Back then, rock and roll was drugs and music. Back then, in my heaviest using days, I was touring with my band, my brothers, playing more than 250 gigs per year, rolling with the punches the only way I knew how. And even then I can recall thinking that someday I would be clean. Back then, the desire to be clean and sober was there, but it was always tomorrow. Now I see that the best time to get something done is right now. I spent 35 years on the road chasing the dream of bei

McFarlane launches annual benefit concert and plans for kidney wellness center On a February night in the performance space at Famous Dave’s in Uptown, a standing room only crowd packed the venue while music filled the air, all in support of a kidney transplant for Greg McFarlane. Waves of raucous blues, jazz and reggae performed by dozens of local musicians with national acclaim fueled a buzz of celebration and support for McFarlane, friend and fellow musician, in his time o

New Heights resident goes all in for recovery, and it’s paying off For as long as addiction has been studied, genetic and environmental factors have accounted for its presence in individuals. For Rachel Anthony, opioid dependency seems to have its roots in both nature and nurture. “My dad was a heroin addict, and he taught me pretty early on to drug seek,” says Anthony, who began abusing painkillers at age 13. The prescriptions were in steady supply from early on as a result

Things finally fall into place after decades of addiction and a brush with fate She didn’t see it coming. Sandy Lubega, and the driver of the car that struck her that night, were both drunk. She was wandering Minneapolis in a blackout, she says, so she doesn’t remember the accident, but she remembers the scene around her hospital bed. Her family gathered by her side, along with two ministers reading her last rites. She hadn’t seen the relapse coming, either - not after the ha