Today is the 51st birthday of the actor and activist River Phoenix. We are the same age and I even saw him once in Seattle. He is in my favorite Indiana Jones film and my favorite Gus van Sant film My Own Private Idaho. He filmed a movie in Tacoma’s North End and we heard rumors of him being at this coffee shop and sightings here and there, but I never actually saw him. Years later, I did get an autograph (my only autograph of any kind) from his one-time girlfriend and The Goonies alumna Martha Plimpton. It’s written on a Barneys New York thank you card and simply says “screw you!” and her signature.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.


This episode is also available as a blog post: http://waldina.com/2021/08/23/happy-51st-birthday-river-phoenix/

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