Sometime fairly early on, I saw and was at the same time narrated, play by play, to by Miami there was soon to be a visitor.... you got it. Tweaker Ted! It was the last person I saw on Tweaker TV, because after voicing my sincere displeasure aloud and in some agreement with the rest of the people... I slipped off into the farthest corner of a really small room, where I managed to stay distracted for a long time. Hours, maybe.

But as the night wore on, people began to leave, thinning the herd within which I had managed to hide all that time. Pretty soon, it was about fifteen or twenty people still lounging on the floor. That was the only furniture, I think... or maybe a mattress. It was Hollywood. Ask your friends, they know!

We made eye contact.

"FUCK!" I remember thinking....

"Hi, Julia..." Ted offered meekly, very quietly.

"Hello, Ted!" I said loudly, for all to enjoy... after all, I knew what was coming next. "Congratulations!! You're not dead!!"

"What!!!???" Ted got a look of horror on his face, as the blood drained... I didn't quite know just yet, so of course I pushed on.

"Congratulations, Ted, you're not dead! Like Mark Twain and Paul McCartney, rumors of your death are greatly exaggerated!!" (Actually, I just realized, Mark Twain probably really is dead... but I digress....)

"WHAAAATTT....?" Ted stammered.... visibly shaken.

Suddenly a chorus of previously silent voices all chimed up, "yeah..." "I heard that, too..." etc.

Ted continued to stammer, as he jumped to his feet.... and ran out the front door. I have never seen him again....

... but that is, of course, not the last you will hear of our dear buddy, Ted.

A week later, rumor had it, Ted was picked up on Murder One. Someone died, but it wasn't Ted. My first thought, "Oh well, couldn't have happened to a nicer fella."

I am not sure how long after this night at Spice, with James and Sam, and the crowd, but skip ahead some. Maybe even months. Maybe even six.

It was the night I was on the guest list at The Roxybury, as shown by the movie... Night at the Roxybury, which wasn't the club used on the TV show Saturday Night Live. Been to both, forget the name right now... Coconut something. China Club, that's it.

I went to the Roxbury club alone. I like to go out alone, it turns out! Something about some girl locking some band out of backstage kind of taught me that lesson early on! For fashion's sake, I opted not to wear my glasses unless I really wanted to see. So, as I roamed this multi-level club, pretty much I was looking for one person, who I didn't expect to see... and wasn't there. Story later about Chance. (Not his real name, but is title character of said book.)

Pretty much I was squinting and pacing around the entire club, not really too thrilled to be there... but having been put on the guest list, I stayed for a while. Wasn't really drinking.... was more into drugs. So.... of course all clubs could be ditched at any moment, for any or no reason. Or concerts. Backstage at Rush didn't even hold me, back in those days. Daze...

I was pretty much about to give this one a rest, but as I made my last round, I glanced over and saw the lead singer of some band or other. I didn't have MTV, so I really just recognized him as somebody famous. That's when the most unattractive fella I had ever seen stepped up to me and said boldly, with great confidence...

"Well I see you have been casing him all night.... do you just want to meet him?"