'Drugs - I couldn't handle marijuana...it made me paranoid...and quaaludes and bennies and speed and meth seemed so...you know, chemical...physical...definitely not mind-expanding. Tried Angel Dust once: Chris, Tina, and I, and Tina's brother went to a guy's apartment for dinner...an interior decorator by trade...and he gave us all a puff on this treated cig...well, I could barely walk and I sure didn't wanna eat anymore. Scary stuff...but I guess it's cheaper than dinner for six.
Cocaine...didn't do anything for me the first couple of times. Then I guess it found its brain receptor cells. Everybody was doing it then. The road crew would deal to the band...probably the only way they made a decent living. Everybody'd yak, yak, yak...to anyone at all...instant friendship for a few minutes. It made me simultaneously very talkative and secretive. Kinda like matter-meets-anti-matter. A problem waiting to happen. Too many late nights (it was usually accompanied by drinking) and spaced out days and soon I decided to stop. So other than a couple 'a wild nights, I stopped.
I saw people do funny things. Once, a Hollywood agent came over to the table in a restaurant where Jerry and I were eating...to say hi, I guess. He said hi, told us he represented some mutual friends, and then plonked his head down on the table and fell asleep...out. His girlfriend took him away, but he left a little white packet on the table.
Some friends got into heroin. It was cheaper. I tried it. Too strong. I wasn't exactly gonna get a lot of writing done on that stuff. But I guess it was a mythic drug..."be-bop...hard rock"...hip writers, etc. The French loved the stuff...musta thought it was cool.
Jerry and I got invited to visit the Hollywood producer Julia Phillips once...Jesus H. Christ!...a real Beverly Hills mansion, and she was in the back office looking like a mad scientist...the place was piled with scripts, records, Bunsen-burners, test-tubes, various highly flammable chemicals and books. A sharp cookie with real no-bullshit eyes and ears, but totally out of control. I'm glad none of us got into that stuff.
The widespread use of drugs is a symptom of a sick society. The war on drugs is bullshit. Especially since the CIA is one of the biggest dealers around. Drugs raise money and keep young black males (mostly) docile.'
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I know how he feels. After several thousand times getting fucked up on different shit nothing really has changed for me, so I mean, I can easily take the high road now (pun?). The problem with musicians is once they stop putting out music people want to hear they still want people to hear them, often by then they are old fogies, and they have little to add.
David Byrne was a progressive back in the day, now he's a throw back. Part of the cycle of life I suppose.
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