Blur’s Alex James was definitely on the badass list one year.
In his new book Over the Rainbow: Stories from an Unexpected Yearper Metro UKThe 56-year-old “Song 2” musician revealed that he was once kicked out of a church Christmas party for desecrating an “antique figurine of a naked baby Jesus”.
“I was smoking in the room with art and objects, as usual,” he writes. “Someone I didn’t know said, ‘I’m not sure if you’re allowed to smoke here.’ I obediently took the small ashtray from the dresser I was leaning on and put out the cigarette.”
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However, what James took wasn’t actually an ashtray. Instead, it was a statue of Jesus.
“Unfortunately, unlike some cabins, this one wasn’t actually an ashtray,” he writes. “I happened to come across an antique figurine of a naked baby Jesus and hit mine [cigarette]- he finished rubbing it around his crotch, quite unconsciously.”
The incident worsened when he broke the figurine and tried to fix it.
“When the person who asked me to quit smoking warned me about what I had done, I tried to put a positive spin on it,” James writes. “I picked up baby Jesus to show his robustness by pulling on one of his little arms.”
He adds, “The arm fell off along with a wisp of incredibly fine, glittering, powdery dust.”
Fortunately, James “made it back.”
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Graham Coxon, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree and Alex James perform with Blur in August 2023.
Rune Hellestad – Corbis/Corbis via Getty
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James quit drinking in 2002 before meeting his wife Claire Neates – the mother of his five children – and marrying her in April 2003.
In an interview with Red magazine through Virgin Radio, Blur’s bassist has opened up about the differences between his life as an artist and being a stay-at-home parent.
“The last time I went, I dropped the kids off at school and flew to Mexico City, where thousands of people were waiting for us at the airport and hotel. When we got to the venue – the stadium – it was huge,” he said. “But after that you come home and you have to wash up and the kids say, ‘Dad, stop being a w—–.’
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Source: HIS Education