May 26, 1989—Neil Young’s
…No sleep. A car came at 9:30—when we got to Andy’s he was still asleep which irritated me no end…Crowded flight—I had a middle seat. In San Francisco, we rented a gray Cadillac…Finally got to Neil’s…brakes smoking (“…in Drive, huh?” Neil said). Niko told me to look for the misspelled “No Trespassing” sign. Stopped by some rustic buildings where the animals were coming around to see who’d arrived. Dogs, ducks, cows, horses, goats, a cat, peacocks…We found the studio where Tim Mulligan & Larry set up; then Neil arrived with his son. He played “Gridlock”—I don’t think he was too into it—but when he heard “Splendid Isolation” he said “I want to sing that.” He put on harmony and beautiful guitar parts. He was worried about voice problems and shows coming up—but he got more jovial when he showed me around. Nearly 2,000 acres—storybook beautiful. He showed us his train set and said it was great for communicating with children.
June 1, 1989
…Lots of tension in the studio between Andy & me. Later he told me he’d had a rough day—Virgin wants to cross-collateralize my publishing for the overage…
June 3, 1989—The Hog Farm
…3 hours sleep—a vast improvement on none. Went to pick Andy up at noon—he was asleep when I got there, again…We drove to San Rafel. We were greeted graciously—Jerry Garcia was enthusiastic. After telling a Charles Ives anecdote & explaining Ornette Coleman’s “harmonics” to me and talking about Dylan…Jerry dove right in playing fantastic stuff on “Transverse City.” Between his amazing playing & boundless generosity—he played and recorded almost continuously all afternoon & evening—I finally understood The Grateful Dead’s awesome popularity. It was a great time.
ANNETTE AGUILAR RAMOS: We broke up because I started getting itchy in my late twenties to find a relationship that was consistent. It probably broke his heart when we first broke up, but then we did the dance of death for quite a few years after that.
July 10, 1989
…Talked with Annette…we want different things & she ended up saying maybe we shouldn’t see each other & would I bring her her stuff.
July 11, 1989
…went to Century City to sign miniseries agreement…I took Annette’s things over to her. Went to Mark Isham’s house and played him “Searching for a Heart”—he liked it. Came home and worked all night.
July 15, 1989
…Dinner at Mark & Donna Isham’s. I brought Badoit. Mark had a lovely track of the song and he showed me places in the movie where it’ll go. Katherine Moore joined us for dinner…Mark & I went back to work and I told Katherine I’d like to see her again…
September 1, 1989
…Bought the Bartok Quartet for Richard Gere. Kate arrived and we went to his 40th birthday party…met his girlfriend, Cindy Crawford…Went to the Red Zone, then Kate wanted to come to my place. I wanted to be alone, but I didn’t insist. She has the apartment all cleaned now, too…
September 2, 1989
…Got to yelling at Debbie on the phone. Went to Red Zone and she came down later. I was sullen, had a headache, but she said she was going to make me an offer I couldn’t refuse…she said she had a “naughty idea”…we started making out outside the studio. It was no-holds-barred from the get go. Went at it for hours. I loved it.
September 8, 1989
…Went to The Greek, late…Dylan was playing “Like A Rolling Stone.” I was smiling and thinking how much he meant to me…called Debbie from hospitality. Met her at Al Kooper’s house, heard some amusing Dylan stories—I like Al. Came back here, started kissing, she had on black bikini panties…she said she’d had an affair with Dylan but indicated that I was better. She said I was “maybe…incredible.” I have a good time with her.
September 15, 1989
…Kate came over…we made love. Had a good talk—I have been clear about not making a commitment & she’s understanding.
September 20, 1989
…Annette called about 12:15. I was too out of it to answer.
