Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has shared a letter written by Anthony Bourdain to Homme’s daughter, Camile. As Homme tells it, his daughter became upset after seeing Bourdain break her a guitar during a 2011 episode of No Reservations profiling Homme. After hearing of Camile’s reaction, Bourdain wrote a letter to assure her that the broken guitar was a prop and not one actually belonging to her father.
“That this was in fact a not so subtle reference to the early works of John Landis and John Belushi is something you could hardly have been expected to know, Animal House having been released long before you were born, and I apologize,” Bourdain wrote. Had Bourdain actually broken Homme’s guitar, “Daddy would have been really angry… and as he is a large man, I strongly suspect I would not still be here to write this letter,” he added.
(Read: Anthony Bourdain Was Never Afraid to Let Culture Change Him)
Bourdain’s letter went on to detail his immense admiration for Homme. “I like your Daddy so much, that when an obnoxious superfan of mine… got in your Daddy’s face — had your Daddy not gently guided him by the thorax to the welcoming arms of security — I would have broken my beer glass across the man’s skull and then jabbed the jagged remnants into his ****ing neck. That’s the kind of guy I am. I had your Daddy’s back — just like he had mine. You will learn about these things later — possibly in grammar school.”
In a caption accompanying the letter, Homme wrote, “Tony, I miss you bad. Once, Camille was so mad at you. She was defending me. & So were you. Defending me. As we had done & would do many times over the years for each other. & you, with great care, such empathy, such sweetness… you apologized to a little girl who was defending her daddy. Ariane, this was your father. Humbly yours, Joshua.”
Read Bourdain’s full letter below. Following Bourdain’s death last month, QOTSA dedicated a performance of “Long Slow Goodbye” in his honor.
