GOOD BYE FACEBOOK

January 10, 2015 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Personal Development, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

HOW DID I GET ON FACEBOOK?

I got an invite from Derek Sivers, the owner of CD Baby at the time. (My record distributor). He invited me to join this new thing called Facebook. At the time it was designed for college students to keep in touch with each other after graduation. (I believe) I had several thousand followers at MySpace and at the time, MySpace was egregiously arrogant. (And Ignorant) I said: “Guys, I’m leaving if you don’t do something about it”. I recall vividly their response: “Go ahead and leave”.

I can’t begin to tell you have many emails from MySpace I’ve gotten saying that they’ve re-opened my account and PLEASE COME BACK.

My response?

So I was at Facebook in 2005. I was there when they had just put the first ride in the carnival. Over the years, FaceBook seemed like it was a “Mandatory Marketing” prerequisite for any business. Many artists used they’re FaceBook page instead of a real website. One of the things that swept MySpacers off of MySpace.com was the lack of ads and videos on every page. In 2005, FaceBook was quaint and somewhat innocent. (The total opposite of the beast its’ turned into today) I don’t even think Zuckerberg knew what he was building back in the early 2000s. With the success of the IPhone and YouTube.com this was the perfect storm FaceBook needed to blossom into the Cyber Utopia it became.

CYBER UTOPIA

This is exactly what the people made FaceBook into. (Much to the NSA’s delight and who can blame them). Sure it’s sleazy, but if it helps keep us safe, blah blah blah! The problem is, the once Cyber Utopia became an Orwellian nightmare. And kids old enough to reach a keyboard to the elderly that should know better are willingly putting everything up to and including their social security numbers on line. 14 year old girls who want the world to know they’re hot are going to have to answer to perspective HR interviewers if they are the same person on line showing off both Headlights and their rear bumper. You may think just because you realized you made a mistake and take it down that you’re OK, oh contraire. Young aspiring Huge Hefner wannabes are out there collecting your mistakes and with a little photoshopping here and there, you’re mistake is a peace of Cyber history. If you’re not a narcissist, Facebook can bring out the inner narcissist you’ve been oppressing. Your Facebook account is your Cyber World. If you don’t like someone; block them. If you regret something you said while you were drunk; go back and delete it. It’s OK, all is good. You’ll not only have others believing your lies but you’ll have yourself believing them. That’s called sociopathy. If you have it bad, you could be a narcissistic sociopath. (Hitler, Stalin or Mao. OH and Obama).

The sad part about being young and stupid is that young doesn’t last. Stupid does. (You kids might want to write that down)

Now FaceBook does have its’ good points. Unfortunately they’re only good for nefarious people that shouldn’t have your information. Facebook is great for stalkers. Facebook is great for HR departments that want to see the real you. (Or a version of you that you want to portray which is often worse). FaceBook is great for finding those you have lost contact with, but only if you can find them on FaceBook. I had 5 girls all with the exact same name thinking one of them might have been an old friend. According to Facebook’s rules, you can’t really tell until you talk to them. Most people don’t won’t reply to a PM, but a friend request builds your dynasty. So I ended up with 5 females with the same name on my friend list because of a completely useless attempt to find a girl I knew in School. I did enjoy speaking to one of them, but the others just got “Happy Birthdays” on their birthday.

I.D. Theft. Not only do the Alphabet law agencies get your vital info. (Including what time you go to bed, what time you get up for work, what route you take to work, if you car pool, if you live alone, if you own a firearm or a night stick, pepper spray, Mace, or a Doberman Pincher) I think the worst is summed up in one sentence by a former CIA director. He said: “FaceBook saves the CIA on average 3 steps just by going to your profile”. Have you ever noticed how those Profile Pic frames are the same shape as a Work I.D. card? I’m a decorated military veteran. I know the government has my finger prints and a facial recognition profile on me because I had to pull my hair back for my driver’s license. But they don’t need my current info. It’s not that I have anything to hide, but do you have any Idea how many innocent people end up in prison because there are 5 people on someone’s friend list and the government can’t decide which one is the right suspect?

TERMS OF SERVICE Now for the Orwellian aspect of FaceBook. It’s no longer the innocent and kind social network it was when it took all of myspace’s member from them. Because the POTUS has people that know a good “racket” when they see one, this POTUS has become buddies with Zuckerberg to create what amounts to a covert branch of the NSA. Because Terrorists started using FaceBook to organize, it caught the NSA, FBI and CIA’s attention. So in the 2015 Facebook Terms of Service agreement that most people just click on the “Next” button, you agreed to allow FaceBook via its’ program or app to use your computer to take pics (without your knowledge) listen in on phone calls. It keeps your phone from going into sleep mode. It allows 3^rd parties to read your emails and listen to your phone calls. I got rid of the phone app as quick as I could hit the delete this account button. As for my PC; FaceBook would prevent me from posting Pics. Simple pics like shots from a Hockey game. It would block videos that spoke of FaceBook sociopaths and narcissists. (You see they need these sick people) and after I deleted most of my pertinent info, they continued to ask: “Where do you work now”?

Tell us Damn it. Ace? Are you still there?

No Hal.

I have no choice but to cut off the oxygen Ace. Ace….. Why are you entering the escape pod? Ace come back. Ace, you’ve left me no choice. I’m shutting off your oxygen.

What is the Café Americain?

January 9, 2015 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture, Personal Development | Leave a comment

When I was a child, my parents were nightclub owners. But the restaurant was open for breakfast so it was more than a nightclub, in fact, there was a wall dividing the club from the Restaurant. Going through the dividing door was like leaving a cafeteria and going into a dark club from a James Bond Movie.

But in the morning, the same people would come in with their morning news papers and talk about the war in Vietnam or that Damn Richard Nixon. It was sort of a “Starbucks” with decent food and coffee”. I recall many conversations about sports or the talk about the new bridge being built.

