That's a damned good point, Trask, and I'm glad you mentioned it. Performers are not usually , in my experience, the coolest people to hang around. It takes a very unusual personality to do what they do, and more often than not, a certain degree of self-centeredness.
I don't think I could count the number of times that I've been disappointed to find that an artist whose work I admire is an insecure and/or arrogant jerk - either through an interview or a personal encounter, etc.
If RD's personality hasn't served him well in his professional life, and caused him to make an ass of himself in front of live audiences, shouldn't we feel a little bit sorry for him?
I find it interesting and perhaps cool to be referred to as "Trask".
Felling sorry may be unnecessary and irrelevant. It's certainly not a positive thing to feel sorry for someone... I don't respect people I feel sorry for in that way... just spitballing here. I like to extract judgment from things if I can manage it. Making allowances doesn't necessarily mean feeling sorry. For me, it's more a matter of acknowledging that everyone has the capacity for being a jerk when placed under pressure ("there but for the grace of God go I" and all that), and once in a while, it's unavoidable, just because we're flesh and blood. You still ought to criticize (how else do people learn?) but coming at people with both barrels might be too much.
Recognizing that drink alters personality (and drugs) necessitates a sort of inbetween response I think. They're in limbo between being responsible and not responsible. You can control your actions to a great extent, but once the alcohol is in you, to a certain extent you can't, and life can be crap, and drive one to drink. It's a great big frustrating mixed bag, life, and erring on the side of withholding judgment is a pretty good fallback position.