BOOMER ADDICTION WITH JOE WALSH AND SAMMY HAGAR

Boomer addiction and music go hand in hand.

The steps were laid out early for boomer teens.

If it wasn’t all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, then what was it about?

Turn on, tune in, drop out? Cool, man.

Which ever path taken, getting good and loaded was a common thread.

Then every one either grows the hell up, or died. That’s the choice?

There I was scrolling Facebook for signs of life and I came across a video of Sammy Hagar knocking on a door and calling for Joe Walsh.

I listened in, partly because every time I’ve heard Joe Walsh talk he sounds good and loaded.

This time he sounded the same, but he was talking about addiction and recovery in his good and loaded voice, so maybe it’s just the way he sounds?

The message was clear.

Sammy: How do you stay sober?

Joe: Well, if you have problems in your life that are directly the result of alcohol or whatever substance you’re doing . . .

Sammy: Yeah, they’re all drugs.

Joe: … then you have a problem. And at some point you work for it. It doesn’t work for you anymore. And very suddenly . . .

Sammy: Wow.

Joe: … without you noticing, whatever you’re on will convince you that you can’t do anything without it. And then it’s got you.

When You See It Get Other People

There’s a scene in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Next between Randle McMurphy and Chief Broom where Chief talks about his dad.

He said he watched his dad drink from the bottle at first, then watched the bottle pull the life out of him.

It was complicated by the two of them being in an insane asylum. One top of that, Chief Broom was a known mute. That changed on the basketball court when McMurphy gave him a piece of gum.

“Mmmm, Juicy Fruit.”

Chief decided he wanted to live quietly. He was neither mute or crazy or drunk, which isn’t a big spoiler if you haven’t seen the movie or read the Ken Kesey book.

What is a spoiler is the huge spike in drug deaths. The AMA didn’t hold back with:

“The nation’s COVID pandemic made the nation’s drug overdose epidemic worse.“

Who has the highest risks of drug abuse? Let’s ask Pharmacy Times:

“Opioid Abuse Risk Highest Among Baby Boomers, Millennials“

Before you get into the demographics of the two largest generations, we already know there are lots of boomers and millennials so there will be more statistics on them.

The one statistic that matters most? When it’s you, your wife, your kid, a loved one. Or a childhood friend, the guy next door.

When boomer addiction gets personal it matters to the ‘Me Generation.’

In terms of addiction, why not make it the ‘Not Me Generation?’

One Story

Part of the diversion program for a drunk driving arrest is counseling.

As a friend I’ve taken people to their appointments.

One time the counselor was someone I knew.

What I knew was his kid had been a hard charging football player on a state champion team.

I didn’t know about his son’s death.

I first met the dad during a youth football season when counseling people talked to the team after the coach died.

His manner and delivery for the kids helped them understand things about life they were too young to know. I came away thinking his kids were lucky to have someone like him.

And they were, but things happen along the way from here to there.

Listening to Joe Walsh looking like someone from the Old Testament makes a strong point.

That he’s a Rock and Roll survivor still able to tell the tale makes it even better.

He started in 1964 and made it past the rocker’s shelf life of 27 years old, past the burnout and breakdown, and still working.

Who better to dispense that wisdom than bonafide rocker who’s gone through the life and lived to sing about it.

I go to parties, sometimes until four
It’s hard to leave when you can’t find the door
It’s tough to handle this fortune and fame
Everybody’s so different, I haven’t changed

Does that make him an authority on boomer addiction?

He knows the topic.