If you’d like to read some more samples of Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind, two sites have excerpts today, which happen to bookend each other: Refinery 29 has a taste of the introduction, while Slate has a chunk relating to Dark Blood and the final weeks […]

posted 31 October 2013 in Buy My Stuff, Excerpts. no comments yet

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of River Phoenix’s death. I’ve known this day was coming for many months, ever since I started working on writing Last Night at the Viper Room last year, and yet today I find myself surprised and saddened all over again. I just wanted to take a quiet moment out of […]

posted 31 October 2013 in Tasty Bits. 1 comment

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to Book Soup: we had a full house, people asked lots of great questions, and I was happy to meet so many of you. I am making another appearance tonight, in conjunction with a screening of Dark Blood: that’s the movie River Phoenix was making when he […]

posted 29 October 2013 in Buy My Stuff, News. no comments yet

The website for the Russian edition of Rolling Stone has put up an excerpt from Last Night at the Viper Room (the chapter about the making of Stand by Me). I can’t speak to the quality of the translation, so I’m just going to  assume that it’s excellent. It’s cool and surreal to see my […]

posted 29 October 2013 in Excerpts, Outside. 3 comments

Hello, citizens of Los Angeles and visitors to this fair city: Tonight (which is Monday night, October 28), I will be at the legendary Book Soup, starting at 7 pm, reading from Last Night at the Viper Room and answering questions on any topic you care to bring up, be it River Phoenix, Lou Reed, […]

posted 28 October 2013 in Buy My Stuff, News. no comments yet

I had several pieces on the Rolling Stone website in the past week. First and foremost was a list I assembled of twenty Lou Reed tracks, in memory of his passing. I tried to strike a balance between the most iconic moments in his career and great stuff on YouTube that people might have forgotten […]

posted 27 October 2013 in Links. 4 comments

Taken two weeks ago at the Red Rock Canyon State Park in southern California.

posted 25 October 2013 in Photos. no comments yet

Hello, citizens of Los Angeles, California, and Portland, Oregon! I will be appearing soon in your town to read from Last Night at the Viper Room, sign copies of the book, answer questions, and generally be in full authorial mode. (I’ll have everything but the pipe and the jacket with the elbow patches.) If you […]

posted 24 October 2013 in Buy My Stuff, News. no comments yet

And I strongly suggest you go buy a copy. It is sold by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powell’s–or your local bookstore, who you should really help stay in business. I’m extremely proud of this book and I hope you’ll check it out. “I’ve already read two excerpts, Gavin,” I hear you say. “But I’m […]

posted 23 October 2013 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet

My new book, Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind, is out tomorrow. It is easy to obtain from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powell’s–or mere hours from now, you can walk into your local bookseller, give them some money, and leave with the book under your arm. […]

posted 21 October 2013 in Buy My Stuff, Excerpts. no comments yet