ANNETTE AGUILAR RAMOS: Warren didn’t preach twelve steps, but he held the principles in the highest integrity. So, when he found out that his sponsor was shooting heroin, it was a major devastation. When he confronted him, his sponsor admitted using, and that really disillusioned Warren. The idea that the principles are divine, but people are fallible, was the lesson, but it created a distrust in him for people. Then, when it turned out that his manager was doing drugs as well, it was too much. He stopped going to AA meetings right after we broke up. After that, our little bad boy became a real bad boy. I kept trying to regain what we had had in the beginning of our relationship—that monogamous, committed relationship. But, Warren had tasted the other side and liked it.
When Warren and Annette broke up in 1989, Warren moved on to his next relationships with his usual rapidity; however, Annette was in and out of his life for years to follow. Finally, she cut all ties and moved on. Although he was never able to make a commitment even to living with her, when Warren was diagnosed with cancer, the first song he and Jorge wrote for The Wind was for Annette, “El Amor De Mi Vida.”
Although he didn’t drink for seventeen years, he never set foot in an AA meeting again.
PART THREE
Mutineer
ONE
SEARCHING FOR A HEART
They say love conquers all
You can’t start it like a car
You can’t stop it with a gun
After considerable negotiation, Warren went on the road as a solo act, opening for Richard Marx.
DUNCAN ALDRICH: He was like taking care of five people. It was like I was moving a house every day. He had the three Halliburton suitcases, four guitars—two trolley loads full of luggage, in and out every day. He hit the hotel room, and those suitcases would explode open within minutes and there was stuff everywhere. Then, I’d tell him we had to leave in twenty minutes, and he’d stuff it all in, and on to the next one.
September 22, 1989—Salem, OR
…Ariel called…She, Crystal and her friend Johanna were here, so they came to my room, as did Duncan. We visited then went to the venue…didn’t look too overwhelming. The show went okay—the instrumental stuff in “Roland” was good—I’m glad it was when Ariel was there. Crystal & I had good conversation…
September 23, 1989—Richland, OR
…The drummer for Marx told me the reviewer last night loved me, hated them.
The girls were screaming but I don’t think it was anything to do with me—just warming up for Marx…
September 24, 1989—Boise, Idaho
…the promoter, a Montana guy, knows Jim Crumley.* He called him and Jim & I talked. We’ll meet tomorrow.
September 25, 1989—Missoula, Montana
…Drove all day—rough on my back. Duncan & I had dinner with Jim Crumley, his girlfriend and a lady friend of theirs.
September 26, 1989—Missoula
…Big surprise—Lindy & Lisa from Sitges were there. Had a good time with Jim Crumley.
DUNCAN ALDRICH: He did love the mall. Anytime we passed one, he wanted to stop. Maybe they had the gray Calvin Klein T-shirts, and he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to find out. And, if we didn’t pass a mall, we’d have to find one.
October 13, 1989
…Called Debbie for a date. Went to Irvine Market later—ran into Annette. Talked to Dad—he says he’s 86—I told him he’d live to 100—he said, “You think?” “Oh, yeah.” “That’s all?”
JORDAN ZEVON: With women it seemed to go with the job. That’s the job he chose, and it might have been justification on his part, but he seemed to make it clear that anybody he was dating at the time knew that…this was the deal…here’s the drill. If you want to date me you have to understand, I’m going to go on the road, and when I go on the road this happens and that happens. For me, I never thought twice about it. I have friends that are in bands, and it’s just kind of the way it is.
November 2, 1989
…Begin European Tour.
November 14, 1989
…Debbie called…she wants to come to New York when I arrive…I discouraged her—eventually, told her I was seeing someone & I definitely did not want a relationship…Eleven interviews with lunch break today.
November 16, 1989—Letterman show
…Paul asked me to sit in—they had a black telecaster there on which I was able to pop a lot of goofy harmonic lead stuff. I didn’t have much to say—Dave had a running joke about going on the road with me—it was fun & my playing was quite outgoing compared to last time. Came back to Morgan’s and called Dad, Sandy, Jordan, left message at Ariel’s.
PAUL SHAFFER: Pop music–wise, Warren was terrific. Of course, he is known for his insightful lyrics and his turn of phrase, but in addition, he’s got such a way with a pop hook. I know maybe he wouldn’t want to be remembered for that, but it sure was a part of him.
