The Last Days Of Gram Parsons and My Journey To The Desert |Joshua Tree Inn |Cap Rock Cremation Spot

In this video I visit the Joshua Tree Inn where legendary musician Gram Parsons passed away after a drug overdose. I show you the memorial to Gram and share my own personal thoughts on the legacy he left behind. I then take you on a drive out to Joshua Tree National Park where Gram was cremated under very unusual circumstances at Cap Rock. Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973), known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work with the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers. He also popularized what he called "Cosmic American Music", a hybrid of country, rhythm and blues, soul, folk, and rock. He recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. His relatively short career was described by AllMusic as "enormously influential" for country and rock, "blending the two genres to the point that they became indistinguishable from each other. In the late 1960s, Parsons became enamored of and began to vacation at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California, where he frequently partook in psychedelics and reportedly experienced several UFO sightings. After splitting from Burrell, Parsons often spent his weekends in the area with Margaret Fisher and Phil Kaufman, with whom he had been living. Scheduled to resume touring in October 1973, Parsons decided to go on another recuperative excursion on September 17. Accompanying him were Fisher, personal assistant Michael Martin, and Dale McElroy, Martin's girlfriend. Kaufman later declared that Parsons' attorney was preparing divorce papers for him to serve to Burrell while the singer remained in Joshua Tree on September 20. During the trip, Parsons often retreated to the desert, while the group visited bars in the nearby hamlet of Yucca Valley, California on both nights of their stay. Parsons consumed large amounts of alcohol and barbiturates. On September 18, Martin drove back to Los Angeles to resupply the group with marijuana. That night, after challenging Fisher and McElroy to drink with him (Fisher didn't like alcohol and McElroy was recovering from a bout of hepatitis C), he said, "I'll drink for the three of us," and proceeded to drink six double tequilas. They then returned to the Joshua Tree Inn, where Parsons purchased morphine from an unknown young woman. After being injected by her in room #8, he overdosed. Fisher gave Parsons an ice-cube suppository, and later on a cold shower. Instead of moving Parsons around the room, she put him to bed and went out to buy coffee in the hope of reviving him, leaving McElroy to stand watch. As his respiration became irregular and later ceased, McElroy attempted resuscitation. Her efforts failed and Fisher, watching from outside, was visibly alarmed. After further failed attempts, they decided to call an ambulance. Parsons was declared dead on his arrival at High Desert Memorial Hospital at 12:15 a.m. on September 19, 1973 in Yucca Valley. The official cause of death was an overdose of morphine and alcohol. According to Fisher in the 2005 biography Grievous Angel: An Intimate Biography of Gram Parsons, the amount of morphine consumed by Parsons would be lethal to three regular users; thus, he had likely overestimated his tolerance in light of his diminished intake despite his extensive experience with opiates. Keith Richards stated in the 2004 documentary film Fallen Angel that Parsons understood the danger of combining opiates and alcohol and should have known better. Upon Parsons' death, Fisher and McElroy were returned to Los Angeles by Kaufman, who dispersed the remnants of Parsons' drugs in the desert. Before his death, Parsons stated that he wanted his body cremated at Joshua Tree and his ashes spread over Cap Rock, a prominent natural feature there. The site of Parsons' cremation was marked by a small concrete slab and was presided over by a large rock flake known to rock climbers as The Gram Parsons Memorial Hand Traverse. The slab has since been removed by the U.S. National Park Service, and relocated to the Joshua Tree Inn. There is no monument at Cap Rock noting Parsons' cremation at the site. Joshua Tree park guides are given the option to tell the story of Parsons' cremation during tours, but there is no mention of the act in official maps or brochures. Fans regularly assemble simple rock structures and writings on the rock, which the park service periodically sand blasts to remove.