Sophisticatedly Primal

Given my forays in tying travel to unique events, one would hazard a guess the odds are a little less than fifty-fifty when the opportunity to try something new and different appears. You’d be close to an accurate prediction, although I now hedge a little more towards trying the experience, confident in the fact that even if it’s as bad as my Nascar event, I’ll have something entertaining to write about.

This calls to me.

Most people that have spent time with me in a car or bar know I have an eclectic wide ranging taste in music. I can skip around a radio dial and listen to Hank Williams (I, II, or III), Tupac, Adam Ant, the Rolling Stones, or Frank Sinatra with equal zest. Not to appear misogynistic, I know Patsy Cline, the Bangles, Lita Ford, or Adele to boot. I’ll know what I think are the words and arrangements so well, I’m confident enough to use my I-can’t-carry-a-tune-in-a-bucket voice to sing along with whatever. However, given the choice, there’s one artist whose music I cherish above all others: Warren Zevon

(yeah, …..he’s the werewolves guy).

While a few of you may likely go twice as deep into his discography with the epic “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” (LG&M), most will stop there. I feel sorry for most, as a true connoisseur of only Zevon my knowledge goes further into his catalog where the magic lives and there’s nothing I’d choose to listen to instead.

I’m so far from musically talent I would think I couldn’t even see it from here, but there’s something in the writings and arrangements that I find sophisticatedly primal. Zevon’s music grabs me at a foundational level, he’s my musical cornerstone.

There are legions of Zevon fans worldwide who I hang out with on the internet where we argue the finer points of Zevon fandom.

What’s his best album? There’s really no consensus but the Hindu Love Gods album is accepted as bringing up the rear.

We argue whether Buddy is dead or not? I’m in camp Buddy is dead. More on dead Buddys later.

We discuss the best song. And while no one thinks Werewolves of London is his best, most love it because it is often people’s first exposure to Warren.

We discuss when/if Warren is inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, who should be on stage. Jordan, Crystal, Jackson, Bruce, Ariel, & Dave are all in the mix for good reason and the fans know exactly who I’m talking about and why.

Go here to vote every day until it’s over:

https://vote.rockhall.com/en/

With this level of musical fanaticism one of my favorite regrets is that I never saw Warren Zevon live. Although I had a multitude of unknown opportunities over the years, at the time, I wasn’t a fan. I didn’t know him or his music. He died in 2003 and I didn’t trip into his musical abyss until a decade ago when someone gave me a biography about him written by his ex. That book put me through a wormhole and into the songs and I’ve never looked back. Hell, I may not even have paused on the path forward.

What would motivate me to pay for a plane ticket from Cleveland to LA and a couple Hollywood hotel nights to see a $25 per ticket general admission standing room only show? A couple months back I read that Shooter Jennings had scheduled a show at the Roxy Theater, in Hollywood, where he’d perform – Warren Zevon songs.

At this point, I have a cursory knowledge of Shooter Jennings. Things I know:

• He’s got a unique cool first name.
• He’s a satellite radio DJ on Outlaw Country and when I catch his show, I often like the songs he plays.
• He’s music royalty. His parents are Jessi Colter (I’m not Lisa) and Waylon Jennings (too many to list).
• He’s a performer/creator/producer in his own right, but I’ve never really listened to his work.
• He had a cameo as his father, in the Johnny Cash film “Walk the Line”

That’s it, all I knew.

Within minutes I decide I have to go to his show so I purchase tickets that will wait for me in will-call. I’ll sort the rest of the logistics out later.

There were so many logistic angles to figure. Where to fly: LAX, John Wayne or Bob Hope? When to fly? because a Cleveland February forecast is fraught with wintertime trouble. Where to stay in LA? Will I get mugged? What else should I see & do while there? There were so many angles to consider, I needed to enlist the help of the guy who sat next to me in geometry class in 1986.

Although I had only seen him twice since high school, once at a reunion twenty years ago and once ten years ago at a mutual friend’s funeral, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Matt must be my aide de camp for this trip. He’s lived in SoCal for years and a music aficionado, so I looked him up and asked him to be my plus one for this musical adventure.

Arriving uneventfully a day early to ensure I didn’t get boned by Ohio travel/weather for the show, I quickly put together a fun filled day around the hotel. I sauntered the Hollywood walk of fame, seeing the names and memories of stars ranging from John Wayne to Johnny Depp.

I walked Warren’s Hollywood, seeing the streets, stores, and hotels his songs mentioned. I stood outside the former Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel and listened to an air conditioner hum.

I wandered through a cemetery near my hotel and stopped by the graves of a unique mix of entertainers whose work I enjoyed over the years. Stopping by the graves of Maxwell Smart, Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer, and Johnny Ramone, I thought that’s a strange hat-trick of death to find today. The strangeness hat-trick was one upped the next day when I met the great granddog of an actor who was friends with Bruce Lee, Flipper, and Sharon Tate (not all together at one time, that’d be weird).

Since there isn’t a Hollywood location of Lee Ho Fook’s, Matt and I chose the next best thing for dinner which was a Thai joint down on the Sunset strip. Tipping back a couple of salty margaritas, Matt looked across the table and stated “this is weird”. I agreed, then we consumed more margaritas and caught up the best we could on thirty years in the course of sixty minutes, then we headed to the show after quickly touring the famous Rainbow Room first.

The curtain rose and the show started with fire as LG&M shot out of the canon. It took all of about three seconds to realize I had made the greatest decision to be here. The band was tight and the musical arrangements were spot on. As someone who’s listened to that song hundreds of times, I know it well and I was blown away at how exacting and true to the musical art Shooter was. He was on target – dead center mass. While there could be a chance this was some sort of mystical spiritual channeling or magical thinking on my part, the most probable explanation is that Shooter had assembled a razor sharp collection of musicians and they had taken up the challenge with zealot level professionalism, determined to make this a great show.

They did.

This show unequivocally, completely rocked non-stop for an hour and a half. I couldn’t argue the set list because I knew every song. Sure, I would have added one here or there (I’m taking to you Charlie’s Medicine), or maybe switched one out if given the opportunity, but realistically after being in various fan group discussions over the years, I realized Shooter couldn’t have picked a better list. But I’m certain he had to cull a number of someones’ favorites.

It is the best two-night trip I’ve ever taken; I wish it had lasted longer.