1989, (paperback)
Wonderland Avenue
Wonderland Avenue
Tales of Glamour and Excess
by Danny Sugerman
Danny Sugerman is the Co-author of The Doors best seller “No One Here Gets Out Alive” book.
When Danny was just a teen being a fan of The Doors music and a big fan of Jim Morrison.
After hanging around The Doors office they ended up hiring him to sort fan mail and clip out
all articles about The Doors. Danny would hang out with Morrison any chance he can get.
Morrison may not be one of the best role models to follow or emulate but Danny ended up
dabbling with drugs and getting seriously into heroin.
After Morrison’s death Danny grew up and became the manager of Ray Manzarek and Iggy Pop.
There are some crazy stories of Sugerman from his dealings with Iggy Pop and shooting up with
a young MacKenzie Phillips of “One Day At A Time” fame.
Sugerman had MacKenzie in the car driving her to the taping of the pilot of “One Day At A Time”
as she od’d. He’s driving around the block while pounding on her chest with his free hand to
finally get her back to life.
A short funny story is when Sugerman and Iggy Pop in a bar as Iggy drops his pants
and exposes himself to actress Tina Louise from Gilligan’s Island.
Danny Sugerman eventually beat his drug addiction.
In 2005 he would lose his other battle to lung cancer.
Cover
Pg 13, Prologue
(Each chapter started with a line from a song)
Pg 174
On the weekends, when the band wasn’t rehearsing, I hung on out
by the pool at the hotel, which was becoming, more and more, a
stopover for bands playing in town, especially at the Whisky. Not
only had I met Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan, but I’d become friendly
with the J. Geils Band and especially their singer Peter Wolf, who
were just starting out, and Alice Cooper, who was a great drinker
and a big fan of Jim’s. Eric Burdon, another great boozer and buddy
of Jim’s, stayed there all the time, too. All in all, I was having a pretty
cool time. Knowing Morrison was opening doors all over town.
People at Barney’s Beanery, the Whisky, Palms Bar, and Garden
District all knew me and treated me swell ‘cause they’d seen me
around with Jim.
Pg 214
It’s been said there is a gold record for every acre of land in Laurel
Canyon, which is another way of saying a hell of a lot of rich musicians
live there. Alice Cooper was living somewhere in the canyon, and
Keith Moon was rumored to have recently purchased a house. Doors
drummer John Densmore used to live there before his divorce, but
his ex-wife, Julia, stayed on, eventually having Allman Brother Berry
Oakley’s son a short month before Berry followed Duane Allman to
the grave in a motorcycle nightmare accident of his own. Frank Zappa
lived in Laurel Canyon, and Carole King had a house in the hills
there. David Crosby owned a big brick estate tucked atop the canyon
just under Mulholland Drive. Joni Mitchell, another resident of the
area, had recorded an album soaked in the canyon’s ambiance, called
Ladies of the Canyon, and John Mayall, still another local, had one
of his first best sellers with Blues from Laurel Canyon.
Pg 356
(the following is when Iggy Pop was arrested for wearing
women’s clothes. Danny Sugerman at this time was his manager
who received a phone call to pick him up.)
He got worse. The private line rang. Iggy was in jail, calling collect.
While I’d been locked in the bathroom, trying to nod out and forget
the whole ordeal, he’d wandered out of the house, down Laurel
Canyon over to Alice Cooper’s house, where he’d borrowed some clothes
from Alice’s girlfriend, Cindy Laing, and onto Hollywood Boulevard,
where he’d been picked up.
“What’s the charge?” I asked him.
“Impersonating a female,” he said, as if the police didn’t know
a real woman when they saw one. He sounded so convincing I agreed
to come get him. I didn’t have the heart to tell him there was the off
chance they might be right.
At the front desk the desk sergeant said, “Ya really want that guy?”
