Southern Weather and the life of an Artist

I was sitting here this eveing with Allison. We had just finished cooking fried chiken in a cast iron fry pan(to give it that true southern vibe) I have been trying the last several years to perfect my fried chicken. I figured a close appoximation of KFC's 11 herbs and spices was simple. 2 packs of dry Italian salad dressing mix,powered tomato soup mix,paprika,both onion and garlic powder,a touch of cayanne pepper and along with the flour mix a tad bit of Masa corn flour. Once we got done we sat on our couch and heard thunder. Allison looked outside just as lightening was beginning to strike then came the down pour. For someone from Alaska this remains a trip to me. It was then I got sick again...couldn't eat a thing without throwing up..I will be happy when I recover. I've never been so sick. It truly sucks.

I sit here late at night some nights and wonder. All those years in AK. wondering what the future holds. When oh God when will I be released. Well here we are. NOLA. The most unique city I've ever been to let alone lived in..what adventures lie in store here?

The big question for an artist. How do you make money at this? I really have no clue. The music business has changed in ways I thought I'd never see. Technology has made that possible. Anyone with a shoe string budget can produce a good sounding cd and with that same cd can produce a video to go along with your music and put it on you tube. I started to paint My blog is in the process of becoming a book(I have a writer friend back in AK who is editing my stuff as I type this) the painting is something so new. Something I had been thinking of doing for a long time. All these creative things...I see the same gifts in my daughter Jessica. Honestly I think she has far more talent than I. My son Jeremy plays guitar so much better at his age than I did at the same age as he. All these things.I prepared for years for this on one level or another but I didn't take this into consideration. Age. I wasn't planning on getting old.Compared to many others I'm not "old" but if you are reading this it is coming from a middle aged musician in his 50's. One of my favorite movies right now is "The story of Anvil" a story of a heavy metal band that has been at it for 30 years and has yet to "make it" Music makes me happy. Getting on stage makes me happy. Much like them that was(and is) my story too. I'm one of those guitar players that "should have been" it is so hard to out run "Should have been"or should be. the reality is right now I'm not but this story is not on it's final chapter there is yet to be an epolog. Mine has not been written.

I have been thru love and it's loss. I've had nights of glory and moments deep deep sadness. I have felt lost and so utterly alone and lonely. I have moments filled with overwhelming love. There has been so much I have survived. So many times my life has burned down in front of me and I have somehow found the will to rebuild again.
Here is the struggle. I find at my age I don't want the struggles of a 20 or even a 30 something. I am alarmed at the loss of ambition and drive I once had. Yet I still live under the shadow of "Should". A therapist whose book I was reading once said "Should are Shame statements" shoulda,coulda,woulda,..screw it all. What will my history say? Screw my credit rating, screw my retirement,screw all the thingrthat 99% of the rest of the world worships...and they worship "SECURITY" if the fall out of the economy has shown us anything it's the people you trusted to care for your golden years were just plain crooks and stole your money. I passed on alot to "GO ALL IN" I walked away from a state job in AK where had I stayed I would have been covered for life with health benefits. Problem was I was no good at the job. A preacher I heard once said security is the enemy of faith...maybe that is the real issue here. This world or the other world.
The Bible says the just shall live by faith. Jesus said a lot on the subject of God caring for our daily needs. I have experienced miraculess times of God's provision. Truly amazing. My years in Southern California was a time like that. It is built into me thanks to those days to soilder on. Yet my feet arn't as fleet as they once were,my eye sight not as sharp and my energy not what it once was. So what do I have. Something only a guy with the time I have under my belt would. EXPERIENCE. and maybe wisdom. A few years back I spent 5 days getting reaquianted with guys I used to play with. I stood outside one night talking to one of them and frankly I was shocked at the almost lack of growth I saw in him. 20 years had gone by. I would have expected more. I have a few friends back in AK like that. They seem frozen. Suspended in time. I told my sister that I had been having the same conversation with a family member for 20 plus years. Some people just will never "get it". They never seem to "wize up". I have, so what do I fear? I am at a place in my life where if there is a real need I am confident God will supply it. I have become ( continue becoming) the guitar player I once dreamed of. after 3 tries I finally found a soul mate. A woman I share so much with and someone who has taught me so much. I have overcome morbid obesity. I now live in the city of my dreams. Some place where I can step outside my door and smile at the beauty I'm surrounded by. Why am I still afraid at times? I grew up in a family that was unstable to say the least. That fear that all can change in a moments notice has nipped at my soul my whole life. Getting sick like I have is a case in point. what started out as a coff turned into this. Still Allison and I were talking the other day how it was after I got sick she went to work. Had it been a day or two earlier she wouldn't been able to be at the hospital with me. All can change yet looking back over my shoulders I have been thru so much yet God has always been there.
I have learned so much in my life because I have always tried to be "Teachable"I have always looked at every situation I have found myself in rather I liked it asked for it or brought it on myself in this way. the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord then He had a reason for this and there is something here for me to learn. God has taken me thru many valleys many times of trials teaching almost all of it has been about relationships. In the 80's it was over coming being co-dependant and the son of an Alcoholic. Reading "Co-dependant no more"by Melody Beaty really changed my life. There has always been the music and it has taken me down many roads.But most of what God has taught me has been stuff someone called to be a therapist would learn. I would have gone down that road had I not been a musician. OK I think this is the deal with this blog tonight I have all the experience talent and training of someone who would be in a "Professional"field like a college professor or such. I chose to remain a guitar player.My love and devotion to the instrument has kept me frankly Poor.
I have all the trapings of success except this. The money that follows success. Allison is so good for me in this respect she never compares me to the Jones,she is not impressed with money and in her eyes she sees me as a very successful man. A musician who has continued to play when so many like me quit and went off to become successful in some other field. I found that back when I taught there were many my age who had regreted giving up music. It was like they were trying to capture something out of their past. Something I never gave up. I have it in me to be I believe an effective therapist but I don't at 54 ever see myself in school to earn a masters degree to be one. What I would like from God is this The money and the life of what I truly am. A world class musician. Guitarist singer song writer. What I want is this I want the life of an artist and be so successful that money is not a worry or issue. Another reason I love being married to Allison is she is good with money. I want the Valedation that money brings to a man for his work. That money to pay bills, buy a home, keep a car going the money to do that and money for my old age(coming from song royalties and works of art etc) for me the money is the pay back for a life time of sacrafice and sticking with music when there were so many other things I could have done...God will you bless the works of these hands after all these years? I pray you will.