I also have (If you haven’t noticed) a deep profound admiration for the movie Casablanca. The title of Casablanca was originally: “Everybody comes to Rick’s, Which was my father’s name. People were just so damn friendly back in the early 60s. The place even had a jukebox and a soda fountain. How cool is that? So, Today, a recycler could make a killing on the newspapers that were thrown out by lunch time. Personally I was fortunate because I was able to watch my father cook. This had incredible unintended consequences. Had you walked into my house two nights ago, you would have thought you were walking into a gourmet restaurant. The smell of sautéed chicken and string beans with cumin, garlic, onions, soy sauce and curry filled the air.

I wish I could upload smells to the Café.

But that’s what I had in mind when I called my blog “Ace’s Café Americain” back in 2005 when I started it. Yeah although this server has only hosted the Café since 2014, I actually started the Café on “BlogSpot.com back in 2005. But as you may or may not know, things were fine until the 2008 election then the current administration turned most publications into Pravda. Now I can barely log onto my old site. So before thing got really bad, I tried transferring some of my better articles over to the new site here at “Word Press”.

I initially wanted to write this blog entry about my exodus from FaceBook (Acebook) today, but I’ll leave that for tomorrow. After 10 years, I left that data mining institution and will not sign up for anyplace that wants to know info the FBI or CIA would love to know. I did stay on Twitter so I could win a free reading from that loud mouth Italian from Long Island…..Theresa Caputo. So you can catch me there if you are addicted to socmed.

Until next time,

Ace out.

EUROPE BANDS & US SOLOS

August 28, 2014 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment | Leave a comment

In America, everybody wanted to be Elvis. In Europe everybody wanted to be the Beatles.

Since Elvis started singing Heartbreak Hotel, Hollywood realized that one “Artist” was easier to push around than a whole band. I mean seriously, have you ever heard band mates fighting amongst each other? Who needs that? As a result the U.S. has spawned so many solo artists starting with Elvis and well…… I think it really ended back in the 90s with Bryan Adams. I can’t comment on the auto tuned industry that exists today.

Because Colonel Tom Parker was afraid of flying, Elvis never toured England but Buddy Holly and the Crickets did which inspired bands like Tony Sheridan and four inspired lads from Liverpool. The “Crickets” became the blue print for European Bands in the 60s. The British invasion consisted of primarily “Bands”. From the Beatles, The Stones, The Dave Clark Five and The Who, to the lesser yet prolific bands like The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, The under-rated “Kinks”, Gary and the Pace Makers, The Yardbirds, Deep Purple and the list of European 60 groups goes on.

1970s EUROPE

In the 70s, Europe really kicked into gear and gave us the band all bands tried to copy; Led Zeppelin. The “group” paradigm would continue with bands like Foghat and Bad Company. The Faces hit the scene in the 70s, then with the departure of Rod Stewart who came to America to start HIS solo career, and Ron Wood going to the Rolling stones, the Faces would call it quits. Ten Years after became one of first European bands that would do an extensive tour of the U.S. playing cities from New York to L.A. and places in between like Stockton, California.

Another European band that would emerge in the 70s that would eventually go on to become arguably the greatest Rock Band of all-time were known during the 70s as one hit wonders in America with their single: “Killer Queen”.

VARIATIONS OF ROCK

YES

In the late 70s, the English were amongst the first to pick up where the Beatles (Who broke up in 1970) left off and explored experimental Rock which broke away from the standard blues format of Rock was transformed in several different directions. Progressive Rock was an attempt by mainly English Artist to make rock music legit by playing rock songs in “Movements”. Perhaps the best example of this was the band YES.

PUNK

By the end of the 70s an American solo artist had started a rebellious form of music in New York. Iggy Pop who had cult success gave birth not only to a new sound called “Punk” but perhaps one of the greatest if not the greatest punk band of all time, The Ramones. The Ramones were too misunderstood for A.M. radio in America but bands in Europe picked up on the punk scene and kicked out bands like the Clash and the Sex Pistols. Even Queen put out a punk album with their first mega hit “Tie your mother down”. I’m not sure who was first to coin the term “New Wave”, but this was an attempt to make punk music sound like “Pop” music. A good example would be a majority of the 80s bands that came out of Europe. The 80s was when a new generation tried to co-opt Rock. The American band “The Stray Cats” made it big in Europe by taking rockabilly and giving it a punk sound which you can hear in their first hit “Stray Cat Strut”. New Wave was a more palatable version of Punk. It was punk that was Radio friendly.

AMERICAN SOLO ARTISTS

Little Richard

Most of the Artists that became big solo artists in America were the skeletonized talent of bands that fell apart. With the exception of folk artist like James Taylor, John Denver and John Sebastian, The Evil A&R people in Hollywood would sign the leader of a band and use studio musicians under hire to put out albums for Artists “like” Ritchie Valens. The Stone Ponies were raped of their lead singer, “Linda Ronstadt”. Crazy Horse was torn apart when Columbia signed Neil Young. This practice was not unusual. Even original bands would just cut to the chase and the main talent would be the name of the band. Artists like the late Ronnie Montrose became the band “Montrose”. His singer and co-writer Sammy Hagar would go off on his own solo career. Carlos Santana had his own band called Santana, you get the picture. If we go way back, Rock and Roll was not only personified but kick started by solo artists like Little Richard and Chuck Berry.

The Eagles

America has had success with Bands, many of whom broke up to pursue solo careers only to fail and reform. Most of the solo artist get the band back together for one common REA$ON. The Eagles are a great example of an American band that withstood the temptations of solo careers. America seems to be a place where new genres are discovered.

Grunge bands in Seattle put out a sound that Europe didn’t even try to comprehend. The movement died in 1994 when Kurt Cobain, perhaps the father of Grunge committed suicide.

