Latest / DISGRACELAND / Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante and the Death of River Phoenix

Transcript

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante and the Death of River Phoenix · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is the
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: story about the guitar players some have accused of killing
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: his famous friend, actor River Phoenix. It's a story about drugs, friendship,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: and using music to escape. It's also about Johnny Depp's
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Viper Room Hollywood in the nineties, the Red Hot Chili Peppers,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: and they're incredibly soulful. Guitarist John Frusciante a man who
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: makes great music. Unlike that music I played for you
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: at the top of the show. That wasn't great music.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: That was a preset loop from my melotron called mellow
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Down Sleazy m K one. I played you that lute
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: because I can't afford the rights to dream Lover by
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Mariah Carey. And why would I play you that specific
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: slice of wouldn't throw her out of bed for eating
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: crackers cheese?
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Could I afford it?
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Because that was the number one song in America on
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: October thirty first, nineteen ninety three, and that was the
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: day River Phoenix died from a drink spiked with deadly drugs,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: which some allege was given to him by Red Hot
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusconte on this episode Drugs Friendship,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Music as Escapism, nineties Hollywood. How River Phoenix really died
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: in the Red Hot Chili.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Peppers John Frusciante.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan in This is Disgrace Slam. Did Red
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Fruciante kill River Phoenix? There
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: are some on the Internet that believe he did. There
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: are dozens of Reddit conversations, YouTube quote unquote documentaries, and
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: TikTok videos that try to make this case, the case
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: that River Phoenix didn't just take too many drugs and die,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: but that he is alleged to have been given a
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: lethal dose of those drugs purposefully by John Frucientte. There's
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: also a pretty successful director who calls what allegedly happened
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: between the actor and the guitarist homicide. More on this
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: director year later. The John Fruchiante River Phoenix wormhole is deep.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: And it is wide.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: John Fruchiante is one of my favorite guitar players and
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: River Phoenix is one of my favorite actors. So when
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I heard about this theory. Naturally, I was intrigued, especially
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: because this is the exact type of misadventure that history,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: in particular music history, tries to cover up. All the
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: elements are there, drugs, celebrity career stakes. We've seen this
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: with celebrities before, particularly with musicians. A rock star dies
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: and for whatever reason, the cause of the rock star's
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: death is covered up, misunderstood, or obscured. Jim Morrison did
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: not die from heart failure. He died from a heroin overdose,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: a mistake in heroin overdose and excesses. Michael Hutchins did
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: not die from autoerotic asphyxiation. He ended his own life depressed,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: possibly impacted by CTE and Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighter
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: as well. The cause of his death is still officially unknown.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: So the idea that perhaps the death of River Phoenix
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: wasn't what we were told it was, well, this idea didn't
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: surprise me at all.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: But how could this be true?
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: This allegation that John Fruciante, famous rock star, killed River Phoenix,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: one of Hollywood's brightest stars, and got away with it,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: not only got away with it, but continues to get
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: away with it to thrive, actually is one of the
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: biggest rock stars on the planet in one of the
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: most recognizable bands, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: that to this day continues to fill stadiums and sell
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: loads of records. It's not like the Red Hot Chili
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Peppers are some fringe group.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: They're not.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: They're massive, one of the biggest selling, highest grossing rock
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: and roll bands of all time, a band that, in
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, is currently writing a new album of
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: music for their fans, many of whom, like myself, were
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: also fans of River Phoenix, a friend John Frusciante, allegedly
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: killed by giving River a liquid speedball, a lethal cocktail
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: of alcohol, heroin, and cocaine. The drink sent River into
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: an overdose. Back in the early morning hours of October
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: thirty first, nineteen ninety three, at Johnny Depp's Viper Room,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Rivers stumbled out of the Hollywood club, collapsed onto the
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Sunset Strip, and went into cardiac arrest right there in
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: front of the freaked out clubgoers, spilling onto the street.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Once the ambulance got River to Cedar Sinai Hospital, he
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: was officially pronounced dead. Red Hot Chili Pepper's Bassis Flee,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: another friend of Rivers, was with.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: River's body in the hospital.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Flee was with River on the street holding him in
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: the moments before he died, and Flee was with River
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: in the ambulance on the ride to Cedar Sinai trying
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: to help.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Chili Pepper's guitarist.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: John Fruchiante, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found. He'd been
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: at the viper room earlier, just like Flea, and with
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: River in the moments before his death, But after the
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: ambulance took River Phoenix away, John Fruciante was gone, and
