If you haven’t read John Fleming’s article in the 6/29/2008 edition of the St. Petersburg Times that chronicles the story of violinist Stewart Kitts then you’re missing out. At a time when newspapers appear to be shedding salaried music critics and cultural reporters, it is heartening to see a paper reaffirm the value of such professionals by devoting the necessary amount of space to properly tell a story such as this. If you aren’t already familiar with the events from Stewart Kitts’ drug addiction, the article provides everything you need to know. Granted, you don’t encounter too many instances when professionals fall prey to dangers of drug addiction because most musicians get burnt out from that lifestyle before their careers get very far off the ground. As such, I hope John is able to do a companion article at some point about destructive drug use among aspiring musicians.
