I always wanted to be the bass player. They have the most style on stage; not just the way they move but the way the instrument is plucked rather than strummed. With no preliminary pic, bassist are that much closer to their instrument and voice. Like Willie on nylon. Hey listen, when Willie’s time comes, protect me from the news, okay? Thanks.

Speaking to Art Sinnis is akin to speaking to a living library of Hollywood knowledge.  Sinnis’ Hollywood story began as a grip in the early 1980s before working his way up to stage production with a number of television shows.  One of those productions was an after school special titled Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia.  It was during filming of Backwardsthat Sinnis first met the then 15 year old River Phoenix.  Even though Sinnis was nearly ten years older, he struck up a quick friendship with Phoenix, a teen “much older than his years” according to Sinnis.

“Even then, so early in his career, you could see this kid was going to a big-big star.  He just had IT.  The charisma, the charm, the intelligence – everything.  A lovely guy.  Great sense of humor.  Very polite to the entire crew.  It was a short little production, but River left a mark with the network bigs with that one little performance, and I knew more work was heading his way.  And we became friends. I was like an older brother I guess.”

Sinnis was correct.  By next year River was offered his first major picture role in the science fiction film Explorers.  Following that came yet more films, such as Stand By Me, Running on Empty, and My Own Private Idaho.  River’s career had entered the higher echelons of the young Hollywood elite.

“Most times somebody gets that big that fast, friendships fall off, but not River. He kept in touch, we hung out, partied, had some good times.  River played a nice guitar and I remember spending hours in his little one bedroom apartment with about 20 other people while River played and sang.  The girls…well the girls were in awe of him of course.  And River loved girls.  He had his pick and yeah, he was enjoying that part of his celebrity for sure.”  Sinnis sits back in the large leather chair of his office and takes a deep draw on the cigarette he’s been nursing since the interview began.  His eyes well up slightly, and a long, slow exhale of smoke escapes a frowning mouth.

“Shit.  I think about River all the time, especially around this time of year.  Yeah, I was with him that night.  Halloween.  Depp’s place.  He was there, and then he was gone. Just like that.  Fuck.  Just like that.”

The place Sinnis is referencing is the Viper Room, an establishment started and co-owned by then-Hollywood bad-boy Johnny Depp, who back in 1993 was far removed from the more family-friendly mega-star family man Depp is today.  Depp enjoyed the celebrity dark side as much as any, and fellow actor River Phoenix, a frequent inhabitant of the dark, seedy, young celebrity-littered club that was the Viper Room, embraced that darkness with equal relish.

“That was one of River’s fatal flaws,” says Sinnis.  “He despised Hollywood – but not quite as much as he loved the environment of celebrity.  He loved hanging out with other actors and artists.  He loved having that access to that world.  And he was just insecure enough to feel like he had to prove himself able to hang with people like Flea, and Penn.  By ‘93 River had made some money, had some fame, and he wanted to have fun with people who could relate to that kind of thing.  It was that insecurity thing that was the hang up though.  You see, River came from a very fucked up place.  His family was a mess. Moved around a lot.  Spent years in a religious cult when River was a kid.  Possible abuse.  His parents loved him and all, I don’t doubt that, but the environment for those kids was just terrible.  River kind of built this wall around him – he was a lot tougher than people gave him credit for.  He had to be.  You don’t survive that much time with a bunch of religious nutjobs and come out of it mostly intact without being tough.  River was tough – but just tough enough to think he was too tough, and it caught up to him that night.  The fucking drugs.  They got him.  Laid him out and took him right there in front of us.”

That night, October 31st, 1993, River Phoenix spent at the Viper Room partying with other celebrities as he had done so many times before.  His younger brother Joaquin and sister Rain were with him.  Johnny Depp was playing music onstage with mutual friend Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers. The mood was raucous, the drink and drug flowing throughout the club, significant.  At some point River made his way to the bathroom with a small entourage of friends and a dealer to take a combination of heroin and cocaine – better known as a speedball.  It is the same combination that killed entertainers John Belushi in 1983, as well as Chris Farley in 1997.

