Re: Off The Deep End


"Joe" <joko@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5d6qalF32aj1kU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The guy who dragged me to my first Dead show in 1974 called yesterday to
say he was in a mental institution. And, I was glad. About 3 weeks ago, he
just sort of went off the deep end.

When he called me from the mental institution, he's telling me that he's
building a 1500 seat venue in San Felipe, Mexico and that the first show
he's going to put on is next New Year's Eve. With the Who and the Rolling
Stones. For only $15,000 a seat.

Best of all: I'm head of backstage security.

It all started 3 weeks ago, when he told me he was going to San Felipe
to jam with a guy he knows for a couple of days. The next thing I heard is
he called me just after he'd crossed back into California.

He said that he'd just bought a mansion on a cliff overlooking the ocean,
from Pedro, for only $400,000. My first question was "So, what did you
tell your wife?" and he stunned me and caused some hysterical laughter
when he said, "Nothing."

A week before he was bragging to me about how lucky he was to have a wife
like he had, and the next thing you know, he's moving to Mexico a week
later without telling her. "Oh hon, I'm going out to score a pack of
papers. Be back in 20 years."

Ummm. Hello?

I've known him for 35 years. He's my oldest friend. And I thought, "Holy
***; I have to tell his wife."

I refrained from calling her, but not an hour later, he calls me back,
tells me he'll pay all my expenses to come down to Mexico. And then he
asked me to bring "a setup" whan I came down.

"A setup? A setup of what" I asked.

"A complete hydroponic grow room" was his reply.

ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND??? YOU WANT ME TO CROSS THE MEXICAN
BORDER WITH A HYDROPONICS GROW ROON IN MY CAR?????"

And, it just went downhill from there.

Apparently, he went back down to Mexico a week later, and side-swipped a
Mexican Police Car. The cop demanded $1500, on the spot to not arrest him.

And, in my friend's mind, he now owns that cop. He can grow dope in
Mexico, or so he thinks, and he can easily persuade Mick and Keith to
play there. "What's a couple of million dollars between friends?"

Despite a sense that I was betraying an old friend, I finally called his
wife this morning.

She's an attorney, actually, a university professor of law whose claim to
fame was clarifying the State of California's policy of having someone
committed for 2 weeks for psychiatric evaluation. And, she couldn't talk
long, as she was going to court to have the court order a 14 day
psychiatric hold for her husband. How ironic, how sad.

I've never dealt with a friend who has flipped out, but I told the wife I
wanted to be in solidarity with her and with his family. The best way to
do that, she said, was to encourage him to remain hospitalized.

And, the weird thing is...after hearing of his escapades, I agree. Lock
him up for his own good. He's out of control. Out of control, but with a
checkbook that he's not afraid to use.

If anyone's ever dealt with anything like this, I'd like some advice.

He wife says he's bipolar, but I dunno. I mean, we've been friends for 35
years and if he was bipolar I might have noticed something even slightly
amiss before. But nah, he's just your typical stoner Dead Head, a bit of a
fuck up. And in a matter of weeks, he's completely out of his fucking
mind.

I kind of feel like putting on my answering machine, but as weird and
unpleasant and downright funky this all sounds, I'd like to be there for
my oldest friend. But, how? We get stoned whenever we get together. He was
stoned on LSD the day he met my parents, 35 years ago. And, acting it.
Like I said, a bit of a *** up.

Any advice?

Bipolar or manic sounds about right. When I was a kid my best friend's
father and my dad's best friend went crazy like this. He too had money to
burn and he left his family overnight, died his hair blonde, bought a
massage parlor, and moved a prostitute into a new house he bought for her
after knowing her for a couple of days. Then he bought her a Jaguar, a fur
coat, and 3 parrots. He tried to strangle his wife, so our family had to
hide his family for their own safety. They lived with us until one night
his limo cruised our cul de sac; then we hid them in an out of the way
motel.

He was convinced by my dad and his other friends to check into the hospital.
They treated him with lithium; and within a few weeks he had sold the house
and massage parlor, said goodbye to the prostitute and parrots as they drove
away in the Jaguar, and his hair returned to normal. He moved back in with
his family, and with regular therapy and the lithium, he lived normally the
rest of his life.

Act as if returning to his wife and regular life is a given; encourage him
to stick with whatever therapy and meds he's getting, and don't even think
of getting him high. Forget about the old behaviors, he needs a new
pattern.

OR


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