Requiescat in pace
That's all she wrote
boo hoo hoo
you won't see his likes anytime in the near future.....
Zevon
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Warren Zevon dies after battle with cancer
By Geoff Boucher
Los Angeles Times
September 8, 2003
LOS ANGELES -- Warren Zevon, a restless, sardonic bard who embodied the dark edge and excess of the famed singer-songwriter scene in 1970s Southern California, died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 56.
Zevon died Sunday afternoon at his home in Los Angeles, according to his manager, Irving Azoff, who said that the singer had been ``very upbeat'' in the past week due to the success of his new album and the recent birth of twin grandchildren. ``He was in a good place.''
While casual pop fans might recognize only his 1978 horror-show hit ``Werewolves of London,'' Zevon for years enjoyed a cult following and the acclaim of his peers for songs that were often about fractured world politics and the disloyal human heart.
In a macabre songbook that includes ``Excitable Boy,'' ``Lawyers, Guns and Money'' and ``Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,'' Zevon presented a world of the undead and the unethical on the rampage in a mercenary world. In ``Mr. Bad Example,'' an altar boy grows up to be a vagabond con man: ``I'm very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins/I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in/I'm proud to be a glutton and I don't have time for sloth/I'm greedy and I'm angry and I don't care who I cross.''
Death and dying were among Zevon's favorite topics (the cover of his 2002 album ``My Ride's Here'' showed him in a hearse, while another collection was titled ``Life'll Kill Ya''), and when confronted with his own mortality he continued the exploration with aplomb. The singer, a longtime smoker, learned in August 2002 that he was suffering from inoperable lung cancer and a month later he went public with his condition in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
``I feel the opposite of regret,'' he said then. ``I was the hardest-living rocker on my block for a while. I was a malfunctioning rummy for a while and running away for a while. Then for 18 years I was a sober dad of some amazing kids. Hey, I feel like I've lived a couple of lives -- and now when people listen to the music they'll say, `Hey maybe the guy wasn't being so morbid after all.' ''
Zevon spent much of his time during his illness doting on family and working in a home studio on a new album, ``The Wind.'' His popularity among his peers was underscored by a parade of contributors to the record, including longtime friends Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley and Jackson Browne. The Artemis Records disc debuted recently in the Top 20 of U.S. pop charts, an unprecedented showing for the singer.
The tracks also include some wry, unsentimental songs, in Zevon's familiar mode, and a version of the Bob Dylan classic ``Knockin' on Heaven's Door,'' a selection that speaks to Zevon's candor and sense of grim theater. Zevon's candor about his condition also extended to allowing VH1 to film the sessions for ``The Wind'' for a poignant documentary that aired near the album's release date.
Dylan himself has recently paid tribute to Zevon by singing several of his songs, including ``Accidentally Like a Martyr,'' in his concert sets. That same month, David Letterman devoted an entire episode on his late night CBS show to his old friend, an unprecedented time commitment by the long-running program.
Warren William Zevon was born Jan. 24, 1947, in Chicago and spent much of his youth shuttling between different cities in California, among them Los Angeles and San Francisco. His father, William, was a Russian Jewish immigrant who was a boxer in his early days in America, then settled into a career as a professional gambler and ``a mobster, generally,'' as his son described him. The singer's mother, Beverly, was of Scottish heritage and a Mormon. The singer told Rolling Stone magazine in 1981 that his mother was ``extraordinarily withdrawn -- you can barely hear her speaking voice. She did encourage my interest in art, though.''
Zevon's parents divorced when he was 16 and the classically trained young pianist quit high school and traveled from Los Angeles to New York to become a folk singer. That dream fizzled and Zevon bounced around the country, eventually returning to Southern California by the late 1960s. He made a living composing commercial jingles and playing on recording sessions. He also wrote some songs for the Turtles (``Like the Seasons'' and ``Outside Chance''), and by the early 1970s was a keyboard player and music director for the Everly Brothers.
