May 31, 1998
…Ariel seemed pleased by “Sliding Doors” & “Tenderness on the Block” playing under the climax. Her song, after all.
June 1, 1998
…Finished “Dirty Little Religion” in the laundry room today.
June 5, 1998—Laguna
…Went to Ariel’s café, ate, had a nice visit. Headed down 405. Stopped at South Coast Plaza. Ritz-Carlton. Waited for Susan.
SUSAN JAFFY: We went to Laguna Beach for a weekend. He didn’t want to go. I had a conference for Disney, so my boss said I could keep a suite for the weekend. Of course, Carl Hiaasen loved the idea of Warren and me spending Mickey’s money. We called him when we ordered caviar and cheeseburgers from room service at midnight to let him know. Warren really didn’t want to come, but that was one of the best weekends we ever, ever had. He was so normal.
We went to Laguna and walked around art stores and ate sushi. The guy at the sushi bar said, “Aren’t you Steven Spielberg?”
June 20, 1998
…Played my tape for Jackson. He says it’s good. I was grateful he saw the larger shape. He said, “It begins with “[Carrying] His cross through town” and ends with “The Crusades.”
ANDY SLATER: Warren had a new collection of songs and he didn’t have a record deal. I was sober, I had produced Fiona Apple’s record and it sold three million copies, I was working on the Wallflowers and they had a big career.
After coming out of rehab, I spent a few years playing guitar in a bar. I lost everything. I went from being manager of all those bands to being a van driver for an unsigned band, and then decided to play guitar in a bar. Keeps me humble. Anyway, we went to dinner at the Ivy, and it was like no time had lapsed between us. He was trying to get me to help him. He played me all his songs. I had a label at the time, and I think Jackson had said to Warren, “You know, Andy’s very different. You ought to call him.”
June 23, 1998
…Wow. I called Jimmy for Andy’s home number, called it, his girlfriend, Dawn, urged me to call his office; his receptionist sounded elated; he came right on and suggested dinner tomorrow. He called back a short while later to confirm. 8:30 Ivy. Britt’s saying she “trained [me] too well”—I should go out and spend money; buy furniture—so I’ll be motivated to work. She says I can live like this—modestly—indefinitely on my royalties.
June 24, 1998
…Dinner at the Ivy with Andy (only twelve minutes late—thankfully I had someone to chat with on the cell). It was a very enjoyable reunion and a nice meal. Afterwards, we rode around and he listened to the tunes—“You’re holding,” he proclaimed. He told me they were great, then spent an hour and a half parked on Robertson, quoting my sales figures to the unit & explaining why I couldn’t possibly sell records. Cheery, huh?
July 9, 1998
…I was adding keyboard and bass to “My Shit’s Fucked Up” when Jordan called to tell me Waddy and Annie were on the news—busted for child porn & dope. Well, I was in quite a tizzy. Susan came over. I called Crystal, Jorge, Carl for counsel. Jimmy returned my concerned call around 10:30—it’s a misdemeanor—Waddy was on his way to court for the arraignment when the police & NBC News arrived, so he was set up for publicity.
SUSAN JAFFY: I knew about the women, and the blow jobs, and the Porny Neighbor, and this one and that one…he told me because we’d built this great relationship. And we were still sleeping together. When we were a couple and when we weren’t, we always had sex. But, I really knew him.
July 13, 1998
…Waddy needed a character letter, so I wrote one (with help from Carl) & took it over. He’s shaken, she’s stunned, they’re indignant, but penitent?? I don’t know. He’s my brother, I’m there for him. It’s driving me crazy.
CARL HIAASEN: Warren went to great lengths to get into these chat rooms where the subject was him. These fan websites. He would get furious from what he read. I’d say, “Why do you even read that?” He said, “Don’t you read what people say?” I said, “If you put a gun to my head I wouldn’t call up a website to listen to what these mutants are saying about me, or what book they like best.” He’d have his feelings hurt if a new album came out and some crazy person in Skokie, Illinois, said that it wasn’t as good as the last album, or he’s no Randy Newman, or whatever. He would be ballistic. “I hate these shit touchers.”
