River Phoenix died thirty years ago today, on a Hollywood sidewalk outside the Viper Room, in the early hours of Halloween. Costumed partygoers stepped around his body as he thrashed on the concrete and his younger siblings tried to keep him alive. If River were alive today, he would be 53 years old. I still […]

posted 31 October 2023 in Articles. no comments yet

I am delighted to announce that my book Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind is out in paperback today. So if you’ve been waiting for a bathtub-friendly copy, your time has come. I haven’t posted much about it lately, so may I remind you of a few […]

posted 21 October 2014 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet

If you want to read full-length paragraphs on the topic of River Phoenix, woven together into a larger narrative, your best bet is the full-length biography I wrote that was published last week, Last Night at the Viper Room (available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powell’s, or your local bookstore). But if you want […]

posted 1 November 2013 in Links, Outside. no comments yet

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

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

I know you may still be digesting VJ, but I have a new book coming out next month, and I wanted to let you know about it. (I don’t expect to ever have two books out in the same year again, but the vagaries of publishing schedules are inscrutable sometimes.) It’s called Last Night at […]

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