Cameron Crowe

When Cameron Crowe started writing for Rolling Stone in 1972 at the age of fifteen, Paul Nelson, thirty-six, was already old enough to be his very hip father. Though Crowe resided on the West Coast and Paul on the East, they came to have something more in common than just writing for the same magazine: their friendship with Lester Bangs.

Last week, Cameron, who went on to write and direct Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous (which recounted his early years at Rolling Stone), was kind enough to provide a blurb for Everything Is an Afterthought:

“Kevin Avery has done something heroic here. Avery has rescued the work and the passion, the life and the meaning of the great Paul Nelson. Nelson was a deep and beautiful writer, mysterious and painstaking and brilliant. Thanks to Avery and Everything Is an Afterthought, Paul Nelson’s work finally has a home. This wonderful writing is here for the faithful, and now forever available for new fans who’ll never forget him.”