Tommy Bolin, archive obit, 4 December 1976
Hoges
ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, JANUARY 13, 1977
By Charles M. Young
Tommy Bolin died in his hotel room on December 4th from an overdose of
heroin and other substances, including alcohol, cocaine and
barbiturates. The former James Gang and Deep Purple guitarist was 25
years old.
Bolin, who was living in L.S, at the time, had been in Miami with his
band to open a concert for Jeff Beck at the Jai-Alai Fronton the
evening of December 3rd. Following a well-received set, he returned to
the Newport Hotel where he had several drinks in the bar with friends.
Sometime after 1 a.m. he visited his bodyguard, L.C, Clayton, in his
room, where he stayed for about half an hour. There he met a childhood
friend, Phillip Tolimeni, and an acquaintance identified only as
"Art."
According to Tolimeni: "There were about 20 people in the room. Tommy
said he wanted to talk in privacy. He was interested in investing in a
limousine service. I had some brochures." (Barry Fey, Bolin's
personal business manager, who was not in Miami at the time, confirmed
that Bolin had been considering such and investment.) The three men
went into Clayton's bathroom for about six minutes.
Bolin, Tolimeni and Art then walked to Bolin's room where, according
to Tolimeni, they continued their discussion of the limousine business.
An hour later, still in his room, Bolin slumped over in the middle of a
phone conversation. Tolimeni, who was in the room at the time, called
Clayton's room for help. Clayton, Valeria Monzeglio (Bolin's
girlfriend of four months) and roadies David Brown and Jeff Ocheltree
responded.
Clayton and Ocheltree placed Bolin in the shower and asked what he had
taken. Both recall hearing from Tolimeni and Art that Bolin had taken
heroin. "Art said, 'He shot H,' and when we asked again a little
later, Phillip said, 'No, ho, he snorted heroin,'" said
Ocheltree. Tolimeni denies this version of events and does not remember
what he said.
Some color returned to Bolin's cheeks and his breathing became less
labored, so they put him to bed. At 3:12 a.m., David Brown called the
hotel emergency line and reached Dr. Ira Jacobson, the physician on
duty.
"Brown said Bolin had taken Valium and alcohol and they couldn't
wake him up," said Jacobson. "I suspected from the way he was
talking that Bolin's condition was a lot worse. I told Brown that
Bolin should be taken immediately to North Miami General Hospital or he
might die. He said he was afraid of the publicity. I told him there was
no choice. Brown assured me he would."
Brown denied the doctor said Bolin might die, or that he assured the
doctor he would take him to the hospital. Bolin was left in bed, where
he suffocated four hours later as a result of muscular arrest caused by
his overdose.
"I got a bit worried a few times in the past when he drank a bit too
much and passed out," said Brown. "He looked the same, acted the
same. I'm not a doctor. I asked Jacobson what was the main way to
judge things like that and he said, 'Is he conscious?' Soon after
that I heard him mutter a couple of sentences. He said, 'L.C., I'm
glad you're here.' He was groggy and rubbed his eyes. It's
happened many, many times before. If I had called an ambulance and had
an emergency squad come down here, the publicity would have jeopardized
the band that he'd worked very hard to keep with him."
Clayton said he rubbed Bolin's body for about an hour to keep his
circulation going and found no fresh needle marks (the coroner found
four fresh needle marks, but no tracks, indicating that Bolin was not a
junkie). Both Clayton and Monzeglio said Bolin opened his eyes once or
twice, and according to Brown, talked briefly. The hospital was never
called. Clayton, Art, Tolimeni and Brown left the room, leaving
Monzeglio alone with Bolin. After finding his pulse very low, she
finally called for an ambulance a little after 7 a.m. When the
ambulance arrived, Bolin was dead.
"The police only asked me a couple of questions," said Clayton, who
was also summoned to the room. "Things like, 'Did he sleep in the
nude?' and 'Did his family have a history of heart attack?' There
must have been a thousand maids and bellboys in the hall. It was a
circus."
