Chuck E. Weiss: Chuck Morris Remembers ‘Best Friend,’ LA Music Fixture

AP Photo – Chuck E. Weiss 1942-2021
“ There will never ever be another unique character like Chuck E., giving the world such an impact on so many of us” – Chuck Morris

Chuck E. Weiss, who died of cancer in Los Angeles July 20, wasn’t just the title character of Rickie Lee Jones’ hit “Chuck E.’s In Love,” or even a catalyst of a Hollywood music scene around which better-known stars like Jones and Tom Waits gravitated.

He was a musician, a poet, a part-owner with Johnny Depp of what became Hollywood’s famed Viper Room, a teacher, a mentor to those kicking addictions and, to longtime Denver concert promoter Chuck Morris, a best friend and more. Morris, at the request of Weiss’s brother Whizzy, was a pallbearer at Weiss’s funeral in Denver July 26.

Weiss, a Denver native, grew up in the same neighborhood as Morris, and often hung out at clubs Morris ran including Ebbets Field, sometimes filling in on drums when a backup band was needed for artists like Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins. He and Morris were there on one such night, when a singer/songwriter named Tom Waits came to town and the two struck up a legendary friendship.

Weiss moved to Southern California and into West Hollywood’s Tropicana Motel, where Waits, Jones, and other notable musicians were regulars. He released his first album, The Other Side Of Town, in 1981 with the help of his musician pals, including Waits who produced, and despite never becoming well known beyond L.A., he was a much-loved figure there – playing a regular weekly gig for 11 years at The Central in West Hollywood with his band, The Goddamn Liars.

Then he and actor Johnny Depp bought the club and renamed it The Viper Room.

Through it all, he remained close to Morris who says he last visited with Weiss in Los Angeles shortly before his death from cancer. Morris wrote a heartfelt tribute to Weiss July 21, lightly edited and reproduced here:

“It’s a very sad day for me and a lot of us,” Morris wrote on Facebook July 21. “My oldest friend since 1968 died yesterday in Los Angeles after a long illness. Chuck E. Weiss, musician, actor, music historian and sometime comedian … my sidekick (and sometime roommate), passed in a Los Angeles hospital.

“Chuck was leader of legendary underground band Chuck E. Weiss and the Goddamn Liars, was part owner of the infamous Viper Room along with his friend Johnny Depp, taught a class on music history at Colorado University (one of the first of its kind,) was the Chuck E. in Rickie Lee Jones’ classic hit ‘Chuck E.’s in Love,’’ had two of his albums produced by buddy Tom Waits, and so important after years of drug abuse became a leader of turning people around from the problems of drug and alcohol excess. His speeches at AA meetings in Los Angeles were legendary.

“Never getting the recognition he deserved in our music community from many, his persona and talent will live forever. His comedic talent came somewhere between Borat and Weird Al Yankovich. He also saved my life while I was in the midst of my alcohol and drug abuse in the early ‘70s and was responsible for my continuous sobriety since 1988.

“His bio, which began with his great line which in a nutshell said all you had to know about his sick and satirical sense of humor, started by saying that when he started his music career, ‘I always wanted to sing like a Black man and do business like a Jew, but always ended up doing business like a Black man and singing like a Jew.’ Words similar to the satirical comedy of Sacha Baron Cohen and Weird Al years later.

“A unique character that always made us laugh performed legendary music shows weekly at his equally legendary Viper Room and even had funny parts in several TV sitcoms. Hope his death will educate many who never realized what a unique character and musical talent he was and all of us who know him should continue that education.

“Never had a truer friend and sidekick like Chuck E. for most of both of our lives for five decades together, starting with his early years growing up in Denver with me and being part of my maturation in our crazy business of music. RIP Chuck E. We will all miss you .

“There will never ever be another unique character like Chuckie giving the world such an impact on so many of us. Honored to be a pallbearer, asked by his brother. So happy I went to Los Angeles a while ago just to spend time with him.”