Saturday, November 27, 2004

Talking About The Man... November 27 2004

I first came across Warren William Zevon when I bought a copy of `Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School` way back in 1980 at a local garage sale.Im not sure why I bought it maybe it was the West Coast music names I recognised on the back of the cover..Linda Rondstadt, Jackson Browne, Joe Walsh and David Lindley..forgive me I was going through my 'Eagles phase`, if I concentrate I think I can still remember a few lines from `Lying Eyes`.
Anyway,in my callow youth I was and still am some 20 odd years later attracted to his lyrics theres a certain wilfulness and self destruction evident in many of his songs tinged with a very black sense of humor.Death also features prominently in his later albums such as `My Rides Here` and his last album `The Wind` 2003.He has an original take on relationships,guns,alcohol and life in general.To my eternal regret I never saw himm live in concert tho to my knowledge he toured New Zealand at least once.
He died in September 2003 almost a year after being diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer that incidentally also killed Steve McQueen.He lived by all accounts a somewhat wild if at times tragic life and collected a wide or wild variety of friends among them Hunter S.Thompson, Carl Hiaasen(who dedicated his novel `Skinny Dip` to him) Martin Scorsese and someone called Bob Dylan.Allan Jones in his obituary (Uncut Take 78 November 2003) describes him as `a cross between Randy Newman and Lee Marvin`.The name of this blog comes from a song off his album `Life`ll Kill Ya.`. For more info check out www.warrenzevon.com or www.artemisrecords.com

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

My first post.23 November 2004

Tuesday 23 November 2004. Why Blog?
Several people recently read some things that I'd written and suggested I make my thoughts more widely available so here goes...criticism and feedback is welcome contact me at pookie_san99@hotmail.com.

Contents.
The odd rant,music,books,videos dvds Ive seen,read,listened to.Things I`m interested in such as sumo,paper mache,Scunthorpe United Football Club,the Vancouver Island Marmot...(Canada`s most endangered animal) and other bits and pieces that occupy the 650,000 odd hours I`m here on Earth.

Why `Porcelain Monkey`?...indeed why ..its one of my favorite Warren Zevon songs from his 2002 album `Life`ll Kill Ya`.Of Mr Zevon much more soon...