WARREN ZEVON: LIFE IN THE MENTAL COMBAT ZONE

“This is a .44 magnum revolver...do I have five or six bullets left...Are you feelin’ lucky tonight, PUNK?” And then the hapless caller to Warren Zevon’s residence is supposed to leave his name, number and a brief message. Well, it’s certainly an effective deterrent to encyclopedia salesmen, I gamely smile at Zevon’s first lieutenant, hulking George Gruel, who has described the Dirty Harry dialogue on Warren’s phone machine. It will be only the first of many reminders that Warren Zevon, dark-humored singer-songwriter-showman, lives his music in technicolor, like some Travis Bickle of rock ’n’ roll.

His arrival backstage at New York’s Palladium Theatre is more appropriate to a Hollywood premiere than the bargain basement sleaze of 14th Street. Zevon, dressed in a designer suit, glides out of a limousine arm in arm with girlfriend, blonde actress Kim Langford (Ginger, on Knot’s Landing.”) Their hair is perfect.