I remember seeing River for the first time in Stand By Me as Chris Chambers. I fell in love instantly. I followed up on him through his movies and music and was lucky enough to see him and Aleka's Attic perform live in FL. He said hi to me but was rushing off with his band. I lost track of his work when I was sent to a home for girls to straighten me up. The home I lived in wouldn't let us watch PG-13 or rated R movies so I lost out on a lot of River's movies. I stayed there til September of 1993, one month before River died. I was getting ready for a Halloween party and went to my friend's house for the party. We were all having a good time and dancing and talking when one of our other friends wanted to watch tv, when he turned on the tv we started watching the Halloween movie marathon, into the third Halloween movie it got interrupted by breaking news that was talking about River Phoenix and his life, then the announcer pronounced that River Phoenix had died at 1:51 am in the hospital in Califofnia. All I remember was my friends looking at me and one of them saying: 'Isn't the guy your in love with and met in Fl?' I didn't say anything and all I did was cry. I'm glad I got to see River perform with Aleka's Attic and him saying hi to me before he died cause I will forever remember that moment and River.