By that point, he would later tell Rolling Stone, ``The road, booze and I became an inseparable team.'' In 1969, he had put out his first album, ``Wanted: Dead or Alive,'' on One Way Records, but it was largely ignored (it was, however, reissued this past March on Virgin Records). After some more false starts, Zevon and his then-wife, Crystal Zevon, became embittered about L.A. life and moved to Spain in 1975, but a short time later they returned. Jackson Browne, Zevon's close friend, had championed his cause to music mogul David Geffen and the result would be ``Warren Zevon,'' a 1976 release from Asylum Records that would make the singer a darling of the critics. Browne produced the album, which included ``Poor, Poor Pitiful Me,'' a major hit a year later for Linda Ronstadt.
The album boasted an impressive crowd of contributors, among them Henley, Glenn Frey, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Carl Wilson, Bonnie Raitt and J.D. Souther. The assembly showed that Zevon was part of the loose circle of Southern California musicians that forged a defining sound in 1970s rock. But while the Eagles and others were minting platinum albums, Zevon was making far more ominous music that failed to click in a big way with the wide public. That would form the pattern of his career, and it both haunted and inspired him -- he longed for the audience but also reveled in the role of intellectual and uncompromising maverick.
He did have one song cut through in a big way -- ``Werewolves of London'' from 1978 became an ominous novelty with its lyrics about a werewolf who enjoyed socializing but also mutilated little old ladies. ``I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's,'' the song memorably offered, ``His hair was perfect.'' By the early 1980s, Zevon's notoriously wild ways had wrecked much of his personal life and he went into a rehab program, which he would later memorably mock in ``Detox Mansion.''
His 1982 album, ``The Envoy,'' was a product of his cleaner living and was hailed as a return to his early form. ``Sentimental Hygiene'' from 1987 and the 1991 collection ``Mr. Bad Example'' again won him effusive reviews. Still, major commercial success eluded him. By last year, after learning of his health issues, he was sanguine about his flirtations with major stardom.
``It was a little more interesting this way, maybe,'' he said. ``Maybe more aggravating, too. At least I've had one foot in a very normal kind of life.''
Geoff Boucher is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
By Geoff Boucher
Los Angeles Times
September 8, 2003
LOS ANGELES -- Warren Zevon, a restless, sardonic bard who embodied the dark edge and excess of the famed singer-songwriter scene in 1970s Southern California, died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 56.
Zevon died Sunday afternoon at his home in Los Angeles, according to his manager, Irving Azoff, who said that the singer had been ``very upbeat'' in the past week due to the success of his new album and the recent birth of twin grandchildren. ``He was in a good place.''
While casual pop fans might recognize only his 1978 horror-show hit ``Werewolves of London,'' Zevon for years enjoyed a cult following and the acclaim of his peers for songs that were often about fractured world politics and the disloyal human heart.
In a macabre songbook that includes ``Excitable Boy,'' ``Lawyers, Guns and Money'' and ``Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,'' Zevon presented a world of the undead and the unethical on the rampage in a mercenary world. In ``Mr. Bad Example,'' an altar boy grows up to be a vagabond con man: ``I'm very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins/I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in/I'm proud to be a glutton and I don't have time for sloth/I'm greedy and I'm angry and I don't care who I cross.''
Death and dying were among Zevon's favorite topics (the cover of his 2002 album ``My Ride's Here'' showed him in a hearse, while another collection was titled ``Life'll Kill Ya''), and when confronted with his own mortality he continued the exploration with aplomb. The singer, a longtime smoker, learned in August 2002 that he was suffering from inoperable lung cancer and a month later he went public with his condition in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
``I feel the opposite of regret,'' he said then. ``I was the hardest-living rocker on my block for a while. I was a malfunctioning rummy for a while and running away for a while. Then for 18 years I was a sober dad of some amazing kids. Hey, I feel like I've lived a couple of lives -- and now when people listen to the music they'll say, `Hey maybe the guy wasn't being so morbid after all.' ''
Zevon spent much of his time during his illness doting on family and working in a home studio on a new album, ``The Wind.'' His popularity among his peers was underscored by a parade of contributors to the record, including longtime friends Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley and Jackson Browne. The Artemis Records disc debuted recently in the Top 20 of U.S. pop charts, an unprecedented showing for the singer.
