WEBSITE AND BLOG MENUS – TOP OF PAGE 
Where does one begin when telling The Greatest Story they have ever had to tell?
A story that has been in the making for over sixty years.
It seems that at the beginning would be best.
My life’s story is a big story.
It’s not like any other you’ve read or heard of I can assure you of that.
It’s a wonderful cornucopia of my life’s experiences.
A story of a young boy who cuts across the United States during the 1960’s.
A story that will cut into your heart with moments of childhood innocents, first love and finding one’s self.
Stories of friendship, of love, of triumphs and of failures.
This is a story that I have been working on for some time now.
Over six decades at current count.
So I believe the time has come.
The time is now.
It is time now for me to tell my story.
After all…
What is the point of being a storyteller
if you don’t tell a story?
I begin my story with telling you about two incidents that occurred during my younger years.
These two stories are about endurance, self preservation and making decisions.
My Story now begins…
not quite at the beginning though.
I had my first awaking to music at the age of ten.
Since then music has been a part of my life in one way or another.
I’ve paid my dues over the years to earn my spot in the music industry I can tell you that.
And I have all the scars to prove it.
The path that a musician has to walk is a hard and difficult one.
At times it’s discouraging and merciless.
Once you set your foot on that path to seeking your Fame, Fortune and Glory…you’re on your own!
A lot of people since the beginning of time have walked this path.
Many have made it…and many have not.
My ‘spot’ at times in the field seems small and meaningless…hardly recognizable.
But I hang onto it,
I fearfully cling onto every fiber of it’s being.
It may be a small, ever so tiny part of the music industry,
but it is a part of it…
and it’s mine.
As far as who I am in the music industry…I’m nobody.
I’m just one of a thousand other musicians out here trying to make it.
I have no claim to any everlasting success.
No star on some Walkway in Hollywood.
No Platinum record hanging in my office.
No massive Royalty check in the mailbox every month.
No, I do not have any of that, BUT…
I do have two original songs that I have written and recorded.
Anna Maria
…and…
Hey Bartender
Both records are currently playing on a local radio station here on Anna Maria Island, Florida.
So maybe I do have a little bit of a claim to some of that Fame.
Just a ‘little bit’ right?
Most of the locals in the area know about my songs and me.
I get a thumbs up or “Awesome songs.” when someone recognizes me.
Truly one of the greatest compliments a musician can receive.
It’s a wonderful feeling you get when someone shoots that thumb up at you and says…
“Awesome Songs!”
I remember the first time I heard one of my songs on the radio.
I was living on Anna Maria Island, Florida at the time.
An island off Florida’s West Coast.
It was a beautiful sunny day in the Gulf of Mexico.
I was driving in my car along the coast looking at the beach and for a place to park.
It was lunchtime and I had just bought myself a sandwich and a drink and was ready to eat.
I wanted to park my car, watch the waves, listen to the ocean and the radio while I enjoyed my lunch.
Finally I found the perfect spot.
I pulled over, parked the car and turned on the radio.
Right in front of where I had parked was a bench for one to sit on and enjoy the wondrous view of the ocean.
I got out of the car and sat on that bench and started to eat my lunch.
I knew that my two songs were going to be played on the radio.
I just didn’t know when.
What day or what time?
For days I waited.
And waited.
Every where I went a radio was with me and it was turned on.
Still I waited.
So there I am eating my sandwich and listening to the radio on that beautiful sunny day when it happened.
My song ‘Anna Maria’ started to play on the radio.
I was stunned.
My song…playing on the radio!
I looked around trying to find someone to tell this wonderful news to…but no one was there.
Not one person on either side of me.
There was no one to hear me say…
“Hey, listen to this…this is me!”
“I wrote this song!”
“That is me singing on the radio.”
No one was there to hear.
No one could hear my song…except for myself.
I heard it.
I heard it pouring out of my car.
Pouring out onto the beach.
Pouring out into the very air that I was breathing.
I heard it blending in with the oceans waves as they rolled onto the beach.
Trying to get closer to hear my song as they rushed the beach with their force.
Here I was on Anna Maria Island listening to the radio playing my song titled’ Anna Maria’.
The song is about Anna Maria Island where I was at that very moment.
It was surreal to say the least.
I returned to my car to finish listening to my song.