He explained to me one afternoon at my apartment that he started out in the music business as a kind of Tin Pan Alley songwriter and the flip side of “Happy Together” was one of his songs. He was able to speak in that vernacular: “I had the flip side as a composer.” And, he had conducted for the Everly Brothers. So he had been a guy who might have just as easily written gigantic pop singles for artists had he not chosen this other route. He was a great melody writer with a great grasp of pop-rock harmony. He could do anything he wanted to musically.
November 18, 1989…Went to U.N.
I was first performer in the Hungerathon, live radio broadcast. It went well, small crowd, appreciative. Played “Roland” on a funky sounding piano, then “Boom, Boom Mancini” and “Splendid Isolation,” then Paul Shaffer arrived and he & I played “Werewolves.” It was very cool that he came for my set. Later, I rejoined Andy uptown where we ran into—Paul! Odds, anyone? Maybe not so unlikely…I was wearing a weird Issey Miyake hat & Paul said, “Wear that on Arsenio.”
December 11, 1989
…Andy called. It looks like the label won’t pick me up. I’m taillights at Virgin. Called Britt at Gelfand’s [Warren’s business manager] and talked about going out sometime.
CRYSTAL ZEVON: When Ariel was twelve, we moved to Ashland, Oregon. Having grown up in L.A. and Paris, she didn’t fit in with the local kids, and she started hanging out with the local punks, shaving her head, and piercing her nose. The fact that she had inherited her parents’ alcoholism was apparent from her first drink. I didn’t know Warren had stopped going to meetings, so when Ariel said she wanted to go to her father’s for Christmas, I thought maybe it was a good idea. He reluctantly agreed.
December 20, 1989
…Took Ariel to Jordan’s…went to Annette’s for dinner…We sat on the couch and started looking through her Frieda book—she was very close—we started kissing, went in her room & made love. She’s so beautiful—her body is exquisite—and sex was perfect. She told me she loves me and she’s been celibate. Amazing.
December 22, 1989
…Dropped Ariel off at Annette’s. Went to Beverly Center and ran into Michael Ironside—we talked. Then, ran into Richard Edlund—after all these years!
December 25, 1989
…Christmas lunch at Annette’s…I was talking about going over to the coast after Fresno & Ariel blurted out that she wanted to get home—which cleared the air. I decided to start out tonight—she was happier.
ARIEL ZEVON: I was wearing a lot of makeup. I was a teenager and I was into my angry, punk rock thing. I went to L.A. thinking it was going to be this great event…I’ll spend Christmas with my dad. Yeah, I thought, I’ll go spend Christmas with my dad because he’s cool. Then, I got there and I was uncomfortable and it was awkward and I hated it. I just wanted to leave. We fought and argued. He would try to be fatherly and I didn’t respond well. He drove me back to Oregon and the trip back was a painfully silent, angry fourteen-hour drive.
CRYSTAL ZEVON: Warren called to talk to me about Ariel. She had told me she felt that having her there for Christmas wasn’t important to him. He slept until two in the afternoon while she sat waiting for him to wake up. She couldn’t watch television because it was in his bedroom. His view was that it would be a good experience for her to be a part of his life, as he lived it, rather than having a father she knew from trips to Disneyland.
She picked up the extension phone without either of us knowing it, and Warren was ranting about how he never knew Ariel wasn’t a nice person, and how he didn’t care for the person she was becoming. I was trying to relate it to the “family disease,” but he was so self-absorbed and, in his opinion, Ariel had intentionally tried to hurt him. We both heard the crash when Ariel threw the phone across the room.
ARIEL ZEVON: I was hurt, but anything I felt I converted into anger. I stopped speaking to him and I started using drugs. It wasn’t until I got sober and worked the steps myself that I finally sent him a letter, that we had any kind of relationship again. We didn’t talk at all for quite a while, but even when we finally did speak, it was very stilted and uncomfortable.