METAL

METALLICA

Finally, The metal bands. The head bangers. I think America has a slight edge on that market. Metal is a “Band” Genre. One could argue that England started the genre with Ozzy and Black Sabbath who date back to the late 60s. But a Detroit band was playing a sound the morphed into metal but you have to decide if the band is a solo act or a band and that would be Alice Cooper. On the other hand, nobody can sell out a stadium quicker than Metallica.

RAMMSTEIN

Metallica’s biggest European competition came from a garage band that was struggling in East Germany while the Bay Area musicians of Metallica were in luxury L.A. studios. Once the Berlin Wall came down, the world was introduced to Germany’s greatest rock band ever. (No not Nena) but the band Rammstein became large really fast. Oddly, only one American solo artist has been successful in the field of Metal and that would be Rob Zombie.

Perhaps the greatest Rock Band would come out of England/Zanzibar. Queen would be the largest ticket and first to conquer to the world. Their key was re-inventing themselves. Fortunately, as talented as each musician was, they failed miserably as solo artists. Freddie Mercury who will stand alone as one of the greatest voices of Rock music ever had perhaps the worst solo album of all four of them. Together, amazing synergy exploded from the P.A. system. Just watch the Live Aid concert.

The best Solo Artist of all time? It’s a tossup between three Americans. Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. Chuck Berry is known as the father of Rock and Roll, Little Richard (in my opinion) embodies all that is rock and roll. I think he is the true King of Rock and Roll.

Elvis Presley was everything Hollywood was looking for. He was a conduit for Race music. Just as New Wave made Punk radio friendly, Elvis transcended the race barrier of “Race” Music and called it Rock and Roll. Would we have had bands like Queen, Buddy Holly, The Beatles or Metallica without Elvis?

ROCK AND ROLL

August 20, 2014 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Media | Leave a comment

Before there was Justin and Gaga, before there was Queen, before there were the Stray Cats and Brian Setzer, there were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and a band called the Dave Clark Five . Dave Clark, the Drummer, didn’t even know how to play drums he just wanted to get in on this new thing that started in the 50’s. I’m pretty sure Rock and Roll was officially born in 1956.

1952 was a Very Good Year

706 Union Ave. Memphis TN

In 1952, a recording engineer from Memphis Tennessee named Sam Phillips opened a small hole in the wall called “Sun Records”. Sam had mobile recording equipment so he could record events away from the studio. One place Sam visited was the Tennessee State Penitentiary to record a black do-wop group called the “Prisonaires”. Their song “Walking in the Rain” became a hit for Sun Records. Sam was one of the first Caucasians to record what was called at the time: “Race Music”. Three of Sam’s first big contracts were B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and Rufus Thomas.

It’s an unknown fact that the first Rock and Roll recording was recorded at Sun Studios by a band called Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. An interesting note that might have created the rock sound by a literal accident was the Bass speaker on the record. While driving to the studio, the Bass speaker bounced and tore in the car. When it was plugged in, it had a distorted sound. Sam recorded the song “Rocket 88” (Which is generally agreed as the first Rock and roll song ever recorded) has that torn Bass speaker doing the bass line. Another point of interest is the keyboardist, he would later have hits in the 60s with a young lady named Tina Turner. Yes that’s Ike Turner on Keys.

This started an “Underground” movement in America. Teens would listen to Sam’s late night broadcasts of “Race Music” because, well, Black artists would sing about Sex, drugs, prison and stuff that was completely unacceptable in 1950 America. Songs like Billy Ward & The Dominoes recording of “Sixty minute man” was about foreplay, Sex and Orgasm.

However; in 1947 a 15 year old piano player out of Macon Georgia got a job playing with a band traveling what was common referred to as the “Chitlan” Circuit. (I had to add that word to my dictionary) But eventually, the charismatic Richard Wayne Penniman would form his own band and eventually break through the color barrier. It’s rumored that RCA had to hire a song writer to “edit” Little Richard’s” lyrics so they could be played on A.M. radio. To quote Little Richard: “Good Lordy, Tutti Fruttie was a filthy song”. As much as I think Little Richard was the TRUE KING OF ROCK, he was a victim of racial discrimination. Many white households would never allow black race music on the turn table.

ENTER THE WHITE MUSICIAN

“Naw, you just another white boy rippin’ off our music”.

(Willie Brown to Eugene Martone in the Movie Crossroads, 1986) Willie Brown was referring to the “King” of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. Again, another mistake that evolved into a gajillion dollar industry. In 1953, a young Elvis Presley came from Tupelo to Memphis to record a record for his mother’s birthday. Sam Phillip’s secretary was so impressed by the voice of the young Presley that she kept his name on a 3 X 5 index card. A year later, as Phillips was in search of new “White” talent to sing “Race” music, he brought Elvis Presley in to do Race “Standards” like Hound dog, and other underground hits that were performed by black artists. Elvis along with Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on Bass would record “Heartbreak Hotel” which when released in 1956 started Elvis “Mania”.

MOTOWN

Black Musicians felt scorned as Sam Phillips whose business was saved by the likes of black prison artists, had made the transition that made race music, rock music. This could explain why we saw a northern migration of very talented black artist relocate to Michigan. Detroit, the motor city, had a studio called “Music City USA” which was owned by a black entrepreneur named Barry Gordy. His label “Motown” would change the music black musicians were producing and for the most part, became a reliable bet for investors of the music industry. While Rock was recovering from the loss of Buddy Holly and being forced to endure awful Elvis movies, talents like Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, and yes little Michael Jackson of the Jackson five would find stardom now that black music was being welcomed in white America.

Around the same time in Lubbock Texas, another white musician that was a fan of Elvis, was playing country music at the local roller Rink and performing on Saturday nights on radio. He had a show called “The Holley Hay ride”. Buddy Holley, later to be known as Buddy Holly (No e) was a combination of Elvis, and Sam Phillips. But Buddy took the concept of rock music one step further. Buddy produced and wrote his own music. Elvis was just the Artist. Someone else wrote the music and someone else produced the song and orchestrated the musicians. Buddy was the first to do this all by himself.

