An old IM conversation of me telling Kelly Murphy about an encounter on a bus. (I post this for myself to remember what “bottom” is.)
(August 7, 2005)
2:23:53 PM me: Friday, though.
2:24:03 PM me: I didn’t get to tell you this story.
2:24:11 PM kelly: I would be up for a movie, but i think I should stay i… and get to work on the poppies
2:24:15 PM kelly: FRIDAY!
2:24:16 PM kelly: Let’
2:24:17 PM kelly: s hear!
2:24:40 PM me: Well I got out of work early and was waiting for the bus in Downtown Pawtucky
2:24:45 PM kelly: ok
2:25:03 PM me: And an old guy came up and offered to buy a cigarette off of me
2:25:12 PM kelly: uh oh
2:25:15 PM me: I gave him one
2:25:21 PM me: He asked what they were
2:25:21 PM kelly: uuuh ooooh
2:25:47 PM me: Showed him the box, and he says “Oh, Sherman’s. I used to smoke these!”
2:26:00 PM me: “Yeah, those and Dunhills.”
2:26:11 PM me: “Pretty expensive…”
2:26:20 PM kelly: oh no
2:26:25 PM me: “Yeah I used to smoke these when I was a millionaire.”
2:26:31 PM kelly: hahahahaha
2:26:47 PM me: “Yeah, when I was smuggling hashish from India”
2:26:56 PM kelly: ha ha
2:27:11 PM me: And the bus came I got on, and he followed me on.
2:27:19 PM kelly: ooooh noooo
2:27:37 PM me: And proceeded to spend the next half hour telling me in great detail about how he smuggled drugs…
2:27:44 PM kelly: oooh!
2:27:56 PM me: 36 successful trips bringing in 40 lbs at a time…
2:28:11 PM kelly: what?
2:28:16 PM me: He worked at a law firm…
2:28:16 PM kelly: from india?
2:28:20 PM kelly: !!!
2:28:20 PM me: yup.
2:28:28 PM kelly: do you believe him?
2:28:36 PM me: Was a seamsstress… He was sort of “homo” at the time…
2:29:01 PM me: He was a plexiglass fabricator… All his work went to museums and galleries
2:29:07 PM kelly: wooooah, what? He was a laaywer homo seamstress?
2:29:16 PM me: And he was a manager for a band called “Life on Earth”
2:29:20 PM kelly: OMG
2:29:23 PM kelly: this is fucking awesome
2:29:35 PM kelly: poor bill
2:29:38 PM me: And somehow still just worked at the Filmore West.
2:29:44 PM kelly: you’re a magnet for these people!
2:29:51 PM me: Seriously
2:30:06 PM kelly: so for the whole bus ride he talked didn;t he
2:30:16 PM me: He spent a good amount of time telling me how much drugs he did…
2:30:18 PM me: Oh yeah…
2:30:22 PM kelly: hahahahahaha
2:30:24 PM kelly: poor bill
2:30:36 PM me: Coke, opium, and heroin
2:30:45 PM kelly: sweet!
2:31:00 PM kelly: was he on it then?
2:31:13 PM me: No, he told me he’d been drinking though.
2:31:25 PM kelly: did he offer any?
2:31:29 PM me: Nah.
2:31:44 PM me: Lord knows what the guy drinks now.
2:31:48 PM me: Probably listerine…
2:31:52 PM kelly: did you get off first or did he/
2:31:55 PM kelly: AHHH hahahaha
2:32:01 PM me: He got off with me…
2:32:07 PM kelly: OH SHIT
2:32:10 PM me: He wasn’t finished with his story
2:32:12 PM me: Seriously.
2:32:22 PM me: I thought he was going to follow me around all day.
2:32:22 PM kelly: (you must have been freaking)
2:32:31 PM me: A little bit. A little bit.
2:33:04 PM me: But he finished up telling me how he got caught finally and spent 5 years in prison.
2:33:11 PM kelly: ahahahahaha
2:33:16 PM kelly: yikes, and he just got out today
2:33:20 PM me: And proceeded to tell me to stay out of that shit.
2:33:31 PM me: This was in the 60’s, early 70’s.
2:33:48 PM kelly: Don’t do drugs bill, just say no
2:34:07 PM me: Kept mentioning “real fucking San Francisco hippies”
2:34:16 PM kelly: holy crap
2:34:27 PM kelly: why do they all talk to you bill? You listen that’s why!
2:34:37 PM me: Told me that quick money isn’t worth it.
2:34:45 PM me: I do.
2:34:51 PM me: I have to.
2:35:05 PM kelly: you should have told him whorin’s da only life
2:35:05 PM me: Cause I have “Shit-sponge” tatooed on my forehead
2:35:40 PM me: But as we parted, he asked me to remember his face.
2:35:45 PM kelly: ????
2:35:51 PM kelly: wtf?
2:36:06 PM me: And to believe that beneath the shabby exterior is a more refined man.
2:36:15 PM kelly: DELUSIONAL
2:36:21 PM me: It was very sad.
2:36:25 PM kelly: oh no
2:36:38 PM kelly: well, hen he shoul dget a shave!
2:36:48 PM kelly: not your fault!!
2:37:03 PM kelly: DAmn San Fran hippies ate his brain
2:37:08 PM me: I actually didn’t really mind the whole thing…
2:37:20 PM me: It was pretty entertaining
2:37:21 PM kelly: he was harmless enough?
2:37:24 PM me: Yeah.
2:37:32 PM kelly: looking at my calendar
2:37:36 PM kelly: Firday was a NEw Moon
2:37:46 PM kelly: real crazies come out with the new moon I guess
2:38:14 PM me: The cosmos is telling me to get my shit together, maybe.
2:38:19 PM kelly: I am sure he appreciated the company though
2:38:26 PM kelly: you already have your shit together!
2:38:31 PM kelly: maybe that’s what it’s trying to tell you
2:38:38 PM me: I don’t know…
2:38:49 PM kelly: bill, just don;t smuggle hashhish please
2:38:52 PM me: Two bizarre run ins in a week.
2:38:57 PM kelly: Tony?
2:39:00 PM me: yeah
2:39:06 PM kelly: that was bizarre?
2:39:10 PM kelly: but good?
2:39:29 PM me: Well, insofar as he said things like “You haven’t hit bottom yet”
2:39:34 PM kelly: maybe you need a pipe http://www.milantobacco.com/savinelli.htm )
2:39:38 PM kelly: he said that???????
2:39:42 PM me: And I run into a guy who clearly has
2:39:45 PM kelly: why would he say that?
2:40:00 PM me: My lack of enthusiam for art-making.
2:40:03 PM kelly: ahhhhhhhhh
2:40:29 PM kelly: then it’s not such a bad comment, but can be contorted into a more positive boost
2:40:33 PM kelly: if you wanted to
2:40:47 PM kelly: and this bearded man…
2:40:58 PM me: Just sort of odd paired with the burn-out.
2:41:03 PM kelly: do you need Hoffman?
2:41:12 PM me: ?
2:41:15 PM kelly: to figure out the coincidence?
2:41:24 PM me: No.