3 AM just posted that — according to Ben Pleasants — Steve Richmond has died.
I met Steve once, and wrote to him a couple times. He lived in a small house right on the beach at Holister Street in Santa Monica. I was in Los Angeles to hear Ginsberg read at McCabes; it was the 30th of March, 1991, and I know that because I showed up at Richmond’s house — unannounced — right before I went to the reading. Later that night, Ginsberg was nice enough to inscribe a copy of Photographs to me and date it.
Steve’s house was the closest to the beach. He’d been living there since the mid-60’s (that I know of) right after dropping out of law school to become a poet.
Imagine telling your folks you’re dropping out of law school to be a poet.
And showing up at a poet’s door to say hello and ask for some books to be signed is something I’d never do today, but I was a young, overzealous book nut, and I liked Steve’s work enough to do such a silly thing. He barely opened the door…and it was just enough to lean into it and tell me to leave.
I can’t blame him, really.
I don’t blame him.
The picture above, from left to right: Ben Pleasants, Charles Bukowski, and Steve Richmond.
Pin a gold medal on my chest for being the worst blogger west of Bakersfield. If you don’t believe me, just look at the recent posts: the last over a month ago; then, some cheap ones in July and May (videos posted here take me, like, 4 seconds to do); you have to go back to my Paris trip last March to read anything of substance…and that substance — like most of my blogs — is questionable at best.
And I’m not even gonna make any sort of claims that things are gonna get any better, either.
I caught Dylan at the Palladium on the first night of this three-night run. He was good. Not great. Not terrible. The highlight of my evening was my date (a beautiful red-head girl I’m crushing on as of late) and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”.
The Red Head seems interested.
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” was done so perfectly (and early in the show) it set a standard I compared the rest of his show to, and maybe that’s why I was let down after it was all said and done.
He did “Like a Rolling Stone” and “All Along The Watchtower” and a bunch of new stuff I didn’t recognize, and it wasn’t like I expected a Greatest Hits Show; I kinda knew what to expect, and it’s pretty much what I got.
But it’s Dylan …right? How can you not go to a Dylan show these days, especially if it’s right down the street from where you live?
What I didn’t expect were the $14 beers, which, I suppose, is indicative to my night-time habits in Los Angeles. If I went out more I’d know it costs a small fortune to get drunk in Hollywood.