ROSEN / COMFORT INTERVIEW

Part 1

ROBERT ROSEN is the author of Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon (2000). His latest title, Beaver Street, based on his experiences as a men’s magazine editor, will be released in 2010. 

The following is the first installment of his recent interview with David Comfort. A transcript of the complete interview is available on The Looseleaf Report: http://thelooseleafreport.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-john-is-dead-and-paul-isnt.html

ROSEN: How did this book come about?

COMFORT: The Stones foreshadowed the idea in “It’s Only Rock and Roll (but I like it)”.  If I could stick a knife in my heart, suicide right on stage. Would it be enough for your teenage lust? Would it help to ease the pain? Would ya think the boy's insane?”

No, not in Sir Mick’s case. But for Janis, Morrison, and others, their dance with “Mr. D” wasn’t just mascara and show biz. “Maybe my audiences can enjoy my music more if they think I’m destroying myself,” said Janis. And she did, just like most of the other Seven. They died for rock just as they lived for it.

So, what IS the deal with rockers and death? Other books have touched on the question, but none seemed to wade past the shallow end.

‘Except for death, everything else is a minor injury,” said a Formula 1 driver. These could have been the words of an extreme rocker. All are death matadors. The closer they work the bull, the more alive they feel. A head full of booze and dope, Marshalls maxed, and a hysterical crowd of 50,000 still wasn’t enough. Ironically, it was their insatiable lust for life that brought many of the Seven to early graves. 

Janis said she lived on “the outer limits of probability.” Morrison believed “the path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” The lawlessness and boundless energy of rock was irresistible to them. 

That said, all Seven admitted to self-destructive tendencies. Throughout history many creative artists – whether musicians, painters, writers – have been dangerously compulsive, addictive, and suicidal. How is it that polar opposites -- creativity and destructiveness -- so often co-exist and feed off of each other in an artist?