Warren Zevon

[Flea]

would have been 66 years old today. He died of mesothelioma. In other news, Taylor Swift is writing a new song about her latest break-up. Carry on.

[LuthierJustin]

His shit was fucked up

[sactochris]

He had the best between song stage banter of any performer I've ever seen.

[RevMatt]

I never caught him live but I bet the between song banter was great.

[Tequila Cowboy]

We're leaving electronics at home (means no Nook) so I needed a good ol' physical book to take on the cruise for down time so I chose this one out of Lurleen's collection:

[John A Arkansawyer]

We're leaving electronics at home (means no Nook) so I needed a good ol' physical book to take on the cruise for down time so I chose this one out of Lurleen's collection:

How excellent! It reads quick, so you might take two. (I enjoyed discovering I was there-ish the night stolen guitars interrupted the hot threesome.)

[RolanK]

That's a pretty good choice you made there.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Excellent book. Begs the question though, can a genius ever live a tidy life? I, for one, don't believe so.

[Beebs]

George Gruel is a photographer who was Zevon's friend and tour manager in the late 70s early 80s. haven't gotten my hands on this yet but it;s a collection of previously unreleased photos and anecdotes of those years.

[beantownbubba]

Excellent book. Begs the question though, can a genius ever live a tidy life? I, for one, don't believe so.

Answers the questions regularly raised around here about whether we really want to know our "musical heroes" up close and personal and whether doing so enhances or detracts from enjoying the music. This book didn't quite ruin Zevon for me but it sure made a good run at it. I don't know what's to be gained by learning that a particular musician who makes great music is also an asshole.

[Beebs]

George Gruel is a photographer who was Zevon's friend and tour manager in the late 70s early 80s. haven't gotten my hands on this yet but it;s a collection of previously unreleased photos and anecdotes of those years.

In a weird twist, probably of interest to no one but me, I just confirmed my suspicion that George (the author) did photo work for a company i used to work for and we knew/know each other. Wish I had known about his music pedigree when we worked together. I could have bothered the shit out of him with endless Zevon related questions.

[Beebs]

George Gruel is a photographer who was Zevon's friend and tour manager in the late 70s early 80s. haven't gotten my hands on this yet but it;s a collection of previously unreleased photos and anecdotes of those years.

In a weird twist, probably of interest to no one but me, I just confirmed my suspicion that George (the author) did photo work for a company i used to work for and we knew/know each other. Wish I had known about his music pedigree when we worked together. I could have bothered the shit out of him with endless Zevon related questions.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Excellent book. Begs the question though, can a genius ever live a tidy life? I, for one, don't believe so.

Answers the questions regularly raised around here about whether we really want to know our "musical heroes" up close and personal and whether doing so enhances or detracts from enjoying the music. This book didn't quite ruin Zevon for me but it sure made a good run at it. I don't know what's to be gained by learning that a particular musician who makes great music is also an asshole.

What's interesting, Beantown, is that 100 pages in I was right with you and thought Zevon was a complete asshole, but that's not really the whole story is it? He was also, according to this book, capable of great kindness and inspired nearly absolute loyalty from people close to him, at least for as long as they could tolerate his dark side. His story mirrored those of other geniuses I've read about including Hemingway, Faulkner, Hank Williams and even Mozart all of them too talented to descend to the level of mere mortals for very long, although they seemed to want to. They all resorted to drugs and alcohol and all loved people deeply yet hurt those same people regularly. It seems to me that a certain kind of genius fits this pattern, and although there are other patterns, all genius level artists seem to have similar issues. I'm forced to conclude that with that kind of talent comes a dark price.

[beantownbubba]

Excellent book. Begs the question though, can a genius ever live a tidy life? I, for one, don't believe so.

Answers the questions regularly raised around here about whether we really want to know our "musical heroes" up close and personal and whether doing so enhances or detracts from enjoying the music. This book didn't quite ruin Zevon for me but it sure made a good run at it. I don't know what's to be gained by learning that a particular musician who makes great music is also an asshole.

What's interesting, Beantown, is that 100 pages in I was right with you and thought Zevon was a complete asshole, but that's not really the whole story is it? He was also, according to this book, capable of great kindness and inspired nearly absolute loyalty from people close to him, at least for as long as they could tolerate his dark side. His story mirrored those of other geniuses I've read about including Hemingway, Faulkner, Hank Williams and even Mozart all of them too talented to descend to the level of mere mortals for very long, although they seemed to want to. They all resorted to drugs and alcohol and all loved people deeply yet hurt those same people regularly. It seems to me that a certain kind of genius fits this pattern, and although there are other patterns, all genius level artists seem to have similar issues. I'm forced to conclude that with that kind of talent comes a dark price.

I could respond in a dozen different ways, but let's try this one: Even assholes have good qualities. It's absolutely clear that Zevon inspired incredible loyalty from his friends and that in turn speaks to any number of positive qualities. But it doesn't make him any less of an asshole. I basically agree w/ you about the genius thing, but from my observation of the few people I've known who might qualify as geniuses, it seems less a genetic predisposition, a cosmic balancing of the attributes God, nature or nurture handed out, and more simply the ability to take advantage of situations and people because they could, and knew they could because they would be forgiven pretty much anything by people who felt privileged to know, or to be recognized by, them. Not all that different from the kind of manipulative behavior often attributed to, say, beautiful women.

