Full Blue Moon Dementia

The first time I saw Patrick, he was giving his graduate lecture at the grad school we both attended. For the lecture, he brought in his entire police record — complete with his mug shots and a very long list of violent and nonviolent crimes. I remember the list being very impressive. This was my...

Here I am as a guest for Talk Recovery Radio’s podcast: Gun Needle Spoon. “Join us on 100.5 fm for Talk Recovery. We speak to author Patrick O’Neil – Gun Needle Spoon.” Originally published on the Last Door website as August 11th 2016, Gun Needle Spoon, Talk Recovery Radio, August 11th (2016)

Steve Jones: Jello Biafra said in an interview, “…we hate hard drugs,” and yet, you were a road manager for the Dead Kennedys. How did you hide your heroin use from the band? Patrick O’Neil: I’d shoot on a daily basis, but not a huge amount, just enough to keep me well. I’d get loaded...

There is nothing easy about turning sixty. The days whip by in a whirlwind, kids look younger, and you can’t understand what they’re even talking about. Cops, bosses, and doctors could be your daughters and sons. Films and television shows are no longer relevant, nor can you identify with them. New music sounds like shit....

A video from my 2015 book tour for Gun, Needle, Spoon: reading for Joe Clifford’s Lip Service West as part of the Oakland Beast Crawl. Lip Service West – Patrick O’Neil – July 11, 2015 from Lip Service West on Vimeo.

I was in early recovery and wasn’t the healthiest person. I had just gotten released from prison on parole and as a three strikes candidate–an ex-con with two previous felonies whose next conviction would put him away for life–I should have been more vigilant keeping my nose clean. But I was also a drug addict...

My last robbery was the worst most botched up job I’d ever done. I’d targeted this certain movie theater because they held their entire weekend’s take in order to deposit it every Monday morning into the bank next door. Confident I’d be there before the manager had even filled out the deposit slips, I loaded...

I’ve been trying to write this essay for a few weeks, but I haven’t been feeling that grateful, so it’s been hard. Everyday the prevailing atmosphere of political fear mongering bombards my senses and assaults my principles and beliefs. Meanwhile the media is practically falling over one another constantly upping the anxiety ante, and now,...