A NIGHT IN JAIL FOR A GLASS OF WATER

by in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

handcuffs

It was one long night and one I wish I could forget. I had just finished a “bar gig”. It was my 3rd to last “bar gig” before I moved up to the big times. (Opening for people like Clint Black). Unfortunately, that’s as famous as my “Almost Famous” career took me. But I’ll not cry about water under the bridge, but speaking of Water……

 

I had played my ass off and was tired at 3 in the morning. Bar gigs (performances) are no fun. Sure you get free drinks and sexual proposals, but you quickly outgrow that. The bad part is the work that you don’t see. Bar bands don’t have road crews. So you need to load and unload the van. So a 9 to 1 show is really a 7 to 3 show because set up and break down takes about 2 hours. (The drive is also an extra hour or so)

Setting up isn’t just plugging in your guitar cord and microphones, but rather taping down your cords so nobody ends up in the Emergency Room. (That’s another story for another day) But it includes a sound check, lights, monitors etc… This is time consuming and if it’s not done right, the rhythm guitarist will drown everyone out all night until the club manager comes up and say: “All we can hear is your strummer”. Breaking down can be quicker, but you do so at the risk of ruining your expensive cords. You really need to take your time when putting your stuff away. Most musicians put their cables in a place that will make it easy to get to the next time you set up. (Lots of Rubbermaid bins)

Rack

Thus you have the extra two hours coming and going.

I had found that if you “get your shit and get gone” at the end of your performance, the police will not bother you. I also had a bad habit (back then) of having a Heineken and a shot of “Corazon” Tequila at midnight. That’s two ounces of alcohol. I always felt that if I was playing hard during that last hour, then working to put my stuff away, the alcohol would be gone by the time I got behind the wheel. And like I said, most PDs will leave the band alone because they don’t want the responsibility of 40,000 dollars’ worth of gear, plus they don’t want to be accused of driving off business in remote areas.

I was tired that one night and after loading my gear into my van, I took a break and had a glass of “Ice water” and just sat in a booth to relax. This put me into the “DUI” hours of the night. Sure enough I got pulled over by the CHIPs. They made me blow and I came up at .069. (or so I was told) I think .07 was legally drunk. I could go into a rant about making a hard working guitarist pretend to be a ballerina on the side of the road, but the next thing I knew, (and I still don’t think this was legal) I was at the CHP Satellite station where they had more accurate testing means. Oh, and hand cuffed to a bench. Since they had a responsibility to protect my gear, they didn’t want to take me to the tank, but they also were upset because I wasn’t legally drunk.

CHP

By this time it’s 4 in the morning. The sun is peeking over the hill. I’m sober and hungry yet still in cuffs. They had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to volunteer my blood at 4 in the morning. They said if you can call someone to come get you we’ll let you go. My ride who knew nothing about the area got lost trying to find the cop shop in their sleep and it was creeping up on 5 AM and the new shift was coming on. So they were taking me to the drunk tank and as we pulled out of the CHP station my ride arrived. We went and had a sandwich at an all-night grocery store, came back and got the van and drove 85 miles home. The county D.A. refused to press charges.

That was my night in Jail for a glass of water.

My Admiration for Jerry Rice

by in Culture, Personal Development, Sports | Leave a comment

The Greatest

And Why He should be every young fatherless kid’s Role Model.

400 yards
I use to say: “I could throw for 400 yards a game with these two guys“.

I, without hesitation, consider Jerry Rice the greatest Football player (at any position) and perhaps the greatest athlete ever.  He didn’t use Steroids. But he did put two quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame.

In the late 80s and early 90s, I was on a first name basis with most of the Dynasty 49ers.  Ironically, my two favorite niners, Jerry Rice and Steve Young, I never got to meet.  But I heard stories about Jerry Rice.

YoungRice

It amazed me how both Montana and Young would never hesitate to throw into 3 man coverage with confidence that Rice would come down with the completion.  Jerry broke records that will remain his for a long time.  One reason was his dedication to his workout program.  Complacent was not a word in Jerry’s vocabulary.    He would practice relentlessly which ruined many a first round draft picks that the niners wasted on Wide Recievers to replace either Jerry Rice or John Taylor.

