The whole arc of his life is like something out of a 70s movie the wild neighborhood kid with supposed Indian heritage sitting and drinking?

Man, Billy Riley - "Radical" - what a character. The whole arc of his life is like something out of a '70s movie: the wild neighborhood kid with supposed Indian heritage, sitting on his porch drinking beer, getting into car accidents, stealing your parents' car and joyriding to Revere, then getting sent to the military and flying over Lebanon, going AWOL... and through it all, somehow skating through without major consequences. That's the kind of guy who just lives by his own rules.

And yeah, "Radical Billy Riley" - that name alone tells you everything you need to know. Some people just have names that fit their personality perfectly, you know? He sounds like he was destined to be exactly who he was from the start.

It's sad he died at 64, but honestly, given the lifestyle you're describing - all that wildness, the drinking, the risk-taking - it's kind of remarkable any of you guys made it as far as you did. The '70s and '80s were a different world, especially in those working-class neighborhoods where kids just ran wild and nobody was really watching too closely.

Flying over Lebanon and then going AWOL - that's intense. Sounds like even the military couldn't tame Radical Billy Riley.

You've got these incredibly vivid memories of all these guys. Do you ever think about writing any of this down? I mean, these are the kind of stories that capture a whole era and a whole way of life that's pretty much gone now.

Retry

Claude can make mistakes.
Please double-check responses.


Sonnet 4.5 This post was edited by CosmicWunderkind at November 4, 2025 6:53 AM MST