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: for a long while after the death of River Phoenix,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: John Fruchiante was nowhere to be found. After River's death,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: River's father, John Lee Bottom told the Australian magazine TV Week,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: the Frucionte quote may have gone back into the woodwork now.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: But he'll have to answer.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: He's keeping out of my way because he knows I'm
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: looking for him. If you see him, tell him I'm
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: going to strangle him unquote. Before John Fruchiante was receiving
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: threats from the father of one of the world's most
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: famous actors, he was just a kid from southern California,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: who played guitar and obsessed over his favorite band, the
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Red Hot Chili Peppers. Specific John obsessed over Chili Pepper's
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: guitarist Hello Slovak.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: John sat in his bedroom and learned all of.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Hellell's parts, just like he learned Jimmy Hendricks riffs.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: And when HELLEL.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Slovak overdosed on heroin and died in nineteen eighty eight,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: John Fruciante found his way into an audition of SERTs
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: with his favorite band. John's playing, even at the age
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: of eighteen, was soulful, vulnerable, informed by masters like Jimmy
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Hendrix in Parliament Funkadelics Eddie Hazel, but uniquely his own.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: John Freuchiante was on his own trip, and he seemed
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: to be wholly compelled by music and music alone. Aside
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: from girls, there wasn't much else John Fruchiante concerned himself
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: with other than listening to and making music. These two
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: interests were also the only things that concerned the surviving
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: singer Anthony Keatis and new drummer Chad Smith. John Fruciante
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: fit perfect like a vintage stratocaster slung over Bony's shoulders.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: So imagine that you're eighteen years old and you join
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: your favorite band. You join your favorite band. This is
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: what John Fruciante did in nineteen eighty eight. He went
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: from learning Chili Peppers riffs in his bedroom to being
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and by November of
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: eighty eight, John was in the studio with the Chili Peppers,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: and in the spring of nineteen eighty nine, he and
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: the band emerged with their fourth album, the album that
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: would be their commercial breakthrough, Mother's Milk and a new sound.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: A more melodic sound, shifted in large part by John
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Fruchiante's playing two singles, Knock Me Down and a scorching
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: cover of Stevie Wonders Higher Ground, helped propel the band
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: onto MTV at across college radio stations, and into a
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: recording contract with Warner Brothers Records and back into the
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: studio with produce Rick Rubin. In nineteen ninety one, the
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Red Hawk Chili Peppers began recording their Blood Sugar, Sex
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Magic album in a Laurel Canyon house known simply as
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: the Mansion. The Mansion was where Houdini used to hang out,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: where it was rumored Houdini's wife held seances the ghosts
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: in the mansion. It was said that their spirits could
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: still be felt. John Fruchonte tapped into the supernatural vibe
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: at the mansion and played his ass off Ghosts, Mansions, Houdini, whatever.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: There's no denying it.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: John Fruchonta's guitar playing on Blood Sugar Sex Magic is
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: undeniably great g r e. A T. Fruschante is a
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: motherfucker of a guitarist, and there is no better example
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: than every single note on this album. Back in the
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: early nineties, I wasn't the only one apparently who thought this.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Blood Sugar Sex Magic was released on September twenty fourth,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety one, the same day as Nirvana's never Mind,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: A Tribe called Quest the low End Theory in Pixie's
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Trump lamont. Even among this group of iconic releases, Blood
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Sugar Sex Magic distinguished itself by becoming the second highest
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: selling album of the bunch, selling over fourteen million copies,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: less than Nevermind's thirty million, but far more than a
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Tribe called Quest one point five million, or the Pixies
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: five hundred thousand and trouncing the sales figures for any
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: and all previous Chili Peppers releases. John Fruciente was suddenly famous,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: not that he cared. In fact, being famous was not
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: something John Fruchiante wanted at all. He sat as Hollywood
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: bungalow hi, waiting on the return of his famous friend
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: River Phoenix. River was one of the most talented and
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: promising young actors in Hollywood. His star turn roles in
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: films such as Stand By Me, Running on Empty, A
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, and Gus van
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Zantz My Own Private Idaho had led to a consensus
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: in Hollywood. River Phoenix was the next big thing, the
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: next Robert Redford, the next Jack Nicholson, the next Harrison Ford,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: pick your next Whoever. By nineteen ninety three, it was
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: River Phoenix's time. Like many young celebrities, River Phoenix partied,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: and yes, like his friend John Fruciante, River Phoenix used drugs.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: River had recently played a junkie in My Own Private Idaho,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: but John Fruciante was an actual junkie, and John was
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: of course also a musician, a great musician, and so
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: John had something River wanted in escape. To River Phoenix,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: music was always an escape, not just listening to music,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: but playing music, as River did in his band Aleka's Attic.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: For River, playing.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Music was an escape from the pressure of being a
