Robert Burke Warren is a writer, performer, teacher, and musician. His 2016 debut novel, Perfectly Broken, is out now. He’s the music editor for the essay site The Weeklings, he’s ghost-written for Gregg Allman and his liner notes appear on the award-winning CD Live at Caffe Lena. He’s written for Salon, Paste, Texas Music, Brooklyn Parent, The Woodstock Times, The Rumpus, The Good Men Project, The Bitter Southerner, Chronogram, the Da Capo anthology The Show I ‘ll Never Forget and Rolling Stone Press’ Trouble Girls. His songs appear on albums by Rosanne Cash and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson, and The Roots used his tune “The Elephant In the Room” as John McCain’s entrance theme on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. One upon a time, he performed the lead in the West End musical Buddy: the Buddy Holly Story. Prior to that he traveled the world as a bass player. You can find his songs – as RBW and as Uncle Rock – on cdbaby.com, Spotify, iTunes and rogue internet sites.
You can find him on Facebook by clicking HERE, and Twitter HERE.
solitude & good company 
hi, thank you for your wonderful blog. today, i find myself remembering a friend of mine from many many years ago in atlanta, lanny. when i knew him, he was known by the drag personna, ‘cherry snow’. i once met rupaul via lanny, but i can’t recall lanny’s connections with ru. do you remember lanny or know of him. just curious.
many thanks,
jim
nyc
Hi Jim,
Thanks for writing and for the kind words. I’m afraid I don’t know Lanny, at least not by name. When I lived in NYC, and especially when I worked in the bars, I met and got to know lots of folks without ever learning their names. At the time, it seemed cool, like it made us all more free. But now I wish I’d kept track more. Some of the most indelible people I have no names for. Alas.
Thanks again. Hope this finds you well…
RBW
Jim,
Cherry can be found here and there in Nelson Sullivan’s archives. Flloyd still speaks highly of Cherry. Here is a quick link to some clips with him. May you enjoy seeing your friend again.
Robert
https://www.youtube.com/user/5ninthavenueproject/search?query=cherry+snow
Hey Robert
You marvelously played my daughters bday in tivoli ny a few years ago.
Red Hook PTA wants to book you.
FaceBook won’t let me join (lol).
What is a good email to contact you ?
Thanks, Andy
Hey Andy – Thank you, good sir. robertburkewarren@gmail.com
Luis de la Reguera and I were friends, having first met at Sundance when he debuted his film rockets red glare. We would meet up for drinks, or I would join him DJing at beauty bar on 14th St., or we would put a film at the Angelika but once my son was born our time hanging out grew less and less. When I stop hearing from them all together, the a year passed by, then two and three and I was baffled. Luis and I didn’t have any mutual friends and this was at a time before social media or thing for me, but one random day years later I came across his Wikipedia entry; I was in shock as I was heartbroken. I spent countless hours trying to learn more about his accident, or connect with someone who knew him better than I. But just now came across your blog and am reliving the same feelings when I first read about his death. It’s been 15 years but the memories I have of him are forever, as I’m sure they do you.
Thanks so much for writing, Billy.
I am glad to have filled in some blanks for you, but sorry to have reawakened your grief.
The anniversary of his death was a couple weeks back. It’s always hard, for some reason this year was harder than usual. I wonder if you and I ever met. I was the Tuesday night bartender at Beauty Bar from ’97 til 2002. My last bar gig. Luis was in there a lot.
I miss him so much. It never gets easier. I think I’ve missed him more in these last few years because his fierceness and extreme funniness would have been so welcome, so helpful with Trump, and now with Covid.
Part of the reason for writing that piece was to chronicle as much of Luis as I could while the memories remain sharp. The edges were starting to blur. In getting them down, I did get a sense of his presence, bittersweet but welcome.
I take pleasure in knowing another person who connected with him, especially during that time, when he was getting his movie made and into the world and enjoying some hard-won against-the-odds success. He’d experienced a fair amount of failure in his ambitions – as had I. But he and I both went through a few charmed years, when it seemed Fate was smiling. Although he was the same guy at heart no matter what his circumstances, I remember that little window as a time when, rather than struggling, he was relishing some fruits of his labor.
I’m probably not done writing about Luis. I’ll let you know if I put anything else out there.
Thanks again.
best,
Robert
And more importantly, I’m so sorry for your loss. Thank you for writing that post, your strength to do so has brought me some closure. L