Post by hightimes on Dec 18, 2006 12:22:39 GMT -5
Hey Melonheads,
I am wondering if anyone on the forum is from Wisconsin. Blind Melon got a ton of press and coverage, by a lot of papers back in the day from there. I have been lately searching up addresses to library archives, and calling as deep as the chamber of commerce to get back issues of old newspapers.
Anyways, If you are from Milwaukee, and no of an archive or public library that contains newspapers. I will definetly pay you for looking for me...
Rockers regroup without late `tyrant and angel' Hoon
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Plenty has been written about the tragic death of Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon, who died from a cocaine overdose in October 1995 at the age of 28. But stories have been comparatively few about Hoon the man, as opposed to the addict, and the people he left behind.
After 14 months, the four surviving members of Blind Melon are now speaking about the friend they remember as "a tyrant and an angel" the erratic, explosive, creative, compassionate, manipulative personality Hoon was from day to day.
They've released "Nico," a collection of the last remaining musical vestiges of Blind Melon, in Hoon's memory. It's named for his daughter, Nico Blue. "Nico" buries the name and the entity Blind Melon along with Hoon; the four remaining members are deciding on a new singer and a new name and have decided not to play Hoon's songs again. Hoon died eight weeks after the release of Blind Melon's second album, "Soup," when Nico was 131/2 weeks old. The band was to have played a gig in New Orleans that night. Hoon had been arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct there during the recording of the album. The band's debut album went triple platinum and produced the Top 10 hit "No Rain." They played Woodstock 1994 and were nominated for a Grammy and American Music Award. In September 1995, Hoon was upbeat and optimistic. He was awe-struck at the birth of his daughter and vowed to be a good father. "Having a child can make you re-evaluate how you need to be there," Hoon said then. "I need to start caring about myself if I'm going to be the proper father. "This is all fun and youth-prolonging," he said of his career, "but I want to be a father, and it's hard to be when you're away." Guitarist Rogers Stevens says Hoon's death was an accident, that he fully expected to wake up as usual the next morning. "Shannon wasn't on a binge or anything like that," Stevens said in a telephone interview from New York. "I had seen him at times throughout our history worse off. "He had been generally healthy for a long time he was in rehab that summer and he was staying clean on the road." Speculation abounded that Hoon might have been pushed into touring before he was physically and emotionally ready, but Stevens argues that he was more settled and less vulnerable to temptation on the road than he was at home. "He wanted to go on tour and he felt like he was ready," Stevens said. "This was not a pressure situation . . . I think that Shannon was healthier when he was out playing and singing every night and getting his emotions out on stage." Stevens says the band forced Hoon into rehab twice and kept all mind-altering substances out of the band's circle. "There (were) so many times I can't even tell you that in the middle of the night, I'm grabbing Shannon by the ears and telling him, `You're going to kill yourself and you're going to ruin everyone's life around you,' " Stevens said. "There's a lot of people that you would just write off in that situation, but he was so amazing and he made up for it in so many other ways that you wanted to stay with him." In a last-ditch effort, the band hired a counselor to keep an eye on Hoon during the "Soup" tour. But the singer hated the scrutiny and the other four found it equally awkward, so the counselor was let go. Hoon died shortly thereafter. "We really felt that Shannon was doing things to spite this guy, to get to him, to make him try to leave," Stevens said. "It just seemed like it was counterproductive." Proceeds from "Nico" are going to the Musician's Assistance Program, which provides free help for musicians having trouble with drugs and alcohol. The remaining members of Blind Melon have been busy. Stevens has his painting, guitarist Christopher Thorn has been producing other artists, and they, as well as bassist Brad Smith and drummer Glen Graham, have been guests on other artists' records. They also spent a month writing and recording together. But the void in their lives remains immeasurable. "There's a big hole where Shannon was in my life now, and for the last year, I've been running around trying to fill it up," Stevens said. "I never had anyone close to me die, so I was sort of flailing through my life. "I really woke up and realized, hey, it's time to be an adult, and that's not very rock 'n' roll to say, I guess, but (you have to) to look around and realize things that you took for granted."