Sinnis continued.  “Look, River was no drug fiend.  No fucking way.  He was a dabbler.  Smoked weed.  Drank a little, and yeah, did a bit of coke from time to time.  The heroin thing…that was a new one. Something a little different that night.  Maybe he had done some of that before, but I never saw it, and I had been partying with the guy for quite a while by then.  River could party, but I rarely saw him out of control with it.  He always seemed to know when to pull it back.  He was given some bad shit that night. Some serious drugs.  It wasn’t just run of the mill heroin but some hard-ass shit.  I don’t know if he even knew what really hit him. What he was taking, you know?  He’s having a good time, gets handed some drugs and there you have it.  I didn’t see him take it – but I saw him start to go down.  Saw him looking bad.  And it happened so fucking fast.  Unbelievably fast.”

Numerous reports indicate shortly after ingesting the speedball, Phoenix remarked to those around him he was feeling sick.  Someone then gave him a dose of diazepam – a drug commonly utilized to counter the effects of over stimulation by drugs.  It was that administration of diazepam that quickly escalated River Phoenix’s condition from a possible drug overdose, to quick and sudden death.  Diazepam actually worsens the physiological effects of heroin, both accelerating and compounding its effects on the person’s cardiovascular system.  Had Phoenix been dealing with only an overdose of cocaine, the diazapam might have saved his life.  What it did though was quickly metabolize the heroin into a lethal dose.  Whoever gave River Phoenix the diazapam killed the young actor that night.

‘Yeah, I heard about the diazapam thing.  Heard that someone gave it to him to help him feel better.  Yeah, that killed him probably.  I talked to a drug counselor about it years later and they told me that was probably the case.  If he hadn’t taken that, River probably could have just gone to the emergency room and had a fighting chance of coming out of it ok.  His body would have had some time to deal with the overdose.  But the diazapam…that just sealed the deal right there on that sidewalk outside the club.  Killed him dead.  Fucking gone like that.”  Sinnis wiped his eyes.

Within minutes of ingesting the diazepam, Phoenix stumbled outside, struggling to maintain consciousness.  His brother and sister followed him, repeatedly asking if he was ok.  The music of Depp, Flea, and Haynes continued to play onstage.  Few noticed Phoenix leaving, and fewer still yet knew just how close to death the young actor now was.

Upon getting himself outside Phoenix sat down on the sidewalk and hung his head below his knees, mumbling to his brother that he was having trouble breathing.  Then he fell to the side and the convulsions began.  Within five minutes, the convulsions ceased, and River Phoenix showed no signs of life.  911 had been called, while his sister Rain attempted CPR.  Flea had jumped off the stage and now stood outside over River’s body, holding his head in his hands and yelling for his friend not to die.  Paramedics arrived, confirmed no vitals, but continued to attempt to revive the 23 year old actor as they rushed him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

“That’s when I saw him. I heard he was sick outside and I came out and saw him laying over the curb.  His body was shaking…it…”  Sinnis cannot continue for several moments.  He turns away and a few short sobs escape him, followed by a deep breath, and then he continues.

“He was in a real bad way, I could see that.  But even then I thought he was gonna be ok – at least for a moment or two I thought that, but then it got real fucking bad real fucking quick.  He was making these sounds, like he…couldn’t fucking breath.  His eyes were all rolled back in his head.  Shit was coming out of his mouth.  I had to turn away.  When I saw the shit coming out his mouth that’s when I thought he might really die.  I couldn’t handle that.  I stood back against the wall and just started crying.  Flea was screaming.  His sister was screaming.  His brother was screaming for the ambulance to get there.  A crowd started to gather.  Flea was threatening people to get back in the fucking club.  To not stare.  To give River some room.  He looked like he was ready to kill somebody.  I think he would have if somebody had said the wrong thing at that time.  The guy would go from livid anger to a crying mess and then back again in the space of a minute.  By the time the ambulance got there River was gone.  I could see that.  It was just a body.  River was fucking gone.  That was it.  My friend was gone.”