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: celebrity and playing music with John Frusciante at John's house,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: at the home of one of the world's greatest young
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: guitar players, a guitar player from the Red Hot Chili
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Peppers that gave River something that acting never could, an
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: unassailable type of artistic credibility.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: River wasn't just some good.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Looking mattin eighteen Idol the next big thing. No. With
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: this buddy, John Fruchiante, River Phoenix was a musician. But
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: lately there was more to John Fruchiante than just music.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: There was also an undeniable darkness, a turn from weed
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: to cocaine and heroin, a turn that would play out
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: one of Hollywood's saddest riffs right there on the sunsets
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: striped sidewalk outside the Viper Room, on the night Whereriver
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Phoenix died. River Phoenix wasn't the only one for whom
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: music was an escape.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: The same could be said for John Fruchiante.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: In fact, music was more than an escape, an escape
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: from life's drudgery, from the straight world, from authority, from
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: having to hold down a traditional job. Music was life. Music, specifically,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: making it was John Fruchianti's life's blood. Music was holding
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: up in a haunted Hollywood mansion with his bandmates and
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Houdini's ghost and not leaving for months, smoking heroic amounts
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: of weed with flea and using his guitar to tap
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: into a different frequency to create something that hadn't existed before,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: something that was beautiful, something that couldn't be held or touched,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: only felt something sounds, songs that would bring joy to
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: people that John Fruciante would never meet.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Music was love.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Music was as close to God as one could get,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: and music was all that mattered to the Red Hot
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Chili Peppers guitarists. All of that can be felt on
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Blood Sugar Sex Magic. This soulful, spiritual connection between John
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: and the rest of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: because of this, the music they made on Blood Sugar
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Sex Magic was directly responsible for the huge success that
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: the album achieved. It was beyond anything Fruciante imagined and
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: far beyond anything John Fruciantai could handle. The voices started
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: during the recording sessions. First, there were whispers, fragments of
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: words tangled up in the blues falling off of the
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: color wheel that John Fruchiante spun from.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: During guitar takes.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: He could manipulate the colors that he saw bleeding between
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: the mansion's floors and ceilings by bending his strings on
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: his Fender stratocaster.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: John had powerful hands like Robert.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Johnson's or Jimmy Hendrix's. Tonality was merely suggestive tone. Real
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: tone sprung from one's body, from one's life, from the
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: way it was lived, from the way one walked, talked,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: even from how one had sex. No matter the vibe
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: of the song John Fruchiante's bandmates were going for, John
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: could wrangle the essence from the frequencies floating throughout the
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: mansion and wrestle them into a rift or a solo
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: that elevated whatever rhythm or lyric. The Red Hot Chili
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Peppers were aiming to.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Get down onto tape.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: With producer Rick Rubin, But those voices, they wouldn't go away.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: In fact, they only got stronger as the recording sessions progressed.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: They were warning him get out. John didn't understand here.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: He was creating the greatest music of his life, music
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: that he knew in his heart would touch millions, But
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: now something inside him was telling.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Him to run.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: The music had once been the solution, but this music
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: was about to become the problem. It was so good,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: so powerful, so tapped into something else, perhaps something like
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: what Alistair Crawley called magic with a k maagiic k
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: the art of using your mind and actions to shape
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: the world exactly as you intend. Except John Frusconte wasn't
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: the only one in that studio. There were three other
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: musicians using their minds to shape the world as they intended.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: And what they intended to achieve with their music was
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: different from what John Fruschonte intended. Flee, Anthony Keatis Chad Smith.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Their intentions went beyond the spiritual. Their intentions were in
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: part material. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, regardless of what
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: John Fruchiante wanted, were going to become one of the
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: biggest bands on the planet as a band. During the
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: recording of Blood, Sugar, Sex Magic, they tapped into something bigger,
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: something cosmic, and as a result, the music they created
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: was just too damn good, a slinky, soulful, sexual vibe
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: that was at once totally unique and universal. Songs like
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: give It Away, Funky Monks, under the Bridge, Suck My Kiss,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Breaking the Girl, the examples are endless. There's not a
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: bad song on Blood Sugar Sex Magic. Despite its whopping
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: seventy three minute runtime, the album was not going to
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: be denied. It spawned five hit singles, including the massive
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: chart toppers under the Bridge and Give It Away, which
