“He didn’t want it to be authorized because he felt like authorized meant bull—-,” says Warren Zanes, whose “Petty: The Biography” arrives next month. Just the songs, thinking about all the songs that Tom petty and the heartbreakers have done, the band last night, though, began the show with … It’s your book. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - You Got Lucky Lyrics. Only a week before his death, I had a dream about the two of us taking a walk near his Malibu beach house, there beside the Pacific — which, in truth, we’d never done — and in this dream we returned to easy conversation, just like it had been before and during the writing of the book. Forty-five minutes into the interview and all the way through that coffee, I found myself in a semihallucinatory state, thinking I might be talking to George Harrison. I couldn’t think of a whole lot else to do but take a sip of that coffee and say, “It’s good. And since he’d never set out to make an album if it didn’t have a shot at it being his best, since his quality-control department was open 24 hours, his last recording — we all agreed — might not just take a hard look around at life’s closing years, it might be his greatest. I remember standing with Petty in his driveway when he first asked if I’d be interested in writing his biography. As the man explained, before he put the Maxwell House into the machine, he used a knife to level off every cup he measured out. It was exact. Rock & roll doesn’t have much of that. Guys at that level of success, I think they meet fewer people where they think, this could be a friendship. “You know, Warren,” he said, holding my gaze, “you’re not the first person to say that.”. Had I ever seen Tom Petty without a cup of coffee? 1) It’s your book, Warren, your contract. After parking, I’d go into the recording studio lounge, no one there but me, where I’d see a tray with two overturned ceramic mugs, sugar, spoons, milk, and a large thermos of, yes, coffee. That’s kind of the Heartbreakers code. He. That Gainesville diner. This is an old American reflex, of course: Catch up with the Europeans. It didn’t make the final manuscript only because I was too far along in the process and couldn’t find an honest place for it. 4) I’ll give you all the time with me that you need. Basically, you’re witnessing the birth of the Traveling Wilburys. Pre-order today! The problem? Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor. I went to Tom’s then-wife, Jane, and said, “I’m not an autograph-seeking guy but we’re talking about a Beatle.” And she grabbed me, brought me through this hallway and right to the door opening into Tom’s office. Stan Lynch. Petty had those pale-blue eyes, and when he fixed them on you the effect was arresting. Then I stopped working on Tom Petty. Petty’s got a very strong voice, of course, but I needed the foil. If anyone is going to think heroin is an option because they know my story of using heroin, I can’t do this.” And I just had to work with him and say, “I think you’re going to come off as a cautionary tale rather than a romantic tale.” But I wanted to show that Tom Petty is a man who lived the bulk of his life in the album cycle. Let’s get right to this. Should a cup of coffee be over that quickly? When I explained that it didn’t come from our interviews, that it was already in print and would be cited as such, Petty said, “Well, I got away with it once.” I took it out. You can’t make this shit up. Tom Petty is less of a rock n' roll star and more of an observational dude who believes his uncanny ability to write hit songs is, as he tells Billboard, just … I used to think that when this was all over You might feel different about me Yeah I always knew, one of these days you'd come around Now I A game of catch-up took place, one in which American taste and style attempted to move closer to the standards of European taste and style. There was a comment about Bob Dylan, nothing alarming by any stretch, not even negative in tone. Coffee. Selena Gomez Drops $5 Million on Tom Petty's L.A. Tom Petty with author Warren Zanes, far right, in 1987. But there was more to it. When he gets married, it’s the same thing. Tom Petty was a heroin addict in the ’90s. You keep this band together. But she was a real fan, and I think we both knew the answer to her question. It was the time. Not close, exact. But in 2016 and 2017, the air stunk of rock & roll deaths. If it hadn’t, I believe that the absence of strain would have been the sign that I’d failed in writing the book Petty wanted me to write. Pre-order today! Just that fast, I knew Tom Petty had died. Then the three days of press ended, and it got a little quiet around my house. No, he goes out and plays the songs that he wrote. The long-awaited Wildflowers & All The Rest will be released on October 16th. I’m guessing Benmont Tench or Steve Ferrone, but Petty didn’t say. Petty’s also addicted, and he gets to work his way out of his. But I thought we’d have a few years to process it all, to move past it. I distinctly remember waking up and knowing I just couldn’t go on. I’m guessing Benmont Tench or Steve Ferrone, but Petty didn’t say. How did he feel about a quality espresso? But then he was gone. 5) I get