Church

As much as I'm ashamed to say this it has nearly 15 yrs since I was involved in a church. I had some very bad experiences with church(to be fair I also had some very good one too) But when I was back in AK trying to rebuild my life after my divorce I simply had to work multiple jobs to pay off debt and I had had enough of trying to fit into small town churches who were a little to closed minded to what a guy with my call has on him like me does. Yet I have felt quilty as time has gone by. Quilty that I let a few idiots chase me away,when I could have been a profitable member of a fellowship and do my part to build God's kingdom. As a bar musician I had to be very careful about being a believer. I mean the bars are full of lonely bitter people who have been abused by the church and God's people. There many,many times in conversations I would hear people slag the church. I had to agree with them. I have had a growing desire to repair this breach and become an active member once again. Repentance is a one time act it is a turning. The process of restoration takes time. After my divorce I just went nuts and fell hard. and far. It has been a slow turning but I do want to be in a fellowship I feel comfortable and accepted and where I can add my 2 cents to the Kingdom. This morning Allison and I are going to a church. We had met the pastor while I was in the hospital. He seemed cool and his church interesting. It is a Methodist church that joined with a black gospel church after Katrina. So we'll see.

A cloudless day.

I had a very ruff night last night. Lots of pain. I have been trying to be cool about the pain pills my doctor has given me. (she has been very generous knowing how much pain this has caused me). Today was a breath taking beautiful day. Moving here and spending most of my adult life in the snow I am still amazed at how beautiful a day in Febuary can be. So today I got cleaned up by myself(I am not as unsteady on my feet as I was) and we decided to go visit the Quarter. Parking there is always a nightmare. But we did nd a spot and got out and walked around. I love the art galleries there and we visited this one. It inspired me to want to paint again. Painting to me is such a new thing. I hardly know what I'm doing but when I'm painting it feels really good. I just wish I knew some professional artist that could look at my stuff and offer an opinion. We wandered about then sat down at the Market cafe ate some pop corn shrimp (I had a beer) and listened to some live jazz. The guitar player was one of the best I've heard so far. We made our way back to the car where I had to direct Allison in getting out of our spot cuz some nit had parked so close he all but parked on top of us. We were sitting in the car when Allison observed that I had walked farther today than I had since I came home from the hospital. I had noticed that at first when we would get out I would tire so easily and was short of breath. This is the sickest I've ever been. But today was a good day. We went to the store to pick up stuff for fried chicken(dinner tonight) I have been trying to perfect my version of KFC for quite a few years. I can get pretty close. The key(those 11 herbs and spices) two things, dry italian salad dressing mix and powered tomatoe soup mix. Another key is to liberally salt the chicken as it comes out of the fryer. We got home and realized we had forgotten oil for the fryer. So Allison made tacos. We never have tacos anymore without fresh cilantro. We discovered that to get the real Mexico taste you have to have fresh cilantro. Not a bad day. I may recover from all.

