Quotes from Gavin Edwards

Around the age that most children attended kindergarten and are entrusted with blunt-tipped scissors, River had the massive responsibility of supporting his family.

The Phoenix family wasn't just chasing stardom: they thought this was all part of a divine plan in which the children, especially River, could be instrumental in changing the world into a better, holier place.

I think this kind of a big name to hold up when you're nine years old. It seemed goofy. I used to tell people I wanted to change the world and they used to think the kid's really weird.

But early on, adults start sending them contradictory. They'll give a kid a stuffed animal to hug and love and sleep with at the same time, they're serving them animals for dinner every night you think about it. But when you're young, you just accept what they tell you as the truth.

Bill showed up bearing Polish sausages and explained that what he most enjoyed were baseball games with fielding errors, because it emphasized the human element in the game. (He didn't comment on whether that was the root of his affection for the Cubs.)

In the weight room before a game against the Expos, pitcher Rick Sutcliffe asked Bill where his seats were. The answer was: "Up among the weird and the damned.

We circled around for a long time because they were being very cautious. They didn't want to lose me. That would have been noticed.

It wasn't surprising that Bill Murray was there too—but nobody expected him to stick around after the show, helping the stadium cleaning crew pick up the heaps of trash at the end of the night.

So when Bill showed up with a pizza, as he did periodically, Ovitz said, "We'd let him in, he'd actually have a pizza, we'd eat it, and then he'd disappear again. It was like that for years.

His verdict: "I have several sons, but I only have one ball club.

There are many ways to be a spontaneous free spirit. One of them is to act before you think: Throw your body into the moment and let your mind catch up. With practice, your body and your mind will fly through the air together and you will learn to live in the present tense.

Bill was the Cubs fan the whole nation looked to in the moment of victory: he was shocked and overjoyed and relieved of the weight he had been carrying around for decades. "I've been imagining this for a long time," Bill said. With the

Aleka is a poet-philosopher. The Attic is a meeting place where he lives and he has a secret society. They come and visit him and read his works. He then dies and they meet irregularly and continue the readings of his works, and from that learn their own, and become filled with this new passion for life. And they express it through music and form a band. We've put it in a fairy-tale setting.

Aleka was an obvious stand-in for River, who yearned to inspire the world But disturbingly, even in this pastel-colored idyll, he could only achieve that dream by dying.

We're all worth it, man," River said with a beatific smile. "Were all word millions of planets and stars and galaxies and universes.

A miserable Mike says haltingly, "I could love someone ever know, wasn't paid for it. And I love you, and you don't pay me." n a ball, he tells Scott, "I really want to kiss you, man." The scene of Scott gently holding Mike, stroking his hair.

n 1997, Van Sant was doing a reading at a bookstore from his no Pink. Dedicated to River, the book starred a thinly disguised version of him.) An audience member asked him who had hoisted River Phoenix body into the car. "I was hoping that viewers would project themselves into the film and decide for themselves who it was," he told her. "Okay, then," she replied. "Who picked him up in your version?" Van Sant paused. "In my version . .. in my version, I pick him up.

In 1997, Van Sant was doing a reading at a bookstore from his no Pink. Dedicated to River, the book starred a thinly disguised version him.) An audience member asked him who had hoisted River Phoen body into the car. "I was hoping that viewers would project themselves into the film and decide for themselves who it was," he told her. "Okay, then," she replied. "Who picked him up in your version?" Van Sant paused. "In my version . .. in my version, I pick him up.

the world was shocked when River Phoenix overdosed, but the people working on this film should not have been . . . this performance should have been seen by someone as a cry for help.

Slizer gave him permission to head back to L.A. a day early. Bidding Sluizer farewell, River told him, "I'm going back to the bad, bad town?

While Mathis, Rain, and Joaquin were waiting at the elevator, River changed his mind- either because he wanted to keep partying or because he was falling into his usual paternal role, taking care of his younger siblings He ran down the hall, shouting, "I'm coming, I'm coming!" River grabbed his guitar, planning to get onstage with his old friend Flea, and they rode the elevator down.

This was the crucial moment. River was clearly not in good shape, but the Cedars-Sinai Hospital was only one mile away. If an ambulance had been called right then, he might have been saved. But he also would have become a tabloid sensation, with his wholesome granola image destroyed. And he had survived other scary drug episodes before.

No one was doing anything," Davis said. "They were all standing around like deer caught in headlights." He saw Mathis leaning against the wall banging her head.

One minute you're on top of the world and the next minute you're gone you're gone and nobody can help you.