High & Low

In 1979 I went to a show at Irving Plaza in NYC with a couple of my friends. When the curtain went up, Johnny was laying down on the stage passed out, almost. He had an acoustic guitar and was mumbling into the mike that was laying on the floor. I think he had even thrown up. After laying there for a minute, two guys came out and dragged him off stage. About 5 Minutes later he bolted out on stage all wired up, sweating bullets and played great for about 15 minutes. He then went off stage for another break repeating this scenario for the entire night.

Another time I went to the Limelight in NYC. He was to have come out around midnight. Well, the hours passed till about 4:30 am, they said he could not get out of the taxi cab. When he finally came out he said he was really " fuckin' tired" and wouldn't play unless the crowd bought him an 8-ball of coke. People were throwing him money and he picked it up, departed the stage and returned 5 minutes later to play the best show I ever saw which ended at about 6 am.

The last time I got eyeball to eyeball with him was at the Continental Divide in NYC. I was having a drink with him (double vodka & orange) when someone came over and fucked with him. This guy grabbed Johnny and I hit him and Johnny stood up on a chair and started fighting too. After that he went on stage and played 4 songs with the Welds. He was dead about a month later...

The worst show was 4/15/91 also at the Continental. I waited till 4 a.m. to find out he wasn't coming because he was "in Japan". Eight days later he was dead.

Mark