Crystal Zevon

Did you have any hesitation when Warren asked you to write the book? If so, what were your concerns?

Here’s what happened… When Warren was first diagnosed as being terminal, we were talking 4, 5, 6 times a day by telephone. Before he decided to write and record The Wind, he was considering going on some kind of spiritual journey… he was trying to figure out how a dying man could best spend his last months. Remember, at that time we thought he had only 3 months or less to live. In our conversations, he started thinking that maybe we should go to India where he would meditate, die a romantic death after which I would have his body burned on a funeral pyre then scatter his ashes in the Ganges. (Side note: I do a meditation technique called ‘Vipassana’ - as taught by S.N. Goenka and I had been to India which intrigued Warren - more on that when I respond to a question by someone else in another post) He also thought about converting to Catholicism, going fishing with Carl Hiaasen and a variety of other things. Anyway, during this period, he also asked me if I would come to L.A. to care for him “when it gets real ugly”.  Of course, I said that I would… That never materialized for a number of reasons, but according to Warren, he called Carl after I’d told him I would come to be with him at the end and he asked Carl why I would do that and Carl replied, “So she can write the book.”  Carl’s version is different, but this is what he told me.  Anyway, I told him I’d never had a thought of writing his biography, but he let me know he’d like me to do it.

Did I have any hesitations?  Definitely.  But, at the time, I didn’t think too much about it.  It was kind of… well, if you really want me to… sure.  But, as we talked through the last year of his life, I struggled with how I would tell his story.  What about the years when I wasn’t around?  The people I didn’t know?  The songs I didn’t understand?  He kept telling me stories, talking about things that mattered to him and helping me to find focal points (without necessarily saying that’s what he was doing.)  He called me a week before he died to be sure I was going to do this… he knew if I promised him, it would be done.  So, I promised.

I started jotting notes and writing false beginnings and endings on the plane ride home from his memorial service.  Then, I got the idea of interviewing people and letting the story be told from the memories of many people and I started putting together a book proposal.  I called my screenwriting agent, Lucy Stille, at Paradigm in L.A. and asked her for help getting a literary agent.  She made some calls then put me in touch with Marian Young.  We hit it off right away.  Marian and her husband Tom Pearson were longtime Zevon fans, and they helped me to put together a more cohesive proposal and after meeting with some publishers, we ended up at HarperCollins… So… by that time, any reservations I had were put aside and I just started to work!

(The rest of these will be answered later… I have to do an interview with the CBC where they’re plugging the Prince Edwards Island Zevonathon… Don’t it make you want to rock and roll all night long!?!)  cz
How did the book take shape? How did you decide to do an oral biography instead of a more conventional biography format?

What was it like for you to relive so much of your own past while putting the book together?

Were you able to interview everyone you wanted to, or were some people unavailable?

What would you have liked to include in the book, but couldn’t due to space limitations?

Filed by Crystal at 12:49 pm under Book
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Since back in the ’70s, I frequently told my music friends that I wanted to have lunch with Warren Zevon. Unfortunately, it never happened, nor did I ever get to even meet him. My question is, was Warren receptive to meeting fans, or was he guarded with strangers?

Kevin

I think Warren’s fans (customers/Hammerheads) could answer this question better than I can, but I’d say the answer is both.  Warren was reclusive in general, so he was not only guarded with strangers, but even with people he knew and loved.  That said, he was deeply appreciative of people who responded to his music.  I’d say his preference would generally be to correspond with someone, or even have a telephone relationship, but when his mood was right and his demons were at bay, he was gregarious and loved conversation.

Warren ate lunch in the same restaurant in L.A. for years and pretty much conversed with anyone who stopped by his table (unless he wasn’t in the mood, and if that was the case, watch out… he would cut you off at the knees if he had a mind to.)  People who knew him knew they could find him at his regular spots, and people who happened across him accidentally generally found him receptive and conversational.  Some of the people he loved to spend time with were his car mechanics, the people who worked at the dry cleaners he habituated, the owners & clerks of bookstores where he spent many hours, the waiters at the restaurants where he was a regular… So, I guess the answer is that while it might not have been easy to set up a ‘lunch date’ with Warren, if you showed up at one of his regular spots, your chances of having a rousing conversation were good… The subject matter would probably center around whatever book he was reading or the last movie he saw.  Of course, if you were female, your chances were improved, but the nature of the conversation might be less content oriented (or not, depending on the woman!)

Filed by Crystal at 5:32 am under Book
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Is there anything about Mr. Z that might surprise his customers to know?

I think we all have ’secrets’ or things that have happened in our lives that might surprise even people close to us if they knew, don’t we? Certainly, Warren was no different… being a man of extremes in so many areas, yes, I’m sure there will be things that will surprise his customers (that’s what Warren called his fans, to anyone reading this who might not be familiar with the Zevon vernacular). His early excesses were well known and documented, though not the full extent of what was going on in his private life. I lived it, and even I am still shocked by some of it. Then, later in his life, he compartmentalized more. Some people knew some things, others knew other things. Even his children, when they talked about him after his death, felt like they were talking about two different dads.

