NONE OF THIS "MOMENT OF SILENCE" MALARKEY

Lemmy died today. I never thought I'd say that. We may not see another like him, a dyed in the wool rocker who never, ever, did things any other way than his own. Any man who cannot be tamed, in any occupation, is admirable. He embodied that for decades. Reason enough to pause. Loudly.

Roughly ten or fifteen years ago I ran into a guy I hadn't seen for a while. He'd been on tour with Motörhead, as the guitar tech. The guy had been in a punk band, and I had no idea that he was technically qualified to be a guitar tech, but I never got around to asking him how he got the job. I was more interested in getting a first hand account of what Lemmy was like. This tech had been around him on a daily basis for weeks. He told me that Lemmy's diet consisted of red meat, hard liquor, cigarettes and women, without any deviation to speak of. Lemmy would have already been in his fifties, and he'd been doing it for decades. He added that Lemmy was not as imposing as one would expect, and was pretty much a nice guy in general. And funny. That to me was the surprising part.

About a year or so ago, another first hand encounter was related to me. I was in a friend's record store when he showed me a photo of himself, with his daughter and Lemmy.  He said that he'd recently been to Europe and was a few people behind Lemmy in line to board a plane. He introduced himself and asked if he could get a photo, and Lemmy obliged. Despite his imposing looks, his daughter, who didn't know who he was, came away thinking he was a nice likable older guy. Later that night in their hotel room, the concert that Lemmy was traveling to was televised live on TV. The daughter was in disbelief that it was the same person. Browse through YouTube, you'll see what you need to substantiate both accounts of the type of guy he was.

If you have no idea who Lemmy is, there's all sorts of stuff online. Right now I'm not at all in the mood for biographical details. At this moment, I need to hear "Ace of Spades". Loud.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Motörhead - Ace of Spades mp3 at Robert McAdams (?)
Another side:
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Lemmy - Eve Of Destruction (streaming) at YouTube
Video:
Motörhead - Stage Fright 2005 (Full Concert) at YouTube
Lemmy - Documentary trailer at YouTube
Visit:
Lemmy Kilmister quotes at Good Reads
Lemmy at Wikipedia His Wiki page addresses him by first name only. Elvis doesn't even get that treatment.