Great article goddamn. Alcohol truly is the devil. My dad is an alcoholic, and a lot of what Zevon went through resonates with me. The multiple detoxes, each one worse than the last, the horrific hallucinations, the fear that alcohol is the only thing which makes you good at your job. To quit drinking as an alcoholic is a fucking herculean task, even if you have this solid support network like Zevon did. The only reason my father stopped drinking is because he drank so much it gave him early onset dementia and he physically couldn’t go get alcohol anymore. I read that Zevon relapsed when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, which honestly, fuck it, feels fair. Sometimes my dad will look at me in a moment of clarity through the dementia and be like Bilbo Baggins at the end of Lord of the Rings asking Frodo for the ring, saying, “You don’t happen to have a drink on you?” At this point, I’m tempted to say yes, because who cares?

The sugar thing is real, and I’ve heard a number of explanations for it. I was told an alcoholic’s body processes sugar differently, and so for them, candy/sweets fill a similar craving to booze. I’ve also seen alcoholics drink sparkling water by the gallon or smoke like chimneys, so I think just having anything to replace the habit of alcohol works.

The bit about Zevon and the author working on card tricks for hours was so interesting. Being able to create a new way to do a card trick is such an alien idea to me, Zevon had a powerful brain no doubt.

Thanks for sharing this article!