Preface
About an hour into the show today, Howard said that he hasn’t been beating off lately which Artie chimed in that he was the same way. Howard said it was probably because of his weight. Artie said, “I can’t get myself into bed…I blew myself off”. Artie went on to say that he has had that “I gave up look of sweat pants and a beard” for awhile. Howard said that girls are “freaked out” and if he was to get in shape he would be banging all the time.
Rut of all ruts
Artie said its been a long time since he went out to New York to a nice dinner with a girl. He got used to that while dating Dana. He claims he had dated a girl for a little while but worried about it getting more serious than it was… “Ive dated some real good looking girls in the last year and a half”…”I physically gotta get out of the rut”.
H – a letter like no other
Howard asked if heroin was calling and Artie said everyday. “How are you dum dum?…we were on a conference call with cocaine [last night]“. Then he clarified to said that it wasn’t every day that he thinks about heroin. “On the road getting to bed I feel it would be so much easier [to sleep if he was taking heroin]“.
Take you back, doo doo doo doo take you back
“I swore off hard drugs forever…started taking vicodin to go to sleep in hotels and on planes…. I was in a city [in the middle of doing] 4 cities in 2 nights… I gotta get me some perkasets … This guy asked me how many do you need.. something to last me the weekend… maybe a hundred or something”. [So the guy says] Dude your gonna destroy your liver…snort a little H , you’ll fall asleep . I hadn’t done that since the mid 90s .. that logical sounded logical .. so I said fine. So I get a dimebag .. I took some [key] hits before the show… just relaxed me on stage to get through the shows.”
“There were a lot of girls around but all I thought about was the girlfriend in my pocket… I took a shower… like romancing it … take a couple lines. When my head hit the pillow I can remember such a euphoria … even within the high I said to myself…this is gonna be a problem [liked it too much]. I WANT NO KID TO TRY IT.” Howard asked if it were better than sex or drinking and Artie responded, “Drunk is single A ball…this is Yankee stadium…I’d put the radio on …had all the baseball scores on the TV…its just wonderful. “
“…Seeped into the weekends, seeped into the week…it began six months of a living hell. I would get done with the show at 11 and drive an hour and a half away for my contact… its never as good as the first one [heroin] … chase it, chase it…a waste of time…takes more and more to get near it …sometimes the trip was in vain…these people [dealers] aren’t punctual. And you can’t get pissed at a heroin dealer for being late.”
Howard asked how much does it cost for a regular heroin user. Artie said “I never got into shooting into it.. takes up a lot…. At my worst, between 750 –1000 a week.” Robin said that “wasn’t bad”.
Fred asked what was the first time he did it. Artie answered, “The first time I ever did it was during my cocaine binge days…it was there to come down off the coke. I mixed it with other shit …so I never got the pure feeling of it.”
By the end of the story Artie yelled, “DON’T DO DRUGS KIDS!“
