Just found this. Bummer. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020912/people_nm/people_zevon_dc_2
Some people are just anomalies of life. They can drink smoke like a chimney, drink like Boris Yeltsin, etc. etc. and never have the effects get to them. George Burns, for instance, too. Smoked cigars for God knows how many years and lived to be 100. Go figure.
I'm shocked and stunned. I just saw Warren Zevon twice recently: Friday, July 27th at the Calgary Folk Music Festival Friday, August 9th at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (twice). Warren was accompanied by Matt Cartsons on guitars, mandolins, etc. The first performance in Calgary was "loose" but was good enough to get Warren booked as a late edition to Edmonton. Terry Wickham who was run the Edmonton Folk Music Festival for years was in Calgary and was so impressed with Warren that he booked him on the spot. Both performances were sprinkled with a few of the hits including: Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Lawyers, Guns, and Money, and Werewolves Of London. (Anybody remember the Larry Sanders episode where Warren asks Artie if it's OK that he doesn't play Werewolves. Artie says OK. Then later Warren has to play it cause Larry asks him. ) Warren really opened up to the audience in Edmonton. I think he was starting to get the feel of the folk festival atmosphere. He even joked with the crowd a couple of times. Warren - "We're honoured to be here in Edmonton. I'm from Los Angeles." A smattering of applause from the 10,000 or so folks sitting on the siiting on the ski hill in Capitol Hill (suburb of Edmonton). Warren - "Well, I don't care what you think." Later on he says, "I don't play folk festivals much. Well, I don't really play festivals. Actually, I really don't go out the house very much." During the piano solo in Werewolves of London, Warren leaned into the mike and said, "Folk music!" Here are a couple of photos from the Edmonton show. http://www.warrenzevon.com/dates/ Earlier Friday evening, Warren participated in a workshop with Nick Lowe, Greg Brown, and Lynn Miles. That "session" was very good. I stood near Warren after the workshop as he signed a rare CD of his for a friend of mine, as I was getting my Labour of Lust CD signed by Nick Lowe. He was very friendly to everyone. A couple of fans, had some vinyl signed by Zevon as well. "...and curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git."
I was extremely sad to hear of Warren's illness. He was one of the best new artists of the mid-seventies. His first and second Asylum albums rank among my all-time favorites. I truly hope that his remaining days are happy and peaceful.
