Alrighty then, how do I say I am not surprised?
Soooo. Since I've decided I really don't want to have to talk to Don's friend Keith over the phone or at all really, I let Maryangel answer the phone and give him the number of where Don was at during that moment.
I guess the burning news Keith needed to impart to DOn was that another friend of thiers had died in his sleep last night. Guy was only, like 26. They were all kinds of shocked.
Me, well the last time I clapped eyes on Joe he was skinny as a rail, hollow eyed with dark circles under them and waaaaayyyyyy to hyper. He couldn't sit still. First he'd play the game with Keith and Don, then go pace around, then play his guitar, then back to playing the game. I just kinda took in all the little signs, added them up and in my mind, both Esme and myself went "Tweakin'!".
Keith and Don swear up and down that Joe didn't do hard core drugs. May be smoked some weed and drank some beer, but that was it.
Uh-huh.
Dude was in an acid metal/hard rock band. Granted, they were damned good. We even have a copy of thier first published cd. We're talking pre-stardom launching phase and the entire crowd that generates.
I used to psuedo date a musician. (By psuedo date, I mean ye gods I was hella fond of the guy and he was really hella fond of me, but he was somewhat of a man-whore so I never took him that seriously. I just couldn't do the sharing thing with him, it hurt too much.) At one time, he was doing pretty well for himself and believe me, he was way smart and stayed away from the bad stuff. But man, you should see the things that get thrown at these guys, even when they aren't in the pre-stardom launch phase. Sometimes, I'd just have to laugh at the expressions on T's face. My standard answer to "Why didn't you rescue me?" was "You were doin' just fine, Babe, and really, I just wasn't in the mood to deal with a bunch of catty groupies. I like my anonymousness.". He used to get really disgusted with his band/business partner who would go and party and do all these drugs then show up for rehearsals all strung out. Eventually, it broke up the partnership. I think in some ways that whole incident was T's Sacramento.
I'm thinking that even though Joe may not have *previously* done hard core drugs, with the band about to go mass market stardom, he had to have been exposed to a lot of things and people and fallen into that trap. Then again, what do I know.
Of course, Don came home briefly this afternoon and now there is speculation that this groupie girl Joe had been fooling around with "may have deliberatly drugged Joe". I had my poker face firmly in place. I remember trying to tell Don that Bryan, his former best friend, was back on the Crank back in the day and Don getting all mad at me and swearing up and down that Bryan didn't do that shit, only to have Bryan rip not only Don's work off, but his mom as well 'cuz him and his girlfriend wanted to get high. When all that got shoved in Don's face along with the proof that Bryan was indeed, tweakin' out, that was really bad. Oddly enough, he still blames me for that one for not telling him.
*BANGS HEAD ON DESK*
Anyhoo, so yeah, poker face firmly in place. But, you don't run in certain circles without learning how to spot the warning signs of "Dude, something ain't right". I just kept my mouth shut, figuring that this investigation thing they mentioned will out whatever it was that killed him.
Was he a nice guy before he set of my internal "tweak freak" wig-o-meter? Yeah. I never had a problem with him. He was quiet, super polite and super respectful to me and to Maryangel at all times. I never felt the least bit uncomfortable around him when he used to come over to our place for dinners. I often found myself confused at how he'd become friends with Keith and Don. Of course, there was the weed habit, and stoners do tend to hang out with each other, even if they really don't have much in common.
I am sorry to hear that he died. I think I feel extremely sorry for his mom, having to hear that her son died from a complete stranger to her.
I just don't think that given the crowd he was hanging with and the fact that the band was in pre-stardom launching phase that the cause could be natural. It takes a really strong character to resist all that temptation. If you're already smoking weed and getting consistently drunk off your ass, you're already doing drugs and you've obviously not had the strength of character to say no to abusing them in an unhealthy manner. It's really not that big a step to start doing other stuff.
So yeah, I'm not surprised at him dying. This surprises the heck out of Don. I'm being really polite and tactful out of respect for the person Joe used to be that I remember. The one that was super sweet, super polite, super respectful and treated me and Maryangel like we were queens.
Not the one I last saw who freaked out my internal tweaker meter.
And yeah, I said something then. I got slapped down hard and told I didn't know what I was talking about.
All you can do is all you can do. If people around you are like the blind leading the blind and continue to be the blind leading the blind, well, there will eventually be some sort of a train wreck.
