Escovedo Makes Most of Second Chance 11/9/07

Alejandro Escovedo’s niece, Sheila E, might always be more famous than he is — even though many music experts consider him one of the most important artists of the last quarter-century.

The Austin, Texas-based artist also has a significant bond with another female celebrity. Like Pamela Anderson, Escovedo has a potentially fatal infection: hepatitis C.

But unlike Anderson, photographed on a yacht drinking champagne during her brief marriage to Kid Rock, he believes that if he had another drink it could kill him.

Escovedo’s initial denial of his disease’s potential risk, particularly to his liver, is what led to hospitalization in 2003 after a show in Arizona.

Facing his problem, cleaning up his lifestyle, embracing Buddhism and getting another chance to support his family combined to permit Escovedo to record what many critics call his masterpiece: “The Boxing Mirror,” released in the spring of 2006.

The album was Escovedo’s first studio project in four years. It opens with the haunting yet life-affirming “Arizona,” which deals poetically with the aftermath of a 2003 performance that he finished despite vomiting blood between songs.

“Arizona” is a slow-burning song with an opening line that demands attention for the whole album: “Have another drink on me/ I’ve been empty since Arizona.” It suggests wisdom that comes from deep pain: “I turned my back on me/ And turned to face/ Who I thought I was.”

A long journey back to health.

By the time of that health crisis, Escovedo had long abandoned the hard-drugging, rock ’n’ roll life. And he didn’t think his hepatitis C diagnosis in the late ’90s would mean any major lifestyle changes — such as quitting drinking and smoking, or adjusting his tour schedule.

During his first hospitalization, however, Escovedo learned that he was bleeding internally in three places, had burst veins in his esophagus, had advanced cirrhosis of the liver and a tumor in his abdomen.

“I was a mess,” he told Harp magazine. “I was in this place where I could hardly speak.

“It all hit me at once.”

His treatment was grueling and expensive, and he had no health insurance. Although he was an underground rock hero and critical favorite, being unable to tour meant he couldn’t pay his medical bills.

Noteworthy friends such as Lucinda Williams, Los Lonely Boys, the Jayhawks and Steve Earle pitched in to create a tribute album, “Por Vida,” that raised money to cover his expenses.

Former Velvet Underground member John Cale also contributed to “Por Vida.” But Cale’s most significant gift to his friend might have been producing “The Boxing Mirror,” which Rolling Stone, The New York Times, the All Music Guide and National Public Radio all consider Escovedo’s best work.

A Rolling Stone article says “The Boxing Mirror” builds on Escovedo’s creative history, from his early days in such punk and cowpunk bands as the Nuns and Rank and File to his later orchestral pop interests.

In 2005, he released “Room of Songs,” recorded live with his string quintet.
“I think there’s no way to be born again without looking back,” Escovedo says in the Rolling Stone article. “The Boxing Mirror,” he says, “shows everything that we do — but in a way that’s much bigger and grander than we had before.”

When Escovedo toured behind “Room of Songs,” Jim Ralph, executive director at the Shedd, says his team missed the opportunity to host him, although Escovedo did stop at the Shedd before the CD’s release.

“I’ve promised myself never to let that happen again,” Ralph says in an e-mail. “This time, he’s doing it just as an acoustic duo set (with guitarist David Pulkingham), which ought to be phenomenal.

“He’s more than a little special.”

Music runs in the family.

Escovedo was born into a large Mexican immigrant family in San Antonio. His father, Pedro, played in mariachi bands, and was a big musical influence.

During that defining night in Arizona in 2003, Escovedo was fiercely determined to perform because it was for a musical full of songs he dedicated to his father, “By the Hand of the Father.”

His father gave him a guitar and amplifier as a teenager, but Escovedo didn’t pick up music seriously until his mid-20s. His first band was the San Francisco-based Nuns, a punk band. His next group, Rank and File, is considered a pioneer in the cowpunk genre.

As a member of True Believers, he and brother Javier toured with such national acts as Los Lobos and Guns N’ Roses and scored a record deal. That ride ended when the record company, EMI, didn’t release a second album from the band.

Escovedo released his first solo album in 1992, “Gravity,” which Harp says received acclaim “generally reserved for the greatest of musical artists.” He won artist of the year at the Austin Music Awards and followed up with “Thirteen Years,” about his first marriage, which ended with his wife’s suicide.

No Depression magazine, an authority in the world of singer-songwriters, named Escovedo its “artist of the decade” in 1998. And The New York Times says his music is its own genre.

Escovedo has seven children, including one with his third wife, poet Kim Christoff, who was with him through his illness and recovery.

In the Harp interview, Escovedo says he’s not sure why he survived. The interviewer suggested maybe it was because he still has music to make.

Escovedo says he thinks it’s because he’s supposed to be a father to his children.

By Serena Markstrom
The Register-Guard
Eugene, OR
serena.markstrom@ registerguard.com.