Q:  Do you think it was those flaws, or can you 
speculate on other reasons, either cultural or 
commercial, that led to his downfall.

A:  Well yes, because I think he was perceived and 
boomed in circa 1964-65 as a representative pop 
figure of the ’60s and he was of a piece with the 
Beatles, and the war in Vietnam, and Tom Wolfe, 
and Twiggy—and it was a part of the excitement 
of a specific time. And as I say, he was always 
difficult to understand, and a lot of the people at 
the time, even in the late ’60s who were making a 
big fuss about him, didn’t really understand him 
very well. They liked the phrases “hot medium,”