August 10, 1998
…Still reeling from the internet secretion. Stu reassured me, “It’s either somebody you pissed off or a bored 19 year old writing something incendiary enough to get attention.”
CARL HIAASEN: I’d say, “You need to destroy that computer. Just take a hammer to it.” Finally, he did do it, and he thanked me. Said it was the best advice I could have given him. Then, he got into it again right after he found out he was sick. He started going back on it to see what they were saying now. I said, “That is the worst thing you can do for your mental and physical health. Just don’t.” But, he took some perverse delight in flogging himself with this stuff.
August 16, 1998
…Ridley Pearson called from Mystery Bookstore—he’s on tour. I dropped by.
August 19, 1998
…Platinum American Express. Prada, Umberto’s, Maxfield. Going through Stephen King’s fed-exed “headache select” box—aspirin, diet coke & schlock DVDs—which I laid down in the evening and watched.
September 6, 1998
…Susan hadn’t called for a week, but I saw a fan board posting I think she wrote in response to something she believed was from me…anyway, I called her & asked her if some “closure” wasn’t in order, and she agreed. So there you have it. We were friendly enough. I went tanning. Carl called, kindly, in the evening to check up on “break-up boy.”
September 14, 1998
…Lunch with Jon Kellerman at Hugo’s. He tells me about sneaking into the maximum psycho killer ward for research, guitar in hand—he’s a brave guy.*
September 21, 1998—Nashville
…Steve came over in the morning and we watched the awful spectacle of Clinton’s fuck testimony. It’s farce, but it’s not Rwanda, either. Tour of the Senate, tromping after the indefectible Steve. Dinner at Casablanca with the shrill but attractive belle Belle. Shockingly good food. About startlingly self-absorbed Belle, I thought “This gregariousness would play as psychosis in the big city.” Headache.
September 28, 1998—Letterman rehearsal
…Greeted by all. I pulled the piccolo out of my Prada bag and played a few notes: “Veracruz” Dave said from out in the house where he was throwing a football. After going over things with Paul, I left before the show to catch a Shostakovich panel at the Manhattan School of Music. Talked to Carl who called from hurricane aftermath. Steve at his hotel. Ate later at Chez Lawrence with him.
STEVE COHEN: Who would think about being in Manhattan, and not going out in Manhattan? But, that was Warren. It was so difficult for him to escape his own environment. He would be in New York, and I would try to get him to go to restaurants, because when I go to New York, I do a city like Hitler did Europe. He would do Letterman and stay at Morgan’s and eat next door at Lawrence’s. I don’t think he ever saw but one play.
October 6, 1998
…I have the distasteful task of asking Stephen King and Dave Barry if they want to do Letterman. Steve & Dave’s attitudes left me not unvexed. Had to tell Sheila Rogers, “Henley and Frey don’t want to do it.”
October 9, 1998—Jackson’s 50th Birthday party
…Frey, Glaub, Sklar, Kootch, Lindley, a very big & very friendly Eve Babitz, Craig Doerge & Judi Henske, of course, Jimmy, Crystal, clean-shaven J. D. I had as nice a time as possible with a splitting headache. In a new Prada dark-gray silk long sleeved T-shirt, tight jeans & Jil Sanders shoes, thin, tan and thick haired. I felt like I looked good.
October 13, 1998
…Down to $16,000 Britt says—taxes paid.
October 16, 1998
…Britt says I’m all but out of money and her
guy at Gold Mountain all but told her to “jump in a lake” when she brought up my name. That’s cheery. She didn’t want to call Steve Martin (as she did last week—change of heart or hormones) so I called. He called back with possible New Years show at The Wheeler Opera House. Now, that IS cheery.
October 17, 1998
…Visited Ryan at Cedars—she’s had a problem. She was pleasant & delightful as always, though. Tanning.
RYAN RAYSTON: Warren knew I had cancer, and I was in the hospital at Cedars. A lot of my friends were really afraid. Everybody was there in the beginning, and then people fade away. Warren came to see me every day. He would bring me The National Enquirer, The Star, and The Globe. The things he knew I liked or would laugh at. He couldn’t stand hospitals, and he couldn’t hang for a long time. But, that’s the kind of person Warren was. If you were his friend, he was there for you no matter what. Even if it meant stepping into a place like a hospital where he hated to go.