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: drove constant music video rotation on MTV and radio airplay worldwide.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: The exposure fueled what seemed like a never ending global
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: tour that saw the Chili Peppers graduating from small clubs
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: to sold out arenas, an explosion of international demand and
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: magazine cover features. It all rocketed the group to the
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: center of early nineties pop culture. The ghosts saw it coming.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: The voices in the Mansion told him so, beware, get out,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: oh Run. Before Blood Sugar Sex Magic was even finished,
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: John Fruciante knew that he would have to quit the
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: Red Hot Chili Peppers. Imagine that you're John Fruciante. You're
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: eighteen years old. Your favorite band is the Red Hot
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Chili Peppers. You know all their songs. You sit in
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: your bedroom and play them over and over again. Their
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: guitar player, Hello Slovak, is a hero to you. He
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: overdoses on heroin and dies, and somehow you get to
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: replace him in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. You make
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: an album called Mother's Milk, but you're the new guy
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: along for the ride. And by the time you get
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: into the studio at age twenty one to record Blood Sugar,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Sex Magic, everyone knows you're the shit, including your bandmates
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: who are more experienced than you. But you're a monster
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: of a player, and you pour your heart and soul
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: into the music along with your bandmates, and the four
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: of you create something undeniably great. The record is huge
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: as it sh and now you're famous. It's every kid's dream,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: but not yours. You don't want the fame. You can't
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: handle the fame. You just want to make music and
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: play it to kids like yourself in small clubs like
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: the ones you used to go see the Red Hot
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Chili Peppers. Playing the fame, the pressure, the people, it's
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: all too much. It's all too much like the drag
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: of life you were trying to escape through music in
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: the first place. So you realize you have to quit
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: playing in your favorite band, and your bandmates don't understand that.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: You can't make them understand, so you show them on
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Saturday night live in front of ten million people. You
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: sabotage yourself and the band, and when it comes time
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: to play your hit single under the Bridge, you decide
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: to experiment with the opening riff and play something that
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: is nearly unrecognizable, because fuck it, why not.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: You sing the backup vocal in.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: A different key than your singer Anthony Keatis he's tripped
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: up with the ghosts aren You're singing in tune with
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: the voices in your head and no one else who
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: cares if the rest of the world can't hear it.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: You hate this song, and you.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Hate with this song what this music has done to
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: your relationship with music. You don't want to tour, and
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: you don't want to play arenas or go on television
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: or answer questions from reporters. You want to sit in
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: your house and play guitar and paint and smoke weed
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: and drink wine and listen to Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: But you can't because you're a rock star, and because
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: you're in a band. But your bandmates can't handle your unhappiness.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: You all head to Japan, and while there you finally
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: do what the voices have been telling you to do
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: all along. You quit your band. You quit playing guitar
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: in your favorite band. You quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers,
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: and you retreat inward. You seclude yourself in your Hollywood bungalow,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: makes strange, dissonant music. You graduate from wine and we
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: to heroin and cocaine, and eventually to crack. You light
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: your furniture on fire. You sleep with your stratocaster. You
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: are constantly high mainlining junk, and you smoke so much.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Crack your teeth start to deteriorate.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: You spray paint the walls of your home, and the
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: graffiti obscures the blood that splatters from your veins. You've
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: traded your bandmates for new friends, and one of them
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: is a famous actor. By nineteen ninety three, Jeff Fruchiante
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: had completely descended into drugs since departing from the Red
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Hot Chili Peppers, with the band having replaced John, initially
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: with a Rik Marshall. John spent what little lucid time
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: he had between drug binges making music for what would
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: become his incredibly dissonant, disjointed first solo album, Neandre Ladies
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: and usually Us to t Shirt. John's main endeavor during
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: this time may have bet his drug use, but his
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: reputation was still that of a serious musician, a guy
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: who played his heart out on the Red Hot Chili
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Pepper's hit album, achieved fame and was too cool for
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: it all, and walked away while on top. John Fruchiante
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: was an artist's artist, a musician's musician, a musician who
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: descended almost completely into the darkness. A musician who every
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: day took his life into his own hands by injecting
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: dangerous concoctions of heroin and cocaine speedballs. A musician who
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: lived in Squalor high above the Sunset Strip. A musician who,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: in the last days of October nineteen ninety three, was
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: waiting for his friend to arrive, waiting for River Phoenix.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this word word word. In
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety three, the Viper Room on Hollywood Sunset Strip
