RIP renfro

so brad renfro's death on tuesday -- undoubtedly drug-related -- is totally bumming me out. to me, he will perhaps always stand out as one of the more fucked up celebrities. pretty much all of his recent roles, in fact, required him to play characters not unlike himself. he took the helm, along with ethan embry, of one of my all-time fave episodes of law and order: criminal intent. he played a psychotic, bullied, airport security worker who moonlighted as a comic book artist and serial killer/rapist. dude was a good actor, don't get me wrong, but even through the efficient melodrama of CI it was play to see that his turmoil was real. ahhh, renfro, remember that time you and a buddy got drunk and stole a yacht? the time you got caught copping heroin on skid row? i'm not trying to glamorize a life that ended tragically young, but seriously, the obsession with celebrities-gone-bad has some misplaced attention on the women of the industry. renfro's antics always earned media attention, sure, but in a kind of one-sentence-in-the-newspaper kind of way.

in light of a new show to watch -- celebrity rehab with dr. drew -- i've been giving some thought to the crisis state of drug abuse in the entertainment industry. while on one hand it makes perfect sense to me that certain creative types might be drawn to experimentation, regular use, etc etc, and these routines, coupled with money and access, make addiction almost a sure thing...i still can't help but think that most of these people are just bullshitters with little incentive to exercise self-control. hey assholes -- ever hear my man bruce springsteen? 'they say you gotta stay hungry'? anyway, celebrity rehab: so one of the guests is alec baldwin, and he's been sober for over a year now, and while i DO understand that recovery is a long process, and i DO respect the fact that this man has a long and well-documented history of definite abuse, and i DO get that just because someone is sober does not necessarily mean that they're thinking like a sober person dry drunk syndrome etc), i CANNOT respect his decision to enter rehab where he knows he is going to be placed in close quarters with crazytown frontman SHIFTY SHELLSHOCK.

shifty shellshock may very well be the walking, talking embodiment of cocaine. everything about him screams 'awful choices' rather than 'let's do a few bumps and party our asses off'. the mohawk that has little regard for his receding hairline? tattoos that rival only travis barker in their late-90's iconography? the fact that he chose 'shifty shellshock' for a name? baldwin, you're fucked. if you really feel the need to enter rehab a year after sobriety -- if that's how insecure you currently feel in your own recovery -- mark my words, by the end of this program's 'season', you will be smoking rocks in some hidden nook of the pasadena recovery center with a man who looks like 1997 took a huge, leathery, nu-rap dump into a pair of jnco's.

i won't waste your time with more personal attacks on this show's participants because i do truly believe that at least a few of 'em could benefit from some sort of treatment. like jeff conaway, who seriously almost scared me straightedge last week. ugh, chills. anyway, it's just a shame that renfro's just pretty much been a side note since he peaked at age 14 or whatever. i guess the injustice of the horrible things that we do to ourselves is sinking in, when i think about how i can never look forward to another renfro episode of law and order (you know dick wolf loves to recycle those character actors), yet i WILL have to tolerate the release of another crazytown album. in conclusion, kids, for the sake of renfro stay off of heroin. and if you think you might have the desire and motivation to pen lyrics such as 'come and dance with me, the smartest thing you ever did was take a chance with me' and cover your body like head to fucking toe with sick tribes...stay off coke.