Classic Conversation Thread

[cax16]

34 minutes ago, Avatree said:

I think AC/DC are about to announce a new album.

 

They were the first band I saw live in concert about 25 years ago.

[Avatree]

1 hour ago, cax16 said:

They were the first band I saw live in concert about 25 years ago.

Wow! Very jealous. Were they good?

 

I would love to see them live. AC/DC & Bruce Springsteen are the only acts I must see before I die. (Or, more likely, before they die)

 

I do feel a bit sorry for AC/DC though because they every time they do a world tour to promote a new album, people don't care about the new songs, only the same songs from 1970s/80s lol.

[cax16]

3 hours ago, Avatree said:

Wow! Very jealous. Were they good?

 

I would love to see them live. AC/DC & Bruce Springsteen are the only acts I must see before I die. (Or, more likely, before they die)

 

I do feel a bit sorry for AC/DC though because they every time they do a world tour to promote a new album, people don't care about the new songs, only the same songs from 1970s/80s lol.

I thought they were pretty great. I sat in the upper deck and it felt like  the whole building was shaking. 

[terrestrial]

On 9/27/2020 at 11:07 PM, Plain Old Tele said:

 

 

He was him as his brother died (counting the time before the EMTs arrived), and was underage at the time. I can’t i,agine to have witnessed the death of a sibling at all, even less to not be able to do anything to help like in that case

 

As a bit long, the majority in spoiler tags

 

Quote

Death[edit]

 

The Viper Room on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, where Phoenix collapsed on the sidewalk and died

In late October 1993, Phoenix had returned to Los Angeles, only there for 1 day, after flying back from 1 week in New Mexico and before that 6 to 7 weeks in Utah to complete the three weeks of interior shots left on his last project, Dark Blood,^[36][a] a film that was finally completed in 2012.^[40]Musician (and future drug counselor) Bob Forrest, a

Spoiler

 

good friend of Phoenix, in his 2013 memoir Running With Monsters, gave one of the most detailed accounts of Phoenix's final days and the moments leading up to his death. On the evening of October 30, 1993, Phoenix was to perform with the band P; which featured his good friends Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, actor Johnny Depp, Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers along with Al Jourgensen of Ministry at The Viper Room, a Hollywood nightclub partly owned at the time by Depp.^[27] Forrest claims that Phoenix and Frusciante arrived at the club together, where they would meet up with Phoenix's girlfriend Samantha Mathis, Phoenix's brother Joaquin, and their sister Rain, along with Flea and Depp. After arriving, cocaine was immediately passed around. Forrest later said that Phoenix was obviously already high and was, as he put it, "unsteady as a boxer who had taken one too many head-shots during a fifteen-round bout."

During the performance by P, Forrest said that Phoenix tapped him on the shoulder to tell him he was not feeling well, and that he thought he had overdosed. Forrest said to Phoenix that he didn't think that he was overdosing because he could stand and talk. Nonetheless, he offered to take Phoenix home, but Phoenix declined, saying he was feeling better. A few moments later, Forrest said that a commotion erupted in the club and he went outside to find Mathis screaming as her boyfriend was lying on the sidewalk having convulsions. Joaquin called 9-1-1, but was unable to determine whether Phoenix was breathing. His sister Rain proceeded to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.^[41]

When the ambulance arrived, Phoenix was still alive and Flea went with him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. When Forrest arrived at the hospital he saw Mathis standing in the hallway crying.^[42] Further attempts to resuscitate Phoenix at the hospital were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 1:51 a.m. PST on the morning of October 31, 1993 at the age of 23.^[43][44]

In the 2013 book, Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind, Gavin Edwards blames Frusciante for being the one who gave Phoenix the drugs that took his life. In an interview with director William Richert, Edwards discusses Phoenix's death, stating that Samantha Mathis also accused Frusciante. 

