Still the most shocking celebrity death of my adult life

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 7:18pm

River Phoenix's Final Hours

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 7:26pm

Thanks for that. I'm going to have to read that when it's released.

I think I've talked before about how that Phoenix family was pretty much from my hometown in Florida. When I was a kid, me and Leaf would play together at the school I went to (he didn't go there but his parents wanted him and his sister to get in and he was around quite a bit, a really nice and cool kid). When River died, it was like Hollywood came to our city. Spielberg, Keanu Reeves, etc etc etc came to town and were all over at our local restaurants, hangouts...

A few years later ('95 or maybe early '96), Rain would come into the Blockbuster I worked at occasionally and one day I happened to have the cover box to STAND BY ME up on the counter with me. Someone probably brought it up and it was just there until I had a chance to put it back on the shelf. When she came to the counter, she looked at it and touched it, running her fingers on top of it for a second. We just looked at each other and gave a knowing smile to each other about it before going on with the transaction.

It's just a moment that I'll never forget.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 7:29pm

I was driving by the club that night just as they were loading him into the ambulance. I was with a friend and she and I were dressed up as Gomez and Morticia Addams for Halloween.

Still in character (and not knowing who the person was at the time) I made the comment, "Perhaps someone was lucky enough to pass on this evening."

We got home and saw the news and just looked at each other, with our mouths wide open.