The singer-songwriter expounds on his mental health struggles and his friendship with the late Bob Saget: 'I’m never gonna get over this one.'
In his weird and luscious signature song, Gary Wright, who died Monday at age 80, captured a vision of tomorrow haunted by the memory of yesterday.You worked at the Viper Room when you moved to L.A. Why was a well-known rock star tending bar? When I got home to North Berkeley from the end of the “August” touring — this is like January of ’95 — that first week was kind of a nightmare.
There were kids literally camped out on my lawn. I knew [Viper Room owners] Sal [Jenco] and Johnny [Depp], and I got a phone call from them where they started to invite me to something. Then they’re like, “Whoa, what’s wrong?” I explained what was going on and they put me on hold. I’m sure I’ve fictionalized this somewhat, but in my memory they came back five minutes later and said, “OK, you have a reservation on the 7 o’clock flight from Oakland to Burbank. Someone will pick you up at the airport, and we got you a room at the Bel Age. It’s Kate Moss’ 21st birthday — the Viper Room is closed for the night and we’re having a party. You gotta get out of Berkeley.” So I did, and I kind of never went home again. Stayed at the Bel Age for a while, then got a bungalow at the Sunset Marquis. Eventually Shannon, one of the bartenders, found me this house to rent. I’d go to the Viper every night and hang out. They were the only people I knew, really. At some point, Shannon had to go the bathroom or something and she’s like, “Can you handle this?”Which is why it was all the better to be on the other side of the bar. I’m kind of shy, and it gave me something to do. People would come and talk to me and I didn’t have to be wandering around by myself in a crowd. I met girls and I met Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs and Tom Petty and the Hughes Brothers. Everyone that was doing something interesting in L.A. was there.I came here from the Bay Area because the struggling artist’s town that I came from wasn’t happy with my success. And L.A. is a working artist’s town. I felt like somebody normal when I got here. But it kind of changed when reality TV came in. There was a culture of famous-for-being-famous that got really tiresome to me. I went to New York and just found myself having more interesting conversations. Mary-Louise Parker is one of my best friends since we were young, and she and Billy Crudup were together then. One night Billy and I went to see Noël Coward’s “Private Lives.” Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan were in it. And after the show, we went backstage and had drinks in Alan’s dressing room, then we all went out to dinner and Rosemary Harris came by the table at one point. It was this incredible experience with these older British actors who were really smart and cool, and I just thought, If I moved to New York, I could have conversations like this.Or, like, “That ’70s Show.” Who are actually really nice people. Well, the ones that aren’t in jail.Yeah, sure — he was great. After the band blew up, I was summoned out to his house. Got in the car, drove out to PCH, count up to 20,000 or 30,000 or whatever the address was. I ring the doorbell on this wall and eventually this butler guy opens the door: “Oh, Mr. Duritz, please come in.” All at once I see the bright greens of the lawn and the blue of the ocean, and there’s Geffen standing at the end of this long pathway. He greets me and we sit on this patio off to the side of the house and they bring lunch to us, which is like a seared tuna salad. I remember this so vividly because each vegetable in the salad was like the greatest vegetable that had ever been. I’m thinking, Does he have specialized farming servants who pick each individual tomato? Just an unreal explosion of salad-ness.All kinds of stuff. He told me about leaving New York to drive up to Woodstock with Joni [Mitchell], then realizing the traffic was too much but she’s gonna write a song anyways. He told me about working with Jackson [Browne] early on. You know what really struck me? This is a guy who’s done a lot of great s— in his career. But in his mind the greatest thing he ever did was the Eagles. I like the Eagles, but I wouldn’t put them at the top. I’m a Flying Burrito Brothers guy, a Gram Parsons guy. But the Eagles sold a gazillion albums and made more money than all the other acts put together. And that was his greatest accomplishment because for him it’s not just a music thing but a business thing. It was his idea: “You guys aren’t gonna make it on your own — you should make a band together.” It’s like deciding you should do personal computers and starting Apple., who died last year. What was the essence of your friendship? I met Bob because my goddaughter’s godmother [Lori Loughlin] was on “Full House.” They’d all come to the shows early on. Everyone who knew Bob thought they were Bob’s best friend. He made you feel that way when you were with him, like you were the most important person in the world. It’s weird: I’ve had people in my life die before, but I’m never gonna get over this one. I’ll be in the middle of something and I’ll just wanna talk to him and realize I’m not going to. It’s kind of devastating.I could never do it. It’s the most death-defying performance art there is. I’m in awe at the speed at which those guys’ minds work. I’m a smart guy, but I got nothing on that. At the show last night you had a Badfinger T-shirt on. Now you’re wearing a Sunflower Bean shirt. How much thought do you put into your choice of band shirt? Last night I was going between a bright-red Big Star shirt, the Badfinger one and a Bowie shirt with the art from “Space Oddity.” I went with what looked good with my pink shoes.I don’t have anything else. My biggest bummer about getting on the plane to come here was that my girlfriend bought me a Taylor Swift “Midnights” shirt that just was a little too tight, so I didn’t bring it. I gotta lose a little more weight before I can wear it.
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