When Jackson read an advance copy of the book, he called me several times as he was reading it and said, “My God, I thought I knew him. I never knew this was happening…” He was mostly referring to the physical violence. That will likely surprise and, perhaps, anger some customers. It wasn’t until I got into actually doing this book that I understood how Warren’s story couldn’t be told without exposing us all to public scrutiny. But, as I recently told one customer, Warren wasn’t interested in being remembered as a ‘nice guy’. He asked me to write the story of his torment, his rigorous commitment to his art (even at the expense of those he loved), and his decision and understanding that his last act would be to leave a legacy of music behind. His music was his spiritual connection to both this world and whatever comes after… he paid an enormous personal price to leave us all with The Wind.

In the final analysis, I think what surprised Warren was how, after the last note was written and the last album was mastered and released, he was able to let go of the music and turn to the thing that had always somewhat eluded him… his relationships… his family… the loves (in human terms) of his life. His last and most courageous act was to stick around to meet his grandsons. What better ending to any life, eh?

Filed by Crystal at 7:53 am under Book
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Wow… thank you all for the fabulous questions.  I will get to each and every one of them.  Unfortunately, today got away from me and with only days left before the book’s out and the tour begins, my responses may be slower coming than I’d hoped.  But, I will get there.  cz

Filed by Crystal at 9:20 pm under Book
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I got this question on my email today:

You asked for questions regarding the book( I couldn’t remember my password or I would have commented on the page), Here’s one:

Did you learn anything that surprised you while writing the book, something you didn’t know about Warren?

This is a question that has come up in several interviews and on-the-spot I’ve answered it in various ways.  This time, I took some time to think about my response because I really haven’t been happy with the answers I’ve given.

I think every time this question has come it, the question itself has come as a surprise and I’ve finally figured out why.  I felt like I was supposed to have been surprised by what I discovered when I wrote the book.  Don’t get me wrong - there were definitely things I didn’t know, or at least didn’t know with regard to details or specifics, names and places; there were other things, like the extent of Warren’s sexual needs/addiction/proclivity, or his Obsessive Compulsive traits that went beyond what I had understood or imagined; there were poems and half-written songs, letters and secret lovers… But, honestly, I already knew about all of it to some degree.  The thing that surprised me most was just that… that I already knew.

If I think about it now, Warren and I always had an understanding - we knew one another in a way no one else knew us.  We told each other the truth, even when it hurt.  On rare occasions one or the other of us would verbalize the way we felt, but most often it was an unspoken understanding.  We confided in each other, and even during periods where we weren’t in touch or weren’t getting along, I never questioned that we loved each other and I know he didn’t either.  But, it wasn’t until I read his journals, reread old letters, talked to his friends and cohorts and searched my own heart that I fully understood that I really was one of a handful of people he really let inside… Complex as he was, what surprised me was that I wasn’t surprised.  That, of course, is why he ask me to write the book…

I am really grateful for this question.  Thanks.   cz

Filed by Crystal at 3:29 pm under Book
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Suddenly, it’s all looming before me and I feel like I’ve got a permanent frog in my throat and a venomous snake slithering around in my belly… Yikes. Yesterday I tried to focus on what to read at these readings and I just kept flipping to any old page. It kind of worked, but my plan was to try to be somewhat thematic. I keep telling myself that it will all come together, and I’m sure it will… and, in fact, I’m really too busy with other things to get too obsessed… but, I am definitely suffering from an on-again/off-again case of pre-tour stage fright.

I did have an idea! I know I’ll be asked a lot of questions, and I’m presuming that the questions I’m getting in interviews will be similar to what I’ll be asked at book signings… but, I thought maybe some of you reading this might help with my training. Got any questions? I’d love to try and answer them here behind the protective solitude provided by my computer screen. I’ve never been someone to rely on canned comments, so hopefully, I’ll be able to respond to the live events spontaneously… but, I thought this could be good training. What do you think?

Meanwhile, if anyone reading this is near Montpelier, Vermont on May 1st, I’ll be at Bear Pond Books at 7 p.m. On May 3rd from 3 to 5, I’ll be at Exile on Main Street in Barre, Vermont. I’ll post the invitation to the May 5th event below.

You are invited to

a very special

Reception and Book-signing

by author Crystal Zevon

on the release of her long awaited

rock-biopic of Warren Zevon

“I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD:

The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon”

Hosted by Maggie Drennon and Matthew Williams

Please join us Saturday May 5 from 1-4pm

At Spice Restaurant

297 North Street in Pittsfield

413-443-1234, www.spice-restaurant.com

Books available May 1 at Barnes and Noble and at the Spice reception

Harper Collins hardcover, $26.95

“One of Warren Zevon’s final requests before he died in 2003 was that his former wife, Crystal Zevon, compile his memoir. I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon is the realization of that request. The result is a unique scrapbook of memories, stories and memorabilia from the wild and famed life of this iconic singer-songwriter.

Perhaps most well known for such dark, rock-and-roll classics like “Werewolves of London” and “Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner”, Zevon was a prolific and storied musical legend. He released 18 albums and collaborated with countless artists including the Everly Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles and Jackson Browne.

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead is an intimate and unusual oral history of one of our most original and distinctive rock-and-roll antiheroes. Narrated by his former wife and longtime co-conspirator, Crystal Zevon, the book draws on over eighty interviews with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Stephen King, Billy Bob Thornton, Carl Hiassen, Bonnie Raitt, and countless others who came under his mischievous spell. It is a raucous and moving tale of love and obsession, creative genius and epic bad behavior. The book brilliantly chronicles a trove of misadventures and a tender heart, and charts the genius behind some of the most timeless songs in rock history.”

“A harrowing ride through the backstreets of the L.A. music business with the King of Song Noir. — JACKSON BROWNE