Seventh chapter

To investigate sudden death in Joshua Tree

The shoulder I've been leanin 'on

Is the coldest place place I've ever known

There's nothin left for me round here

Looks like it's time to disappear

Emmylou Harris

On my way out of Las Vegas, I stop at a gas station and buy a black cap that I then turn backwards to avoid the wind blowing it away.

The road from Las Vegas to Joshua Tree goes through a desert landscape derived from both road movies and rock videos. The traffic is sparse and I enjoy having the sun in my face as I drive south through the Mojave National Reserve.

The big engine of the Mustang rumbles too much every time I accelerate. It ruins part of the nature experience.

I'm right equipped with shorts, sunglasses and several bottles of soda and mineral water. On some occasions, I stop photographing cacti and rocks, but I avoid taking a long walks from the car. Most importantly, as the breaks to photograph are meaningless, because I always realize that the phone's memory is full.

I curse myself to be too badly informed about the dangers of the desert. Can here be scorpions and poisonous snakes? Or is it just dehydration and heat stroke that threatens me in the burning heat?

Even I who am not really afraid of wildlife feel like being careful out here. I imagine it's less painful to shoot the head off than to die by a snake bite, if life is to end here in the desert.

Although I like heat a lot, this is a bit too hot, so at every break I quickly hurry back to the air-conditioned cockpit in my rented Mustang.

By the time I get to the Joshua Tree, I'm hungry. I'm lucky to find the Natural Sisters Café, which serves all kinds of things. It's good too.

When I have eaten the green good sandwiches, I look up the Joshua Tree Inn, which on a sign on the outside presents itself as "the home of Gram Parson's spirit".

One reason why I wanted to come to Joshua Tree is that I want to get close to the place where the singer Gram Parsons died of an overdose at the age of 27. It happened on September 19, 1973. It is said that he liked to get high in the desert and mixed morphine and alcohol in excessive amounts. One of his intentions with his visit here was to relax after recording his second solo disc, which was called "Grevious Angel". He died in room 8 at Joshua Tree Inn. That room is booked – and I would not have stayed there anyway. I do not want to come that close to death today. Instead, I can stay in room 9 called Emmylou Harris room. It costs just over $ 200 for two nights. It's a bit more expensive than my budget allows, but I've noticed that it's just as expensive to stay at Air Bnb here in Joshua Tree. A totally charming room at another motel is available for half the price, but the atmosphere here is worth the difference.

I get in Emmylous room and think it's very nice. Outside there is both patio and pool. I'd rather sit in the sun and listen to Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris in the computer than I swimming in the pool.

When I read about Gram Parsons, I find the strange story of how his friend and producer Phil Kaufmann stole the coffin with his body and brought it to Cap Rock in the desert. There he poured on gas and lit fire, which caused Gram Parsons to be partially cremated. Kaufmann was subsequently sentenced to a fine for this.

The remains of the body were then sent to New Orleans, where Gram Parson's greedy stepfather wanted him buried. If I knew about this when I was there a week ago, I'd searched the grave which is supposed to be near highway 61.

I decide to visit Cap Rock instead. It takes half an hour by car. In front of the cliff there is a large parking area, where there are already a lot of cars. I am going up to the cliff. Did Phil Kaufman really pull the coffin to the top?

Today here are two gangs, one young and one old, equipped with acoustic guitars. One gang is playing and singing "Love hurts" and the other "Hearts on Fire". Several of them have tears in their eyes. One of the guitarists is crying a river.

Both bands make a break at the same time, and I'm going to the younger band asking why they want to pay homage to Gram Parsons so far after his death. I do not want to hear of the usual empty phrases that he married rock and country music together. His young fans are united. That's the feeling in Gram Parson's music that makes it live after so many years. When they play and sing, they try to be true to his feelings. They make it really successful. Gram Parsons would be happy if he had heard of their versions of his music.

