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Jacos death

#21
Jonki said:
didnt jacos family help him? and why would he live on the streets?
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I don't think Jaco's family was in a position to help him. I don't think they had much money, and treating mental illness back then was far more expensive than it is now (most health insurances did not cover things like inpatient psychiatric care, or medication, try coming up with $20-30 thousand A WEEK for an inpatient treatment program on a session bassist salary, that's about what they cost). If you weren't really wealthy (and Jaco wasn't, despite his fame) you were pretty much S.O.L. back then.

As for being homeless he ended up that way more or less by his own volition. He had apartments and places to live that he would simply stop going back to and instead wander around drinking and snorting coke. Then he'd hit a good spell, try to get things back together, start working again, then everything would fall apart and he'd be back pawning his bass for drug money.

I think the only way I can explain it to those who haven't been close to a severe bipolar illness is to imagine the old Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror" when the Enterprise goes into the evil alternate universe. Imagine what the evil alternate version of you would be like, now imagine that every few months that evil, alternate you becomes the real you in this universe and does their very best to undo everything the normal you has tried to accomplish when you were in the driver's seat.

That's about the closest analogy I can think of, and that's pretty much what would happen to Jaco during those final years.
 
#22
Another thing to keep in mind is that artists are especially vulnerable to ignorance regarding mental illness. It is usually passed off as being "creative" or "eccentric", and that creativity and eccentricity happens to pay some bills, so there aren't a lot of questions being asked. As a recording artist his contracts paid the bills for a lot of other people. The engineers, producers, label reps, technicians, sidemen,... all got paid. And if, in this case, Jaco's work habits werent paying the bills, then he was on his own. Friends are friends, but not many friends can just pop up with the money for rehab and therapy for a drug addled manic depressive. And when your friends are musicians trying to keep their own heads above water you have less of a chance of getting that help.

The musicians that were in the same boat were (among others) Jimi Hendrix and then Kurt Cobain. Both had glaring needs for treatment of stress induced or biological mental problems. The record label infrastructure that made money hand over fist on their efforts had no intention of putting some of that profit towards health care for the artist. And the artist isn't putting "buy comprehensive medical coverage" at the top of their to-do list.

As fans, or observers, it is easy to think that recording artists make a load of dough and it is all sunny and funny. That is so rarely the case.
 
#23
Vysous said:
Unfortunatelly, lots of people showed their back to Jaco, nobody cared, nobody gave him help hand...
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I was in attendance at Jaco's funeral. At the gravesite, I spoke with Pat Metheny for a while. He talked about how he and others tried very hard to help Jaco during his decline, but he just kept pushing people away, and after a certain point, he and others just decided they couldn't help him. he obviously was upset and talked about him as a dear friend that was very troubled. I don't think it's fair to suggest that his friends didn't care about him; it's just that you can only do so much for someone who is constantly pushing you away.
 
#24
Marcus Willett said:
I was in attendance at Jaco's funeral. At the gravesite, I spoke with Pat Metheny for a while. He talked about how he and others tried very hard to help Jaco during his decline, but he just kept pushing people away, and after a certain point, he and others just decided they couldn't help him. he obviously was upset and talked about him as a dear friend that was very troubled. I don't think it's fair to suggest that his friends didn't care about him; it's just that you can only do so much for someone who is constantly pushing you away.
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I did a stint as a mental hygiene commissioner here in my county in WV...for about 2 years. That means that I was the "judge" who committed people "likely to cause harm to themselves because of mental illness" (or addiction) to a facility for up to 30-days.

It really gave me alot of insight into the awful pattern of behavior suffered by people with bi-polar disease (manic depression) and even moreso when they're addicts as well. Unmedicated, they sometimes come in looking like animals...completely out of touch with reality, just awful. Sometimes they're comatose. But untreated, they're always in some totally erratic state. We would send them away and medicated and cleaned up they look just fine...like a completely different person. However, they start feeling so good when they are on the meds that they think they're cured...or they start drinking/using again...and the cycle starts again. Few are able to maintain a balance. It's a curse and often a death sentence, as in Jaco's case. I'd take issue with anyone who says Jaco's friends or family could have "pulled him out of it". We would commit the same people month after month, and short of institutionalization, no amount of love, care, medication can permanently "make them right"
 
#25
fretlessrock said:
The musicians that were in the same boat were (among others) Jimi Hendrix and then Kurt Cobain. Both had glaring needs for treatment of stress induced or biological mental problems. The record label infrastructure that made money hand over fist on their efforts had no intention of putting some of that profit towards health care for the artist. And the artist isn't putting "buy comprehensive medical coverage" at the top of their to-do list.
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Well said, the last is even more true when dead artists make more money than live ones. How many times did Jimi's managers tell him he needed the drugs to perform? Lots, same with Kirk and many others.

This kind of disease is often a no win situation. You cannot help someone who doesn't belive they need help, but you don't realize you need help until you reach a point where you can see how much better things could be. That's really the crux of it. Do I feel Jaco was doomed from the start? No, but there certainly weren't many avenues open to him that wouldn't have led to his early death one way or another.
 