Example: J.J. Stokes – He was assigned to Jerry Rice to learn Rice’s workout routine.  Stokes could not keep up with the veteran exactly 10 years his elder. (Rice born in 62, Stokes born in 72).  Rice was simply dedicated.  He didn’t have goals of being the “Greatest” ala Mohammed Ali or Rickey Henderson.  He just did his job in a steadfast humble fashion.  Only once did Rice ever get involved in a controversy and that was when Joe Montana was nearing the end of his career and was being offered local commercial offers.  Rice felt he was being over looked because he was black and not flamboyant like Dion Sanders or Michael Jordan.  The truth was that Montana had done commercials earlier in his career which is how he met his wife Jennifer. (In a Gillette commercial). Also; Rice was the greatest on the field, but not on the screen.

Being the classy gentleman that Jerry Rice is, he went back on the field and proceeded to shatter football records.  Jerry Rice should be a role model for those who don’t have fathers in the household.  His story should never be forgotten.  Recently I posted a video of Itzhak Perlman and called him the Jerry Rice of music.  Those who are truly great never concentrate on greatness.  They concentrate on always doing better. They practice until they can’t practice any longer; then they give it one more shot.  Anyone can learn a lesson from #80.

 

Jerry Rice

THAT OTHER PLACE

by in Culture, Paranormal, Personal Development | Leave a comment

Ace Andres bistro1

Is it part of the String Theory?

 

I can’t explain it.  Is it a state of Nirvana? Naw, Nirvana is way too ambiguous.  (Because there are so many different definitions of it that mean so many different things.  But it’s a place that is not of this consciousness.  It’s like getting high but without drugs or any mind altering substance.  I don’t think its beta-endorphins. Usually runners have to run a certain distance before their bodies release Beta-endorphins.  It’s called a runner’s high.

 

Mind over matter?  Sometimes you can hurt yourself; however if your mind is preoccupied, you won’t feel the pain until your mind focuses on the injury.  Then all of a sudden it starts hurting.  Why is that?

 

I’m trying to describe a place that my consciousness goes to when I launch into a guitar solo.  Club owners that watch me say that they can almost tell when I’m leaving my body.  I haven’t soloed live (In front of an audience) for a few years.  The other day I was in my studio and had Stevie Ray Vaughan playing on my Computer.  He went into a blues solo and I picked up my studio guitar and launched into my own solo.  At a point I could feel myself losing my awareness of where I was and even what I was doing.  I was “In the Music”.  Does that make sense?  I was assimilating into the song.  Then I could almost feel something inside me leaving my body.

 

It was like a flame of passion coming out of my chest.  It was like someone flipped a switch.  And I wasn’t playing in front of anyone.

 

I have no Idea…..  It feels good and I want more.   When you see me close my eyes and throw my head back; I’m going to that place.

 

 

 

The Cafe’s 2015 Breitbart Award winner is….

by in History, Personal Development, Politics | Leave a comment

The-Silencing-Powers-CVR-v10-PERS

The Café Americain awards its’ 2015 Andrew Breitbart Award to the person that most embodies the transformational political horizontal shift.  Ms. Powers is just one major epiphany short of making the “Jump to right”.  At this point in time, The Writer Kirsten Powers is where Andrew was when he was starting to question why he was a liberal.  In Kirsten’s current position, she believes that she has too much to lose by making the swing.  As she becomes more and more disenfranchised by the left, she’ll see how welcomed she is on the right and this will open her mind to that which it has been trapped in.

 

It’s that “Ah-ha” moment where you ask yourself why.  Nobody with the exception of Ronald Reagan embraced this shift like Andrew Breitbart.  We who were once of the liberal persuasion had tangible reasons for becoming republicans or Independence. (Not the Juan Williams kind).  Ronald Reagan while president of the Screen Actors’ Guild was threatened to have acid thrown in his face.

 

Your humble author and almost famous rock star learned politics as a 12 year old growing up next to a 60’s Bobby Kennedy type congressman.  When I saw how the word liberal had changed in the Carter years; Ronald Reagan, (also a former Democrat) started making sense in that government needed to get out of the way of the individual’s prosperity.