About half way through the song while I was listening, without any warning…
I started to tremble and sob.
Not crying.
I was sobbing.
Raw emotion pouring out from the depth of my heart and soul.
I was so overcome with the joy of hearing my song on the radio.
My entire body began shivering.
I felt like I had been caught in the cold without a coat to keep me warm.
I knew I had achieved something rare and unique.
I had accomplished what many had set out to do…and failed.
Not only had I recorded two songs…
one of them was being played on the radio right at that very moment.
It was quit the moment for me.
In one of my future posts I will tell the story of how all this came about.
How I got to record the songs and how I was able to get them on the radio.
Since the release of the songs, not much has happened.
There’s been no ‘Contract’ to sign.
No ‘Money’ pouring in.
And Surprise, no offer to ‘Make It To The Big Time’ either.
So now what?
What should I do now?
Which road should I take from here?
I am doing this music thing on my own.
No Manager.
No Roadies.
No Publicists.
No booking connections.
No Promoter.
No Mac Trucks to haul my equipment around.
No Videographer.
No Photographer.
And Yes…No Groupies.
Although I lack all those luxuries and I live with the knowledge that I have not made it to the Big Time…
It doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter because I have made it MUCH BIGGER in another way.
What I have made it big in is in Life…
What do I mean by “I made it big in my life.”
It’s those moments in life when you are faced with having to make a decision.
A decision that changes your life.
You have the choice of the outcome of any situation you find yourself in.
You decide the end result with the decision you make.
You and you alone in the end are the one who decides your own fate.
I’m proud of the decisions I’ve made when I’ve been faced with these type of moments.
The results of those decisions are who I am today.
So how to compare my musical success to my personal successes?
Which is the Bigger success story to me?
All I have to do is think back to any given moment in my past.
Any moment at all.
After I recall that moment and compare it to where I am in my life right now…
to my minds eye, there is no comparison!
What I have achieved in my life, my own personal stories of struggle and survival satisfy my internal being.
No fleeting moment of Fame or Fortune can measure up to the situations I have brought myself out of.
Situations that I have lifted myself up from.
The reward I receive from recalling one of my memories is humbling.
My reward I receive may not pay any bills or get me free stuff or elevate me to super-star status but…
Let me give you an example.
Have you ever been hungry?
I have.
This is a memory I can recall very well.
And I will share it with you now.
It was the beginning of winter and the ground was lightly covered with newly fallen snow.
I had been let out on the outskirts of the city the day before from a ride I had gotten in Pennsylvania.
I was in Ohio now trying to make my way out to California.
It was also the ending of the second day since I ate last.
My last meal was a pack of peanut butter crackers I had bought with my last five cents two days ago.
I was so hungry at this point that just thinking of it now brings back the painful feelings that I experienced.
The hurt in my stomach was becoming unbearable.
The pain didn’t go away just because I wanted it to.
No, it got worse.
The pain was felt deeper than I could ever have imagined.
Deeper than I ever thought possible.
My body was beginning to feel waves of weakness followed by moments of dizziness.
At times I felt the urge to throw up.
Only to be left with the sensation of dry heaves.
My stomach would contract, painfully trying to push something up.
There was nothing in my stomach to come up.
The pain got even worse.
Out of desperation, I found myself eating food from a trash can.
“Hold on here a minute!”…I can almost hear you thinking this to yourselves and wondering,
“What just happened here?”
“How did you get into such a situation?”
“How old were you?”
“Where you homeless?”
“Why were you going to California?”
Good questions…you are a cleaver character to see the large gap in my story.
Very observant of you.
Let me just say that for now you will have to wait and be patient for a little while.
I will be releasing a Post on the entire tale of I’M HUNGRY to my Blog in the near future.
For now let me return to the story and pick up from where I left off.
…I was walking aimlessly for what seemed like hours.
Walking uptown now trying to pan handle some money.
As I was walking I noticed a man who was about twenty feet in front of me.
We both were heading in the same direction…towards different destinations I’m sure.
He was wearing a long dark charcoal-gray overcoat with the collar turned up.
As he walked his breath would hit the cold air and form a cloud of vapor that poured over his coats collar.
This gave him the appearance of being an old steam locomotive train engine chugging down the tracks.
I imagined him chugging down the railroad tracks pouring out clouds of billowing smoke.