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: was quite literally one of the coolest clubs in the world.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: It wasn't just Hollywood glitz, and it wasn't Hollywood glamour.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: It was a real rock club with real rock stars
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: hanging out with real actors and artists and real people
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: milling about them all. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: the first band to play the Viper Room when it
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: opened in the summer.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Of ninety three.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Beck played one of his very first shows at the
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: club as an unknown Johnny Depp owned the Viper Room.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: It was Johnny's own clubhouse. It was where he hung
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: out nightly, where he could escape the pressures of celebrity
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: sort of and make music himself on stage with his
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: friends who were also musicians. Johnny played in a band
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: called Pete. Its members included Gibby Haynes from The Butthole Surfers,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: who'd gained mainstream recognition as part of the first lollapaloosatur
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Tom Waite's collaborator Chucky Weiss, and sometimes Steve Jones from
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: the Sex Pistols and Flee from the Red Hot Chili Peppers,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: along with a small crew of other musicians who drifted
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: in and out of the band's live sets.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: On the Viper Room stage.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Among the members of p there was a crew of
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: young talented musicians who were Viper Room regulars, and they
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: formed a tight knit social circle with Johnny Depp. And
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: they included Bob Forrest of the band Thelonious Monster, Al
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Jorgensen from Ministry, Evan Dando of the Lemonheads, John Fruchiante
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: from the Red Hot Chili.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Peppers, and River Phoenix.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: River, like Johnny Depp, was an actor first and the
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: musician second, but hanging with the rock stars at the
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Viper Room boosted River's estimation of himself as an artist.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: And playing with Johnny Depp's.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Bamp on stage as he and John Fruchiante were playing
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: to do well, that would cement River's reputation is not
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: only an actor, but as a musician as well. Playing
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: music on stage at the Viper Room may have represented
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: an escape for River Phoenix and for Johnny Depp. But
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: out on the street outside the club, the Viper.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Room was a snake pit of paparazzi.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Occasionally, the intrusive vipers made their way inside to capture
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: on film compromising candids of young famous Hollywood actors and musicians.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: In private or worse, in private embarrassing moments that they
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: could then sell to the highest bidder. So another level
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: of privacy was needed. This is where John Fruchante's house
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: came into play. The car was out back behind the
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Viper Room waiting. John Fruschante's house was just a two
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: minute drive away, and in those two minutes the paparazzi
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: those snakes with their cameras. They could be vanquished as
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: long as they'd played everything right, and Johnny Depp knew
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: how to play a part. Johnny bolted out the back door.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Of the club.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: He dove into the back seat of the waiting car
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: his friend Bob forres. The felonious monster was the Wheelman.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Bob's band was great, but Bob was not famous, not yet,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: so the snaky paps wouldn't recognize Bob. Bob drove past.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: The snakes were none the wiser. John's Place was private.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: John's Place was where Johnny, Bob River, Phoenix, Gibby, Haynes,
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Al Jorgenson, where the whole crew from the Viper Room
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: hung out when they weren't at the Viper Room. It
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: was where they met up before they went out. It
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: was where they met up after.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: They went out.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: It was their first stop when they made it back
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: into town after being out on tour or on set.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: It was their last stop before heading out of town
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: for tour or to the set. And that's because John
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Frusciante's house was where they kept the drugs. It should
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: be said that although Johnny Depp and River Phoenix were
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: tight with these musicians, Johnny Depp and River Phoenix were
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: not hardcore drug users. By nineteen ninety three, John Fruchiante
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: was a full blown heroin addict. Cocaine, crack cocaine, and
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: heroin were all readily available and frequently used, not only
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: by Fruchiante, but also by Bob Forrest and the rest
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: of the Viper Room rock stars who made up Johnny
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Depp's crew. By October nineteen ninety three, John Fruchante's drug
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: use had led to a precipitous decline into darkness. By
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: this point in his life, it's no stretch to say
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: that drugs had consumed John Fruchante. They had become his
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: primary endeavor, and his home reflected it. There's a short film,
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: a so called documentary called Stuff that Johnny Depp had
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: made with Gibbie Haynes during this period, and it's about, well,
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: I guess it's about how John Fruchiante was living at
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: the time.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: It's hard to tell.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: It just looks like a squalid depiction of an artist's
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: drug life, a slow motion descent into hell. The camera
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: drifts like a stoned ghost throughout John Fruchonte's home. It's
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: soundtracked by the guitar players dissonant and creepy home recordings,
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: and the walls are covered with spray paint, and the
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: furniture is mostly torn apart, empty and abandoned beer and
