Crystal Zevon

Well, I guess there’s a lot being said out there on the internet waves about me personally, the book, the motivation to write it… I am also receiving many heartfelt emails from people who understand the nature of the disease of alcoholism and of genius. To be honest, all this attention mostly just makes me nervous and self-conscious.  I am more comfortable being behind the scenes.  I love that quiet room where the only sound is the hum of my computer, or the giggles of my grandsons.  At the same time, I am getting the opportunity to meet a lot of wonderful people who are sharing their stories with me.  This morning, someone sent me the link to a blog which again made me feel that there was merit in what I’ve put out there.  I’m going to past the link, but also the last paragraph of what was sent to me here.

http://nancynall.com/2007/05/08/no-man-is-a-hero-to-his-valet/ 

“The underlying theme to all this, if there is one, is just how much havoc one addict can wreak, in their own lives and in the lives of others, acts that reverberate through generations. I was halfway through “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” when I stopped and wrote a fan letter to Crystal Zevon (her e-mail is public). It’s hard to write about being an alcoholic’s wife without lapsing into one or two predictable slots — victim or fool. She doesn’t do that, perhaps because at some point she realized she had her own drinking problem, which she acknowledges, and what it took to quit. The tone is not one of pity-me but of clear-eyed, dispassionate truth-telling. I have a feeling some people are going to portray her as the embittered ex seeking revenge now that the man who hurt her is unable to protest. I hope that doesn’t happen, because she fulfilled every writer’s No. 1 obligation: She told the truth. People, especially creative people, are complicated, and very few have public and private faces that would recognize one another. “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” doesn’t affect my opinions on the music, only what it took to make it. It ain’t that pretty at all, as the man himself once sang. If we didn’t hear it, then maybe we weren’t really listening.”

Thanks, Nancy.

I also wanted to post a few of the emails I’ve been receiving.  These have come to me personally, so I’m not going to include names, although if anyone wants to claim ownership, feel free to do so.  I’ll start with Matt Cartsonis who did give me permission to publish this response he wrote to something that had been posted on-line here.

I’ve played with a lot of folks through the timeline of my
musical life; I’m grateful to all of them for the yins and yangs of
greater experience. Some I’d still consider friends and mentors; others
more as items on a resume roster. When the opportunity to play with
Warren came up I thought long and hard about it; I’d spent the vast
majority of my young life slugging it out in clubs, an environment
largely antithetical to my musical predilections. I didn’t really want
to go out on the road again. But I’d long admired Warren, felt it was a
rare opportunity to participate in some quality work; my friends and I
decided it was worth a shot. That was all I had in mind, and was
prepared to keep my distance both personally and professionally.

Finally: The book, thanks to both its format and the heart and bravery
that went into its compilation, really resonates to my memory of Warren
Zevon. The old saw: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day;
teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” applies here, I
think. The reader is given ample evidence to create his/her own
perspective On the Origin of Creativity. I am in awe of Crystal for her
incredible work. In some cases the backstory helped me better
understand some of what I experienced with WZ. Other bits gave me a
window into a world I wasn’t part of. I’m very glad the book was
written. Partly because it’s what WZ asked for, partly because it’s so
well done, and largely because I am enjoying the hell out of it, over
and over again.

Another couple of random emails… I’m getting many and I appreciate them all.  Thank you for writing.

Filed by Crystal at 4:17 am under Uncategorized