I was his passenger car enjoying the scenic view as we chugged down the rails.
We were on schedule and all was well.
I could hear the clanking of the wheels of steel striking the rails as we moved along.
Hypnotic rhythms forming into a melody of song.
Vast amounts of farm land we’re passing now.
Covered with a blanket of freshly fallen snow.
Everything is covered with a thick coating of the snow.
The sun is glistening off the magical crystals as they lay basking in the sun.
Unafraid of the suns power to transform them into droplets of water.
No one has distributed the innocents of the snowy fields.
No footprints…animal or human. Not one.
The virgin snow waits for the assault on her purity…she knows her violation is inevitable.
Only weather worn wooden posts hard with the cold are thrusting themselves through the snow.
Ejecting themselves into the open air to their freedom.
The poles are spewing lines of barbed wire between them.
Each set of the wired sections are dripping with icicles.
Oh look there’s a farm.
And a farm house too!
Oh, and look at that…there’s a horse…Ahhhh.
I close my eyes to absorb all that I have seen.
Once again the rhythm of the trains wheels take me away on their journey.
I can almost smell an apple pie that Grandma’s cooking in the oven.
And of course Grandma’s hug is always so warm and inviting.
We were passing large fields of corn now.
The snow seems to have missed this section of the vast fields.
The warmth of the sun now beats onto my face as it passes through the window I am looking through.
Miles and miles of corn, as far as the eye can see.
I’m smelling the fragrance of freshly cut corn.
A tractor is moving lazily down the rows of the jolly green stalks and plucking them from Mother Earth.
MMMMMMM, It seems that hamburgers are on the menu tonight.
I can smell the aroma of hamburgers coming from the Dinning Car.
Hamburgers for super tonight?
It has to be hamburgers their making.
Because I can smell a hamburger.
I can smell a hamburger.
I-can-smell-a-hamburger!
I can really smell a hamburger and it was close.
As I snapped out of my delusional train ride I was still walking uptown hungry, cold and tired.
But I could smell a hamburger.
I was looking at the man in the dark gray overcoat ahead of me.
My sense of smell was directing me to him.
I observed that one of the mans hands was holding a white paper napkin.
The other hand was holding a yellow piece of paper.
As we walked the man all of a sudden raised the yellow piece of paper to his mouth.
He took a bite from something that was in that yellow paper.
After taking his bite and swallowing his treat a billowing puff of his breath hit the cold air.
I watched his breath turn into vapor pouring over the collar of his overcoat and heading right for me.
The wisps of vapor came drifting so effortlessly in the cold to my awaiting nostrils.
It was the aroma of a HAMBURGER!
I could actually smell the hamburger he was eating.
It was pure Heaven.
As we walked I felt as though I was being hypnotized by the music of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Rather than the music of a flute I was being lead away by the fragrance of a hamburger.
After a block or so of walking I lost the scent of the hamburger.
I was now back to thinking about the bigger problems facing me.
Like figuring out what I was going to do next and how to get something to eat.
We were passing a Bookstore now when out of nowhere the man wraps his hamburger in the napkin.
He then throws them into a trashcan that was in front of the Book Store as he was passing it.
I watched as the burger left his hand.
It was headed right for the trashcan.
I watched as if in slow motion the burger hitting the rim of the trashcan upon it’s entrance.
A piece of a pickle flew into the air escaping the confines of the trashcan and obtaining it’s freedom.
It fell onto the sidewalk.
The burger then performed an acrobatic maneuver that caused it to elegantly fall into the trashcan.
The man kept walking on.
Unaware of the reaction of the young boy walking behind him as he watched him throw his food away.
Not realizing that his item of discard would have been a banquet to the boy.
As I walked past the trash can I glanced in and I could see the burger.
There was more than half the burger left in the wrapper!
It was half way out of the wrapper also, but still in tact.
I walked to the corner that was in front of me.
Upon reaching it I turned around and walked back and passed the trash can again.
Yes there was more than half the burger left, just sitting there waiting for me to grab it.
I kept walking now to the opposite corner.
Then turning around and repeating the process again.
And then one more time.
Then again.
And again.
Five times I walked back and forth by the trash can.
I was trying to figure out the strategy I was going to use to retrieve that hamburger.
It wasn’t in the trashcan too deep.
Deep enough that I would have to actually bend down just a bit to reach in and grab my prize.
