Jay Reatard's Death Linked to Cocaine, Stereogum Reports

​A million bullshit punks get hooked on blow and live, while one insanely talented dude gets coked up and dies. Sad news from the Jay Reatard camp this morning. Stereogum reports that Reatard died last month of ""cocaine toxicity, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in his death." While that's hardly a shocker, it makes me wonder how far people get--especially in the punk/garage/etc. community, where there's plenty of substances being passed around--before someone throws an intervention into their party. I recently chatted with a local musician who played Gonerfest, and who said his band members openly remarked that something bad was going to happen to Reatard. According to this guy, Reatard took the stage and poured bags of coke up his nose.

At this point, no one needs a lecture on all the ways dipping into the booger sugar is bad for you, but hopefully this prominent death--and especially one that affected many local musicians here--will spark a little conversation about watching closely over musicians who seemed to have pushed past the line. MusiCares has a program specifically to help musicians with substance abuse problems, if anyone knows someone who could use a little help.