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July 14, 2007

QUACKed ACTORs


"I was country music's national drunk and drug addict."
george jones


George Jones


1979
Exit/In



NASHVEGAS








QUACK ADDICT

"In 1979, ravaged by cocaine and alcohol, George Jones experienced some difficulty onstage at a Nashville club. The wobbly country star could open his mouth, but he was unable to sing. 'My friend Deedoodle [a duck] is going to take over this show, because Deedoodle can do what George Jones can't,' the singer improvised. Jones sang the entire set in a Donald Duck-inspired quack."
[Deedoodle was later joined in Jones's troubled head by another 'character': a drawling old-timer.]
the duck destROYs IT ridiculous and sings so

For much of 1979, Jones wallowed in severe whiskey and cocaine addiction. Eventually, his whole personality cracked


(perhaps "quacked" is a better word)

into two distinct beings: One was George Jones, washed-up country singer, while the other was Donald, or sometimes Deedoodle Duck, who spoke in quack-talk. Jonesduck voice. The duck's debut came at Nashville showcase venue the Exit-In before an audience of industry insiders, at what was supposed to have been a comeback show.

George 'Ragged But Right' Jones' came onstage and announced that George Jones was washed up, a has-been, but that on that night a new star was born who was going all the way to the top. As George stood onstage, face drawn, with his pants falling down-- the duck destROYs IT ridiculous and sings so like a, you could see tears in most of the audience's eyes.
AFTERQUACK
 Donald continued the quacky-tonkin'
until he was carted offstage in a straitjacket.




George Jones
Deedoodle





THAT'S RICH


Charlie Rich


Country Music Awards


Nashville
to announce his successor as CMA Entertainer of the Year, Rich opened the envelope, announced that his "good friend John Denver" had won, and then set fire to the envelope and results card. Earlier in the evening, Rich had been spotted backstage swilling gin and tonics and autographing a woman's bare breast.

AFTERBURN
Rich's spin doctors went into overdrive: His gaffe, they said, came as a result of a negative reaction to a pain medication he was taking to overcome an agonizing spider bite he'd incurred while mowing his lawn. (Yeah, that's the ticket.) Rich was pretty much finished by this incident, and the CMA continues to hold a grudge long after his death -- despite being both a critical fave and the biggest artist in country music for a few years in the early '70s, he is still not a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.




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