After being kicked out of high school in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1967 for
refusing to cut his hair, Bolin drifted to Denver where he established
a reputation as a silky guitar stylist and gusty vocalist on two albums
cut the Zephyr. He eventually left for a brief and largely fruitless
stint with a band called Energy. In 1973, Joe Walsh tapped him for a
spot with the James Gang. During this time, he also played on Billy
Cobham's first solo album, Spectrum. He left in August 1974 and a
year later signed a contract with Deep Purple to replace lead guitarist
Ritchie Blackmore. Following their breakup, he embarked on a solo
career. On his two albums released in the past year, Teaser and Private
Eyes, Bolin explored the realms of jazz, white reggae, Latin rhythms
and hard-grinding rock.
According to several friends, Bolin had been having periodic problems
with drugs for some time, and one source at his label, Columbia, said
his first tour this year had been cancelled because he lost his voice
from excessive drinking. Though he was elated to have shared a date
with Jeff Beck, the pressures that came from constantly being broke and
his breakup from longtime girlfriend Karen Ulibarri six months ago,
appear to have added up to a severe depression.
"He smiled for everyone," said Monzeglio, "but he couldn't
sleep unless he had pills or alcohol. He got upset every time he talked
to his manager. Nobody was getting paid on time. He kept complaining he
had to do everything himself. I don't know where he got the drugs. He
was going out with new people every night."
"There was no reason for him to be as penniless as he was," said
Ulibarri. "He just wanted to hire people to take care of him."
Manager Fey said Bolin's chronically bad finances were because of his
spending huge amounts on his musicians, and that the band was losing
$8000 to $10,000 a week. Columbia invested heavily in the group, but
ends never quite met.
Ulibarri spoke of Bolin: "We were still best friends. We'd been
together so long we had to split to grow up. He was innocent to a
fault. He was like a charming little kid - people just let him have
what he wanted, and if they didn't give it to him, he'd find
someone who would. The only person who could tell Tommy to cool it was
Tommy. I don't know what happened in that room, but David Brown
worshipped Tommy. He wanted nothing more than to work for him. It's
just now fair."
Just before Bolin's final concert, Jon Marlowe of the Miami News,
after an interview with the guitarist, told him, "Take care of
yourself," to which Tommy replied, "I've been taking care of
myself my whole life. Don't worry about me, I'm going to be around
for a long time."
He was buried December 10th in the family plot in Calvary Cemetery in
Sioux City. Karen flew from England to attend along with 350 other
people. She put a ring on his finger that Jimi Hendrix had been wearing
the day he died (a gift to Bolin from Deep Purple's manager). Karen
had been saving it for Tommy because he kept losing it.
Link to the last known photo of Tommy Bolin, backstage with Jeff Beck:
http://www.tbolin.com/images/pics/pic_rollingstone_2.jpg
Hoges
-----
"This country is in a weird, feeble, grotesque state and it's about
time it got out of it and the reason it could get out of it is...
ROCK MUSIC!"
--- Ken Russell
Matthew Kruk
"Hoges" <googl...@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:1165210321.6...@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com...
Hoodini
> he embarked on a solo
> career. On his two albums released in the past year, Teaser and Private
> Eyes, Bolin explored the realms of jazz, white reggae, Latin rhythms
> and hard-grinding rock.
Man, I used to listen to 'Private Eyes' all the time.
"Bustin' Out For Rosie", "Post Toastee", "Sweet Burgundy", and "Shake
The Devil"... 'Private Eyes', indeed!
Damn shame that he left so early.
--
Flat Mouth never met George W. Bush...
"Tell him I blame him for the children we have lost, for the sickness
we have suffered, and for the hunger we have endured. The fault rests
on his shoulders."
~ Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay (Flat Mouth), Leech Lake Ojibwe speaking of
Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey
stasha
Hoodini
> A sad end to such a promising life,but the music remains.
I guess he was around only long enough to give us what we needed, not
provide us with all that we would want. We were blessed nonetheless.