to read it before it goes to print, and if there’s anything I feel the need to respond to, you weave my response in . His unexpected death forced me to acknowledge, in a visceral way, the degree to which biographers bring their subjects in through the stomach as much as through the mind. He said he’d pay for it. The pile of songs Petty left us with had earned him a place in the present tense. He wasn’t going to deny the truth of his experience. His unexpected death forced me to acknowledge, in a visceral way, the degree to which biographers bring their subjects in through the stomach as much as through the mind. It was taken from an interview done in the Eighties. When he released that safety valve out. He didn’t ever get a trampoline out and do a backflip. Over and over and over and over and over. And certainly in Petty’s life, it was a big deal when he and George Harrison came together. Petty had entrusted me to write his biography, and this was part of the job, the last part. The Heartbreakers sent Howie to rehab. But this guy knew his own mind. I’d thought about what this day might be like. wondering when. The story he told me went something like this: He’d been out driving with his wife, Dana, north of their Malibu home, when they’d stopped at a diner. The classic situation of midlife pinning a person down to the mat. And I was poised to do that. The woman’s question started a bookstore conversation about our need not just for movies and novels and poems that speak of life’s end but rock & roll that does the same. After parking, I’d go into the recording studio lounge, no one there but me, where I’d see a tray with two overturned ceramic mugs, sugar, spoons, milk, and a large thermos of, yes, coffee. In This Article: He was the lead vocalist and guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976.He previously led the band Mudcrutch, and was also a member of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.. References. Because the last thing you want when you’re asking questions about a person’s life and work is to sit across from that person struggling to stay awake. Here’s the important point. He remembered me from the tours. That time Tom Petty kindly asked Michele Bachmann to stop using his song in her campaign. I think Petty found himself at the center of it, and in a way that proved uncomfortable. You were open to doing an authorized version, right? Starbucks sells some, large cups of coffee. As happens with biographers and their subjects, our private world of conversations, which stretched over a period of years, was no longer just ours. He wasn’t big on small talk. Conversations With Tom Petty by Paul Zollo (Omnibus Press) is out now. But, in his own way, he said, I just don’t want to go back there. 4) I’ll give you all the time with me that you need. You just need to go back to your house and sit in front of your piano and start writing.’ Something about the conversation really hit me. He was with that other guy. This was just his dignified way of taking a conversation that had started with his management and making it a conversation between us. During one of the final sessions, knowing this was near the end, I mentioned to Tom that he always provided a great cup of coffee, better than what I brought myself. My agent, who had played an important role in the biography’s creation, gently suggested that I had some responsibilities, no matter where my head was at. Stan said no to the interview between three and four times. He is. But my job, from the beginning, had been to tell the man’s story based on interviews, primarily those with him. But it got untenable. In retrospect, I look back at that scene, in that office, and I think that maybe it’s the happiest I’ve seen Tom Petty by looking at his face. . Jerry Lee Lewis alive and Tom Petty dead? And he hasn’t ever spoken about this before.The first thing he said to me on the subject is “I am very concerned that talking about this is putting a bad example out there for young people. The second half of the book, involving divorce and heroin use and the blending of families, got some divided responses among Petty’s family members, some contention, some trouble. The life-changing advice that Tom Petty gave to Stevie Nicks Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. What you get at a truck stop in Italy often beats our best. There are times I wish that Petty was more of a self-promoter if only so that his songs could travel a little more widely. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers continued to tour and played his last concert at the Hollywood Bowl just a week before his untimely death on October 2nd. He’d invited me to be a guest DJ on his radio show. He was a … I miss them both. “He was not only a good man to go down the river with, as … I approached my last few written pieces — for, as final thoughts, send-offs. Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down' Is A Song For Any Struggle Petty's song has been used by striking workers in defiance, by political candidates to show grit, … He referred to my old band as the Del Tacos. With one exception. Our relationship had always been based around work, and the work was done, the book finished. The further you go You never dreamed you'd go down on one knee, but now ... Yeah, you'll be all right, it's just gonna take time, and now ... (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) & Tom Petty. I hadn’t been alone when I went through the process of writing the Petty biography. Even if it shouldn’t. part of the process changed things, brought some strain. The problem? Petty had been in the room with me (and so many of us) for more than 40 years. Nicks had just … They get busy trying to control the story. I told my editor about Petty’s heroin addiction in the ‘90s. A couple things. The old, art commerce divide where people go, “oh, it’s too commercial.” The other thing, I was just talking to somebody who was watching a live Tom Petty concert on a computer, no between-song banter. Yes, he told me, he’d tried some espresso, made backstage by one of the Heartbreakers. By virtue of his band staying together and the quality of the musicians, the Heartbreakers are a singular story in popular music. It happened so fast. Even if it’s hard stuff to make out to. But my job, from the beginning, had been to tell the man’s story based on interviews, primarily those with him. That’s too much coffee. After I told him I’d love to write the book, he said, “Good, I’m glad to hear that.” He then proceeded to tell me the terms. He wrote songs, they recorded those songs, they put a record together with artwork, they released it, and they went out on the road to support it. Originally claimed to be the words of Teddy Roosevelt, who supposedly had a cup of the stuff at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage in Nashville, the phrase was later attributed to General Foods Corporation president Clifford Spiller. Tom Petty’s song “The Best of Everything” sounds like it was meant to be the title track for something. But he’s never really opened up about his split with Petty and the band. So that guy who is hellbent on keeping things together, because that is who he is, keeps his band together. Petty was our guy. You better watch what you say You better watch what you do to me Don't get carried away Girl, if you can do better than me, go Yeah, go … I could chart my life in relation to his releases. Not close. “You know, Warren,” he said, holding my gaze, “you’re not the first person to say that.”. They’re all playing but stop because this kid ran into the room with this Beatles magazine. The idea for a new unauthorized Tom Petty biography came from a surprising source: Tom Petty. I didn’t want this feeling to go on; I’d rather be dead. “Good to the last drop.” That was, and is, the Maxwell House slogan. He’s a rock and roller. But then, when he left his marriage and moved into a house, by himself, things slowed just long enough that all of that past came right as he’s coming into the pain of not being able to control the well-being of his kids and not being able to control a dialogue with his ex-wife. I had to ask Petty, did he like what had happened? And it wasn’t. era. They knew that Dad wasn’t always there at the dinner table when Dad was there at the dinner table. I was standing in my kitchen when I heard about Tom Petty’s death. I quickly understood that I wasn’t the only one struggling to use the past tense and, almost as soon, that none of us needed to. I’d thought about what this day might be like. His aunt hounds him for autographs at funerals. What you want is the next size down from that. I promise you.”. When Petty heard the words “Maxwell House,” he didn’t turn back. 'She came into my life like a rocket, just refusing to go away,' Petty told the author. Biographers consume their people to understand them. Only a week before his death, I had a dream about the two of us taking a walk near his Malibu beach house, there beside the Pacific — which, in truth, we’d never done — and in this dream we returned to easy conversation, just like it had been before and during the writing of the book. He kept working on me. That made no sense. I began thinking not just about Tom Petty and all I’d learned from him, which was a lot, but about biography, about being a biographer. I’m suddenly in this room holding a magazine. He basically has no connection to that family back in Florida. When he gets into a rock band, that’s like the second chance to have a family. Do that, and you’ve lost them. I keep going back to this band and I can’t help but feel like the reason the Heartbreakers won’t die, can’t die, is because Petty’s family was so dysfunctional. All that came out like he was reading it off a piece of paper. And he was still on that tour. The last tour that they had Howie on, in the days prior to the tour, he was stopped by police in a stolen car with Carlene Carter with black tar heroin. That, Petty told me, is what I’d been drinking. Something remained unfinished following the publication of the biography. Of course, if his account ends there, that doesn’t mean the story ends there. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Reporter covering movies, museums, comedy, music and pop culture. The Tom Petty who had watched thousands of cowboys move across the TV screen, well, just then he looked like one of them.
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