A letter written by the late AC/DC singer Bon Scott to a female friend during the band's 1978 Powerage tour is up for auction -- and it shows he wasn't all that happy with his life on the road at the time.
In it, he apologizes to his friend, whose name is Valerie, for not writing or calling enough, because he's "always traveling or drunk or hungover or...or...today I'm shaking so much I can hardly write." He admits that he "had to stop making phone calls when I got too much in the red with the money situation" and says he's "already about $130 into this week's wages, but about two weeks ago I owed the band about $70 on pay day." He calls that "crazy," but says that being crazy is about the only way he's able to maintain his sanity.
Scott expresses concern about his mental and physical health, writing that he's beginning to "feel and look just a little haggard" and would love to check himself into a sanitarium for a month. He explains that he can't, because as soon as the U.S. tour ends "the band is headed Europe and England for a month and then back here for the winter." He warns her that the next time she sees him he "might be in a geriatric ward."
The letter also gives some insight into the making of AC/DC's first live album, If You Want Blood You've Got It, which would be released later that year, revealing that he "had to re-record about five concerts, cause the vocals were not as good sound-wise as the[y] had to be from all the microphone spill from the guitars and things." He does says that it "sounds great and it'll look good hanging on the Xmas trees."
Written on Hilton stationery, the three-page letter is being auctioned by the L.A.-based Nate D. Sanders Auctions, which specializes in letters and autographs. The minimum bid is $6,500 and the auction ends January 31st. You can read the entire letter on the company's website.