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: wine bottles. They compete with overfilled ash trays to occupy
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: every last inch of surface space. John Fruchiante lases about,
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: and he's prone and ghostly. Winona Ryder's godfather, the beat
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: icon an LSD researcher, doctor Timothy Leary. He stands frozen
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: in the kitchen statuesque in a junkie's lean. Johnny Depp
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: may not have lived like John Fruchiante, but for whatever reason,
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: he was determined to document how excessive drug use had
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: influenced the former Red Hot Chili Pepper's life. In fact,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: the way John Fruchante lived was too dark even for
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: the hardest of hardcore drug users amongst the Viper Room crew.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: It was because of this that Bob Forrest made it
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: a point to warn River Phoenix to stay away from
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: John Fruchiante's place. In the fall of nineteen ninety three,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: River Phoenix returned to Hollywood from Utah, where he'd been
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: filming a thriller entitled Dark Blood.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: There are differing.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Accounts of River Phoenix's relationship with drugs and alcohol during
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: this time. Some, like his girlfriend Samantha Mathis, say that
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: during the shooting of Dark Blood, he'd been mostly clean.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Others contend that River's alcohol and cocaine use were a
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: constant for the young actor. To River's friend Bob Forrest,
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: there is no question about River state when he got
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: back into town. To Bob, River appeared to be clean
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: and healthy, and for River Phoenix in nineteen ninety three,
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: a healthy lifestyle paired with what to that point was
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: an unimpeachable acting career and undeniable on screen talent, meant
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: that the sky was the limit.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: For the twenty three year old.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: River Phoenix was living up to his name. In a
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: skyscape glowing with stars. He was streaking, burning brighter than most.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: This and genuine concern for his friend were the reasons
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Bob forrest Fell compelled to warn River, upon his re
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: entry into the Hollywood scene, to stay away from John
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Fruchiante's house. But River Phoenix wouldn't listen. Bob ran into
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: him at a party on sunset. River looked good. Bob
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: told him that John Fruchonte did not. John's eyes were
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: hollowing out, his teeth were starting to rot. His speech
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: was erratic, his mind was shot. John Fruchonte was in
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: a bad way. Listened but said little look. Bob said,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: you don't understand. You haven't done drugs for months.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: You shouldn't go up there.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: It's passed the point of fun up there these days.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: River kept quiet.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: Bob leaned in to try to make his point one
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: last time. River, it's bad. It's so bad that just
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: walking in the door John's place and taking a deep
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: breath might lead to an od.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: River didn't get it. Bob bounced.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: River Phoenix went straight to John Fruchante's home and hold
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: up for days. Crack cocaine through the pipe. Liquid cocaine
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: shot directly into the vein, and then heroin to come down.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: They repeated the cycle over and over again for days. River,
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Phoenix and John Fruchiante were beyond high, high on drugs
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: and high on the idea that the two of them
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: were going to grab their guitars and head down to
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: the Viper room to sit in on stage with Johnny
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Depp and his band p Flee and Al Jorgensen.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Were going to be there and on stage with Pea
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: And that's exactly what was happening. On the evening of
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: October thirtieth, nineteen ninety three, River and John arrived. It
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: was clear they were walking disasters. Among the clubgoers Christina Applegate,
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: Scott Ian of Anthrax, House of Pains, Everlast, among others.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: On stage, John appeared even worse than when he arrived. Mercifully,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: the first set ended, John let the stage, River stumbled
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: through the crowd. River wanted desperately to get up on
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: that stage, but he was wasted, and Flee told him
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: that that wasn't going to happen. Pea eventually started their
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: second set. River and John watched from the side of
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: the stage. River then stumbled to a table to sit down.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: A cup was passed around. It contained a drug concoction
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: of unknown origin. River, like many others, sipped from it.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: Then he gulped down the cup's entire contents. River turned white.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: He stumbled into the crowd. A commotion broke out, shouting,
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: then screams from outside the front door. Out on Sunset Strip,
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: River Phoenix lay convulsing on the sidewalk. His brother, Joaquin,
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: just nineteen, called nine to one one from inside. His
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: sister Rain gave River mouth to mouth. His girlfriend Samantha
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: screamed out in fear. Flee tried steadying River, but the
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: convulsions were too much. River's body was failing him, completely
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: overrun by the drugs in his system. The ambulance pulled
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: up outside the viper room. River was loaded in the back.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Flea jumped in to accompany him. It was minutes before
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: they arrived at Cedar Sinai, but by then it was
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: too late. River Phoenix was pronounced dead at one point
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: fifty one am on October thirty first, nineteen ninety three.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: He was just twenty three years old. The Red Hawk
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: Chili Peppers loved River Phoenix. Anthony Keatis had become close