River Phoenix, among the most promising actors of his generation, died on the street outside a Sunset Strip club on Halloween Night, 1993. 

Art Sinnis entered drug rehabilitation in 1998.  He states he has been clean ever since.  He no longer works in Hollywood, though says he stays in touch with some of his old Hollywood friends.

Each Halloween Night following River’s death until he sold the Viper Club in 2004, Johnny Depp ordered the club to be closed on October 31st.  Sinnis says Depp would sometimes sit in the club alone on that night, with just a drink, a cigarette, and the still-painful memories of a departed friend keeping him company in the darkness.

Smart shoppers never waste their money. They go out to shopping malls and buy things when they need to.  They also buy it at the cheapest price. They also think 5 times before they buy something. But that doesn’t mean them or you can’t buy anything you want! You still can buy some things you want. But before you buy, check in others stores for cheaper prices or check for cheaper prices online. If you find one make sure you want to buy it, then purchase it.    Or you can bargain. Bargaining is when you ask for a cheaper price and they lower it. Bargaining is very rare in departments stores or shopping malls. But not in flea markets.

Hope this helps you save your money when you go out to shop!

Hair: Queen Elizabeth The First started going bald at an early age. She started a fashion for wigs in England. The fashion spread and eventually wigs were popular with both sexes for the next three hundred years. Wigs became a status symbol – the bigger the wig, the more important you were. However, there was another reason that wigs were an advantage. In those days, even rich people rarely washed and the unhygienic conditions attracted fleas and other pests. Shaving off your hair and wearing a wig was often the only answer. People used animal fat to keep the wigs in place -the smell must have been terrible!

Skin: During the Renaissance in Europe it was unfashionable to have a dark complexion because it was a sign that you worked outside. Because of this, men and women did everything they could to keep their skin pale -often women used dangerous chemicals to paint their faces, which sometimes resulted in a painful death. This didn’t change until the 1920s when Coco Chanel, a famous fashion designer, accidentally fell asleep in the sun. The suntan was born and remained popular for the rest of the twentieth century -an easy way to show that you were rich enough to spend your holidays in exotic, sunny places!

Back when I played soccer as a kid, one thing I learned from a camp director really stuck, and I still think back to it. Imagine if you practiced hours and hours. Days and days, only to find out you were doing it all wrong. The way you practice becomes your practice habits. Developing habits is the way your brain learns, and if you develop a bad habit, it will take three times as long to unlearn it, then learn the correct way. This is why a teacher, or this article helps you learn the right way before you start practicing it wrong.

If you learn correctly, or as my soccer camp director said “Purrfect Practice”. He even wrote it on his Puma ball next to the cat. With purrfect practice you will be able to play guitar well, and economically. Normally, if you learn a technique incorrectly it will slow you down, or make you in unnecessary pain.

2. How long to practice
Sailors are some of the strongest men on earth. Very few people knew why. They were not always hard-working. There were spurts of time where they needed much strength, but once they are sailing they may be sitting around for hours or days. Scientists figured out that if you exercise then rest, you will become stronger than if you continuously exert yourself. This is the same with your brain. If you exercise your skills 30 minutes, go to bed, then play another 30 minutes you will notice more improvement than if you were to practice hours and hours.

The human brain can only focus and develop for 30-60 minutes. After that, even the best player may mess up or start learning things wrong. if you practice too long you may get lazy, and get into some bad habits. If you are really looking to learn fast, play 60 minutes before bed every night. Your brain learns the most when it is sleeping.

Dreams come from what happened to you the last day, or even week. When you are sleeping, you are learning much more than you could while you are awake without realizing it. 

3. Teacher vs. Article
Learning happens best when someone more experienced than you shows you how to do stuff in person. Videos may help, but not much will replace a teacher. This article and other articles on learning an instrument may be free but teachers can be better.

My articles will certainly help you greatly, but you will not see my face and I won’t see how you are playing so you must make sure you do everything correctly as these posts continue to come. If I could teach all of you in person, I would be glad to, but that will more than likely never happen.