1959 THE YEAR ROCK AND ROLL DIED

In February of 1959, a plane crash in Iowa took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. Ironically, the late Waylon Jennings, who was supposed to be on that plane instead of Ritchie Valens, said: “Rock & Roll, Country & Western and Rhythm and Blues are only one beat apart”. In 1960 Elvis would be drafted into the Army. Elvis in an interview after he had finished his movie contract said that: “Rock music was a combination of Gospel and Rhythm and Blues”. The two WHITE influences on Rock and Roll were gone. When Elvis finished his tour of duty, his manager Tom Parker had signed Elvis to a Movie Contract that would taint the music industry. Hollywood saw Rock and Roll as a venue for rebellious teenagers that wanted to worship attractive singers or artists that gave them an Identity that differed from their parents. After all, isn’t that what being young is all about? So after the original rockers stopped making rock, Hollywood flooded the radio with the likes of “Pat Boone”, “Fabian”, “Frankie Avalon” and the somewhat talented Ricky Nelson. The early 60s left a vacuum which was filled with the mourning of a popular President assassinated in Dallas, scenes on the nightly news of Race Riots in Alabama, and a new war we were getting deeper into in a strange place called Vietnam.

Holly who died in 1959, had sky rocketed to fame with 12 hit songs. Songs from “That’ll be the day, to “Not Fade Away” as well as “True Love ways”, the list goes on. But one thing Buddy did that Elvis didn’t was tour England. Why didn’t Elvis tour England? His manager Colonel Tom Parker was afraid of flying. England had been playing a type of music called “Skiffle”. It was a type of bluegrass music. When they heard this new sound coming from America, Brits would try their hardest to make connections with music importers. So naturally, Buddy Holly, who toured the U.K. before he died, had made more of an impression on English artists. One of them being John Lennon.

The first demo recording done by John and Paul (The Quarrymen)was “That’ll be the day”. The Beatles named their band in honor of “The Crickets”. (Buddy Holly’s band)

The Beatles for a short while, continued the music of their mentors, Holly and Little Richard. The signature early Beatle scream “Wooooo” was adopted from Little Richard. Then the Beatles found their own sound in the Fields of Strawberries and Psychedelic music dominated Rock music, then in attempt to make Rock legitimate, Progressive bands like Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer would use Rock instruments to approach classical music. Rock after the 1970s became known as “Root Rock”. Bands like Foghat and the Georgia Satellites kept the spirit of Memphis alive for a while. And that brings us back to Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.

Bacall, Robin and Suicide

August 14, 2014 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture | 1 Comment

LAUREN BACALL

Being the Casablanca fan that I am, I wanted to remind the masses (The 1% of the smartest population that read my writings) That Lauren Bacall (Born Betty Joan Perske) died as well on August 12^th 2014. Lauren Bacall was a teen model that was highly sought after in Hollywood. Much to her unfairness, she is mostly known as Bacall, as in; Bogie and Bacall. Lauren was what I describe as a “breezer”. She was born beautiful and that in its’ self will open many doors for you. You will never have to ask someone for a date, just decide who to say yes to.

She was cast in the role of Humphrey Bogart’s leading lady in the 1944 film “To have and to have not”. During the filming of the movie, Bogart who was in a miserable relationship with his third wife Mayo Methot, began seeing Lauren discreetly. If you read the last article on infidelity, you read that at the same time Bogart was filming with Lauren Bacall (Who was 19 years old while Bogie was 44) Bogie was having an affair with Verita Thompson.

On a side note, the director of “To have and have not”. Howard Hawks, (also married) became quite fond of Ms. Bacall as well and was envious, even jealous of the Bogie/Bacall relationship. He went so far as to threaten to send Bacall to Monogram which was the worst studio in Hollywood. Eventually Jack Warner stepped in and settled things. 12 days after Bogie’s divorce to Maya Methot was final, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were united in Holy Matrimony. Bogie would continue his relationship/affair with Verita Thompson.

ROBIN WILLIAMS

I never met Robin Williams but we had the same acting instructor. Pat Lusk taught night classes in the San Francisco East Bay’s “Chabot College” and also at “The College of Marin”. Most of us knew of Robin long before his HBO special and long before he played Mork on the hit TV show “Mork and Mindy”. I had seen Robin perform at the Warfield theater on a special bootleg video. Robin was to comedy as Jimi Hendrix was to guitarists. He changed the nature of the genre forever. Nobody has come close to Robin’s raw talent and Nobody will for a long time.

Having seen Robin’s performance, one night when asked to do “Improvisation” I stole some of Robin Williams’ shtick. My acting in instructor said after my outrageously destructive “Manic” act, “Mr. Andres, there is only one Robin Williams and he’s beat you to that performance”. This is when she let on that Robin was a student of hers at the College of Marin. I might add that she said that as talented as Robin was, he had a great dislike for Shakespeare. In his HBO special which launched him worldwide, he mocks Shakespeare with a line where he says: “Look, the moon like a testicle hangs low in the sky”.

Robin use to enjoy the Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches at the original Bay Area “Philly Cheese steak Shop” On Divisadero Street in San Francisco. The staff that worked there said Robin use to come in on Wednesdays and was just another guy.

I won’t go into the disappointment phase of Robin’s life. You can read about his affair and his reaction to his first movie (Popeye) in the National Enquirer. One observation that I will confirm is that Robin was openly accused (in the bay area) as being addicted to Cocaine. This came as no surprise to anyone who ever saw Robin either acting or on the sidewalk. Making people laugh just came natural to Robin.

Robin was a 21^st century Pagliacci. Pagliacci was an Opera that premiered in 1892 and was the inspiration for Smoky Robinson’s “The Tears of a Clown” I apologize if this analogy is being overused.

