A Brief Story About the Time Lemmy Stopped In at Ground Kontrol

Gambling's for fools, but Tempest rules.

By Matthew Singer

In the almost 24 hours since the death of Lemmy Kilmister—rock'n'roll warthog, heavy-metal deity, streetwalking pirate, Nazi fetishist—friends and fans have taken to telling tales of the legendary Motörhead frontman. Expectedly, many involve drugs, drinks and groupies. But according to a post on Ground Kontrol's Instagram page, his thirst for whiskey and women was equaled by only one thing: his love for the game Tempest.

One fall night in 2009, before Motörhead played the Roseland Theater a few blocks away, Lemmy apparently ambled into the Old Town arcade and proceeded to put up the second- and third-highest scores on the old-school Atari machine. Then he put everyone on the guest list.

Apparently, Lemmy died as he lived: According to a letter on Motörhead's Facebook page confirming his sudden death at age 70 from an aggressive form of cancer, Kilmister passed while playing a video card game he procured from his favorite bar, the infamous Rainbow in Hollywood.

I can't recall why, but I missed that Roseland show, and thus my only opportunity to see Motörhead live. Earlier that year, however, I did get a chance to see Lemmy play '50s rock covers with his side project, the Head Cat, at Dante's. Here's my review of that show, along with a couple photos. Godspeed, Lem. May you dominate the great Tempest machine in the sky.

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