When I'm in Emmylous bed in the evening, I think of Gram and everything he has missed during the 43 years that has passed since he died. I'm eager to know more.

His daughter Polly Parsons was five years old when Gram took his overdose. I really do not want to moralize, but I cannot help thinking that it was really stupid of him to risk making her fatherless and at the same time refraining from the joy of seeing her grow up. Although some of his fans claim that he consumed only a small amount of drugs, at September 18 he took a dose that could have killed two musicians. As a result, he was declared dead on September 19th.

His daughter tmarked a distance from her father for many years and she used to abuse both cocaine and alcohol. She is of course responsible for her own addiction. A dead father cannot do that, but why did Gram Parsons choose not to see the daughter growing up?

I have a friend who says she will start using cocaine when she retire. Other friends do not think it is so important if they drink a lot of alcohol after reaching a high age. They'll die soon anyhow.

Although drugs have never attracted me, I have more understanding in testing it old age than risking their future as young.

Gram Parsons is not just the only talented musician who has died of drugs in when they were 27. I cannot help thinking about what he could have accomplished from 27 to 70 years as he would be today. The world has missed so much good music because of the drugs. Certainly, some say that the drugs give inspiration to good music, but can a real feeling become more true if it is filtered through drugs? I have a difficulty believing that, but I have difficulty saying something true on this matter because I have never tested drugs.

If Gram Parsons had lived today, what was his latest album about? I want to hope he had written about the climate threat together with the most beautiful melodies – or maybe about the pleasures of aging. He would hardly has written about Hillary and Donald.

It's hard to know if he might have any social conscience as 70-year-old songwriter. He came from a fairly wealthy family in Florida and started studying at Harvard, but ended soon to go for the music. However, studies at Harvard have never prevented anyone from gaining a social conscience.

The morning after, I decide to let go the subject Gram Parsons. Instead I spend the day exploring the environments used by photographer Anton Corbijn for the images on the cover of the "The Joshua Tree" album with the Irish band U2.

I start by taking a long walk in and around the city, which has only 7,500 inhabitants. It has been kept free from the worst form of commerce. Here's a lot of art to see and a their own variant of the farmer's market. I'm walking in bigger circles all morning.

In the afternoon, I'm exhausted by the heat and is planning to go to Zabriskie Point in Death Valley with the car, but despite the name of the valley, I'll skip it immediately when I realize it's 250 miles in one direction. Instead, I drive without a plan around the desert near Joshua Tree. The desert really reminds me of death, even though I do not really imagine death as a desert, but as an eternal darkness. Or not even a darkness  – just nothing. And the desert is so close to nothing it's possible – at least in California.

The desert is fun to visit, but there is no place I would like to stay for a long time. I prefer green grass and blue sea. Here it is very clear that the time I have left in my life I want to live near the sea.

In the evening I decide to eat at Crossroads Café. I have been told that they are good at vegetarian food and I choose what on the menu is called Hell Burger, a meatless burger, which tastes great with a Californian pale beer.

Here nobody sits down next to me starting talking, neither young nor old. Do I look like I'm fed up with discussions about old age and Donald Trump?

I sit at the bar and notice that the bartender seems to be almost as old as me, which is very rare. I cannot help asking if he was here at Gram Parson's time. No, he was not. He seems to be tired of that kind of questions and I do not have any other type so I let the food keep my mouth quiet.

When I have finished drinking a cup of coffee, the old bartender starts asking me questions about where I come from and where I am going. I try to respond politely, but without encouraging him to continue to ask.

Instead, he tells us that he has served Emmylou Harris, which impresses me. He tells me things I do not want to hear – about how she has aged.

Then I realize that despite the desert heat, I have to empty the bladder and hurry home to Emmylou Harris's room. I also realize that it is high time to book an air bnb in Los Angeles for tomorrow night. Actually, I would like to find an air bnb in Topanga Valley, where Neil Young lived once, but when I search, all the options seem to be both expensive and charmless. So I decide to try to find someone closer to the beach, in line with the fact that I have just decided to stay close to the ocean during my remaining life.

