Let Love Rule - Lenny Kravitz Page 0,69

grown up in the specific culture of sitcom TV helped me understand what she was going through on a daily basis. I knew that grind firsthand, and I knew the toll it took.

When Interview profiled Lisa—this was only a few months after we met—we were already close enough that she mentioned me, referring to her “brother Romeo.” It wasn’t long after that that I had a change of heart about that very name. Because it turns out what I was looking for was right there, the whole time.

BECOMING LENNY

There was nothing fake about Lisa. The more I thought about my made-up name, the phonier it felt to me. I wasn’t Romeo. I wasn’t Blue. I wasn’t some fabricated wannabe. I was a musician dead set on being real. It suddenly became clear that my pseudonym was getting in the way of that. It was the immature me looking to be cool. But coolness comes from within. You can’t fake it. You can’t name it into being. You have to grow it organically.

I had a lot invested in Romeo Blue. I thought of him as an alter ego, without any of the problems facing Lennie. When I first came up with this new identity, it gave me confidence. But now it felt false. Romeo Blue was out.

But what name was in?

At first, I thought I’d go to the other extreme and call myself Leonard Kravitzky (my grandfather’s real last name before he hit Ellis Island); I actually ordered business cards carrying that name. Looking at them, though, I felt it was just too classical, like “Igor Stravinsky.”

No, the easiest answer was the simplest: the real me, the real name. The only change was in the spelling: “Lennie” became “Lenny” because, on paper, I liked the shape of the y more than the ie. It looked stronger.

I was Lenny Kravitz. Despite the name I’d invented and the image I’d adopted, I’d always been Lenny Kravitz. But it took Lisa to inspire me to find myself.

* * *

It was Lenny who kept working with our nameless group. We played a high-profile gig at the China Club in New York that created some buzz. We felt we might be close to getting a deal. Lisa, who had an apartment on Mott Street, showed up and met Mitzi, who eyed her suspiciously.

Lisa had broken up with one boyfriend only to start dating another. Sometimes she invited me to her place, but always when there were other people present. We watched Taxi Driver on her VCR, we listened to Jimi Hendrix records, we walked around the Village—friends, just friends. Running from coast to coast, I maintained my engagement to Mitzi. I had no reason not to. Mitzi was aware of my fondness for Lisa, and that was fine. Or was it?

If it was my fate to simply be Lisa’s brother, then so be it. Lisa had her life, and I wanted to be around her, whatever form that took. I could put my stronger feelings aside; I had no ego in it. I’d do anything just to be in her energy. That’s how much I loved her. In the words of the Stones, “You can’t always get what you want.”

One weekend, Mitzi and I went to Idyllwild, California, with Lisa and a group of her friends. Later that evening, under the moonlight in the crisp mountain air, a bunch of us did shrooms. It was a mellow trip except for the vibe Mitzi was giving Lisa. I could feel the tension. It was indescribable but undeniable.

Another time, when Mitzi was back in New York and I was in L.A., Lisa came over to the downtown loft while I was having a small party. She was barefoot, seated in an easy chair, when I came over and, because it seemed natural, started massaging her feet. I am reminded of the famous scene in Pulp Fiction when John Travolta tells Samuel Jackson that a foot massage might seem innocent, but it ain’t. A foot massage can change everything.

* * *

In 1986, Lisa accepted a starring role in Angel Heart, a film with Robert DeNiro and Mickey Rourke. It was psychological noir that included voodoo ceremonies with chicken heads being cut off and a bloody sex scene. The entire film bothered Bill Cosby, who had carefully cultivated his wholesome Hollywood brand. Moreover, he had already committed to a spin-off of The Cosby Show, A Different World, in which Lisa, continuing in her role as Denise Huxtable, would star.

A fiercely