James St. James - Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland

SIMON & SCHUSTER
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Copyright 1999 by World of Wonder Productions, Inc.

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Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

St. James, James.

Disco bloodbath / James St. James.

p. cm.

1. St. James, James. 2. Narcotic addictsNew York (State)New York Biography. 3. Drug abuse and crimeNew York (State)New York Case studies. 4. Drug abuseNew York (State)New YorkCase studies. 5. MurderNew York (State)New York Case studies. 6. New York (N.Y.)Social conditions. I. Title.

HV5805.S7A3 1999

364.1523097471dc21 99-21858 CIP

ISBN 0-684-85764-2

eISBN 978-1-416-58326-4

To Harvey

Gentle Reader,

Galloping alongside this gripping murder mystery, this true murder mysteryis the running commentary of a babbling drug addictmeand the outpouring of my consequential experiences with the drug Special K. Its a ghoulish tale, told with brutal candor, and its not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach.

But if youve paid your money and jumped on boardand you really want to get to know these people Ive laid in front of you, and understand the choices they madeyoull need to know something about this drug called K.

Otherwise youll be lost in sauce, as they say.

So lets start at the very beginning (a very good place to start )

KETAMINE HYDROCHLORIDE is actually:

2(2Chlorophenyl 1)(methylamino)cyclohexanone hydrochloride

M.W.274.2 C13H16CINO-HCl LD50 (IPR-MUS): 400mg/kg, LD50 (IVN-MUS): 77 mg/kg

White solid with a melting point of 266C.

Its water solubility is 20g/100ml.

And its not flammable.

Its an anesthetic used primarily for veterinary purposesalthough there are unconfirmed stories of its use in the fields of Vietnam, when on-the-spot amputations were required. It blocks nerve paths without depressing respiratory and circulatory functions, and therefore acts as a safe and reliable anesthetic.

Its a dissociative drug, and Ill get into that later, butPAY ATTENTION PLEASEit selectively reduces excitation of central mammalian neurons by N-methyl aspartate.

So basically, it fucks you up.

Its hard to explain, but it bends your thoughts into a non-linear, looping sort of format it pretzels your thoughts into Mbius strips; you see everything inside and out and curling all around itself.

Its a powder; you put it up your nose. But first, it comes in a liquid form, in a lovely little bottle with a yellow label, and you should struggle to open it for a good sweaty hour.

Then you cook it. In the oven.

Now, you might be asking yourself, How long should I cook my K?

Experts have been debating this matter for centuries. Some say: Air Dry. Some say: Steam Dry. The Net says: Microwave. I have one friend who insists upon an incubator although Im just as mystified by that one as you.

Now, Im not up on your laws of thermodynamics, but I think I have it figured out.

I usually set the oven at 250.

Then:

Recite the Once more unto the breach, dear friends scene from Henry V.

Four minutes of bun-tightening exercises.

Knit, knit, purl. Knit, knit, purl. (Work on that afghan for your mother.)

Then, I have a little medley of show tunes Ive cleverly clipped together, to while away the gestation period. I always start with Roses Turn from Gypsy. Then a little Brigadoon, a bit of South Pacific (I recommend Some Enchanted Evening over the rather more obvious Im Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair )

During the Flower Drum Song interlude, I check the oven and tap one foot impatiently, keeping beat to the horn section that is building up to a pulse-pounding, mind-blowing, show-stopping, no-holds-barred rendition of Bless Your Beautiful Hide from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Most likely, its ready now.

Its magic time. Scrape the Pyrex, grind it into powder, then up and away!

Special K.

Its a clean smelling trip up the nose.

You wait twenty seconds.

Then, there is the roar of a jet engine, so you lie back and wait a while longer.

Close your eyes and its a whole new world.

Theres a lot of unfolding. Everything just slides away, like many curtains opening at once.

And your muscles hallucinatethey feel lifted upward, quickly, so your stomach drops. Nothing can prepare you for that up, up, up feelingwhen youre on the ceiling, and the ceiling keeps getting higher.

You are borne upon a wave, and pushed upward and forward.

And then: eyesopen.

But theyve been open.

Youre in the K-hole now.

When you focus, you look around the roombut is it the same room?do you know this room? It may seem ultraclear, or hot and shadowy, or 50s kitschy and then it changes.

The set changes a quick turn of the floor and

Theres a Moroccan influence, or a slick and modern approach, then it blends back into what it isuntil it shifts again.

K is a displaceryou are outside of your head, and everything, everything, is new. You must look at that couch for the first timedefine what it ismake a connectionand thats hard.

For some strange reason, that couch looks like a dancingtree frog. Not literally, like an acid hallucination but subtly, so you can see both, the couch and the tree frog existing at once.

Now if you face the hallucination, and acknowledge it, you can change that frog into, say, a can of corn. The couch is still there, but now it looks just like a can of corn.

Its the damnedest thing.

The room changes, quickly, and where was I?

Eyes closed, because something wondrous is happening. The universe is decoding itself to you, and even though nothing makes sense, it all comes togetherand if you try to think about it, its gone again and youre back on the ceiling sitting on your can of corn.

Welcome to the land of K.

T HERE ARE TIMES, when the drugs are flowing and the emotions are running high, the lights and music can make you dizzyand the world slips out of control.

Its like a car accident that happens too quickly you cant stop it, you cant think about it, you just have to lean back, and watch as everything changes forever.

Youve lost control, you say to yourself, as the wheel of the world slips from your handsIts happening too fastand all you can do is wait for the ride to end, the car to crash, the world to stop.

Its like chasing after time, chasing after the things that have already happened, because the drugs have made you too slow.

Youre thick and awkward, but if you can just catch up, then maybe you can grab it, maybe you can grab at time and stop it