RAY

[Ken Ficara]

He talks about it at length in the book. The doctors at the clinic
wanted to give him the drugs to "wean him off" but he refused them. He
says in the book that it was bad but not horrible, nothing like The
Man With the Golden Arm or whatever. He also says heroin never
affected him to the point of nodding out, so perhaps he reacted
differently to the drug physically?

Based on everything else he did -- like moving to strange cities all
alone, as a blind man, with no work prospects and no friends to fall
back on -- I'd say the guy just had a staggering level of willpower
and determination.

Hoping to see the film this weekend, finally.

ken

On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 20:02:28 -0800, Blue Stew <bluestew@gmail.com> wrote:
> It was painful for me watching Ray go through a week of Hell while
> going "cold Turkey".  Why not ease off, little by little?  Why not
> methadone, vallium or something to make it a little less grueling?
>
> I broke my leg in August and got addicted to prscription pain killers.
>  I tried the "ct" method and couldn't do it.  I'm now simply cutting
> down the dosage day by day.
>
> Why put yourself through that if you don't have to?
> mike
>
>
>
> On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 03:38:53 EST, rjblues23@aol.com <rjblues23@aol.com> wrote:
> > Rick, I read Ray's autobiography, "Brother Ray" (with David Ritz).  He
> > states that while going blind as a boy he memorized the route he rode his bike  so
> > he could still do it when he went completely blind. This is what I  imagine he
> > did with the aforementioned golf cart -- someone showed him the route  he
> > memorized it. The man was a genius for real!  He ran the band,  did
> > arrangements,supported a family, got all kinds of woman, wrote hit tunes,  produced
> > sessions.   I don't think he could see a thing and he wrote  horn charts in brail
> > according to his book.  I know from a close  friend who spent years with Ray's
> > band that one certain member of the band  always went back to Ray's room after
> > every show.   Dig?
> >
> > -RJ Spangler
> >
> > Date:    Thu, 25 Nov 2004 08:19:53  -0600
> > From:    Ricky Stevens <_deltabluz@hotmail.com_
> > (http://us.f534.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=deltabluz@hotmail.com&YY=12424&order=down&sort=date&pos=0) >
> > Subject: Re:  RAY
> >
> > Apparently he could also see well enough to write charts for  sessions.
> > He
> > also drove a golf cart around his place in  Louisiana.
> >
> > Fact is stranger than truth.
> >
> > rick
> > ----- Original  Message -----
> > From: "hoodoojimmy" <_hoodoojimmy@cox.net_
> > (http://us.f534.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=hoodoojimmy@cox.net&YY=12424&order=down&sort=date&pos=0) >
> > To: <_BLUES-L@LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG_
> > (http://us.f534.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=BLUES-L@LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG&YY=12424&order=down&sort=date&pos=0) >
> > Sent: Thursday,  November 25, 2004 5:46 AM
> > Subject: Re: RAY
> >
> > > ok.........here's  my one question about "ray".........ray obviously
> > shot
> > up
> > > many  times by himself...according to the movie.........which  means
> > cooking,
> > > syringing, and hitting a vein.....blind? that seems  difficult?
> > >
> > > hoodoojimmy
> > > (obviously inexperienced with  this particular finery of life)
> >
> > Archives & web interface: http://lists.netspace.org/archives/blues-l.html
> > NetSpace LISTSERV(R) software donated by L-Soft, Inc.   http://www.lsoft.com
> > To unsubscribe from BLUES-L, send an email with the message UNSUBSCRIBE BLUES-L to: listserv@lists.netspace.org
> >
>
> Archives & web interface: http://lists.netspace.org/archives/blues-l.html
> NetSpace LISTSERV(R) software donated by L-Soft, Inc.   http://www.lsoft.com
> To unsubscribe from BLUES-L, send an email with the message UNSUBSCRIBE BLUES-L to: listserv@lists.netspace.org
>


--

Ken Ficara
Music, quotes, writing and more at
http://www.kenficara.com

Archives & web interface: http://lists.netspace.org/archives/blues-l.html
NetSpace LISTSERV(R) software donated by L-Soft, Inc.   http://www.lsoft.com
To unsubscribe from BLUES-L, send an email with the message UNSUBSCRIBE BLUES-L to: listserv@lists.netspace.org