Best of the ‘Gest … “Enjoy Every Sandwich”

The recent post on Warren Zevon triggered a variety of colorful Silverback responses. Here’s a sampling of what was heard around The Jungle:

Silverback Mike (Post Island SBs) writes: “What a tortured, torturing and talented being! More balance, care and less alcohol etc. Might have been a happier, more creative mix. Still 2 of most moving songs of his for me are rocker “”Lawyers, Guns, and Money” and elegiac “Keep me in Your Heart”.
Thanks for sharing this comprehensive bio/appreciation.

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Silverback Bill (Hinesburg SBs) says we should check out a real life excitable boy (perhaps an inspiration for the song?):

(from Wikipedia) Barbara Baekeland had a complex and allegedly incestuous relationship with her son, Antony Baekeland, who was gay or bisexual. Baekeland attempted to “fix” her son by hiring prostitutes to have sex with him. After this failed, while the pair were living in Majorca in the summer of 1968 following Barbara and Brooks’s divorce, Barbara was alleged to have raped her son.^[13][14]

During his young adulthood, Antony displayed increasingly regular signs of schizophrenia with paranoid tendencies, and his erratic behavior caused concern among family friends. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia; however, his father initially refused to allow him to be treated by psychiatrists, a profession he believed to be “amoral“.^[15]

In late July 1972, Antony tried to throw his mother under the traffic outside her penthouse on Cadogan Square in Chelsea, London. She was only saved by his physical weakness, and the intervention of her friend Susan Guinness. Although the Metropolitan Police arrested Antony for attempted murder, Barbara refused to press charges. Antony was subsequently admitted to The Priory private psychiatric hospital, but was released soon afterwards.^[16]

Antony then undertook sessions with a psychiatrist while living at home. The doctor became so concerned about Antony’s condition that on October 30, he warned Barbara that he was capable of murder. Barbara dismissed the doctor’s assertion.^[7]

Two weeks later, on November 17, 1972, Antony murdered his mother by stabbing her with a kitchen knife, killing her almost instantly. She was 51 years of age at the time, and Antony was 25. Police arrived and found Antony at the scene of the crime.^[17] He later confessed to, and was charged with, her murder.^[7]

Antony was institutionalized at Broadmoor Hospital until July 21, 1980, when, at the urging of a group of his friends, he was released.^[18]

Upon his release, Antony, now aged 33, flew directly to New York City to stay with his 87-year-old maternal grandmother, Nini Daly. Only six days after his release, on July 27, he attacked her with a kitchen knife, stabbing her eight times and breaking several bones. He was then arrested by the New York City Police Department, charged with attempted murder^[7] and sent to Rikers Island prison.

After eight months of assessment by the psychiatric team at Rikers Island, he was expecting to be released on bail at a court hearing on March 20, 1981. However, the case was adjourned by the judge due to a delay in the transfer of his medical records from the UK.^[7] Antony returned to his cell at 3:30 PM EST on March 20, 1981, and was found dead by suicide 30 minutes later, suffocated by a plastic bag. ^[19]

This story inspired a film titles Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore and a very young Eddie Redmayne:

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Meanwhile, Silverback John (Mendocino Bonobos) forwarded the post to some other proto-Silverbacks with who he attended a Warren Zevon concert. Here are some of their fuzzy recollections:

Hi John!

Are you referring to E. and yourself as being too drunk? Apparently, you were in good company!

Mostly what little I remember from that day was tripping my balls off with C. as we charged maniacally through the crowd! And this was soon after I had ‘recovered’ from my psychotic break. That and constant cocaine seeking… Good times!

Thanks for the link!

” Apparently a band called Wa Koo opened the action to good effect before Elvin Bishop – who seemed to never play a bad gig in front of the Dead – tore things up, helped along by Garcia on guitar. But then Warren Zevon took the stage, chastising the crowd for being a “bunch of 60s burned out acid freaks” while he played – terribly – through a drunken stupor. Word has it that Zevon was chased off by the stage manager before coming back with Bonnie Raitt, who made him apologize to the audience for his behavior.”

“F%&#ng GREAT show, including Warren Zevon killing it while swigging most of a fifth of Kamchatka vodka during his set. Anybody who thinks the Dead were bummed, or that Zevon sucked, should ask themselves why “Werewolves of London” became a Dead staple..”

As they sayin California “Whatever …”

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Warren’s parting advice, as delivered on his final appearance on the Letterman Show was to”Enjoy every sandwich.” By the time he learned this, however, there weren’t many more sandwiches to enjoy.