 

Andrew Breitbart was a liberal because it was cool to be a liberal in SoCal.  Then once he discovered where his own self-esteem came from; his eyes were opened. Kirsten has a lot invested in the left and honestly, admits her own ignorance when it came to conservative ideology.  She is still like the circus elephant chained to a small “useless” chain. (look up that story for yourself)

 

But hopefully Kirsten can reach voters and enable them to “Think for themselves and not be afraid to engage in true debate”  To quote Kirsten: “The debate is never over”.

Andrew

I WISH I DIDN’T KNOW NOW

by in Health, Politics, Tales from the O.R. | Leave a comment

Surgical

What I didn’t know then……

Does that saying ring a bell (((((?))))))  What many of you don’t know about your intrepid Blogger is that I possess a wealth of medical knowledge.  I use to tell interns at Stanford University Medical Center’s O.R. that I was suturing up patients when they were still in the 5th grade.

After the Feds quit paying general surgeons (Appendectomy doctors) to stand across from an Orthopedic Surgeon or GYN surgeon to tie suture and cut nots, and in the latter days, drill tunnels in a patients knee for an ACL repair, Medics from the military became highly sought out precious commodities.  We became, (with a little further classroom training) known as surgical first assistants.  I’ve worked in such busy surgical centers where I was sowing up patients in my sleep.  Since I did nothing but assist, I did my rounds in most disciplines.  It made me more desirable.  I turned down two scholarships.  Actually one scholarship and a verbal offer from a Dean of a medical school saying: “I can get you into ……..”

But as you know, my heart was always meant to be behind a Sennheiser Microphone and in front of a Marshall stack and a Fender amp.  Making my gold top guitar scream was my way of reaching Nirvana.

But I’ve probably forgotten more about medicine than the newer medical larva coming out of Medical school can remember.  It must be tough for young doctors today.  They can thank Obama and uniformed voters for their poor reimbursement rates.  I (Like many of my former doctor friends) would leave the field of fixing people because you’re no longer guaranteed a six digit income your first year and a 7 series BMW or Mercedes Benz.  In fact it was bad enough under Bush when HMOs popped up. (Health Maintenance Organizations/Kaiser) but now if one graduates from Harvard he might have to be content to work for the Veteran’s Administration.

This is a noble gesture if you’re a true patriot, and there are great surgeons that work “part-time” at V.A. Health Centers.  Unfortunately, there are those who hate the fact that they can’t afford their own practice, let alone have to take Obamacare reimbursement as payment.  The result is overt self-loathing and it often shows in patient care.

Perhaps I know more than a patient should.  Those who voted for Obama deserve these frustrated losers.  And a note to veterans: “If you drive a nice vehicle, keep it to yourself”.  I have a very nice leather daytimer that I like to use.  It has a Porsche Crest Logo on the front.  I believe my V.A. doctor saw this and it made him hate me.
He also asked me who did my last surgery and I couldn’t remember my doctor’s last name.  I always just called him Sid.  I had to ask my wife what Sid’s last name was.  This doctor was offended that I addressed my friends by their first names.  (I had done hundreds of operations with these doctors I called my friends).  An insecure doctor will be the first to tell you that if doctors are not your colleagues, you don’t have a right to address them by their first name.  Their first name is “doctor”.

Fucking ass hole.

Hopefully, the communists will be out of Washington in 2016 and a better path to medical care will come to fruition.  If I would have been a consultant?  I would have said: “Address the problem and don’t tear apart a system you loath”.  The problem was 43 million uninsured Americans.  Screw the insurance, give them health care.

Set up government clinics for those who don’t have the means to afford insurance.  Unfortunately, Obamacare has made 3rd party healthcare insurance untouchable for the middle class. (Someone has to pay for the owners of Obama phones).  But the truth is, Obamacare is an attempt to dismantle our medical system in this land of capitalism.  Obamacare was a step towards commie-care.  Yes the old “Single Payer” system.  Just answer me one question you scumbag in the oval office.  Why do heads of state in foreign countries come to the United States for things like HEART SURGERY?  It’s because when real doctors are making good money, they are inclined to provide great care.  When you turn your surgeon into a mail man, people in your health facility will go “postal”.  At that point, being called “doctor” is the only difference between you and your Porsche mechanic. (Except my mechanic makes $110.00 an hour). 43 out of 311 million.  We could have covered the cost of giving the indigent health care without messing up the Insurance system.  But that’s not the communist way.  And people, you’re starting to understand why wealthy people come to America for surgery.  And why some of the best surgeons are taking their retirement and running with it.

