Rockstars, Drugs and Alcohol

I always figured that my faovrite bands were pretty clean when it came to drugs and alcohol. But I was proven wrong (at least of one band).

The band that I thought put drugs in the past, was Linkin Park. I just recently found out that Chester Bennington got over a drug addiction. I knew that Chester had a drug addiction in his teens, but I never guessed that he got back into drugs and alcohol. I was really upset to hear this. It started in 2005 when he divorsed his wife. But I have not been trying to think about it too much because Chester says he is sober now. I just really really hope that it doesn't happen again. I don't want to see him unhappy and I don't want him to be like most of the rockstars. I want him to stand out and show that you can overcome it and that you be an amazing musician and not have too be on drugs or alcohol.

This is one of the reasons I love Alice Cooper so much. He was an alcoholic and he knew he needed help so he got it and he has been sober for 25 years. I wish more rockstars could do this. I wish John Entwistle would have done it. :'(

But I hope this is the end of Chester's addictions. I don't want to wake up one morning and hear he had an overdose or something. I would be devestated.

I also hate the my friend was right. I did see LP as being angels (for the most part) but I was wrong. Although, I have read about 2 of the 6 members doing drugs, and these were from LP sites. Just two of them and both are sober now. Rob Bourdon was the other one. I would have NEVER guessed that. But his addictions happened in high school as well as Chester's first addiction. So, 4/6th of the band is as like I thought.

I'm not sure why I have to get into band's personal lives. Most of the time I am upset by it (and a lot of it happened in the past and is over now). I just think very highly of my favorite rockstars and I want them to be happy. I mean they make me happy (most of the time). When you have addictions like that you are not happy. Chester even talked about suicide. I don't know how I would have taken news of his suicide, had it happened, especially since I didn't know he was having a problem in the first place.

I know Chester will never read this but if I could I would love to tell him that even though those dark years helped him write songs for this solo album and even for LP, that I would much rather him be sober than doing drugs to write music. I have a feeling his music would still be amazing.

Gangsters Today versus Gangsters In the 20's

Lately I have been very interested in the Mafia. I play Mafia Wars on Facebook and I have started watching The Sopranos. I was thinking about how badass the Mafia was and still is (but also very scary). They were the ultimate gangsters. Gangsters today don't even compare.

Before I go on let me just say that some of the following pictures are graphic so read on at your own discretion. 

When I think gangster I think of guys wearing pin strip suits and fedoras and carrying Thompson Submachine guns or sawed off shotguns. It is a plus when they have that thick Italian accent or even better the Italian look and the Brooklyn accent. Gangsters today wear baggy clothes, baseball caps, hoodies, lots of "bling" and sometimes carry handguns. This to me is not gangster. I think they looks stupid. They aren't badass. I think, that they think, they are badass but their not. I never really thought about any of this until I saw this painting by Mike Shinoda called "Follow The Leader":

I do like that he had The Godfather as the oringial gangster because members of the Mafia were the original gangsters. And I am pretty sure that most gangsters today were influenced by this, but I still don't think that today's gangsters are that impressive. As you can see all the guys in the background are/were rappers and I will admit that some 90's rappers were pretty gangster but today's rappers are not. I know that there are rappers that have been shot and it is tragic. But I don't these attacks are as brutal as the attacks the Mafia carried out. 

Most people today think of this when they hear "gangster":

But this is what I think of:

And this is the kind of things that those gangsters did:

These are real gangsters. These gangsters are a lot more brutal then today's gangsters. And they are the original gangster. They are the definition of the word "gangster".

As a side note I am, in no way, trying to offend anyone. This is just my opinion and my Italian heritage talking. I mean no disrespect. So please don't take this too seriously.