Day: March 9, 2011

RIP Mike Starr

- Roshan

Last afternoon former Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr was found dead in Salt Lake City, Utah. The founding member of the seminal Seattle band was 44 years old and had struggled with addiction his entire life. In recent years, Starr had become more famous for his stint on “Celebrity Rehab” than he ever was as a musician, but his legacy as a key member of Alice in Chains should not be understated.

AIC’s original bassist, Mike played from the band’s formation in 1987 until 1993. Starr was with the group for the Facelift and Dirt albums and the Sap EP. He was most often seen playing several variations of a Spector NS-2 bass guitar through an Ampeg SVT all-valve head and Ampeg 8×10″ speaker cabinets. He left Alice back in 1992 allegedly over his drug addiction. Current AIC bassist Mike Inez was his replacement.

Starr later played bass for the band Sun Red Sun, which featured Ray Gillen and Bobby Rondinelli, both former members of Black Sabbath. The project was cut short by Gillen’s death in 1993. Starr was later featured in the third season of the VH1 reality television series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2010, which documented his treatment for heroin addiction beginning in August 2009 at the Pasadena Recovery Center. His subsequent stint staying in a sober living environment was then documented on the spinoff Sober House.  On February 18, 2011, Starr was arrested and booked on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance in Salt Lake City, Utah. On March 8, 2011, Starr was found dead in Salt Lake City. No details have emerged yet as to the cause of death, but it does not appear to have involved foul play.

Michael Christopher “Mike” Starr (April 4, 1966 – March 8, 2011)

Pain In The…..Back

- Roshan

My back is killing me. I have a bad backache for the past 2 days and it is killer. It doesn’t help that because of the way my computer table is built, I can’t sit back in my stupid chair and type because of the distance that I would have to spread my arms towards the keyboards of the laptop. So I end up sitting at an angle and without my support for my back, it is usually at an arch. This must be the reason that I have a back ache.

I really need a new chair for my computer and a new table too. A proper table so that this is not an issue anymore. And oh I think this next fact too is hurting my back – I’ve been sleeping with two pillows under my head. One normal sized one and a smaller or thinner sized one. This might be good for propping one’s head while watching a video on your laptop but probably not good for your neck and back. So yeah that could be the fact. But atleast at the new office I have proper flexible chairs and a proper height table on which to keep my computer. And it felt very good to be able to push back on the chair with your back and the chair flexes along with the move.