There were people walking by also that had to be taken into consideration.
I had to wait until the coast was clear so as not to be noticed…
or embarrassed by the deed I was about to perform.
As I waited for my moment I had a vision.
I saw of myself standing in front of that trashcan.
Standing there staring deeply into it.
Looking at that burger.
I wanted that burger.
I start reaching in for the burger.
Only this time I didn’t care if anyone saw me.
I didn’t care what they thought of me.
I didn’t care anymore about anything.
And it seemed that no one else cared either.
No one even noticed me standing there staring desperately into the trash for food to eat.
I was so hungry!
Such a terrible vision for a young boy to have.
Finally, I saw my moment come.
There was no one approaching that could see me.
No one coming from behind either.
I’m at the side of the trashcan now and without stopping I bend over and reach inside the trashcan.
I reach in and grab the hamburger by the wrapper.
I start to pull it out.
In my hurry I’ve also garbed the edge of the piece of the paper the burger was laying on top of.
Out comes the piece of paper along with an empty soda can and several other pieces of trash.
It wasn’t a clean theft.
But no one saw it happen.
No one heard the can hitting the side of the building and hit the sidewalk.
No one heard it rolling along the sidewalk to the curb and roll into the street.
No one saw it stop and spill the remainder of the contents onto that street.
And no one saw me escaping from the crime scene.
I kept walking like nothing had just happened.
My body was trembling now with the knowledge that in my hand I had food.
I had something to eat.
I walked a little further and ducked into an alley that I was passing.
There I stood now looking at the hamburger I had just pulled out of a trashcan.
Looking at it as I prepared myself to eat it.
I took my first bite and started to chew.
I tried to swallow.
My throat tightened rejecting at first the small amount of food.
As my first bite started to approach my stomach I had the urge to throw it back up.
I had to ease the pain that was gnawing away at my stomach.
I had to force myself to swallow that bite of hamburger.
I felt humiliated and started sobbing as I tried to swallow.
I was so embarrassed and ashamed.
I was eating food someone had thrown away in a trash can.
I knew it was to be my dignity or ‘something worse was going to happen to me’ if I did not swallow what was in my mouth.
I had to make a choice.
That night I choose not to find out what the ‘something worse’ was going to be…
I swallowed the bite of hamburger.
Now the bad feelings started to disappear from me as I ate the remainder of the hamburger.
I now began to feel comfort, peace and fulfillment.
Why?
Because I was brought to a place I did not want to be.
HUNGRY!
Plus…not wanting to find out what was going to happen next if I did not eat the burger.
So I found a way to get something to eat, from a trashcan yes.
But by doing so I avoided going down that unknown road of what would have happened next if I hadn’t eaten that burger.
I MADE THAT CHOICE!…I DECIDED MY OWN OUTCOME!
This is a memory when and if recalled would make me very happy about my current status in life.
Considering where my life was at that time…no contest.
I find comfort in that knowledge.
So, when someone gives me a thumbs up or says “Awesome songs” because I have two songs on the radio…
I love it, I do.
But it can not compare to that feeling I had when I finally did get something to eat.
The compliments and thumbs up for my songs doesn’t happen much anymore these days.
The spotlight dims rather quickly in the entertainment business and eventually fades.
So, yes it is great and wonderful being there for those glimmering moments of Fame and Fortune.
But after it fades and society is through playing your songs…
they put them away in their music boxes and that is that.
You can become bitter because your song is still out there for all to hear.
But no one listens to it any more.
The originality and beauty of it fades and you are just yesterdays news.
You are glad you had your fifteen minutes of fame, but now it is over.
The spotlights move onto someone else.
You’re so happy when it’s you the spotlights shine on.
Not so happy when they’re gone.
The best you can hope for is that when someone pulls out a song from their old music box…it’s yours.
Then with some astronomical stroke of luck your song just might become…
An “Oldie”
A “Blast from the past”
Or a “One hit wonder”.
And if you are REALLY lucky you just might be alive to witness your revival.
IF YOU’RE LUCKY!
Let me give you one more example as to why I feel my personal life experiences out weigh Fame and Fortune.
How wonderful it was to feel the heat of that apartment buildings lobby.
Considering that I just woke up in an alleyway behind a restaurant in the freezing cold and was covered with snow.