I find a small closet-like but charming room for under 50 dollars, just one block from the beach in Venice Beach and quickly book it. Then I look at maps google and realize I only have 130 miles to drive tomorrow. I'm wondering what deviations I could do to see exciting places along the way. It's not that far to Tijuana in Mexico. If I go there, I can spot a country that I've never been to. Another option is to go to Laguna Beach, where the Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg's amazing novel about aging, “A time on earth”, takes place. There is a quote, from the book's main character Albert Carlson, which I have often thought about:

"You'll always think: I'm here on earth this only time! I can never come here again! And the same Sigfrid said to himself: Take care of your life! Beware! Do not waste it! For now is your time on earth! "

Yes, how can I best take care of my day tomorrow? Now I have booked a room in Venice, and it will be unnecessarily hectic if I'm going to visit Mexico. On the other hand, I easily find Laguna Beach and feel the vibrations of Vilhelm Moberg and his novel hero Albert Carlson.

I'm trying to find the TV series “A time on earth” in the Swedish Television’s open archive, but I do not succeed. Instead, I download it as an e-book via the library at home in Sweden.

Then I read till I fall asleep.

From Kurt Andersson's Facebook 

Natalie Miles, Albuquerque

Kurt! I guess you are now on the west coast. I don’t know your plans, but I have a suggestion. In case you are going along the west coast from California to Seattle you should take your time to stop in Portland, Oregon. I worked there for a couple of years around 2000 and I really liked the place. There I met a man from New Mexico and followed him here, which I now regret. Portland is close to the sea and close to the mountains.

I still have friends there, so if you are interested I could organize a coffee or a lunch for you.

Mary Jackson, Dallas

Hi! Are you going to LA? I was there a couple of days this summer. What you should not miss is the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in West Hollywood. When you get there you start with testing your own prejudices. It is interesting to realize that your thinking is not free from stereotypes.

It is still a pleasure to follow your travels. Did you read the book ”Travels with Charley” by John Steinbeck? If not I think you would like it. It is about a man who is travelling around with his dog, called Charley.

Mia Turner, New Orleans

Last night something unusual happened in my bar. It was around 8 PM. Half a dozen of men was sitting here drinking beer quietly. A stranger, a tall old man entered. I thought it was something familiar about the guy. And the men who were sitting there stared at each other. Then I realized who the new guest was: Clint Eastwood. He looked older and more tired than I expected.

He also sat down and ordered a beer. When I served the beer I asked him how things are going and he told me he was in New Orleans to recall memories from when he was here to make the movie Tightrope in the early 80:s. Clint and I had a really nice chat. I have read that he supports Donald Trump, but I did not bring that up. I did not want to risk spoiling the party.

Tom Ford, Memphis

After our concert in the open air stage near Beale Street a guy came up to our friend Sonny and me when we were drinking beer together. He said he worked for one of the major record companies in the US and said that he really liked our music. He said that he found it contemporary, but with an old blues feeling. Could I sign you up for our label, he asked us. Sonny and I said yes directly without asking the rest of the band.

Robert Nelson, Kansas City

Hi Kurt, how updated are you on newer music than our old heroes? I just discovered a new favorite, Phosphorscent. It is a young man, not that young, but really interesting. So if you come somewhere where he is playing I recommend you to go to the show.

Do you have any new favorites to recommend to me? 

Facts about Joshua Tree

• Joshua Tree is located in the state of California.

• Joshua Tree has about 7,500 inhabitants.

• Joshua Tree National Park covers over 3,000 square kilometers of desert landscape.

• Joshua Tree has over 300 campsites.

• In Joshua Tree there is a large art colony.

• Joshua Tree is considered one of the United States best places to watch stars in the sky.

Read more at www.joshuatreenationalpark.com