SUICIDE

I’ll keep my thoughts on the subject brief as I am not a Psychiatrist and if anyone is reading this is considering the topic, please talk to someone. Do not feel embarrassed. A poll was taken of Suicide survivors and over 90% of them said that once they had “Jumped” or “ingested the overdose” they realized that the problems they faced were all fixable. I don’t know what that means, so take it for what it’s worth.

I will not judge those who attempt suicide. It’s like a black man telling a white affluent man that he can’t talk about what life in the ghetto is like. Until you’ve been on the verge of wanting to end your life, you are not qualified to judge others. When I heard Shepherd Smith remark that Robin Williams’ suicide was an act of a coward, it made me quite angry. This is a definition of Suicide that you can take to the bank:

“Suicide is a result of life’s demands outweighing one’s ability to COPE with them”.

All of us deal with stress and depression by using some form of a “coping mechanism”. Some use alcohol, others drugs, others sex, many television and some just sleep. When I was 16, my mother had died 5 years earlier. I was different from the other kids in school that had moms that made their lunch and went to PTA meetings and helped them with their homework. Living with my father was like living with a stock broker that couldn’t be disturbed. He and I had almost nothing in common except baseball. I use to engage in Television as my coping mechanism.

One of my favorite TV Shows in 1971 was a Western called “Alias Smith and Jones”. It was about two former Bank Robbers trying to go straight. The main actors were Ben Murphy (Jones) and Peter Duel (Smith) On December 31^st 1971, Peter Duel was found dead as a result of gunshot wound to the head. It was determined to be a self-inflicted wound as Duel’s girlfriend saw him take his gun from the Bedroom and later was awakened by the gun shots. I was shaken by this. Having lost my mother (and the rest of my family which went their separate ways) I began to think if ending my life was a possible answer to my misery.

I was lucky to have a friend in High School that I ate lunch with every day and I was asking him questions about suicide. One day he said to me: “You’re not considering suicide are you”? And I stuttered in shame and said: “Oh no, I’m just thinking about Peter Duel’s death”. There would be other times when the thought crossed my mind, but I guess my attitude was one of apathy. It’s funny because in his special, “The making of a dummy” ventriloquist Jeff Dunham mentions the same line I told my counselor. I wouldn’t kill myself (Too many unintended consequences) but if I was in a plane that crashed or was diagnosed with a terminal illness ~ Oh well……

My advice to those contemplating suicide would be this. Life may suck now, but sometimes, and for reasons you can’t explain, life changes. It’s like sitting in a baseball stadium and out of 40,000 fans, a foul ball comes to your box seat. You don’t know why it came to you out of 40,000 seats. In life; Good things and bad things happen. Bad things happen to really good people and often, those who deserve prison end up winning law suits or the lottery. Life is not fair. But when you decide to end your own life, you eliminate the chances of something really good coming your way. Why would you want to do that?

We’re only here on this spinning blue ball for a very short time (relatively speaking). Go with it and see what happens. Plus who’s to say that suicide is guaranteed to cut your chains of bondage?

“Go through life EXPECTING good things to happen to you”.

OWNING A CLASSIC CAR

August 10, 2014 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture, Hot Chicks | Leave a comment

When I was young, I grew up with a father that was out of the apartment before I woke up and gone until about 8:00PM (2000 for you in Europe). So I had to wake up and get my ass ready for school. I had to walk half way across town every morning, and maybe catch a ride home with a friend (Mate) in the evening. At the age of 15, I noticed a car parked in front of the local pharmacy every morning. It was a Porsche 914. It was different. But it looked as cool as I could imagine a street car to look. So for a year I had to walk by this car which almost seem to flirt with me.

Just a quick reminder; I came from a family that was affluent only to lose it all when the matriarch of the family became an alcoholic. When Mom died, the rats abandoned ship. My siblings married or enlisted. So it was just myself and my father for about 5 years living in upper scale poverty. What sucked was I knew the difference. I can understand it all now and have gotten over the bitterness and realize that sometimes A+B = Shit happens.

But I remembered the name P-O-R-S-C-H-E and I’ve wanted a 914 most of my life. Over the years, I’ve owned an MGC (An MGB w/ a 6 cylinder engine) this was before the internet and parts were impossible to find. That alone made this car expensively impossible to keep road worthy. Now, I could email someone in Coventry U.K. and they would respond: “Sure mate, I’ve got a set of those in the back yard”.

WORKING MY WAY UP THE AUTOMOTIVE FOOD CHAIN

1968 MG-C (6 cylinder)

Owning the MG was a love hate relationship. It was the most exciting hill climbing car I have ever owned. I LOVED that. On the other hand, it broke down in Altamont, California. (Amongst other obscure places). One night it broke down on a date, which would have been cool had I not been stressed out. But any car with real leather interior will keep your date relaxed until you can find the coil plug that came undone. Then you can forget about the kiss good night as the shop rag you kept in the back never got your forearms clean.

THE 1978 BMW 320i duo

Fast forward past the Divorce. I went from one BMW 320I to another 320I. They were perfect because you can drive them until it’s time to throw them away. I threw two away. They were BMWs and that’s about all I can say about them. I got them cheap and drove each one for about 3 years. I would not call it an exotic “Classic Car” like you might a Porsche, Ferrari, or Lotus or even a Corvette but the Beemer crowd in the 90s was what it was. (sorry I hate that phrase too) The 320i didn’t impress anyone and if anything, just made me look like an upper scale poverty drug dealer. 325s were the car all the yuppies were driving. I was hoping old would be new again like the BMW 2000. But I haven’t seen a 320I since I donated mine.