#26
Wilbyman said:
However, they start feeling so good when they are on the meds that they think they're cured...
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That's a nasty problem. It is really, really hard to force yourself to keep taking your meds every day when you feel fine. Its even harder to catch yourself when you stop because you usually feel "fine" when you are slipping down the hole again. I'm only just now getting to the point where I can catch the random slips of putre self loathing that start to creep in when I miss my meds for a a day or two. There's really no obvious thing that lets you know "Sh*t I forgot my pills" like there are with many conditions.
 
#27
Vysous said:
Unfortunatelly, lots of people showed their back to Jaco, nobody cared, nobody gave him help hand.... Unfortunately, many musicians as Marcus Miller, Joe Zawinul cant understand why they didnt help him... Marcus appologized immediately after Jaco's death by doing the tune "Mr Pastorius" and covering "Teen Town"...But it was too late to save Jaco.... God always takes too talented people back to heaven too early... Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jaco Pastorius, Janis Joplin.... Its sad, but this is the fact....
Very SAD fact.... :( :( :( :( :( :(
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Sad, perhaps. But, let's not blame "God" for Jimi or Janis, as their deaths had to do with them killing themselves with drugs or alcohol.
 
#28
RAM said:
Sad, perhaps. But, let's not blame "God" for Jimi or Janis, as their deaths had to do with them killing themselves with drugs or alcohol.
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I have to agree, also money WAS NOT the issue, Jaco made plenty of money when he was alive, His first solo album went gold, He played to arenas, not mid sized clubs like Marcus and Victor play today. Weather Report was an Arena act in the late 70's and I'm sure Joni took care of him pretty well because everyone at the time new that tour was as much about the muscians as it was about Joni Mitchell. The point is, I am sure that Jaco made enough money in that 4-6 year period to live comftorbly for most of the rest of his life. But like many muscians of that era he pissed it away on Coke and Acohol. Drugs were very prevelent, and as common arround dressing rooms as the deli tray, and when Jaco got less famous he couldn't get it for free. Jacos story is a tragedy, but it was not his familys fault, and even tho some of friends should have realized what was going on soner (many were high themselves) it was not there fault. Jaco had a mental illness and wasn't willing to make the tough choice, (stay away from the scene, get into rehab) that he needed too, instead he fed his sickness which is really a shame. I do miss him and in some ways I'm almost "mad" at him, because he was given tremondous talent and he threw it away.
 
#31
I believe the story of Jaco's life is the saddest experience in the history of music. Tremendous talent washed down the drain is always tragic, but considering how special Jaco was as a musician (and a person) it angers me and I often get upset throughout the day when I think of Jaco. I cannot possibly comprehend playing a bass that well and I know I will not ever attain that level of bassdom. Honestly (IMHO), Jaco was one of the 5 greatest musicians of the 20th century and he pissed it all away.
 
#35
Tash said:
That's a nasty problem. It is really, really hard to force yourself to keep taking your meds every day when you feel fine. Its even harder to catch yourself when you stop because you usually feel "fine" when you are slipping down the hole again.
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Tash, thanks for stepping up and speaking about mental illness. There is so much misconception about all of this and people like you speaking out about what this is really like can increase peoples' understanding.

Bipolar disorder is a really tough one to deal with. I watched and did my best to help someone close to me destroy themselves with this disease. Very sad.

At least now, as opposed to Jaco's times, there are better treatments, better meds, and more of a chance of getting put in a hospital if that is what is needed.
 
#36
As a Psych nurse and a lover of Jaco, I have studied Bipolar disorder and read alot of the accounts of Jaco's later life.
Understand this, it is very difficult dealing with Bipolar sufferers. They experience episodes of grandure, where they can be down right rude, disrespectful and hurtful. They don't realise they are doing it, but that's just the way they are. From his first wife, Tracy's, accounts, Jaco was showing signs of Bipolar far earlier than first diagnosed. It was untreated for a long time, and the major problem with people suffering mental illnesses is, their perception that when they feel fine they won't take their medications.
Jaco was on cocaine and alcohol big time. These fueled the Bipolar even further to the point where he was an arrogant pig almost constantly (remember he is my idol when I say this).
Sadly, Jaco's illness was poorly understood then, and most people who knew him would've disowned him because of his arrogance and hurtfullness. Imagining knowing someone who totally changed from day to day.
Don't feel angry to the people who turned their backs on Jaco, they wouldn't have understood what was going on. If he was just another homeless person and not the father of modern bass, who would care that he's gone?
As for his killer, I feel sorry for the guy. I get confronted by irrational, psychotic people on a daily basis, and in all honesty, sometimes I want to give them a good smack to the cranium. The guy probably thought Jaco was going to kill him if Jaco was in a Manic state. Who know's? I wasn't there, but it certainly changed history. Jaco was probably to the point of no return, where he would've been able to play the same way again anyway, even if medicated.
Personally, I thank Jaco for his influence and creativity.
R.I.P Jaco Pastorius.

Pete
 
#37
Red Wonder said:
I believe the story of Jaco's life is the saddest experience in the history of music. Tremendous talent washed down the drain is always tragic, but considering how special Jaco was as a musician (and a person) it angers me and I often get upset throughout the day when I think of Jaco. I cannot possibly comprehend playing a bass that well and I know I will not ever attain that level of bassdom. Honestly (IMHO), Jaco was one of the 5 greatest musicians of the 20th century...
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Are you familiar with Charlie Parker's story?
 

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