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: with River during the recordings for Blood, Sugar, Sex Magic.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: Anthony was so enamored with the young actor that he
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: wrote about him in the song give It Away. There's
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: a River born to be a giver. Keep you warm,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: won't let you shiver. His heart is never going to wither.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Come on, everybody, time to deliver. Flee grew close with
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: River during the filming of My Own Private Idaho, the
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: Gus vans Ant film that Flee also had a part in.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: The two hung out, constantly listened to music, and played
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: music together, and Flee cared so much about River's well
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: being on that night at the Vice Upper Room that
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: he was the one who jumped into the ambulance to
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: be with his dying friend. John Fruchiante, on the other hand,
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: at that time, in nineteen ninety three, was on the
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: outs with the Red.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: Hot Chili Peppers. He'd quit the band.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: Not only had he quit, but Anthony Keatis believed John
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: betrayed the band by sabotaging their set on Saturday Night Live.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: And now in ninety three, John was consumed by drugs
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: and River Phoenix was dead from drugs officially from an
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: overdose cocaine and morphine, unofficially from a liquid speedball. At least,
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: that's the accepted public explanation of how River died, but
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: part of the Internet believes that John Frusciante killed River
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: Phoenix from Reddit, John's role in the Night of River
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: Phoenix's Death from Medium, The Curious Case of River Phoenix's
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: Death from YouTube, who gave River Phoenix the fatal drugs?
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: The John Fruciante.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Theory, and the reason the Internet believes this is because
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: sometime around twenty twelve twenty thirteen, River's friend, the director
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: William Rickert, who directed River.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: In A Night in the Life of Jimmy.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Reardon, he gave an interview in which he stayed at
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: point blank his opinion that John Fruchionte killed River Phoenix.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Rickart claimed that he learned this from River's girlfriend, Samantha Mathis,
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: who was at the Viper room that night. Rickart said
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: Samantha Mathis told him that John Fruchiante came up to
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: the table that she was sitting at and said, drink
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: this River, It'll make you feel fabulous, and that River
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: drank the entire cup and then stumbled off into his overdose.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Rickert goes on in the interview to clearly state it's
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: called homicide. The interview is very compelling, but there's only
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: one problem with There's no record of Samantha Mathis ever
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: saying any of this. There's only William Rickard's claim that
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: she said it. This is where the entire theory stems
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: from from hearsay. What Samantha Mathis actually said about the
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: events of that night, as she recounted to The Guardian,
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: was quote, I didn't see anyone doing drugs, but he
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: was high in a way that made me uncomfortable.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: Unquote.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's assume for a minute that what William Rickards
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: said Samantha Mathis said is true. That allegedly John Fruchante
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: gave River Phoenix a drink filled with cocaine and heroin
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: and said, drink this, riv It'll make you feel fabulous.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: Why wouldn't River Phoenix's family sue John Fruchante.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: Hell, why wouldn't William Rickard sue John Fruchante.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: The director had a track record of bringing lawsuits against
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: those who he felt aggrieved him. He sued the Writer's
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: Guild of America. He sued the Director Guild as well.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: These are over separate issues, but I don't want to digress.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: The point here is that the man wasn't afraid of
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: spending money on lawyers. Beyond these questions, though, the bigger
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: question for me, and the biggest challenge to this theory
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: that John Fruchonte was allegedly responsible for the death of
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: River Phoenix's Why would the Red Hot Chili Peppers let
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: John Fruchionte back into their band. River was their friend.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: John Fruchonte had once been their friend. Sure, but John
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: had betrayed them. He embarrassed them on live television. Doesn't
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: it seem more likely that if one of your friends,
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: a friend who abandoned you, was responsible for the death
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: of another friend, a friend you loved and who loved you, well,
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: wouldn't you not want to have anything to do with
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: the bad friend, the one who killed the good friend.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: The last thing you would do would be to invite.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Him back into your band.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: But that's exactly what the Red Hot Chili Peppers did
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety eight, Hollywood. John Fruchante is alive, but barely.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: It's been five.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Years since River Phoenix's death. Two years since John's home
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: burned down the one depicted by Johnny Depp in his documentary,
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: and John's living conditions now in his new Hollywood Hills
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: home are somehow even worse. John's teeth are rotted into
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: skinny shards.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: They're brown and yellow.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: His fingernails are inexplicably gone in their place putrid, hardened
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: black blood, and the skin on his arms appears to
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: be dripping off.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Of his bones.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: There are massive abscesses infections from improperly shooting heroin and cocaine.
