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Ask Amy: Rock star retirement has pyrotechnic potential

Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

“Telling them beforehand may have some upside for you, but not for the rest of the band. There’s no reason to add that to the vibe – this is your last gig, not The Last Waltz!”

Adam’s podcast cohost and fellow musician Kevin Burke also took his own sardonic solo: “If you really want this to be a true ‘rock star’ moment, wait until right before the very last song, then make a big ‘quitting’ announcement over the mic to the audience and the band at exactly the same time.

“Bonus points if you can disappear in a puff of smoke or giant pillar of fire when the last song ends.

“Otherwise, I’d wait until the show is over. Let everyone in the band have their last hurrah without making it bittersweet. And who knows, you might rock so hard you change your mind.”

Dear Amy: My younger brother “Wendell” spoke at our father’s 90th birthday party five years ago in front of 100 people. He went on and on about how our father wasn’t there for him growing up, was too busy working to attend all his soccer games, etc.

It shocked many people there who talked about it afterwards; my father was in the early stages of dementia and may not have understood what he said.

 

About a year later, Wendell told my mother on a phone call that he had some leftover morphine from a sick relative’s illness, and he offered to administer it to my father.

My mother was shocked and extremely upset.

I then called my brother and said his “offer” was immoral, illegal, and beyond inappropriate. He responded that I was entitled to “my opinion.”

Amy, I’ve never been close to my brother for various reasons, but these two actions were more than I could tolerate.

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