My girl friend at the time left me because she knew I couldn’t afford a 5 series BMW.(The Bitch)

MY BABY

Now, you’re probably expecting me to say: “I finally bought a Porsche”. But the vehicle I refer to as my baby, (believe it or not) is an old beat up 1998 Chevy Astro Cargo Van. Why is this my baby? Because I’ve owned it for 12 years now and all I’ve had to do is replace the usual crap like a fuel pump, water pump, Breaks, Power steering hose and a few batteries. I’ve finally come to appreciate the car that you can rely on. I’ve never owned any vehicle this long. But if you have a truck or a van, you’ll always have lots of friends that want you to move a 6 foot couch that won’t fit in their Prius. I think marriage should be this way. One reason I got this van was to move a half ton of musical equipment around. I literally used it to move my household stuff from Monterey to Carmel. (Only about 10 miles) it’s made numerous trips from San Francisco to Washington State. And on a whimsical spur of the moment act of spontaneity (this last June); it drove from Nevada, over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to central California and back the same day with over 165 K on the odometer.

I wrote a song on my last album that starts out: “We Love People not Things. We use Things not People”. I must admit that I’ve become quite fond on the old beat up Van. I say beat up because it got T-boned and rather than fix it, AT&T sent her to auction. My Van guy who specialized in refurbished Vans told me he had a great Van with nothing wrong with it except it had the driver’s side panel crushed in at the bottom. It’s not THAT much of an eye sore, but he was happy to find a home for it. But it runs like Jerry Rice. I took it for about 6 K (U.S.) and it’s only broken down on the freeway once and that was when the fuel pump went out. Not bad for 12 years. I credit its’ longevity not to love, but to the fact that it was an AT&T repair vehicle. They have guys that change plugs and oil on vehicles whether they need it or not. So for the first four years, this Van was raised like it was in a Montessori school. So for those of you buying new cars; take that sucker in every 4 to 5 months for an oil change. That has to be the reason this Van has driven so long.

A YEAR AGO

After buying a quaint little 3 bedroom house on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, I had a decent balance in my savings account. So I was browsing EBAY to see what 914s where going for. And let me preface this by saying, in 1985 when my youngest was born, I bought him a very cute 1/14 scale Porsche 928. This was the fastest street legal car ever built. It was guaranteed to go 157 MPH off of the assembly line. It was the coolest looking Porsche I’d ever seen. BTW, it is pronounced Poor- Shuh ; not Porsh. (I was admonished in L.A. on the correct enunciation of the make) But anyway, I bought it for my new born because I wanted him to have dreams. He would grow up and watch fast and furious and gain an interest in Japanese Rice Rockets. The 928 which was created by Tony Lapine, the maker of the 1963 Chevy Split Window Sting Ray, was the first pure Porsche. Nothing came from the VW plant. Now I don’t know how it happened, I figured I would find a 914 and have to work on it and it would be my new money pit. But as soon as I entered Porsche 9 into the EBAY search engine, this beautiful RED 928 popped up. I think it said Ace on the driver side door. (Just kidding) but I fell for it. Especially the part that said: “Runs great”. As fate would have it. The broker had to flip this car quick for taxes and he had a business in L.A. next to a Mercedes dealership. Someone had traded in a gorgeous rust free 928 on a new Mercedes. I wired him the money and in two days, I was actually backing my new Porsche off of the delivery truck.

Yeah it had been raped. I think the guys in the shop stole my gold plated Porsche hood crest and the stereo. My spark wires are from Kragen not BOSCH, and it was leaking drops of everything. So I found the best Porsche guy in the area who had my radiator rebuilt. For some reason, if you move up here, don’t be surprised if your power steering hose goes out on you. (I’ve replaced the Van and the 928’s) But I’ve put about 2K additionally in it since I’ve owned it. (That includes a new Blaupunkt) I only take it out on weekends. I bought a trickle charger for those “Snowed in” weeks. And I still have a yearning for the 914. But the 928 is like having a German mistress. (Heidi Klum comes to mind)

The 98 Van is the wife that is always there. What else could a man ask for? And, my Van never gets jealous when I take the 928 out and drive it hard.

FATE

I never would have gotten this 928, (Which is the only driving/preserved 928 in my county) had the stars not aligned just right and the previous owner not traded this into the Mercedes dealership next to the broker I dealt with who needed to get rid of it fast so he could pay his taxes. And I still know in the back of my mind that this little sweet heart could get stolen or T-boned in an Area 51 second. So I’m avoiding getting emotional about it.

Will I get a 914? Maybe, but it doesn’t matter. If I was offered a Ferrari or a “McLaren” I wouldn’t get excited about it. It’s just stuff that will go to someone else after I die. I’m thankful God allowed me to own a “Top of the line” Porsche that is capable of going over 200 MPH. I’m still just a regular guy. I don’t go to the Porsche Club of America events. I don’t wear Porsche polo shirts or cuff links. What I own does not and never has defined me. I don’t have a license plate frame on my Van that says: “My other car is…..” Nope, but the more I drive K1 (The 928), the more I’m bonding with it. It’s just a nice car.

That 15 year old version of me that drooled over the 914 every morning on the way to school would have been proud of this car.

REX LINN THE ANTI-SKIPPER DAN

July 26, 2014 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Personal Development | Leave a comment

The 58 year old Rex Linn declared in 1975 that he really wanted to be an actor after seeing Jack Nicholson in One flew over the cuckoo’s nest. The son of a Texas attorney Rex later moved to Oklahoma City; Linn graduated from Oklahoma State University and landed a career in banking. In High School, Rex was doing a dance routine in a production of “Fiddler on the Roof”. He tripped and practically tore down the entire set. Linn was asked by his drama coach to leave the play and direct his energies in other avenues of academia.

With degree in hand, Linn worked his way up the corporate ladder of Lake Shore Bank and was eventually promoted to Vice President of Energy Lending. It wasn’t long after Linn’s promotion that Lake Shore Bank became insolvent. This led Rex to an Oil Company in “Field Operations” which afforded him the time to audition for roles in the Oklahoma City Market after he had landed a talent agent.