What few excellent surgeons that haven’t closed their practices are over booked.  In fact Obamacare is making it impossible to run a medical practice in a normal fashion.  I pity the conservative that is tasked with the job of straightening out the ball of wires and cords this idiot in Washington has created.  He’s destroyed the American Healthcare system in perfect Saul Alinski/Cloward & Piven fashion.

But 2016 might be too late.  I think the U.S. dollar is going to crash in about four months.  Then your Obamacare will be worthless as civil unrest will make every city look like Ferguson and Baltimore.

Pro-Choice ~ it sounds so simple and it is.

by in Culture, Science, Spiritual Relilgion | Leave a comment

But killing the unborn is not a choice, rather an intention.

A woman and an unborn heartbeat.  That’s the situation.  The “Choice” is to have a baby or kill the unborn.  I won’t sugar coat it.  It certainly is no longer a woman’s choice as to what to do with her body.

That choice was forfeited weeks, maybe months ago.

It was a choice the woman made often in the throes of passion.  That is when the woman had a choice.  In some (I use the term loosely) situations, the pregnancy was not a result of responsible choice.  My first child was conceived with an IUD.  Some women unfortunately are victims of non-consensual sex. (rape).

These instances are rare and in such cases the woman’s choice has been taken from her.  Is this the fault of the unborn child?

I think the irresponsible have done a successful job of making abortion about life or death being a woman’s choice.  It’s not.  Her choice was whether or not to engage in a sexual act with someone they were not willing to have a baby with.  The primary reason for sex is “procreation”.  To be fruitful and multiply.  The joy we get from having sex is programmed from the “thought” of procreation.  Nothing is more joyful than giving physical life to a spiritual being.

Without it, it’s just friction and negative pressure.

Our bodies were created with neural programs.  Thirst tells us we’re dehydrated.  Weakness and stomach pains tell us we need to eat. Sweat, clamminess and chest pains means get to an emergency room. Lust is a program that can lead to procreation.  But our culture has turned lust into “mutual masturbation”.  The young people in our country refer to the act of sex as “Hooking up”.  Sounds romantic n’est–ce pas?  I still prefer: “Making Love”.

Did you know that this neural programming is so sensitive it can make you aware of danger when you are not consciously looking out for it?  When you stop what you are doing because you heard a sound or smelled something out of the ordinary, we assume what is called the “Kruk” position.  When you hear something that catches your attention, you will automatically say: “Shish” then project your chin forward in a “ready” position. Your eyes may scan left and right, and you will stand as tall as you can, but this is something we all do as a result of a “built in” neurological response.  The same is true in the case of lust.  Men may often assume an erection.  They will go so far as to emit a hormone in their sweat that will attract the opposite sex.  It is designed for the purpose of PROCREATION.  Our bodies were never meant to be used as amusement park rides.

 

Screen-Shot

So how does killing a heartbeat within a uterus become a legal choice, while spanking that same heartbeat 18 months later is considered child abuse?  Is this a woman’s “War on Children”?  Not at all.  A woman had a choice not to start the pregnancy process when she “Chose” to use her body as a sperm receptacle. (disregarding the unintended yet primary consequences).

Let me leave you with this one question.  If a woman has the choice to pick up a loaded hand gun and aim it at her head; we would agree it is her choice to pull the trigger.

Should the bullet be blamed for her death?

TELL ME WHY

by in Arts and Entertainment, Culture | Leave a comment

Tell me why cover

HOW TO SCREW UP ONE OF HISTORY’S GREATEST SONGS by adding one word.

I’ve been on an April Wine binge lately only to listen to AW’s version of John Lennon’s “Tell me Why”.  It’s amazing how inserting one additional word can absolutely mess up a great song.  Perhaps one of The Beatles greatest songs ever.