River didn't want to go that night. She (Mathis) offered to take Joaquin (Leaf back then) and Rain for him since Joaquin was still underage. River changed his mind at the last minute and ran to meet them at the elevator. So River arrived with Samantha, Joaquin, and Rain, they got a booth in the back and he waited to be invited up to play. He stayed sober because he was planning on getting onstage with Flea. After he found out that there is not enough room onstage for him, he was going to take his guitar back to his table and play." According to Richert, after reaching the club, Mathis said John Frusciante approached their table, offered River a little plastic blue cup and said, "drink this, Riv, it'll make you feel fabulous." River drank it down and suffered an immediate reaction. His neck bulged, his back twitched, and he complained, "something’s wrong." He then vomited at the table.^[45]

Richert said that Mathis would later change her story, no longer mentioning Frusciante by name. Richert also mentioned that following the death of Phoenix, Frusciante became paranoid, and threatened to kill himself because he feared that he would be arrested. He claimed that Frusciante locked himself away for a few days in the mansion where the Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded their 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Richert said that Johnny Depp had to console Frusciante, and assure him that nobody was going to jail. At the time, Phoenix's father was also angry with Frusciante over his son's death, and in an interview stated: "Tell him if I find him I'm going to kill him. He's very rich and very young, 23 like River, but he's a terrible addict who has become a pusher..." The family never pressed charges against anyone for their son's death.^[45]

In 2018, Samantha Mathis opened up about Phoenix's death. Mathis said that she and Phoenix had originally only intended to drop off Phoenix's siblings at the Viper Room on the way to her house, but Phoenix decided to stay for a while after he was asked to perform with the band. She insisted that during their time dating she had known him to be sober, but "In the days before he died, though, I knew something was going on ... I didn't see anyone doing drugs [that night] but he was high in a way that made me feel uncomfortable."^[46] She added that "the heroin that killed him didn't happen until he was in the Viper Room. I have my suspicions about what was going on, but I didn't see anything." Mathis went to the bathroom, and on her way back to the table saw Phoenix apparently engaged in a scuffle with another person. The bouncers removed both men from the club. Mathis shouted at the other man "What have you done? What are you on?", only to be told by another person "Leave him alone, you're spoiling his high." By that point, according to her account, Phoenix had fallen to the ground and begun to convulse.^[47]

According to Gibby Haynes, the band was performing their song "Michael Stipe" while Phoenix was outside the venue having seizures on the sidewalk.^[48] When the news filtered through the club, Flea left the stage and rushed outside. By that time, paramedics had arrived on the scene and found Phoenix turning cyanotic, in full cardiac arrest and in asystole. They administered medication in an attempt to restart his heart.

The following day, the club became a makeshift shrine, with fans and mourners leaving flowers, pictures and candles on the sidewalk, as well as graffiti messages on the walls of the venue.^[49] A sign was placed in the window that read, "With much respect and love to River and his family, The Viper Room is temporarily closed. Our heartfelt condolences to all his family, friends and loved ones. He will be missed."^[50] The club remained closed for a week. Depp continued to close the club every year on October 31 until selling his share in 2004.^[51]

Before his death, Phoenix's image—one he bemoaned in interviews—had been squeaky-clean, owing in part to his public dedication to his various social, political, humanitarian, and dietary interests that were not always popular in the 1980s. As a result, his death elicited a vast amount of coverage from the media.^[52] Phoenix was described by one writer as "the vegan James Dean," and comparisons were made regarding the youth and sudden deaths of both actors.^[53]

The November 15, 1993, autopsy found that "Toxicology studies showed high concentrations of morphine and cocaine in the blood, as well as other substances in smaller concentrations." The cause of death was "acute multiple drug intoxication", including cocaine and morphine.^[54]

On November 24, 1993, Arlyn (later changing her name to "Heart") Phoenix published an open letter in the Los Angeles Times on her son's life and death. It read, in part:

His friends, co-workers and the rest of our family know that River was not a regular drug user. He lived at home in Florida with us and was almost never a part of the "club scene" in Los Angeles. He had just arrived in L.A. from the pristine beauty and quietness of Utah where he was filming for six weeks. We feel that the excitement and energy of the Halloween nightclub and party scene were way beyond his usual experience and control. How many other beautiful young souls, who remain anonymous to us, have died by using drugs recreationally? It is my prayer that River's leaving in this way will focus the attention of the world on how painfully the spirits of his generation are being worn down.^[55] River made such a big impression during his life on Earth. He found his voice and found his place. And even River, who had the whole world at his fingertips to listen, felt deep frustration that no one heard. What is it going to take? Chernobyl wasn't enough. Exxon Valdez wasn't enough. A bloody war over oil wasn't enough. If River's passing opens our global heart, then I say, thanks dear, beloved son, for yet another gift to all of us.^[55]

Phoenix was cremated in Gainesville, Florida at Milam Funeral Home and his ashes were scattered in the river where his family had property in Montezuma, Costa Rica. Following his death, his sister Rain took over all of River's music recordings and writings

 

.

 

On 9/29/2020 at 4:41 PM, Avatree said:

 

What a lovely gesture.

 

He had no obligation to get her a pay rise. They weren't co-leads in the film; Chadwick was the main character and Sienna a supporting character.

He didn't do that for publicity.

 

Seems he was just a kind man.

See not publicity, way too few out there who are truly human beings, in the best possible meaning.

[terrestrial]

21 hours ago, cax16 said:

They were the first band I saw live in concert about 25 years ago.

Not my first concert, but they were part of my first multi artists big names festival, at 1 September 1979 in Nürnberg Zeppelinfeld (I was at others too, but the line ups where less ‘heavy’ in ~ stardom)

 

AC/DC’s part was a bit over an hour 

 

 

It was an interesting mix of styles

 

 

[cannastop]

[Avatree]

1 hour ago, terrestrial said:

Not my first concert, but they were part of my first multi artists big names festival, at 1 September 1979 in Nürnberg Zeppelinfeld (I was at others too, but the line ups where less ‘heavy’ in ~ stardom)

 

AC/DC’s part was a bit over an hour 

 

 

It was an interesting mix of styles

 

 

Scorpions are great, they're the Eagles of death metal.

[cannastop]

 

 

[terrestrial]

How does someone know @Blankments is here ~ on the prowl? If you get a like for a post made nearly 5 years back (anniversary in Oct.!)

 

Thank you Blankments! 

[lorddemaxus]

Someone retweeted this on my twitter feed and lol.

Edited October 2, 2020 by lorddemaxus

[AndyK]

Sickening....

 

 

[Avatree]

I'm about to finish season 3 of Homeland. The show is OK but this Saul Berenson dude is wonderful. I love his gentle-but-deadly presence.

I've just discovered that this is the same soothing presence as INIGO MONTOYA! my mind is literally blown to pieces.

[Porthos]

 

RIP, legend.

[Avatree]

Do you need to have seen the previous Bill & Ted films to understand Face The Music?

 

I want to go to the cinema again before they close and nothing else on.

[dudalb]

12 hours ago, Avatree said:

Do you need to have seen the previous Bill & Ted films to understand Face The Music?

 

I want to go to the cinema again before they close and nothing else on.

Hell, you need to be familair with Bill and Ted in their original TV appreances to get the first movie...

[CoolioD1]

1 hour ago, dudalb said:

Hell, you need to be familair with Bill and Ted in their original TV appreances to get the first movie...

what are you talking about

[DAJK]

19 hours ago, Avatree said:

Do you need to have seen the previous Bill & Ted films to understand Face The Music?

 

I want to go to the cinema again before they close and nothing else on.

No

[MrGamer]

13 hours ago, CoolioD1 said:

what are you talking about

You also have to read the Bill and Ted wiki to understand the lore.

[Napoleon]

I never heard of Bill and Ted before this new movie.

[cannastop]

 

Good shit for the New Yorker.