Tom Petty said whatever he wanted in the driveway of his Malibu home.
Warren Zanes, the author of “Petty: The Biography,” recalled what it was like to interview the late rock star while he spoke in Gannett Auditorium Thursday night. Zanes said Petty was most honest when he spoke off-the-record. The book was proposed on that driveway.
“S--- went down in the driveway,” Zanes said.
The audience of about 140 Tom Petty fans and students cracked up when Zanes discussed how he authored his book.
Clay Calvert, a journalism professor in the UF College of Journalism and Communications, interviewed Zanes for 40 minutes, and the audience asked the author questions. The college paid Zanes $3,000 to speak, Calvert said.
In his book, Zanes wanted people to know Petty was human, not an untouchable rock star, he said.
Petty asked for some time to think after he read the manuscript of the book, which intimately detailed his drug abuse, Zanes said.
“He was worried that if one young person glamorized drug use because of him, he felt like he couldn’t do it,” he said.
Nathan Larubbio, a 19-year-old UF sports management sophomore, said he came to the event because he was a fan of Petty’s music.
“It was cool to hear how it wasn’t just outside research, he was actually a friend of his,” Larubbio said. “He had a kind of first-hand, behind-the-scenes, first-take of Tom Petty’s life.”
Warren Zanes, 53, answers questions from the audience on Thursday night in Weimer Hall's Gannett Auditorium after being interviewed about his most recent book, “Petty the Biography.” Zanes was a member of the 1980s rock band The Del Fuegos and first met Petty as a teenager when his band opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on one of their tours.