Here are John’s original lyrics:

Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me
Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me

Well I gave you everything I had
But you left me sitting on my own
Did you have to treat me oh so bad
All I do is hang my head and moan

Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me
Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me

If there’s something that I’ve have said or done
Tell me what and I’ll apologize
If you don’t I really can’t go on
Holding back these tears in my eyes

Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me
Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me

Well I beg you on my bended knees
If you’ll only listen to my pleas
Is there anything I can do
Cos I really can’t stand it, I’m so in love with you

Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me
Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to
***************************************************************

TMW

In the 2nd verse “Tell me what and I’ll apologize” Myles Goodwyn inserts the word “Baby” Tell me what and I’ll apologize.  As if he’s making a contrite and remorseful request of his girlfriend or lover.  This is easily over looked because the music is so beautiful.  But adding the word “Baby” changes the POV horrifically.

Clear your mind and think about the song from this perspective.

John said that “Tell me Why” was a song he wrote for all of the children who were the collateral damage of divorced parents. Sure it’s still a love song, but not in the “Eros” meaning of the word.  It’s from the point of view (POV) of a child who thinks that he or she is responsible for their parents breaking up.  The line: “If it’s something that I said or done tell me what and I’ll apologize”.  This cuts to the heart.  The guilt children of a divorce feel is so destructive not to mention unfair while planting the seeds of destruction for a future fucked up adult life. The children feel responsible for the tears being cried.  “Tell me what I did and I’ll apologize”.

Those of you with children, think about the unintended consequences before you say: “I’m out of this marriage”.  Unless you’re being physically abused by your spouse, don’t bail out, stick it out until the kids are old enough to start their own lives.   Or at least until they can understand.  The biggest lie you’ll hear from others when YOU are getting divorced is: “Oh the kids will get over it”.  Right!
<cough Bullshit>

Minister Dies and comes to

by in Paranormal, Spiritual Relilgion | Leave a comment

As most of you know, I’m a huge fan of NDERF or the Near Death Experience Foundation.  Their URL is http://www.NDERF.org

This is a submission from a minister who died of a heart attack after shoveling Snow:

I was having a heart attack after shoveling snow. My wife drove me to the hospital. The doctor said I was having ‘a really good heart attack’ not long before I blacked out at the time of my arrest. There was a brief darkness, a sensation of going through a dark void of some sort then I was in another place. I saw dogs playing in a grass-covered field and I was with them. I have always loved dogs. I think they were dogs that I once had as an adult or child. I’m a minister and I don’t really believe ‘all dogs go to heaven’ but there they were!

Then I was in a different place. It was bright or red? Then there was an extremely bright light, like a vertical column of light.  But it was much more than light, like a pillar of pure energy.  It was sparking, sparkling, and much, much brighter and whiter than any sun. I floated over near it. I don’t know if I wanted to or not, but I was about 6 inches from it. It was not hot or cold, just pure white energy. I was face-to-face with whatever this was. I took it to be the pure divine presence of God. 

I felt if I touched it, that would NOT BE GOOD. But I felt total peace and that God was going to take care of everything, take care or me, and take care of my family. There was a low rumbling going throughout everything, like the lowest note on an organ.  It was a very holy sound.  The sound wasn’t intimidating as in ‘scary’ but it was intimidating as in totally awesome and awe inspiring; maybe coming from the pillar? Then I realized, ‘If I am here, I am either dead or dying!’ So I said a prayer, ‘Please send me back! Can I go back?  If there is any way, please send me back!”

The next thing I felt was the paddles shocking me.  ‘Ow!’ Those things hurt! I remember looking up at the doctor and he looked at the paddles like, ‘Wow! They worked!’ I did not know but they had shocked me 15 to 20 times or so in the past 40 minutes. They were getting ready to call my time of death.  The doctor had come out several times and told my wife absolutely nothing was working and there was no response to anything.  When they tried one last time that is when I came to. They transported me to another hospital by helicopter where I arrested two more times on the flight.

They put a big stent in my heart in the left anterior descending artery.  They shocked me yet again to start the heart up and it started. The best hope they held out to my wife was that I would have significant organ damage, almost certainly significant brain damage, and that I would likely live out the rest of my days in a nursing home.

