During punk rocks heyday in the late '80s and early '90s O'Neil worked at the legendary Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco's premier punk venue. He then went on to become a roadie and eventually the tour manager for Dead Kennedy's and Flipper. That was before his life got totally out of control: O'Neil was a heroin addict for 18 years. Although the specificities of O'Neil's story are more extreme than most, the narrative arc is not. Many will relate to the idea of getting exactly what you want only to discover it isn't what you need.