Conclusion
Practicing is an important part of learning bass, and practicing and growing your body mentally and physically is a life skill. if you learn how to practice correctly, bass playing will make that much more sense.

Image source

His concert fans used to throw live animals such as cats, frogs, chickens, snakes, etc. on the stage. During his “Bark At The Moon Tour” a bat was tossed on the stage and he grabbed it and bit the head off. He had to get two weeks of rabies shots after that.

Marilyn Manson

Image source

During one of his concerts he degraded a security guard by grabbing the man’s head and pressing it against his gyrating hips. He was charged with criminal misconduct, of course, but that didn’t stop him from repeating it at another concert. Maybe he just had a bad itch?

Madonna

Image source

In 1992 she published Sex, a book of photographs consisting of sexually explicit images. One photo shows her kneeling on the ground with a dog underneath her lying on its back, creating the impression that she is being intimate with the dog–in an unnatural way.

Flea

Image source

Long-time bassist of rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael Balzary, more popularly known as Flea, often performs on stage wearing nothing but a tube sock; no shirts, no pants, no underpants, just a tube sock–and it’s not for his feet.

Keith Richards

Image source

Two years ago Richards revealed that the strangest thing he ever snorted was his cremated father, saying his father wouldn’t have mind. A music channel immediately reported afterwards that Richards was only kidding.  Five months later, however, Richards confirmed that he had, in fact, snorted his father’s ashes.  He even went into detail describing how he opened his father’s box, laid a little bit of his father’s ashes on the dining room table, and snorted it up with no cocaine mixed in.

Perhaps snorting human ashes provides a totally different kind of high.

Music artists. Peculiar bunch, aren’t they?

The name of the demon Beelzebub, originally a Phoenician deity, literally means Baal of the Flies or Lord of the Flies. In the Old Testa ment, Beelzebub tempted King Ahaziah of Israel away from Yahweh (2 Kings 1:2-6), and later he was called the “prince of devils” (Matt. 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 12:15). In the Christian Middle Ages, demons were frequently depicted as flies, and so people often thought of swallows and other insectivorous birds as holy. There are several stories of devils taking the form of insects to enter the bodies of people by mouth. According to a local chronicle, for example, in 1559 a maiden in the Harz Mountains near Joachimsthal inadvertently swallowed an evil spirit, disguised as a fly, in her beer. The demon immediately possessed her and began to speak through her, though it was finally exorcised by the parish priest.

Before improvements in hygiene in the modern period, lice could be found in the hair and on the body of nearly everybody, from king to peasant. Though a perpetual annoyance, they could also serve as a means of social bonding. To pick lice off a person was a service that might be performed by parents for children or servants for masters. It was even a ritual of courtship and love, performed by couples. The presence of an inordinate number of lice might indicate either coarseness or, for ascetics, a lack of worldly concern. Thus, Julian the Apostate, the austere Roman emperor who attempted to revive paganism, once compared the lice running freely in his beard to wild beasts in a forest. Fleas also tended to be thought of in a familiar and, at times, even affectionate way, though they were by far the most dangerous insects of the lot. Though it was not realized until the end of the nineteenth century, fleas had been carriers of many diseases, including bubonic plague. In the Renaissance, references to fleas became a humorous convention in poetic diction. Among the most famous examples is “The Flea” by John Donne, a poem in which the author requests sexual favors from a woman by showing how their blood has mingled in the body of a flea:

But insects, like rats, are now often put in the service of medicine. Apart from human beings and perhaps rodents, the drosophila fruit fly has become the most studied animal in the world. Scientists have found that the genetic code of the fruit fly is easy to manipulate and has many affinities with that of human beings. In hope of correlating them with parts of the genome, all features of the creature’s life, from anatomy to courtship dances, have been intricately observed. One journalist recently remarked that researchers who study fruit flies “are easily provoked into confessing that they think of people as large flies with wigs” (Wade, p. F1)