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    He has seen another one

    Shane MacGowan turned 60 yesterday. Now, even allowing for 60 being the new 50, and all that, surely McGowan has occupied a permanent spot in death pools since 1983. So hitting 60 is pretty impressive. He even has well-fitting dentures now. Here's to a long life.

    #2
    In the early noughties, I had a music quiz team at one of MacGowan's favoured haunts, The Boogaloo pub in Highgate. It was a regular occurrence to see him slumped at the bar, looking like he'd be lucky to see the night out, let alone another decade.

    Still pales into insignificance compared to Keith Richards (74) or Iggy Pop (70), however...

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      #3
      Iggy has a body that suggests he works out, irrespective of how he damages it in other ways. Keith, I dunno, maybe he secretly has his own gym?

      Is there any evidence that Shane has amended his lifestyle?

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        #4
        Yes, Shane has cut back (if not totally given up) and looks quite healthy. His gf posted a sweet video of him singing along to Band Aid on Twitter the other day. The whites of his eyes are very clear, then again I've seen that in friends who've had to give up booze just before they've died.

        And intermittently, we see him using the exercise bike.

        If you want to keep up with Shane, follow Victoria Mary Clarke.

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          #5
          Good to know (unless that thing about the whites in the eyes etc...). The man is one of the great poets of our time.

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            #6
            The real shame is the full-stop in recording anything at all. Surely he's got a few more good tracks in him.

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              #7
              The fascinating thing I find about shane mcgowan is the incredible esteem that he was held in by people like Ronnie Drew, Liam Clancy, and Christy Moore. Liam Clancy in particular was a massive fan, and it's hard to imagine higher praise.

              I can't believe he's still alive.

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                #8
                It doesn't surprise me - at his best, MacGowan's been a master of his craft.

                (Good point re Iggy - although he's always looked 'ripped up' rather than 'ripped' to me.)

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                  Keith, I dunno, maybe he secretly has his own gym?
                  Keith cannot be killed by conventional weapons

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                    Still pales into insignificance compared to Keith Richards (74) or Iggy Pop (70), however...
                    Lemmy made it to a reasonable 70. Ozzy's 69. They are terrible adverts for anti-drink or drugs campaigns.

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                      #11
                      Shane is physically very like my Uncle Willie, who lived to 84 on a diet mainly of Guinness, Whiskey, fags, tea and boiled ham. He fell asleep in front of a fire in his 60s and lost half his foot.

                      He outlived my near-teetotal Dad, who used to worry all the time.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by MsD View Post
                        Shane is physically very like my Uncle Willie, who lived to 84 on a diet mainly of Guinness, Whiskey, fags, tea and boiled ham
                        Sounds like my maternal grandfather, only with tinned pies instead of ham.

                        He would have lived till 100, but Ray Houghton killed him when he was 79.

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                          #13
                          What, a heart attack?

                          Mrs. S says her childhood memory of her paternal Grandma was that her diet consisted of instant coffee and cigarettes.

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                            #14
                            Apart from at gigs I saw Shane twice, once I saw him walking through Smithfield in Dublin with a couple of mates at 8.30 in the morning heading towards the early opening pub on North King Street, the other time was walking down a beach in the Canaries when I saw him on a sun lounger outside a posh looking hotel, funny I never would have connected him to sun holidays or indeed posh hotels

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                              #15
                              Or, indeed, mornings.

                              A friend of mine had a long relationship with a Pogue, so went to Spain to film Straight to Hell with them - that sounds like a hoot and a half and involved posh hotels and swimming pools.

                              On the whole, though, her Shane Stories are the sort of thing you'd expect, and more. The most surprising thing is (maybe) that, according to her, he was often incredibly lucid and aware whilst being simultaneously totally drunk. For example, raising his seemingly unconscious head off the table, to query an item on the bill, as he remembered exactly who'd had what, then crashing it back down again.

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                                #16
                                I met Shane MacGowan twice. The first was very odd. We had just played a gig at the ULU and he talked unintelligibly to us, did that raspy laugh and pressed our press cutting about divorce rates in somewhere or another in our shocked guitarist's hand. The second was downstairs at Tower Records where he had something approximating an entourage and I had one of our band's t-shirts on me so I gave it to him. I was - and am - no fan but saw the worth in him wearing our t-shirt. It probably got left at the next pub he visited.

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                                  #17
                                  They had the Dubliners 25th anniversary concert from 1987 on RTE tonight, and Shane Mcgowan looked Grand. They did a good version of the Irish rover. He looks like an old woman now. That thing about booze and oestrogen is really kicking in.

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                                    #18
                                    Hooray, as I've just had a hot gin.

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by elguapo4 View Post
                                      funny I never would have connected him to sun holidays or indeed posh hotels
                                      It's not like he was discreet about it.

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                                        #20
                                        We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.

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                                          #21
                                          The birthday party is tonight in Dublin. Nearly everyone on the list is in recovery (or should be), AFAIK, so it's not going to be that wild a bash.

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                                            #22
                                            Rte The Late Late Show doing a tribute to Shane tonight, he doesn't look well, I'd be worried about him.

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                                              #23
                                              He's not looked well for about 30 years.

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                                                #24
                                                It's the 14th of December and I still haven't heard it this year... I've just jinxed it, haven't I?

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                                                  #25
                                                  What, Fairytale... or an ‘announcement’ regarding Shane MacGowan?

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