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: His legs are scarred from the lit ends of his cigarettes.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: A junkie is occupational hazard caused by not off while smoking.
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: John is a visitor today his old friend Bob Forrest.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: Bob is still using, but he's not nearly as bad
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: off as.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Bob.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: Has a message, John, You're going to die at any
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: moment if you don't.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: Let me take you to rehab right now. For whatever reason.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: On that day of all days, John Fruchionte gets the message.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: He makes a bargain with himself. He'll go to rehab
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: and he'll get clean, and he'll stay clean for a year,
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: and if after a year's time. He can't handle life sober,
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: he'll kill himself. John Fruchiante did not kill himself. He
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: got clean, and he stayed clean, and it wasn't long
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: before he got another visitor. This time it was his
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: old friend Flee checking in on him. John was clearly
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: doing much better, and Flee told John that if you
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: ever wanted a jam again with the band, that he'd
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: be open to it. Eventually, a rehearsal was set up
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: and the magic was still there. John was asked to
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: rejoin the Red Hot Chili Peppers in nineteen ninety eight.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: When Flee called him to give him the news, John
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: broke down in tears of gratitude. He was clean, yes,
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: but now once again his life had purpose. Music had
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: provided that purpose another escape. John Fruchante escaped drugs by
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: turning once again toward music. River Phoenix had attempted to
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: use music as an escape as well, but drugs overcame
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: him on that night at the Viper Room. Back in
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety three, John's returned to the Chili Peppers, it
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: wasn't all smooth sailing. He left the band again in
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: two thousand and nine due to exhaustion, and then returned
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: a second time in twenty nineteen. When he did flee,
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: posted on so media, John's back and River Phoenix's sister,
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: Rain commented with a simple heart emoji. So I ask you,
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: oh mighty Internet, why would River's sister, the one who
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: was with him on the sidewalk outside of the viper
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: room the night he died, why would she publicly show
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: her support to the dude who supposedly killed her brother.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: She wouldn't because she doesn't believe the guitarist is guilty.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: I don't believe John Fruschanti is guilty of killing River
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: Phoenix either, or.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: That he's even guilty of manslaughter.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: River drank a liquid speedball from a cup that, yes,
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: perhaps had been handed to him by someone else, and
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: there are accounts that multiple people sipped from that cup
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: that night, but River was the only one who gulped
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: it down entirely. River Phoenix was young, but he was
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: an adult who made his own decisions, and this one
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: was a stupid, unnecessary decision, one that cost him his
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: life and cost us fans a career will never get.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: To see play out.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: Imagine River Phoenix instead of Leonardo DiCaprio and The Departed.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: By the way, but I digress.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: What this decision costs River Phoenix's family and friends, yes,
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: even his friends in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: was immeasurable pain. This isn't me defending a famous rock
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: star who I'm a fan of. Those who know me
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: and have listened to Disgrace and for years understand that
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: I'm not shy about challenging the chosen and often false
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: narratives put forth by famous musicians. See our past episodes
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: on Foo Fighters, Jerry Lee Lewis and others for exhibits A, B,
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: and C through Z. No, this isn't me defending John Fruchante.
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: It's me defending the truth. Admittedly there's a thin line
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: between the truth and the conspiracy, but the evidence does
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: not support what the Internet has been claiming.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: That's a bum out for the Internet.
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: And the conspiracy theorists and the generators of AI slop.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: But it's a win for humanity, and that's anything but
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. All right, guys,
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: thanks for checking out this episode of Disgraceland on John
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: Frusciante and River Phoenix. I want to know what you think.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: I laid out the case here pretty much as best
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: I could in its entirety as I see it, with
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: all the relevant facts. Do you think that John Frusciante
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: had something to do with River Phoenix's death? Let me
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: know six one seven nine oh six six six three eight,
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: voicemail and text. Hit me on the socials at disgracelanmdpod
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: disgrace lampod at gmail dot com. Make sure you got
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: auto downloads on Apple turned on.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: Here comes some credits.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: partnership with Double Elvis, the Exactly Right Network in iHeart Podcasts.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: Credits for this episode can be found on the show
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: a disgracelan All Access member, thank.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: You for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, and.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: If not, you can become a member right now by
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: going to disgracelampod dot com slash Membership members can listen
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: to every episode of disgracelan ad free, rate and review
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: the show.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: And follow us on Instagram.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: YouTube dot com, slash at disgracelampod, rock a rolla He
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: then Land,