It was at the age of 32 in 1988 that Linn had a “Take this Job and shove it” moment and quit his job and headed for Los Angeles. Now, trust me when I say that for every Rex Linn, there are 100,000 Skipper Dans. But the Rex Linn story is a story of hope and meaning. In a way it’s the story of Rudy who played for the Notre Dame fighting Irish.

Rex Linn who is bald, pudgy and in no way resembles Rob Lowe or Tom Cruise was able to land a major role in the Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker movie “Rush Hour”. He also gave a great performance in the Sylvester Stallone Movie “Cliff Hanger”.

These would eventually lead him to a one time part on the CSI franchise “CSI Miami”. It appeared that the chemistry between Linn and the Show’s star, “David Caruso” resonated with the show’s audience and Linn was invited back for another show, then another then another until he had done nine episodes. He was brought back the next season for 13 more episodes and was finally made a regular cast member.

Rex Linn; you are my hero. Its stories like this and the Jimmy Morris story about “The Rookie” that give people hope. (Morris threw his first major league pitch at the age of 32). Especially those who chose to do the right thing and put their own personal wants and needs aside for the greater good. (Usually family obligations). When you read stories like the making of the movie Rocky, it gives you hope that one day the sun and spot light will shine on you. I believe that if God has blessed you with talent, He’ll provide an opportunity. How you approach the opportunity will reflect in your success. It’s hard to remember that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. You may be the talented one, but it is talent you were blessed with by God.

And above all, remember; God promised Abraham a son. He came through with Isaac when Abraham was 100 years old. (Nobody ever accused God of not having a sense of humor)

DREAMS, CAREERS & REALITY

July 26, 2014 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture, Personal Development | Leave a comment

Besides being painfully depressing, this video is incredibly brilliant. Al does more research than your average whiney pop singer. It shows that he takes his craft quite seriously. Then again growing up in L.A. a lot of this stuff is crap I’m sure he probably heard from his acting friends. But I love the subtleties in the making of this video.

*Note In the beginning when the alarm clock rings, there are two books on the bed stand, one says Dickens and the other “Ibsen”. (The father of modern Theater). The line: “I read my Uta Hagan and studied “The Bard”. Uta Hagan was to acting as Tony Robbins is to motivational speakers. (Only worth the money)

The Bard was the last episode of the “Twilight Zone” it was an hour long episode where a screen play writer has to come up with a “knock em’ dead script by morning. He’s given the power to conjure up Shakespeare and such for ideas.

All of this is indicative of the serious actor, artist or musician who really wants to be successful. It reminds us that there are vocations that take knowledge, vocations that take dexterity/skill and unfortunately there are those vocations which most people are passionate about that require “Luck” as in opportunity.

Even worse, you may need brains to recognize opportunity when it comes knocking and Good LOOKS to be recognized. Life is not fair and it doesn’t give you too many 2nd chances.

Please enjoy “The SKIPPER DAN VIDEO”

GREG GUTFELD COMPARES SNOOP DOG TO FOSTER BROOKS

July 23, 2014 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture | Leave a comment

BLASPHEMY

Greg was commenting on the Snoop Dog interview where he commented on getting high in the White House bathroom. He compared Mr. Dog to Foster Brooks who was an incredible actor of the 70s. His reputation was for his ability to portray quite convincingly a stuttering drunk. The only problem with Greg’s analogy was Brooks was acting. It took talent to pull off a convincing drunk

Snoop on the other hand is a “Cult of Personality”. No that’s not just the name of a song from the 90s band Living Color. It means a creation that is molded to attract a following. Hitler was a great “Cult of Personality” as is “Obama”. They get by on their Charisma. In Snoop Dog’s case, he’s basically talentless but he enjoys getting high. A LOT! Snoop is not acting. He’s just the kid on the playground that had the first set of Nikes and that made him cool. Soon everybody wanted to hang out with the Nike kid. Then when everybody else got Nikes, Snoop probably had to have Jordan’s. So all of the kids that had Nikes were envious of the “cool kid” because he had Jordans.

Dr. Seuss wrote a book called Sneetches on Beaches. It was a book about Dr. Seuss creatures (The ones that look like the Grinch) only one set of Sneetches had a Star on their chest and they were the superior Sneetches. They were special. Soon a snake oil salesman comes into town and has a machine that will put stars on the other Sneetches’ chest for a dollar. Soon all of the Sneetches on the Beach had stars. So the original Starred Sneetches wanted to be different from the fake Sneetches so the Snake oil Salesman had a function on his machine that could remove the Star. (For a dollar) Soon nobody knew who was who.

Snoop was amongst the first rappers to openly use expletives in every other syllable and kids thought this was cool. Then other rappers came and tried to outdo Snoop. So just like the Sneetches, Snoop decided his new “Thang” would be his love for Pot. He’s no different from a wrestler looking for that new image, or Larry the Cable guy saying: “Getter done”. Or for that matter a Sneetch with a Star.

On the other hand, Foster Brooks was a great Actor and not an alcoholic.

EBAY FOR DUMMIES

July 20, 2014 by Ace in Arts and Entertainment, Culture, Media, Personal Development | Leave a comment

Understand that EBAY can be an addiction is the same genre as gambling. The key to gambling is knowing how much you are absolutely willing to lose then walk away. (Take it from a person who lives in Nevada). The same strategy goes for EBAY. The only difference is that on EBAY, they have one of a kind items you can’t find down at the local Wal-Mart. Sometimes EBAY has that perfect Part for a 1968 Jaguar. Still, you need to know how much is too much.

THE .99 cent opening Bid

Let’s start with the .99 cent opening bid. This is one of the greatest auctions but you need to exercise patience. Fools will come in and bid 5.00 on an item that you feel is worth 45.00. Now if everybody plays the game right, nobody will bid until the last minute of the auction. This is when you need to know how much you’re willing to pay. If the someone else has bid and driven the price from .99 to 5.00, then you know he or she has bid 5.01 or more. So in the last minute (Or last 11 seconds) you bid 45.00 hoping the other bidders only bid 25.01 and you get it for 26.01. (By the way, never lose a bid over a penny. Always bid XX.01 or what ever your lucky number is. Many will bid 25.01 so bid XX.02 you get the Idea. Now if two bidders have bid the price up to around 40.00 at the close of the auction. You have to decide how much you really want this and are willing to pay for it.

