[...] I speak to Patti Smith on the phone and ask her what her impression was of Sam Shepard the first time she met him back in 1970 (shortly before they began an affair), and it's the first thing she says too: "He was just everything that one could want. He was – still is – a very handsome man. And he had this animal magnetism. It was almost visceral. He was so high energy and had a real glint in his eyes. He was born for rock'n'roll. [...]
[...] a recurring theme in his work, is bound up with the relationship he had with his alcoholic, abusive father. [...] In Fool for Love, written almost three decades ago, the main character is haunted by the chilling possibility that he is turning into his father. Back then it was a fear; now, he says, it has become a fact.
"You think about it, you talk about it, analyse it, and then all of a sudden you have become the thing that you were most vehement against. It's very Greek. They invented this shit. Or at least gave it a name."
He's been sober, he says, since the drink-driving incident a year ago. [...]
[...] In Shepard's world, romantic love as the meeting of two souls and the family as the nurturing heart of American life are nothing but delusions. "They're wonderful retreats from the illusion of being protected from spinning off the planet. But I don't believe it. And I never did."
So you didn't celebrate Valentine's Day then?
"Oh yes. We just did. I bought her a couple of bottles of wine. I don't drink."
It's not the most romantic gift, I say.
"They were two really good bottles of wine. Really good ones. Oh, and a tape measure. Because she was putting up a painting." [...]
[...] There's a couple of great quotes from Jessica about you, I say.
"Is there? My God. What? Actually, no. Just give me the good ones."
She said: "No man I've ever met compares to Sam in terms of maleness." [...]
Sam Shepard opens up, Carole Cadwalladr, The Observer, 21.03.2010
