In praise of: no regrets

Everyone loves Harry Potter but look what starring in the movies did to Daniel Radcliffe:

[He] developed a penchant for whisky and partying, and says he was fortunate that the paparazzi failed to capture his drink-fuelled excess. “I really got away with that because there were many instances when a shot like that could have been taken,” he said. 

Realising he had to change his ways, Radcliffe quit drinking and has not touched a drop of alcohol since August last year.

“I’m actually enjoying the fact I can have a relationship with my girlfriend where I’m really pleasant and I’m not ----ing up totally all the time,” he said of his new lifestyle.

Good for him. Admirable. One is pleased for him. And yet, and yet.

One of best books written by a musician is Bit of a Blur by Alex James, bass player in Blur. He’s a really good writer – he even had a column in the Spectator for a while. The book documents his time in the band and his excesses. He is a reformed character now but is admirably unapologetic about the past because it was what the job entailed and what he thought his fans wanted: 

I’d spent about a million pounds on champagne and cocaine. It sounds ridiculous but, looking back, I don’t regret it. It was definitely the right thing to do. It was completely decadent, but I was a rock star, after all, a proper one, with a public duty to perform.

No regrets.

So here is Joni Mitchell on 25 November 1976 performing “Coyote” (from her Hejira album) in The Last Waltz. (Can't embed it, sorry, but really is worth a view.) That’s Rick Danko on bass behind her in most of the shots. Doesn’t get any better, imho.