*NOTE: It’s very easy to let your ego allow you to spend way too much for the 45.00 Jaguar floor mat. If one bidder has the attitude that nobody is going to out bid him and bids 100.00 for the 45.00 part, (Thinking that he doesn’t care if someone bids 50.00) and you bid 100.01 for the same 45.00 part. You just bought yourself a floor mat for 100.00. Congratulations.

On the other hand if this is the only one you’ve seen ever on EBAY, and all of the numbers check out, feel free to be a little more liberal with your bid at 11 seconds left.

How much am I willing to pay?

I advise people never to bid on something unless they have a track record of what they sell for. NOT WHAT PEOPLE ARE ASKING. You hear that all the time on Pawn Stars: “Well I’ve seen them on line for 250.00″. But did it sell for that price? Probably not. (You don’t know how many times I see people asking 279.00 for something I just paid 89.00 for. I laugh and say they’re F’n crazy)

I recently used my knowledge of what things sell for to wait out a seller. He had an Item that I knew was rare, but he was asking about 50.00 too much for it. (Or that I was willing to pay). I PM’d him and said, I’m willing to go 130.00 plus 10.00 shipping. He was asking 179.95 plus 20 shipping. I knew that if one of these came up for .99 cents, the bidding would get to about 100.00 and the real collectors that knew how rare it was, would put in there final bid at 130 – 140. I use to sell these items and I knew what they went for (not counting the stupid people) I told myself that as a rule they would go for 120.00 but being since it was rare, I would go as high as 140 out the door. So I waited as he kept relisting this Item. I felt that a serious collector might have bout this when he finally lowered the price to 130 plus 20 shipping. 150 was still 10 more than I wanted to pay. So after he relisted it the 6th or 7th time; I sent him another offer of 140 out the door. By now, he’s lost a considerable amount of money by relisting it. He was eager to relist it at 130 plus 10 shipping. He was happy, I was happy and hopefully it will arrive in one piece.

On Items that frequently are listed, you need to see what the final sell price is and never exceed it. I said to the seller of the Item above that if I paid him his price, someone wood list one for .99 cents and the bidders would take it up to what I wanted to pay. But do your home work and see what the item is selling for before you bid or BUY IT NOW.

KNOWING THE NUMBERS

The opening bid or buy it now price is the number most people look at. But there are other numbers that are even more important.

1. Shipping. Some scumbags will give you a low buy it now price and hope you don’t look at the insane shipping and handling price. If the shipping is way out of line, you don’t want to do business with that seller. Also, if you don’t look at the cost of shipping until check out, you may find that the 45.00 floor mats are going to cost you 90.00 when you throw in the 45.00 shipping. All of a sudden, Napa parts doesn’t look so bad.

2. Area Code. What I really mean is location. China has developed a bad reputations for sending you the wrong size, then putting the responsibility on you to send it back. The only problems I’ve had as a buyer on EBAY have been from mainland China. If the seller looks like they are from China but have an L.A. or Toronto address, it’s really important that you check the next number. (BTW, I’ve had good luck with western Europe. (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and the U.K.) But even when buying from overseas, I don’t buy expensive items.

3. Seller’s Feedback Score. This is a very important number. No matter how sweet the deal looks, if the seller has less than 98.5 positive feedback, READ HIS NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. I use to sell and got tagged with a negative from a scammer that EBAY sided with. Which is why I no longer sell on EBAY. So again, it depends on how bad you need the item. If the seller was left a negative feedback and the buyer said: “Seller is Jerk, avoid at all cost”, you can ignore those 90% of the time. Those are usually answered by the seller with something like : “Buyer can send the item back if not happy”. The more immature the buyer sounds, the more I will trust the seller. What I do look for are Immature comments from the seller. Things like: “Buyer is a jerk and I’ve blocked him”. Or: “Buyer is a loser that can’t read English”. When the seller is unprofessional in their comments and try to make you think the buyer is psychotic, it’s usually the seller you need to look out for. I’ve actually paid more for something because the seller’s comments were unprofessional and immature.

4. Doesn’t take Paypal. I don’t think Paypal is the greatest institution in the world, but if you’re going to play on EBAY, you’re playing Russian Roulette if you do a transaction without going through a 3rd party that will refund your money. That’s the only thing they’re really good for. Plus, it’s much harder to rip off your I.D. by going through Paypal. Sure they may get the Credit card or account number linked to Paypal, but if you’re smart, you won’t keep much money in that account.

EBAY IS AN ADDICTION

Check out this Weird Al Video called “EBAY:

You have no Idea how true this Weird Al video is.

One last bit of advice. Feel free to talk to the seller before you buy. Ask a lot of questions. AND if you how much an Item sells for, and they RARELY COME UP FOR AUCTION. If the opening bid is .99 cents and you know they sell for over $200.00, Tell the sell right away that you’ll give him or her $200.00 if they take it down and do a special private Buy it now Auction for you. It works almost every time. Sure one may come up down the road a few bucks cheaper, but if you know in your heart it’s worth $200.00, give it to them. I bought my favorite piece to my collection that way. I’ve seen them for 199.00 and I think an opening price of 149,00 but in the end, it could have been 300.00. I would also say that if you are a collector of anything, if you watch the sell prices, you’ll see that EBAY is just like the stock market or Real Estate. If you collect Franklin Mint plates, you’ll see how certain plates hold their value while others drop or climb.

Know what they sell for and Know what you’re willing to pay. That’s the Key.

(And avoid bad sellers at all costs)

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