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All ages turn out for a new look at Gram Parsons
01/26/2006 3:56 AM, Reuters
Chris Morris
"Take me down to your
dance floor . . ."
No one was dancing as Gram Parsons' voice wafted over the
sound system at Hollywood's Harmony Gallery on Friday evening,
but the place was rocking anyway.
Some 300 people descended on the tiny gallery for the
opening of a show featuring vintage photographs of the late
country-rock icon Parsons. Many of the shots are featured in
"Grievous Angel," a biography co-authored by LA writer Jessica
Hundley and Parsons' daughter Polly.
The event was an all-ages affair: Grizzled vets of the '60s
Sunset Strip scene -- some sporting biker-style "Sin City"
patches on their denims, in honor of one of Parsons' best-known
songs -- rubbed elbows with teenage fans.
"I loved the age range," Polly Parsons says. "Gram Parsons
is right now the barometer for cool in the generation below us.
He's the underground hero. I had two girls who were 18 come up
to me at the gallery. One said, 'My mother always used to play
(Gram's album) 'Grievous Angel' when I was little. It's the
music of my youth.' "
Gram Parsons' tremulous voice has been still for more than
three decades: He succumbed to a morphine overdose in September
1973 at the Joshua Tree Inn. Son of a wealthy, dissolute
Florida family, he blew off Harvard to pursue a musical career.
In LA, he formulated a rock-R&B-country fusion he called
"cosmic American music" in the International Submarine Band,
the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. His two solo albums
introduced singer Emmylou Harris. His freewheeling, hard-living
lifestyle led to an early grave at 26.
But Parsons' music remains reverberant, especially in LA
When local country artist Mike Stinson sings "Streets of
Baltimore," best known today in Parsons' '73 cover, or the
Snakehandlers rip through "Sin City," you're hearing the man
they call "GP."
"His raw honesty touches people at their innermost core,"
his daughter says. "He was fearless in his message, and people
resonate with that. He wasn't afraid to be real. And I think we
all need a hero."
Polly Parsons is in large measure responsible for the
ongoing interest in her father's work. She assumed control of
Gram's estate and song catalog nearly four years ago. Since
then, she helped mount tribute concerts in London and Universal
City; "Return to Sin City," a DVD of the latter 2004 show
featuring Keith Richards, Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams and
Steve Earle, was issued last year. Gandulf Hennig's documentary
"Fallen Angel" aired on the BBC in 2004.
More of Parsons' music is forthcoming: Retailer Amoeba
Music will kick off its label in the spring with a package of
unreleased studio and live material, and Rhino Records, which
released a two-disc compilation in 2001, is reportedly working
on a larger Parsons project.
To date, Parsons has been represented in theatrical film
only by the much-reviled 2003 feature "Grand Theft Parsons,"
about the sensational theft and immolation of the musician's
body by road manager Phil Kaufman. Polly Parsons envisions a
more dignified, high-profile project.
"There needs to be a film, and it needs to be done
correctly," she says. "I really want Cameron Crowe to do it."
On Friday, some at the Harmony Gallery gazed at Kim
Gottlieb-Walker's 1973 photos of Crowe, then a teenage rock
journalist in training, interviewing Gram. "A Song for You"
played on: ". . . And tomorrow, we may still be here."
(Chris Morris hosts "Watusi Rodeo" on Indie 103.1 in Los
Angeles from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. every Sunday.
http://www.indie1031.fm/shows/watusi.php)
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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