Lemmy Kilmister is Dead

Lemmy Kilmister is dead at the age of 70.

He formed the band Motorhead and was one rare individual; the rare human being who was exactly who he is no matter what in every situation every day of his life.

Full disclosure - I didn't really become aware of the man until the last five years or so. I am definitely not a Motorhead fan; they did not capture my interest so I was not exposed to this lion of a man until recently.

I had read about him from time to time and became aware of a documentary called "Lemmy", which I checked out and loved.

That is when I got a sense of who this man was and how he lived his life.

He had a soul-deep fuck you attitude - if you did not like him, his music, his lifestyle or his band he could care less and wasn't afraid to let you know that.

He lived the bad-ass rock 'n roll lifestyle to the max, refusing to scale it back until he absolutely had to in 2013, for health reasons.

He claimed that he drank a bottle of Jack Daniels every day since he was thirty. He smoked cigarettes and loved his speed.

For the past thirty or forty years Lemmy lived in LA right around the corner from a bar called The Rainbow. He had a permanent seat at the bar and could be seen there every day drinking Jack and just being Lemmy.

Ozzy Osbourne was a close friend of Lemmy's right from the beginning of their careers and remained close for the rest of Lemmy's life.

In remembering Lemmy Ozzy said they used to joke about who was going to die first. But Ozzy cut way back on the booze and drugs many years ago. Lemmy said: "What's the point of living to 99 if you're not enjoying it? It's my life and I want to have fun with it."

There it is right there. That is what it's all about.

So I sit here talking to you about a guy I don't really know, who's career I never followed and you have to ask why? What is the point?

If I talk about Keith Richards or Gregg Allman I am talking from a position of strength - these are guys I have followed since I was a wee lad and I can tell you a thing or two about them.

Lemmy came into my awareness only recently.

So, why?

As I sit here contemplating the arrival of 2016 and the beginning of my 63rd year of life, it resonates with me that the one and only new year's resolution worth making for you and for me is to commit - fully and with extreme prejudice - to being exactly who you are.

Living your life your way regardless of what anybody thinks about you.

None of us do that. We all slither through life on our bellies.

The reason is that it is hard to be yourself ferociously. You have to have balls to not care what people think about you; to live a lifestyle that others condemn, to speak opinions that few agree with.

However, think about the consequence of a life lived that way.

Complete and fulfilling peace in and communion with your own soul.

That has to be the ultimate existence, the very reason for being alive. The only reason for being alive. There can be nothing more fulfilling than that.

That is why I am glad I learned about Lemmy Kilmister, that is how his life touched me.

His death disturbs me only because I know full well the world has lost an original and there are precious few originals around.

The world has become more complacent.

I could never mourn his death because he lived his life exactly the way he wanted to, knowing full well where his lifestyle was leading him.

I respect him enormously for that.

As 2015 trickles away, another year pissed away on trivialities; as 2016 looms large in the headlights, think hard about who you really are and who you are pretending to be.

Think about the supreme happiness you could experience just by being you. Think about that sense of peace that would no doubt be the greatest sensation you could ever imagine.

That's what I am doing. I am thinking hard about that.

Let's go out and get it.