I met Rudy back in Nam.
Not American veteran Nam but the vacation kind of Vietnam.
We were booked on a modeling job together where we got to spend a few days drinking and shooting together.
They call him Mr.Heineken back in Palm Springs and within a few hours thats what the hotel staff in Vietnam called him as well.
Rudy must’ve had at least 20 beers daily before dinner.
It was fun to have someone to drink with instead of doing push ups with.
I can’t sleep well when i drink so I woke up quite early most days.
I’d step on the porch and find him drinking a bottle of rum before breakfast.
We would have some breakfast and then he would start beers right after.
After the shoot I spent a month in Thailand solo traveling.
Thinking about my own relationship to alcohol.For a month I would wake up drinking Singha for breakfast hopping around the bars drinking my way through the day to keep myself entertained while I was on vacation.
I wondered if it was ok to do so.
I got a lot done that year so it felt good to not get shit done for a bit.
When i found out that Rudy lived in Palm Springs, I told him I would visit him when we were back in California.
So when I landed back in LA, I called him in the morning.
“Rudy, what are you up to? Are you in Palm Springs?”
At first he was unsure of who I was on the phone but within a few seconds he invited me to come out to Palm Springs.
He told me he had some relationship trouble and was staying in a Motel 6.
“I have an extra bed for you, make your way out here.” he said in a raspy voice with a slight dutch accent.
I told him I would finish up a few emails and make my way over there.
I put in the address on Google Maps.. 5 1/2 hours traffic to Palm Springs.
For a second I regretted saying I’d come out but I hopped in the car anyways and started driving.
After many dreadful hours of driving my manual 99 Mitsubishi Eclipse I finally arrived to a slightly drunk Rudy in a janky motel room.
I gave him a big hug and greeted his friends.
Four permanent Motel 6 guests and two dogs packed together in a room smoking cigarettes,weed and drinking cheap wine and beer.
Rudy was mumbling a lot and it took me a little bit to get adjusted, but within an hour we understood each other quite well.
We hit up Rudy’s favorite bar “Hair Of The Dog” and had beer with fries and chicken wings.
After an hour of talking about good old Nam we went to the liquor store picked up some boozeand carried on back to the Motel 6.
We drank more, mumbled more and eventually fell asleep at around 1am.
