It was freezing cold outside and there I was waking up huddled between two trashcans in an alleyway.
Why?
Because for the past day and a half I had been a stranger in a city that I knew nothing about.
I knew no one.
I had no money.
I had no idea where to go or where to look for help.
I was thirteen years old.
There was a light coating of snow on the ground and it was bitter cold outside.
The night was passing slowly into the morning as my second day of hell would soon begin.
I spent most of the day standing by vents in allies that had heat or steam pouring out their exhaust.
Capturing those moments when a burst of heat would bellow out of their grated cages was truly a treat.
Until a guard or an employee would chase me away.
Or the air around the vent became too toxic to breath or the heat too unbearable.
This second day was passing and it’s night was now coming onto me.
I had spent another day searching for a place to stay and begging for money.
I had no luck finding either.
It was a Sunday and there was no one around uptown.
All the stores and restaurants were closed.
The only thing that was open was a gas station.
It was near the highway where I had been dropped off the day before.
Back in the mid 1970’s to the late 1980’s it was unlawful to work on Sundays.
I mean that in every sense of the words.
Businesses were not allowed to be open.
No commercial trucks were allowed to be on the roads or the highways.
The only businesses that were allowed to be open were certain gas stations, a convenience store and a few Restaurants.
Of course the Police, Hospitals and Churches were included.
That was it.
No exceptions!
You want milk or cigarettes, be prepared for a fifteen to twenty minute trip to the nearest store.
And by the way…that’s one way only.
Blue Laws they were called.
You were also allowed to carry a shotgun to church with you.
Just in case you are attacked by hostile Indians on the way.
Absolutely no businesses were allowed to be open.
No work was allowed…it was against the Law.
Can you even imagine that happening today?
Sundays were to be a day of rest and relaxation.
A day of fun.
A day to be with your Family and with your God.
I will be writing a post on this subject.
This post will take a look at why we took Sundays off and why that practice changed.
*** Mission accomplished ***
At the end of this Post there is a Link to the above promised article.
Now back to where I left off on my story…
To make things worst…the weather was terrible and the forecast was that it was going to get worse.
I asked everyone that I saw if they could spare any change.
Or if they knew of any services they could direct me to for help.
It was as if I was not even there.
The person would walk by me and not even acknowledge my presence.
I was so cold.
I couldn’t shake the relentless grip that the cold held on me.
I was loosing all hope that I was going to get any money or help.
As night was falling I found myself aimlessly walking uptown.
I decided I would check out around the out skirts of the city for a while before it got too dark.
Maybe I would have better luck out near suburbia.
Bad decision.
It seems that I wasn’t having any luck in suburbia either.
After walking for some time and finding no one out and about I was ready to give up and return to the city.
The wind started to pick up.
It was blowing snow everywhere and making it difficult to see where I was going.
I needed to get out of here.
It would certainly be the death of me if I kept wandering around out here in all this openness.
I started to head back to the city.
I was beat.
I was giving up.
The elements were the true masters of the night.
And they were winning this fight.
Again I found myself walking around aimlessly.
I had lost my sense of direction and couldn’t remember the way that I had taken to get where I was.
“Please” I thought to myself.
“Please somebody help me.”
“Please, I’m so cold.”
Then like in so many movies and stories, a vision of light.
Off in the distance ahead of me I saw that “vision of light” just a short distance away.
It was a dim glow at first but as I walked towards the light it grew bigger and brighter.
It was a church.
There was a warm glow coming from the windows that surrounded the building.
Emitting a sense of welcome.
Now I am not a religious person but at that moment being in the situation I was in…
What can I say.
I thought this was a sign from above.
As I walked closer to the church I thought I could hear angles singing.
My body began feeling the warmth of the church just from the image I was looking at.
This was like being inside a Norman Rockwell painting.
I thought to myself, “I am saved. Thank you Jesus.”
I approached the front door to the church seeking help.
The door was locked.
I could hear voices coming from inside.
People were inside singing…they were the angels I thought I had heard singing.
I knocked…no response.
After knocking several more times, someone was finally opening the door.
It was a priest.
He was a young man, in his mid-thirties I guessed.
I remember thinking to my self how remarkably clean he looked.
Squeaky-clean.
So clean that it gave him the appearance of being pure and innocent.
I swear I saw a halo behind his head.