I am wondering if anyone on the forum is from Wisconsin. Blind Melon got a ton of press and coverage, by a lot of papers back in the day from there. I have been lately searching up addresses to library archives, and calling as deep as the chamber of commerce to get back issues of old newspapers.
Anyways, If you are from Milwaukee, and no of an archive or public library that contains newspapers. I will definetly pay you for looking for me...
Rockers regroup without late `tyrant and angel' Hoon
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Plenty has been written about the tragic death of Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon, who died from a cocaine overdose in October 1995 at the age of 28. But stories have been comparatively few about Hoon the man, as opposed to the addict, and the people he left behind.
After 14 months, the four surviving members of Blind Melon are now speaking about the friend they remember as "a tyrant and an angel" the erratic, explosive, creative, compassionate, manipulative personality Hoon was from day to day.
They've released "Nico," a collection of the last remaining musical vestiges of Blind Melon, in Hoon's memory. It's named for his daughter, Nico Blue. "Nico" buries the name and the entity Blind Melon along with Hoon; the four remaining members are deciding on a new singer and a new name and have decided not to play Hoon's songs again. Hoon died eight weeks after the release of Blind Melon's second album, "Soup," when Nico was 131/2 weeks old. The band was to have played a gig in New Orleans that night. Hoon had been arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct there during the recording of the album. The band's debut album went triple platinum and produced the Top 10 hit "No Rain." They played Woodstock 1994 and were nominated for a Grammy and American Music Award. In September 1995, Hoon was upbeat and optimistic. He was awe-struck at the birth of his daughter and vowed to be a good father. "Having a child can make you re-evaluate how you need to be there," Hoon said then. "I need to start caring about myself if I'm going to be the proper father. "This is all fun and youth-prolonging," he said of his career, "but I want to be a father, and it's hard to be when you're away." Guitarist Rogers Stevens says Hoon's death was an accident, that he fully expected to wake up as usual the next morning. "Shannon wasn't on a binge or anything like that," Stevens said in a telephone interview from New York. "I had seen him at times throughout our history worse off. "He had been generally healthy for a long time he was in rehab that summer and he was staying clean on the road." Speculation abounded that Hoon might have been pushed into touring before he was physically and emotionally ready, but Stevens argues that he was more settled and less vulnerable to temptation on the road than he was at home. "He wanted to go on tour and he felt like he was ready," Stevens said. "This was not a pressure situation . . . I think that Shannon was healthier when he was out playing and singing every night and getting his emotions out on stage." Stevens says the band forced Hoon into rehab twice and kept all mind-altering substances out of the band's circle. "There (were) so many times I can't even tell you that in the middle of the night, I'm grabbing Shannon by the ears and telling him, `You're going to kill yourself and you're going to ruin everyone's life around you,' " Stevens said. "There's a lot of people that you would just write off in that situation, but he was so amazing and he made up for it in so many other ways that you wanted to stay with him." In a last-ditch effort, the band hired a counselor to keep an eye on Hoon during the "Soup" tour. But the singer hated the scrutiny and the other four found it equally awkward, so the counselor was let go. Hoon died shortly thereafter. "We really felt that Shannon was doing things to spite this guy, to get to him, to make him try to leave," Stevens said. "It just seemed like it was counterproductive." Proceeds from "Nico" are going to the Musician's Assistance Program, which provides free help for musicians having trouble with drugs and alcohol. The remaining members of Blind Melon have been busy. Stevens has his painting, guitarist Christopher Thorn has been producing other artists, and they, as well as bassist Brad Smith and drummer Glen Graham, have been guests on other artists' records. They also spent a month writing and recording together. But the void in their lives remains immeasurable. "There's a big hole where Shannon was in my life now, and for the last year, I've been running around trying to fill it up," Stevens said. "I never had anyone close to me die, so I was sort of flailing through my life. "I really woke up and realized, hey, it's time to be an adult, and that's not very rock 'n' roll to say, I guess, but (you have to) to look around and realize things that you took for granted."