The tracks also include some wry, unsentimental songs, in Zevon's familiar mode, and a version of the Bob Dylan classic ``Knockin' on Heaven's Door,'' a selection that speaks to Zevon's candor and sense of grim theater. Zevon's candor about his condition also extended to allowing VH1 to film the sessions for ``The Wind'' for a poignant documentary that aired near the album's release date.
Dylan himself has recently paid tribute to Zevon by singing several of his songs, including ``Accidentally Like a Martyr,'' in his concert sets. That same month, David Letterman devoted an entire episode on his late night CBS show to his old friend, an unprecedented time commitment by the long-running program.
Warren William Zevon was born Jan. 24, 1947, in Chicago and spent much of his youth shuttling between different cities in California, among them Los Angeles and San Francisco. His father, William, was a Russian Jewish immigrant who was a boxer in his early days in America, then settled into a career as a professional gambler and ``a mobster, generally,'' as his son described him. The singer's mother, Beverly, was of Scottish heritage and a Mormon. The singer told Rolling Stone magazine in 1981 that his mother was ``extraordinarily withdrawn -- you can barely hear her speaking voice. She did encourage my interest in art, though.''
Zevon's parents divorced when he was 16 and the classically trained young pianist quit high school and traveled from Los Angeles to New York to become a folk singer. That dream fizzled and Zevon bounced around the country, eventually returning to Southern California by the late 1960s. He made a living composing commercial jingles and playing on recording sessions. He also wrote some songs for the Turtles (``Like the Seasons'' and ``Outside Chance''), and by the early 1970s was a keyboard player and music director for the Everly Brothers.
By that point, he would later tell Rolling Stone, ``The road, booze and I became an inseparable team.'' In 1969, he had put out his first album, ``Wanted: Dead or Alive,'' on One Way Records, but it was largely ignored (it was, however, reissued this past March on Virgin Records). After some more false starts, Zevon and his then-wife, Crystal Zevon, became embittered about L.A. life and moved to Spain in 1975, but a short time later they returned. Jackson Browne, Zevon's close friend, had championed his cause to music mogul David Geffen and the result would be ``Warren Zevon,'' a 1976 release from Asylum Records that would make the singer a darling of the critics. Browne produced the album, which included ``Poor, Poor Pitiful Me,'' a major hit a year later for Linda Ronstadt.
The album boasted an impressive crowd of contributors, among them Henley, Glenn Frey, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Carl Wilson, Bonnie Raitt and J.D. Souther. The assembly showed that Zevon was part of the loose circle of Southern California musicians that forged a defining sound in 1970s rock. But while the Eagles and others were minting platinum albums, Zevon was making far more ominous music that failed to click in a big way with the wide public. That would form the pattern of his career, and it both haunted and inspired him -- he longed for the audience but also reveled in the role of intellectual and uncompromising maverick.
He did have one song cut through in a big way -- ``Werewolves of London'' from 1978 became an ominous novelty with its lyrics about a werewolf who enjoyed socializing but also mutilated little old ladies. ``I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's,'' the song memorably offered, ``His hair was perfect.'' By the early 1980s, Zevon's notoriously wild ways had wrecked much of his personal life and he went into a rehab program, which he would later memorably mock in ``Detox Mansion.''
His 1982 album, ``The Envoy,'' was a product of his cleaner living and was hailed as a return to his early form. ``Sentimental Hygiene'' from 1987 and the 1991 collection ``Mr. Bad Example'' again won him effusive reviews. Still, major commercial success eluded him. By last year, after learning of his health issues, he was sanguine about his flirtations with major stardom.
``It was a little more interesting this way, maybe,'' he said. ``Maybe more aggravating, too. At least I've had one foot in a very normal kind of life.''
Geoff Boucher is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
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spooky girlfriend
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PlaythingOrPet
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Another life cut short due to cigarette smoking. 
