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December 12th, 2007

It was a typical day for me. Yesterday I wrapped both my Comedy Central shows and last night I got an email from Ike’s sister in law Arlene that said “He’s baaaack!” That was an exciting thing to read because the last month has been really tough for all of us in Camp Ike. After a frustrating few months of shooting and developing on and off it seemed like we were back in business! The last few weeks have been really hard for Ike and for all of us. I’ve only known the guy for 6 months and I have witnessed the highest highs and the deepest lows I could ever imagine for a human being. There are things we filmed, discussions we had both on and off camera that really helped me understand the man, his pain and his desperate attempt to reclaim his legacy and not be known as “the wife beater” or “the guy who hit Tina”. So, to get the email last night that he was feeling better and not destroying himself, as he has been in the past few weeks, was really amazing. Before last night I thought it was over, that he was going to self sabotage himself and never get a chance to do the reality show he so desperately wanted to do, never do one final show with Tina as he expressed to me over and over again, never get a chance to show people he isn’t the guy in “the movie”. Over the past few weeks I wondered if there was anything I could do. If I should just go down to his house and insist on staying there until he cleaned up his act. Silly, I know, but maybe Chris, Kaylyn and I could just show up and have an intervention! Instead we all decided to wait and let him get help and get healthy. Patience, don’t push it, let the guy heal. Then, as if on cue the email came last night. “He’s baaaack” the email said, “Ike is doing really great” it said, “let’s talk tomorrow” it said. This morning I woke up thinking I need to charge the batteries in the camera to get back into ‘Ike mode’ because when something is going down I need to get over there and shoot. Maybe we can pitch in January? I was really looking forward to hanging out with Ike again. The times we spent together were insane, dangerous and hilarious-and that was just for a presentation tape. Imagine how out of control a series would be! Now he’s gone. I am numb. The email and call came ten minutes ago. So please, excuse me if I ramble on and it isn’t the most thought out blog post. I really can’t believe he is gone. I am just thinking about the fact that for a few months I was completely in this rock and roll legends life, had his trust, spent hours in his house, woke him up at 3am to film him calling into Howard Stern, went to Vegas and a hundred more things. I saw him at his happiest and most fucked up, saw him make one final desperate attempt to be healthy and loved and forgiven. And then it all went to shit, in a blink of an eye. The phone won’t stop ringing so let me go. I’ll check back in later._mg_8048-1.jpg

This post has 1 comment
  • jamie -
  • this is so unreal. you are probably the only person who knew who he really was and wanted in the end. surreal.

  • 12-12-2007

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