Charlie Rich falls off the wagon

[Mitch Drumm]

Pretty cool. I guess we've all been there, at least I have:

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=hqurm_fr5SI

[Jack Francis]

Loved his music....the wife and I went to see him in San Jose, CA in the early 70's..Waylon and his band were opening for him...Waylon came out and explained that ol' Charlie was drunk and unable to do the performance and that if we wanted we could leave and get our money back...then his band kicked butt for the night!!! GREAT SHOW!!

[Jerry Hayes R.I.P.]

I'll never forget the CMA awards when John Denver won and Charlie lit the paper on fire which announced it. I think he was fairly lit himself that night. But you had to give him credit, he was one helluva soulful singer and pianist and one of the early Sun record artists........JH in Va.

[Roger Miller]

Hey Jerry, I have that clipping in my scrapbook when I was a Nash/musician. I'll never forget that stupid stunt.
Another time we followed him into a Ballroom in St. Joe, Mo. He had already booked the job before Closed Doors came out. So Charley had to do the whole show cheap dollar wise, so he played with his back to the audience. Boy was that owner pissed.

[Roger Miller]

That spacific awards show Charley came out on stage totally unannounced a couple of times. I believe "wasted" was the term then.

[Donny Hinson]

So who's the young kid in the video??? (It sure didn't look anything like Charlie Rich.)

I've seen an awful lotta drunks in my day, but I've never seen one roll all the way across a parking lot!

I'd say Steven Spielberg's job is still safe.

[Stephen Gambrell]

You guys think that making fun of a guy's alcohol problem is funny, huh? Slips right by me---Guess I'm not as sharp as I used to be.

[Barry Blackwood]

I agree, Stephen, and who is this guy singling out Charlie Rich anyway, after all these years?

[Dave Van Allen]

wow- lighten up guys...like the old days at the Saturday night horror show, just keep telling yourselves "It's only a movie..."


Charlie Rich wrote one of the best drinking song lyrics ever- I mean who else STARTS a song with the line "I got loaded last night on a bottle of gin, and I had a fight with my best girlfriend"

I doubt the guy who made this little film even has a clue that that song exists... or that it's on one of the classic steel guitar accompaniment recordings of all time.

I wonder what film he'd make if he did...

[Pat Irvin]

I think this is Charlie's best recording. I believe it was cut at his home, not long before he passed away. Amazing talent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHx5CqYFoNs

[Steve Alcott]

to quote Tom Waits: "Charlie Rich-he sure could sing, that s** ** * ****h".

[Doug Beaumier]

I was watching that CMA awards show that night in 1975 when Charlie Rich staggered up to the mic totally smashed and slurred out a couple of sentences that no one could understand and lit the paper on fire... live on national TV. The audience was shocked and embarrassed, and so was the music industry. Charlie's career was pretty much over after that night. The following year he had no records in the top 20. Later he had a couple of minor hits, but he was never again the superstar he had been in the early '70s. It was pretty sad.

[John Steele (deceased)]

Sounds to me like he spent some time listening to Ray Charles records.
-John

[Larry Miller]

interesting
http://www.charlierichjr.com/controvers ... e_burning/