It wasn’t until later in Paul’s life when medicine kind of caught up and was starting to be able to treat some of his underlying issues.
before he was killed in ’82, he was working in Florida picking oranges.
What issues were those?
It’s been said, “America eventually became a violent sociopath.” Is that your impression?
Potentially adolescent onset schizophrenia. Would he have been diagnosed with that if not for the drug use? Was the severity of his drug use impacted by perhaps having a disease? Good questions.
At times, yes, he could be described that way based on certain incidents. But, I more often hear from those that knew him that he was gentle and kind.
When filming of Ciao! collapsed Paul went off the radar.
What was his relationship with his family like in the post-Superstar years?
After that, Paul was on the move a lot. Making stops all over the US between ’68 and ‘82.
My grandparents always did whatever they could for Paul until the end. Despite periods of not knowing where he was, Paul remained close with his brothers and would live with Ted now and then. Both Ted and younger brother Ron also lived pretty intensely. Though she still loved him, my mom had pretty much written him off as a lost cause by the late 70s and had minimal contact with him. She was always on the straight and narrow and wanted little to do with her crazy brothers’ lifestyles.
He joined the m ilitary for a brief time, but was discharged after a few months. He made it to Woodstock in ’69 and somehow lost what I’ve been told was a really sweet chrome motorcycle while he was there. He spent time on a commune in Indiana for a while. When the commune started to break up, he started on a trip with a bunch of the people from there who were moving to re-settle in Costa Rica. When they got halfway through Mexico, Paul and several other members of the group turned back for the US after some encounters with police. When they got back, Paul stayed in Las Vegas to work for one of the former commune leaders and financial backers, Larry Canada. He basically rode a horse around the perimeter of Larry’s property (where Larry planned to build a casino) with a shotgun and worked as Larry’s personal security. This relationship led to another time Paul would serve some time in jail. At one point Paul had written a couple of songs he hoped to have The Rolling Stones record. So, he started a record company in Nashville and cut a demo with a guy using the name Johnny Cashbox. They’re kind of interesting, but really not so great. Paul’s record label kind of ended there. He went to the West coast and rode trains for a while. There are several years no one seems to know where he was or what he was doing. In the months
According to The Andy Warhol Diaries Paul attempted to contact Warhol in 1982, “Paul America called – I don’t know from where – but the office has a list of ‘Do Not Take Calls From’ people so they didn’t put the call through. And they said he was saying that he was one of the Superstars, but he was never even in one of my movies. Oh wait! My Hustler! I forgot (laughs) he was the star. He (laughs) was My Hustler.” That’s just Andy being Andy. He was a prick. I think most everyone that dealt with him at the time has said something to that effect. It does sadden me that Paul got that final sour taste of trying to deal with Warhol not too long before he died. Perhaps if Andy had taken the call Paul would have been heading North to New York instead of West to pick oranges on the night he was killed. What were the circumstances of his death? Paul was walking on the shoulder of a Florida road on his way to Ocala from Daytona Beach at night. He