RENE BERG

[Carl I.]

Hey, thanks for that link!!! Very nice piece there. I tell ya, I always felt that he had to be a great guy. I don't care what Mike says in that damn interview, a jerk and such could never write the songs Rene did. Might be an ignorant statement, but you can just hear something in those songs.

Again, thanks. How did he die exactly? I still haven't read anything. You mention that he was sick for awhile. Was he "sick" with addiction, or had he actually come down with something?

Man, I wish I had found him and been able to do a little corresponding.

[LeeRatbag]

Nobody seems to want to let on about what finally saw him off (it seemed inappropriate to ask at the funeral); there have been a lot of claims of "overdose", but it seems unlikely to me. You don't use smack for as long as Rene did and OD accidentally (although oddly enough he was never an addict - apparently he used to give up entirely with no trouble for long periods of time, and only used it when he wanted to). I think his illness and subsequent death were just from cumulative damage from his, erm, excessive lifestyle over the last twenty-odd years. He was a big drinker more than anything, and it seems this is what did the most damage.

I never knew the guy myself, but the wife held him in VERY high regard and was devastated when he died. And I have to say, "London Town" is probably the most beautifully sad song I've ever heard. The man was a songwriting genius.