November 11, 1998
…Jeannette* came over again. Lots of necking.
November 13, 1998
…I’d made up my mind that Jeannette had to make love with me tonight, and she did so as soon as she arrived for our date (looking lovely) without hesitation. It was wonderful. She’s passionate and so beautiful.
November 23, 1998—Florida
…Carl told me where to cast and I caught a bonefish! Fought him and hugged him for a few photos. The fish was beautiful. Celebratory dinner with Carl, Feina, her son and me.
December 4, 1998
…Odious posts on the Internet—hateful, upsetting. Faked exes (?) or siblings of: I’m a “slut,” dirty, obsessive-compulsive (so far so good), bald (!)—and I’m into coke & kiddie porn (and there the verisimilitude of it all fell apart)…Tour’s not working, looks bad, bad.
December 8, 1998
…Called Hunter—told him, “my career is about as promising as a Civil War leg wound.” He said he’d call The Wheeler about my dates.
December 10, 1998
…there was a message, incredibly, from Danny Goldberg. I called right back. He’d heard about my songs from Jackson and wants to know if I’ll send him the tape. “I’ll have a mime in a top hat deliver it by hand,” I tell him. He seems very nice. He says he’s leaving Mercury with a big check and starting something new…
DANNY GOLDBERG: I only met Warren about five years ago, right after I started Artemis. We had friends in common for twenty-some years before that, but I hadn’t met him. Jackson Browne called me right after I told people I was starting a new company. He asked me to listen to some new songs of Warren’s. A cassette arrived with “Life’ll Kill Ya,” “I Was in the House When the House Burned Down,” and some of the other songs that were on the Life’ll Kill Ya record. Most of that record was already done, and I thought Jackson was right. These songs were great.
December 22, 1998
…Agent says Jesse Ventura wants me to play “Lawyers, Guns and Money” at his inaugural ball January 16th.
January 10, 1999
…Jeanette asked me if she could “trust me” on tour—I answered her honestly. It was awful, of course. I told her I didn’t want to be made into a liar by anybody.
January 12, 1999
…Ran into Richard Lewis at Chalet Gourmet. (“Irving Plaza? Isn’t that an assassination sight?”) He left a long message of encouragement on the secret line afterwards. Met School Marme for a sad, tense last eve. Ran into Billy Bob at Erewhon, and we immediately fell into laughing camaraderie. He tells me he’s getting boils from his OCD—“Bible stuff?” I asked & he repeated it to Laura Dern. If anything in Hollywood could impress Jeanette (it couldn’t) this was it. At least it lightened things up.
RICHARD LEWIS: He had this laughter…if something hit him, it hit him in a soulful, deep place. When I was able to supply that laugh it made me feel immensely satisfied. We didn’t hang out in person a lot together, and I think it’s important to look someone right in the face. We talked so much, and laughed so much, and e-mailed so much, there was something a little bizarre about it. I almost felt like I had to ask him on a date. I’m reclusive, but this was ridiculous.
January 14, 1999—Cheyenne
…Mall too cosmopolitan to have a knife store.
January 15, 1999—Denver
…Met by club people—all African-American…Manager explains that the club is in the middle of the black community. Set up, sound check okay…Show spontaneous except for my “I feel like William Holden just before he keeled over and hit his head on the coffee table.” (Richard Lewis had advised me to act meek & vulnerable in direct contrast to the songs, though). All Internet Hammerheads present.
On January 16, 1999, Warren cancelled four tour dates to play at the gubernatorial inaugural ball of wrestler Jesse Ventura.
January 24, 1999—52nd Birthday
…Birthday lunch in Paw Paw, Michigan. Nothing to buy in the malls. Crummy club. “We can’t find an adjustable piano bench.” “Isn’t it in the contract? Why don’t we keep our deposit and go home?” Mitch & Janine came—they were great. I told them about School Marme Jeanette. “I’m sure she is nice—you’re a nice guy,” Mitch said, surprisingly. “You even put your shoes in bags. Guys like you don’t come along very often!”