On edit: I don't doubt that some geniuses are deeply troubled and/or do have true, can't be helped, personality traits that sort of balance the advantages they've been given or may even be in some ways "caused" by their genius. All I'm saying is that it's not an automatic result of being a genius.

[Smitty]

The Kasey Anderson story fits in the with discussion, I think. My first case of one of my favorite artists being an asshole in reality (as far as everything that's been written about him/interviews go) was Steve Earle. Didn't really bother me too much, though.
Of course this doesn't exactly fit the conversation (since you can't judge a person by one encounter), but I've had two personal experiences with artists in which cases I wish I'd never met them because it forever tarnished my respect for them, and that was Bucky Baxter (in Chattanooga at Diamond Billiards) and "Cowboy" Jack Clement (in McAllisters(?) - some high class, fancy-pants bar on Broadway across from Coyote Ugly ((in nashville)). They may be legends (especially Clement), but they were straight up dicks to me. At first I had no idea it was Baxter, I just knew it was some sleazy guy I was hustlin in nine ball who was being a dick and not wanting to pay up. He ended up paying up and I'm not sure if he was serious at first about not honoring our bet or if he was just fucking with me. It wasn't until after I had quit playing him that I learned he was Bucky Baxter of Steve Earle/Bob Dylan/Whiskeytown fame. Turns out there was a posse of musicians there that night, only one I can remember recognizing the name was Charlie Sexton.
"Cowboy" Jack Clement wasn't anything other than an asshole to me and everybody else in the bar. When I was told it was Clement I went up and offered to buy him a drink and he proceeded to cuss me out for talking to him, I guess. Never really understood it, he said something about he had quit drinking but he was clearly fucked up on something, barely coherent. But he did write "Ring of Fire", so what do I know.

[sg207]

...I just knew it was some sleazy guy I was hustlin in nine ball...

Wait, who was the asshole?

[Beebs]

...I just knew it was some sleazy guy I was hustlin in nine ball...

Wait, who was the asshole?

There seems to be no end to Smitty's talents and areas of expertise

[Smitty]

...I just knew it was some sleazy guy I was hustlin in nine ball...

Wait, who was the asshole?

Nothin wrong with a legit hustle.
Back in my wilder days, that's how I made a living - me & a couple friends did the billiards circuit all over the south (that's actually how I got to see DBT at Tipitina's the first time; I talked my friend/backer into going down and hittin' up all the bars in NOLA and on the way - thought we were going to get killed by bikers in Slidell, but that's another story)
I got back on a table a couple months back and I couldn't hustle a blind man anymore. Whoever said it's like riding a bike lied. I gotta work off some of this rust because that's one of the skills I want to pass on to my kids..

[dime in the gutter]

...I just knew it was some sleazy guy I was hustlin in nine ball...

Wait, who was the asshole?

Nothin wrong with a legit hustle.
Back in my wilder days, that's how I made a living - me & a couple friends did the billiards circuit all over the south (that's actually how I got to see DBT at Tipitina's the first time; I talked my friend/backer into going down and hittin' up all the bars in NOLA and on the way - thought we were going to get killed by bikers in Slidell, but that's another story)
I got back on a table a couple months back and I couldn't hustle a blind man anymore. Whoever said it's like riding a bike lied. I gotta work off some of this rust because that's one of the skills I want to pass on to my kids..

you need a zoot suit. that'll get your mojo back.

[Smitty]

everyone needs a zoot suit.

I'll tie this thread back together:

[Tequila Cowboy]

[John A Arkansawyer]

He would have been seventy yesterday. Still the greatest "guy/gal with a guitar" act I've ever seen.

[Will]

He would have been seventy yesterday. Still the greatest "guy/gal with a guitar" act I've ever seen.

I saw him do one of those solo shows on what I think ended up being his last tour. Somebody had left a camera sitting onstage and Warren picked it it up and took a picture of himself. A guy in the crowd yelled out "your hair was perfect!" Warren gave it just the right comic beat and says "everybody's in show business" in a perfect, weary voice.

[Flea]

He would have been seventy yesterday. Still the greatest "guy/gal with a guitar" act I've ever seen.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

the backing vocals on the album version of this are what heaven would sound like if there was one

[sactochris]

He would have been seventy yesterday. Still the greatest "guy/gal with a guitar" act I've ever seen.

Easily! I saw him 11 times.

[John A Arkansawyer]

This is a very good article. I did have the oddest two-part vibe from it, though. As I read through the first half, I increasingly thought, "This guy is going to talk about DBT at some point." I think you'll see why. After I'd finished it, I thought, "I wonder why he didn't talk about DBT?" You'll see why about that, too.

His Sh*t’s F***ed Up: The Complicated Legacy of Warren Zevon
The late singer-songwriter has been gone for 15 years, but his life and career still aren’t any easier to make sense of: He was as gifted, haunted, and destructive as any musician from his generation.

Zevon was feeling proud that night — one of his heroes, Bob Dylan, had recently played a three-night stand at the Wiltern in L.A., where he performed several of Zevon’s songs.

“People had to tell me because I couldn’t recognize them,” Zevon told the gathered musicians, according to Gorman. “Nothing tells a man he’s about to die like when Bob Dylan starts doing your music.”

[worrierking]

That was a very good article. Usually when I read one of these about Zevon, I find three or for mistakes and realize I know a lot more about him than the author, but this one seems to be mistake-free.