This Is Brutal - Jack Russell

Jack Russell's Great White played a show in Texas a few days ago. There are lots of clips of the show on YouTube now and they are all heartbreaking. Jack looks really ill and has no business performing these days. He deserves to retire and I think he needs medical care, too. Hopefully he is getting the support he needs but I don't know who thought this concert was a good idea. Also, paying fans deserve better.

(The videos were removed from YouTube - cleanup patrol in force!)

Comments

[stu]

i was at the firehouse/jack russell show on april 4 in dallas. and yeah, jack was not doing good. he was trying, but there is/was something serious going on with him. he had to be helped to and from the stage and was clearly not himself while trying to talk to fans after the show.
little did we know then that firehouse would be the worse off of the two bands the next day (cj was of course not there that night).

[Him]

I think Stevie Rachelle's take on this situation on his site is, phrased as it is with his typical 'I don't care' gusto, spot-on.

More than that, I think the situation is sad. Russell has had to deal with more demons that a Satanic picnic. And, yes, many of those demons were of his own making. But he also brought a lot of fans a lot of great memories over the years, myself included. I still remember watching him and Great White at the Rock n' America festival years ago. The day had been a red clay hot one in OKC! But, shortly after dusk, GW hit the stage. Yeah, even then, Russell was a bit less spry, a touch less spirited, but then still of fine voice. And when they got ready to do "Rock Me", the sky opened up and started drenching the weary, though engaged, crowd. It was one of those moments you don't forget. And I thank Russell and GW for it.

I'm not going to say that Russell isn't to blame for his current situation. Because, by and large, he is responsible. But I will also suggest that there are certain other sanctimonious people out there who turned their backs on him. Still others, as Stevie notes, who prop him up to make money now. In both cases, they pick or picked at the bones of a once great singer and have incomes that are sloughed off of our memories of him. And I realize he is, as I write this, still amongst us.

For his sake, I hope he departs the stage and spends the rest of his life trying to maintain some balance. It can't be easy. Then again, a lot about life isn't. But I also think he would be far better off leading a less public life (if he can) than being a smug manipulator of facts who plays to increasingly less crowds and can't seem to figure out how to make amends for his role in all this.

Apples to oranges? Perhaps. But neither party likely sleeps well. One made his bed and now has to sleep in it. The other did the same, but somehow manages to act like he didn't.

Retire, if you can, Russell. You've done enough. And you can't do much more. Kendall, start practicing what you preach. You might be amazed when you actually start walking the walk that you only talk about.

[Bkallday]

Well said, Him. I saw Jack’s band a couple yrs ago & I thought he did great!