Reading is fundamental

 The first country radio station I worked for was WICO in Salisbury. The second thing the general manager there ever told me, after telling me not to leave my lunch on the table in the break room because "the river rats might get it" was that he did not allow his DJs to play any records by George Jones and Tammy Wynette because they were scheduled to play a concert in town one night, but Jones showed up drunk and pugnacious, got into a fight with Tammy (his wife) and roared out of town, leaving concert-goers disappointed.

The boss wrote to Jones and told him that he was instituting a lifetime ban on their records, and Jones wrote back - the letter was framed and hanging on the office wall - saying "I'm gonna build me a station right there in your town and put you out of business. - George."

I'm telling you this because I am almost finished Jones's autobiography, "I Lived To Tell It All," and it is one horrible book because every chapter is just "I drank a gallon of whiskey and passed out on stage" over and over and over again. Plus, in the later years of his addiction, someone got him hooked on cocaine, so add that to the toxic mix.

Jones was my favorite country singer, because he had a voice that could convey any emotion, but what I didn't know about him was that he was so desperately hooked on self-destruction that absolutely nothing - legal means, physical restraints, tears from those who loved him, and begging from people who had looked forward to hearing him sing - stood between him and his intoxicants. Even though he had fairly long periods of sobriety, it was always a matter of when, not if, he would plunge headlong into a bottle or a vial again. I knew he was messed up, but I never thought he would write a book bragging about it.

I guess it's true, that old saw about never learning too much about the people you admire. I wish I had never read that book about Andy Griffith and Don Knotts being total philanderers. Imagine cheating on your wife with Miss Crump!