’ve relapsed and can’t get back are the scariest ones. I think of an Asian term, “hungry ghost.” You knew he knew what mattered, yet he’d lost his footing in it and couldn’t find a way to get it back.

Don’t get me wrong – The large majority of us have a leash around our necks that we’ve put in the hands of someone else or of some substance or process. But it happens to be something we won’t die of; or will die of consciousness-wise, daily, but not physically.

We lose touch with the something note-worthy of being alive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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MILES DAVIS

 

Playing in the jazz clubs of New York, Davis was in frequent contact with users and dealers of drugs, and by 1950, in common with many of his contemporaries, he had developed a serious heroin addiction.

After overcoming his heroin addiction (“cold turkey,” at his Father’s ranch) Davis made a series of important recordings for Prestige in 1954, later collected on albums including Bags’ Groove, Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants, and Walkin’. At this time he started to use the Harmon mute to darken and subdue the timbre of his trumpet, and this muted trumpet tone was to be associated with Davis for the rest of his career….

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Miles_Davis

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/miles-davis/biography

I know the relational destruction of substance abuse first hand as a sister and daughter. The enabler is Oedipus- stabbing their eyes out to keep in denial. The abuser is  Sisyphus and their brain is re-wired as their life axis slowly becomes centered on using and all who they love are cast away. The relationships are marred, mirror the abuser’s axis and are murdered-  the spiritual and  the soul’s blood  loss is denser and thicker like a war’s bloodshed- it marks generations and reroutes/redirects truth. Lies lay down the tracks of the future generation. A new template has to be learned and practiced. Al-Anon for me is my choir practice of singing Hallelujah and Amazing Grace.