I was never a big fan, but I suppose that was more due to lack of exposure than anything. I'm sure some day his music will find its way into my world. "Werewolves Of London" is obviously a classic. I have a feeling people will be singing "Ahh-woooo" for many years to come.
RIP Warren
I was never a big fan, but I suppose that was more due to lack of exposure than anything. I'm sure some day his music will find its way into my world. "Werewolves Of London" is obviously a classic. I have a feeling people will be singing "Ahh-woooo" for many years to come.
RIP Warren
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SoLikeCandy
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I've not listened to Zevon, but I'll have to now. Many of my musician friends love his stuff...it's very sad when something like this happens--something that is, essentially, avoidable.
I'm struggling to quit. I had 5 cigarettes yesterday, which is much less than my usual. Pray for me, y'all.
I'm struggling to quit. I had 5 cigarettes yesterday, which is much less than my usual. Pray for me, y'all.
If there's one thing you can say about mankind--there's nothing kind about man
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spooky girlfriend
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martinfoyle
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This great post appeared on the Neil Young Rust list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rust/message/69935
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 08:39:58 -0400
From: "drsquane" <drsquane@alltel.net>
Subject: warren zevon...
mornin'....my wife just called me from work to tell me that warren died last nite...fixin' to have a good cry and smoke one for warren...and don't gimme no bullshit about it being smoking that killed him...we all know that smoking anything is bad for your lungs, but sometimes it's good for the head...i loved warren's music as much as anybody's including neil...i just got a boot from a rustie of warren and jackson from 76...it's fantastic...i'm burnerless again since ethan went to college, but maybe i can get my buddy to put it on his hard drive and i can burn a shitload of copies to give away..'the french inhaler'...what a classic..haven't got the new one yet,maybe today...i heard he was in good spirits last week since his album was doing so well..so, time to go out in the yard and let the tears fly, while pigfuckers like the bush brothers live and breathe and rape the economy...i always get pissed when good folks die young...i loved him,folks...so it;s time to go make my dog feel good about being a dog, cause, as warren said,"even a dog can shake hands.."...so long pal,be free..
"who put the palm over my blonde?"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rust/message/69935
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 08:39:58 -0400
From: "drsquane" <drsquane@alltel.net>
Subject: warren zevon...
mornin'....my wife just called me from work to tell me that warren died last nite...fixin' to have a good cry and smoke one for warren...and don't gimme no bullshit about it being smoking that killed him...we all know that smoking anything is bad for your lungs, but sometimes it's good for the head...i loved warren's music as much as anybody's including neil...i just got a boot from a rustie of warren and jackson from 76...it's fantastic...i'm burnerless again since ethan went to college, but maybe i can get my buddy to put it on his hard drive and i can burn a shitload of copies to give away..'the french inhaler'...what a classic..haven't got the new one yet,maybe today...i heard he was in good spirits last week since his album was doing so well..so, time to go out in the yard and let the tears fly, while pigfuckers like the bush brothers live and breathe and rape the economy...i always get pissed when good folks die young...i loved him,folks...so it;s time to go make my dog feel good about being a dog, cause, as warren said,"even a dog can shake hands.."...so long pal,be free..
"who put the palm over my blonde?"
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There was a great Later show on the BBC not so long ago (2001 at the earliest) with WZ and also Joe Strummer on. Both now gone. Sad old business. WZ played Werewolves and name-checked Joe, which was great. Joe then played a cracking London Calling. Like I said, a great show. Cancer seems to be everywhere these days, I guess it's just me getting older, but this year three female colleagues' husbands have been diagnosed, two 40 or thereabouts, one in his early fifties (the two younger ones also recently first-time dads), and a friend who was a not-yet-40 mother of three died from it.
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noiseradio
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The message of things like this is, as always, "seize the day" -- especially if you're a cigarette smoker!
Fortunately, Mr. Zevon did just that and quite beautifully too. In most ways, he was Mr. Good Example.
Fortunately, Mr. Zevon did just that and quite beautifully too. In most ways, he was Mr. Good Example.
http://www.forwardtoyesterday.com -- Where "hopelessly dated" is a compliment!
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