When I work up, I was in the cooling blankets.  As soon as I could move again I started talking and telling jokes. My family and my wife couldn’t believe it. A year later the only damage they have found is a EF of 35% for my heart, but after running 5 kilometer races for several years, it is up to 40%.  I hope one day to get it up to 50% again which is a normal reading. Soon after my experience, I noticed light was too bright, especially sunlight. Sounds were too much also. That has continued to get worse the past several years to the point where this winter with the sun on the snow, I almost could not even look at it without a LOT of discomfort.  

LIFE IS LIKE BEING A STARTING PITCHER IN THE MLB

by in Culture, Personal Development, Sports | Leave a comment

Orel

Think about it. In baseball, a starting pitcher usually tries to throw 7+ innings. In life, if you’re lucky (or not) you go 7+ decades. In your late 50s you start to wonder if you will make it another 2 – 3 innings. Sometimes you give up homeruns and sometimes you strike out the side. Either way, you get to point where no matter what you throw, (curve, slider, high heat, change up) you realize that you need to throw strikes…. The more you learn in life the easier life is to survive. If you’re like the retired great Hershiser, Orel you learned your opponent and took index cards out to mound so you knew who could hit your high heat even if it was 98 MPH. He knew what the out pitch was for each batter. This is why in the playoffs, the Homerun kings and Batting champs are rarely productive. It’s usually some crappy guy name Chico with a season avg. of .224 with 40 RBIs and 7 homeruns that gets the Series MVP. WHY? Because the focus is on the Blue chip hitters. In life, it’s often the people you over look that do the most damage. (The people you don’t worry about).

Great pitchers like Orel Hershiser learned never to show anger at their authoritative figure. (The plate ump or their manager). The same is good advice in real life. Don’t yell at a cop when you get pulled over and be happy with a minimum speed, speeding ticket. It beats going to the slam.

Sometimes pitchers get hit in the face by a comeback pitch and are taken out in the first inning. Some kids die of crib death. (or SIDS). Some pitchers get scratched that are suppose to start. Some kids never make it out of the womb alive.

Some pitchers have great careers cut short because of Tommy John surgery. Some people come back from Iraq unable to stay in the game.

World Series Giants Royals Baseball

If you have good coaches and a manager, they’ll show guidance and help you with a good long Cy Young Career. If your team is blessed with 2 more great pitchers, you won’t be counted on to carry the load. If you have good parents or mentors, they’ll step in and stop you from being self destructive. The duty of a parent or a good manager is to get the best performance of his pitcher that he’s capable of.

Buster2

Sometimes a pitcher works with a great catcher like Buster Posey or Johnny Bench. In life, we’re often blessed with good spouses. They often tell you what you’re doing wrong to help you. A bad catcher just wants to make sure the ball doesn’t get pass him. A bad spouse just wants to cash/catch that paycheck.

Unfortunately, what makes a good pitcher is a good team. In life, you sometimes have to go it alone. No family or spouse.  This is where good friends come in.  If that’s the case, it’s all the more important that you throw good pitches. Personally, I don’t want to be left on the mound if I can no longer hit the strike zone.

Strike zone

Often the secret to a long career or a productive life grid is knowing your strengths as well as your weaknesses.  We’ve already discussed the value of knowing your opponent’s weaknesses.  In baseball you can fall victim to biting off more than you can chew.  If you know your batter is a sucker for high heat, you’ll often throw “Outside of the Strike Zone” (up and away) to get him to bite.  The best time to do this is when you’re up on the batter with an 0 and 2 count (no balls & 2 Strikes) you can afford to waste a couple of sucker pitches.

In life however; you can buy stuff on credit.  It’s called buy now pay later.  It’s better if you save the money for something then buy it without credit.  Or at least have 2/3rds of the item paid for (Like an 0/2 count) then charge the last 33%.  Otherwise you find yourself chewing off more than you can handle.  If I had an 0/2 count and I throw one in the dirt, one high and away and a brush back pitch, then all of a sudden I have a full count and have to come down middle or risk giving up a walk. (Or worse, a homerun)  In real life this could be bankruptcy or divorce, often both.  Be prudent, go for the 0/2 count,  then waste one or two pitches, then throw the batter your out pitch.

In real life, make sure you can afford what you buy.  The term “In the hole” is a negative term in baseball.  (As so in real life).

Sit down

“Sit Down”