Dead Addict Of The Day

Speedballs scare the shit out of me. My husband began his addictive trainwreck with an oxycontin addiction, and he liked to alternate oxy and cocaine. I'm sure he's done a speedball as well. Everyone who does a speedball dies.

Today's dead addict is the lovely River Phoenix, who died from a speedball, like Chris Farley, on Halloween morning in 1993. I can't believe it was 1993! That was so long ago...

I had a crush on River Phoenix way back when he was in Stand By Me. He established quite an impressive filmography for someone who died at age 23, appearing in 17 films and starring in many.

Here is a link to the Natalie Merchant song "River."

And here are a few quotes from him that I thought were pretty interesting:

"We moved around a lot. When I was four years old, I heard 'Fire and
Rain' a lot. So we were in Mexico and I was playing with a flashlight that was
going dead, and we couldn't afford any more batteries. My father asked me to
please stop, but I wanted to see how far I could push someone, so I kept on
turning it on and off. He said, 'Could you please stop this?' with a stern voice
and took it out of my hand, put it in the glove box and slammed it. I felt this
tremble, this fear of authority, and I felt I understood that you have to
respect people. That there was a reason behind it. That was the first concept of
reality as far as relationships go. I saw that there was not just this world of
vagueness that you can bounce off of."

And:

"I don't want to die in a car accident. When I die it'll be a glorious
day. It'll probably be a waterfall."

And also:

"I try to lie as much as I can when I'm interviewed. It's reverse
psychology. I figure if you lie, they'll print the truth."