MITCH ALBOM: There was a gentleness to him—a certain ease to him—that belied a lot of that growling that you initially associated with him. He was lovely to be around.
RICHARD LEWIS: The relationship that I had with Larry David is not dissimilar to the relationship that Warren had starting out with all these rock superstars. Larry and I started stand-up when we were in our early twenties, so we were hanging around the Improv in New York, and Warren was hanging around the Troubadour with Jackson and the Eagles. We had all the similarities. Similar age, similar background. We both also had people who went on and became more successful. But we were comfortable in our own skin because there was nothing else that either one of us would have done differently.
February 5, 1999—Philadelphia… Good to have Jeanette here. We found Independence Hall—the sun was shining through the window—we embraced. I said, “I love you.” She said, “I love you, too.”
STEVE COHEN: We went to dinner at Asia de Cuba. At first we couldn’t get in. I pulled my routine, not trying to be deceptive, but people don’t realize the difference between Senator Cohen of Tennessee and Senator Cohen of Washington. So, I said, “Senator Cohen and I need a table.” They put us on a list, but somebody recognized Polly [his wife] and she had the juice to get us a table. Polly’s there looking for the stars. She’s saying this is where all the stars are supposed to be. All of a sudden, Polly and Michael and Warren realize, they were the stars. Polly’s like a tourist looking for stars when we were the stars.
February 18, 1999—Cleveland
…Got lost. Weird Yuppie family with a dog named “Zevon” was waiting outside the Odeon. I said, “I don’t think this is what grandfather had in mind.”
March 10, 1999
…Stan’s dental bill—$4,000 plus—He called to say he wanted me to meet him & cash that check & he’d give me back $500. “I don’t want to talk about this on the phone,” he admonished me. Chiseler! Britt was appalled.
March 22, 1999
…Danny Goldberg called—guess he’s offering a deal. We’re having lunch in New York.
March 25, 1999
…Lined up all day for the new washing machines. Jordan met me at Hugo’s—2 hr. partnership pitch, net et al. Then, extraordinarily, I got a call from Steve Peterman. He wanted to tell me about David Strickland’s death (life long drug problem), and to tell me they’ve decided to finish the season [Suddenly Susan] with the episode I was on (his last, of course). They feel it’s one of their best.*
March 29, 1999
…Dieting headache, okay. Lunch with Jeanette & her visiting school marme chum. Tom Waits called: Stu told him I knew vocal exercises that help hoarseness (the ones J.D. Souther taught me long distance a decade a
go). “Are you sick?” I asked. “Define sick.” I said, “Mormon fever that keeps you home from school.” He said he’d gotten a cortisone shot—“Where?” “Austin.” And so on. I told him I just gave ’em a shit show—“I get a tan and hold back.”
April 4, 1999
…Agent with a good idea—I can open for old opening acts of mine. Sure. Headache coming back.
DANNY GOLDBERG: I wanted to meet Warren to make sure he knew what he was getting into in terms of what the business had become. The business keeps changing every two years as far as what artists need to do in order to have a chance.
I brought a guy who works with me named Michael Krumper to lunch. Warren was incredibly polite and focused and wanting me to like him. He was wearing a suit and looked perfectly coiffed, and clearly wanted to send a message that he was not going to be difficult to work with and that he knew where the business had gone as far as his place in it. He was almost painfully polite. I didn’t need him to be that polite. I just wanted to be sure he wasn’t out of his mind.
April 15, 1999
…After a fruitless, horrible conversation with the “Customer Service” people at L.A. Cellular, I threw my cell phone across the store and stormed out. Later, coming out of the tanning place, I saw Susan…I told her I was seeing someone. “You don’t want me to sneak out to see you, do you?” I asked, rhetorically. “Of course!” Went to her place: sex. It was fun. She gave me a Prada wallet from Paris. Fed-Exed photos to Dwight’s people who talk like they’re serving turkey dinner to me at the mission.
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