His face glowed with a smile of welcome.
That lasted for only a millisecond.
The welcoming smile now turned into a look of disappointment.
A new look now came over his face.
It was a look of disgust as he realized who it was that had disturbed his sanctuary.
As he walked towards me, what I had thought was a glowing halo now seemed to be turning red.
He moved slightly to one side as he stepped towards me.
As he was closing the door partially behind himself he exposed a rack of prayer candles.
The candles flames were giving off a hellish appearance as they burned in their red glass containers.
That halo behind the priests head disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.
It was now being replaced by a pair of devil horns glowing with the reflections of the red burning candles.
“What do you want?”, he snarled at me.
I explained my situation and his response to me was…
“Get out of here you Hippie, bum. You want a place to sleep get a job!”
This was followed by the closing of the door in my face.
It wasn’t a slamming of the door.
It was a calculated gesture.
He closed the door ever so carefully staring at me the whole time.
As if to reinforce the words he had just spoken to me.
I couldn’t believe it.
“What just happened here?” was all I could think at that moment.
That was the only response a man of the cloth could come up with?
I was only thirteen which was too young to get a job…legally that is.
I was seeking help on a cold winters night yet…
there was no room at this inn, not even in the stables.
I will never forget how I felt at that moment.
Nor will I ever be able to put it into words.
There are no words to describe what it feels like being denied a helping hand.
To have a door closed on you as you are seeking help.
To be turned away and left in despair.
To be treated as though you are nothing.
To be left to feel that even God didn’t care.
Not even God wanted to help me on that cold winters night.
I couldn’t move.
Cold from the nights weather and frozen from the priests words.
I stood there for several moments stunned by what I was just told.
I stood starring at the closed doors trying to grasp what had just happened to me.
From inside the church I could hear the voices returning to their singing.
Everything was back to normal for the folks inside.
Their illusion remained unchanged.
The reality of my existence was no longer their problem.
All was well again…for them.
For me…
There was only tears.
I started crying.
I had reached the end of all my Hope.
I turned and began walking away re-tracing my footsteps that lead me to this door.
The door that now had just been closed to me.
Following them back to where I had just come from.
Back to the city that had no pity for me.
When I reached the point where I had first noticed the church, I stopped.
I turned around and looked back at the church.
It looked just as beautiful as when I had first seen it only minutes before.
The glow from the windows still looked welcoming.
The sound of the angels singing could still be heard.
I wanted to cry again…
but I didn’t.
I wasn’t going to shed any more tears tonight.
There were none left anyway.
The night was starting to get colder.
It was so cold.
I had to keep moving.
The cold engulfed my entire body.
I could not escape the grip it had on me.
It cut so deep into me filling me with it self.
An invisible invader that did not leave a mark.
No sign of entry.
No evidence of a crime.
The perfect weapon.
I had finally found my way back to the city.
And then…
It really starts snowing..
I was so tired and hungry and it was getting late.
The city had become quite now.
There was absolutely no one around.
Only the sounds of electricity humming it’s way through power lines high above the streets.
And me.
I had no idea where I was heading or where the road I was on was leading me.
But I knew where those power lines that were above me where going.
I knew where they lead too.
They lead to homes giving them heat to keep them warm.
They lead to homes with families living in them.
To family’s sitting together in living rooms watching their TV’s.
To children being tucked into their beds by a loving mother and father.
To homes with people in them that loved and cared for each other.
That’s where those power lines were heading.
To those families.
To those children.
Not to me.
It was early now.
One or two in the morning I guessed.
It was becoming harder to walk around now as I tried to keep warm and avoid being noticed.
I started checking buildings out to see if a door would be unlocked so I could slip in to get warm.
I had no luck.
I was ready to give up.
My energy level was disappearing.
Passing an alleyway I decided it would be a good place to look for a spot to rest for awhile.
Making my way into the alley I noticed these two trash cans up against the wall at the back of one of the businesses.
The area looked somewhat dry due to an over hanging roof covering them.
I cleared the immediate area around the trash cans.
I grabbed two trash can lids from the assortment around me and settled in for a rest.
I covered myself with the lids to help stop the snow from covering my body.
The wind was picking up now and blowing snow everywhere.
I cuddled up with myself and started to drift off to sleep.
This alleyway was to either be my resting bed for the evening…or my deathbed for eternity.