*SIGH*
Bleh. I need coffee.
ME
I guess the burning news Keith needed to impart to DOn was that another friend of thiers had died in his sleep last night. Guy was only, like 26. They were all kinds of shocked.
Me, well the last time I clapped eyes on Joe he was skinny as a rail, hollow eyed with dark circles under them and waaaaayyyyyy to hyper. He couldn't sit still. First he'd play the game with Keith and Don, then go pace around, then play his guitar, then back to playing the game. I just kinda took in all the little signs, added them up and in my mind, both Esme and myself went "Tweakin'!".
Keith and Don swear up and down that Joe didn't do hard core drugs. May be smoked some weed and drank some beer, but that was it.
Uh-huh.
Dude was in an acid metal/hard rock band. Granted, they were damned good. We even have a copy of thier first published cd. We're talking pre-stardom launching phase and the entire crowd that generates.
I used to psuedo date a musician. (By psuedo date, I mean ye gods I was hella fond of the guy and he was really hella fond of me, but he was somewhat of a man-whore so I never took him that seriously. I just couldn't do the sharing thing with him, it hurt too much.) At one time, he was doing pretty well for himself and believe me, he was way smart and stayed away from the bad stuff. But man, you should see the things that get thrown at these guys, even when they aren't in the pre-stardom launch phase. Sometimes, I'd just have to laugh at the expressions on T's face. My standard answer to "Why didn't you rescue me?" was "You were doin' just fine, Babe, and really, I just wasn't in the mood to deal with a bunch of catty groupies. I like my anonymousness.". He used to get really disgusted with his band/business partner who would go and party and do all these drugs then show up for rehearsals all strung out. Eventually, it broke up the partnership. I think in some ways that whole incident was T's Sacramento.
I'm thinking that even though Joe may not have *previously* done hard core drugs, with the band about to go mass market stardom, he had to have been exposed to a lot of things and people and fallen into that trap. Then again, what do I know.
Of course, Don came home briefly this afternoon and now there is speculation that this groupie girl Joe had been fooling around with "may have deliberatly drugged Joe". I had my poker face firmly in place. I remember trying to tell Don that Bryan, his former best friend, was back on the Crank back in the day and Don getting all mad at me and swearing up and down that Bryan didn't do that shit, only to have Bryan rip not only Don's work off, but his mom as well 'cuz him and his girlfriend wanted to get high. When all that got shoved in Don's face along with the proof that Bryan was indeed, tweakin' out, that was really bad. Oddly enough, he still blames me for that one for not telling him.
*BANGS HEAD ON DESK*
Anyhoo, so yeah, poker face firmly in place. But, you don't run in certain circles without learning how to spot the warning signs of "Dude, something ain't right". I just kept my mouth shut, figuring that this investigation thing they mentioned will out whatever it was that killed him.
Was he a nice guy before he set of my internal "tweak freak" wig-o-meter? Yeah. I never had a problem with him. He was quiet, super polite and super respectful to me and to Maryangel at all times. I never felt the least bit uncomfortable around him when he used to come over to our place for dinners. I often found myself confused at how he'd become friends with Keith and Don. Of course, there was the weed habit, and stoners do tend to hang out with each other, even if they really don't have much in common.
I am sorry to hear that he died. I think I feel extremely sorry for his mom, having to hear that her son died from a complete stranger to her.
I just don't think that given the crowd he was hanging with and the fact that the band was in pre-stardom launching phase that the cause could be natural. It takes a really strong character to resist all that temptation. If you're already smoking weed and getting consistently drunk off your ass, you're already doing drugs and you've obviously not had the strength of character to say no to abusing them in an unhealthy manner. It's really not that big a step to start doing other stuff.
So yeah, I'm not surprised at him dying. This surprises the heck out of Don. I'm being really polite and tactful out of respect for the person Joe used to be that I remember. The one that was super sweet, super polite, super respectful and treated me and Maryangel like we were queens.
Not the one I last saw who freaked out my internal tweaker meter.
And yeah, I said something then. I got slapped down hard and told I didn't know what I was talking about.
All you can do is all you can do. If people around you are like the blind leading the blind and continue to be the blind leading the blind, well, there will eventually be some sort of a train wreck.
*SIGH*
Bleh. I need coffee.
ME