Warren’s life and his ideas about what was meaningful had changed, and he found the absence of his daughter in his life almost a relief. He was dating Annette again, but he was also sleeping with Debbie Gold; he had even called the DJ who was living in L.A.
January 16, 1990
…Stan Golden, Debbie’s (& Dylan’s) dentist called me today at her request. Went in to see him.
STUART ROSS: I was hired as a tour manager for Warren in 1990. I was a big Warren Zevon fan, so I was thrilled at the opportunity to even meet the guy. Andy Slater was his manager. At the interview, Warren and I started talking about hotels and realized we both loved great hotels. Hotels were a continuing theme in Warren’s traveling life—Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons—I mean great hotels.
We found out very quickly that traveling in as upscale a manner as possible was important to Warren. We used to talk about traveling at the “pointy end of the plane”—first class, not even business class. I started off as his tour manager and Warren and I became very close friends.
January 19, 1990
…Annette called, mad because I hadn’t called her. She demanded to know how I felt about us—I said I wasn’t ready to make a monogamous commitment—not before I went on the road, anyway. Nevertheless, we both got turned on. I went over to her place and we made love passionately.
January 23, 1990
…Learned Virgin dropped me.
STUART ROSS: I found out quickly how quirky Warren was. He considered himself as suffering from OCD, and I don’t know if OCD even really exists, and I don’t know if Warren really suffered from it. I think it was his way of defining himself.
On my very first tour, Warren was smoking Silk Cuts. He told me Silk Cuts were hard to get in the places we were going, so he said, “I need you to get me three or four cartons of these cigarettes.” Then, he said, “But, they can’t have the C-word on the warning.” I said, “What?” He says, “Look, I don’t care what they talk about on the warning, but it can’t have the C-word.” I said, “What about heart disease?” He says, “Fine.” “Low birth weight?” “Fine.” “Emphysema?” He says, “Fine.” Just couldn’t have the C-word.
I found a tobacco shop in Beverly Hills. I explained that my boss needed cigarettes but I had to find ones that didn’t have an objectionable warning. In Los Angeles, they don’t bat an eye at things like this. So, I got him a number of cartons of cigarettes, none of which had the word cancer on it.
February 6, 1990—Albany
…Leaving the Radisson Poughkeepsie was an orangutan wedding in itself. Got $500 from Stuart.
STUART ROSS: He came up to me and he says, “Stuart, I need five hundred dollars.” I said, “Fine.” I opened up the money bag and counted out twenty-five twenties, and I handed them to him. He said, “Not those.” I go, “What do you mean, not those?” He says, “That isn’t lucky money.” I said, “What are you talking about?” He says, “It’s not lucky.” I said, “It’s lu
cky to whoever you give it to.” Then he said, “Look. I’m going to turn around. I want you to count out five hundred dollars. Don’t tell me if it’s the original bills or new bills.” So, I counted out twenty-five more twenties and gave them to him.
February 9, 1990—Philadelphia
…Stuart made oatmeal for me. Car took us to WMMR. Had a very good time with the “Morning Zoo” crowd. Had the driver go past [the DJ’s] old building & spotted the hair salon where I’d broken a window…deserted looking. Called information, found the owner at another salon & made amends. He was very, very gracious—said a check was unnecessary, but I got his address & am sending $350.
February 26, 1990—Milwaukee
…Saw Annette off…Played that same funky cafeteria…haywire shitbirds…Trying to reach Dad all day.
February 27, 1990—Minneapolis
…Dad has been in the hospital for a few days—bleeding ulcer. 3:00 TV interview with Eleanor Mondale, who looked terrific. Great show, great crowd. Eleanor came by after her “precinct caucus” with her friend—they came on the bus. Eleanor and I exchanged numbers…I said, “Shall I call you and try to talk you into coming to Atlanta?” She said, “You can try.” I said, “I’m a good try-er.” She said, “I’d like to see you.”
February 28, 1990—Madison
…Phone calls all day to Dad and his doctors. He had some bladder thing removed and one kidney’s not working. Called Eleanor from a pay phone in the theater lobby…
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