I was ready to except either one.
I feel asleep that night cold and alone.
I feel asleep that night submitting myself to the thought that I probably wouldn’t be waking up in the morning.
As I was falling asleep I began thinking of what the headlines in the newspapers might say about me.
These were my last thoughts as I feel asleep.
Waking in the morning I found myself covered with snow.
I was freezing.
It was still so bitter cold out.
But I was alive.
I couldn’t believe it…I was ALIVE.
I was alive and I was waking up in an alley way and somebody was kicking me.
Someone was kicking me saying “Get out of here you bum before I call the police!”
A friendly good morning from a member of the morning shift at the company I was behind I assumed.
I picked myself up and stumbled my way out of the alley.
I was now back onto the streets where I had wondered around the night before and for the past two days.
I was cold, hungry, and homeless and not a clue as to what I was going to do now.
All that misery and pain going on at that moment and yet as I stood there looking around me…
I was amazed.
The street, the whole city was covered with snow.
Everything was covered.
I remember thinking to myself that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
The street was untouched.
Untouched by the tire marks of cars or trucks.
Cars on their way to bring their passengers to work or other destinations.
Trucks delivering the daily needs of the people.
No foot prints on snow covered sidewalks.
Walkways leading people to were they need to go.
A beautiful painting offered by life for all to view freely.
It was truly an amazing feeling standing there.
I knew now that I wouldn’t be on the morning news as “The body found in the alley.”
I could see that across and further down the street were several apartment buildings.
I decided that I would restart my search for an unlocked door that would bear heat on the other side.
Before crossing the street I grabbed a handful of the beautiful white snow that was at my feet and started to eat it.
I had to put something in my stomach.
I worked my way over to the other side of the street to check those apartment buildings out.
I was hoping that one of them would be unlocked.
Success on the first try.
It was pretty run down inside and the odor needed improving, but no one was inside and there was HEAT.
In the right hand corner of the room was an old steam heater.
The heat was pouring out form that old heater and it was in full operation.
I can still smell the musky fragrance it filled the air with.
There was a trace of steam coming out of one of the pipe fittings.
I could even see wavy lines of the heat crawling up the wall behind the heater.
A true classic.
I was able to hang out for about twenty minutes or so inside.
Until a resident came down the stairwell to leave the building.
It was an elderly lady and she wanted to know what I was doing here.
“Who did you want to see in the building?”
I had no answer to give her…
I was asked to leave.
I left.
I left, but I was warm and almost completely dry.
So you see even in the darkest of moments when there is no hope left at all…there is.
My cold was turned into warmth.
My hunger was satisfied by eating snow to fill my stomach with something.
Yes Fame and Fortune are great…
but so isn’t the memory of the warmth of a hallway compared to the cold of an alleyway.
The mile stones that I have reached and what I had to do to reach them.
The challenges I’ve been faced with and how I struggled to look them in the eye and beat them.
All of these accomplishments, these adventures, these moments of life have made me what I am today.
Life is complicated.
We all have to deal with it everyday.
The choices we make at any moment can not only be life changing…they can be life ending.
Please take a moment out in your busy daily schedule every now and then…
And think about how wonderful life is.
How wonderful YOUR life is.
And if it isn’t that wonderful…
CHANGE IT
Not really.
It’s just…
I have come to the ending of this part of my story…
‘Who Is Chip Ragsdale?‘
This part of the story I reflected on two incidents in my life that helped to develop my character.
Comparing my success in the music business to two of my personal successes in my life.
1 – Recording two songs compared to finding food when I was hungry.
2 – Having two songs playing on the radio compared to the warmth of a hallway to the cold of an alleyway.
What do you know…
A promise kept.
Clink on the link below to read the post…
For visiting my Blog.
Please…
…my Website when you get a chance.
My Blog (where you are now) is where I share with you the stories of my ‘Personal Life’ and my experiences as a ‘Musician’.
My Website is where you will find the ‘Business’ aspects of my ‘Music Career’.
Questions concerning Pricing, Booking, What style music I play, Where I am currently performing can all be answered there.
Click on the link below…
Want to be kept up to date as to When and Where I will be performing next?
Or be notified when I release a new Post on my Blog?
Click Link below to…
Now you will always be up to date.
Always remember.
No matter where you go…
There you are.