Guitar 101.3

Here is a basic set list or songs that are fairly easy to play and if you know some of these there are alot of people you can play with.
Sweet home Alabama
Give me three steps
Break on thru
Love me two times
Road house blues
La Grange
Tush
Sharp Dressed man
Cheap sun glasses
Tube Snake Boogie
Taking care of Business
Start me up
Honky Tonk Woman
Miss you
Beast of Burdon
I know it's only rock and roll
Satisfaction
Mary had a little lamb
Cold shot
The house is rockin
Couldn't Stand the weather
Lenny
All along the Watchtower
Purple Haze
The Wind cries Mary
Little Wing.
King Bee
Messin with the Kid
How Blue can you get
Rock me baby
The Thrill is gone
Calidonia
Mustang Sally
Midnight Hour
Sleepwalk
Jump Jive and Wail
Highway to Hell
Shook me all night Long
Back in Black
Black out
I feel good
Papas got a brand new bag
cold Sweat
Smells like teen spirit
enter sand man


Now I realize this is a very mixed bag but it is a starting point. All of the signature licks and chord patterns can be had on-line I use this site called "ultimate Guitar". if it ain't there your local music store should have it in book form some where..rok on!!!!

Guitars 101.2 the wonderful world of the electric guitar

"Guitar 101.2 " the wonderful world of electric Guitars"
OK we have covered all the things it takes to get started to become a guitar player. We have also covered amps and stomp boxes. Now it is time to step boldly into the world of the electric guitar.
As with the world of amps the world of guitars is very much the same. Divided down the middle between Fender type and Gibson type guitars. It is always funny to me how several people can be working on the same problem at the same time from different locals.
Leo Fender and Lester Paul(Les). The Plank and The Log. Nick names you should remember. In the mid 50's these two guys were experimenting with instruments that would go on to revolutionize the music business. Part of the reason for the electric guitar was one thing, VOLUME. the guys wanted to play loud! They had an entire orcastra to compete with. The electric guitar had been around for years. A pick up stuck to the body of an acoustic jazz guitar ran into a 15 or 20 watt amp. The problem was turn it up loud enough to be heard above the rest of the band and you get howling feed back. Les Paul first took a guitar neck off a jazz guitar ,glued it to a chunk of wood, then affixed a primitive pick up to it ran that to a modified stereo amp and boom the electric guitar was born. The major guitar makers of the day couldn't seem to get past the idea that the guitar didn't need to have all the acoustic properties of prior models to be electrified. Mean while out in Fullerton in this dusty messy shop was this non musician named Leo Fender. Leo made guitar and amps. His greatest saving grace was that he would listen to the local working musicians that would visit his shop and explain what they needed. Let me explain something here. I am not a music historian but I have been at this a long time and have read extensively on the subject. Many of the inovations that Leo came up with came about from conversations he had with working musicians. Les Paul had this deal with Gibson and if you look at the early Les Paul guitars you can still see the "Jazz " mentality craftmenship in his guitars. The use of high end quality tone woods,fine binding and glued in necks as opposed to Leo's designs. Where Les used mahogony and birds eye maple Leo used less expensive woods such as maple, and ash. cheaper and more available in those days. In the early fifties Leo had designed his first pick up a single coil(I'll explain the difference later) and had taken a piece of wood and afixed it to the "plank". One pick up, one volume knob then he took a neck he had made and BOLTED it to the body(not glued) here we have the birth of the telecastor the Les Paul and the Telecastor two guitars that would set in stone all other designs that would follow. Pretty heavy considering the history that would follow. There are some artists whose image is forever intertwined with the guitars they play. Can you imagine Hendrix with out left a handed strat? Jimi Page with out his cherry sunburst Les Paul? Buddy Holly with out a maple neck strat? Angus
Young without a mid 60's SG?
So let me explain the difference between the two types of guitars. We'll start with string length. The distance the string travels from the nut on the neck to the bridge makes this difference. Ease of playing. Tension. On a Fender guitar the length is 25 & 1/4 oy n a Gibson 24 & 3/4 inches. Gibsons are easier to play. Fender are outfitted with "single coil" pick ups. These have a very distinctive sound but they are not a powerful as humbucking pick ups you'll find in Gibsons. Single coil pick ups have a habit of being noisy especially around floresent light bulbs. Humbuckers were developed in the late 50's and are more powerful(louder) than a single coil won't pick up "hum" of any sort, yet there are those who claim single coils have more personality to their sound. I started out on Gibsons but switched to Strats a few years later and have been playing strat type guitars
ever since. As you develop you will naturally lean one way or the other .
The thing I really want to stress about guitars is this. They are organic in nature,each one feels different,even the same model,each one will bring out a different side of what music lives in you,each one has a personality all it's own and each one can bring out a sound,feeling or vibe that may surprize you. I look at my collection more like friends these days than tools.

Ok you been taking some lessons, got your first guitar now you have built your first rig. You know a hand full of chords and you know a few songs, what now? Start looking for players to jam with. And a serious word here, Don't be afraid or intimidated. Even the worlds greatest virtuoso had to start some where.Looking for those at your skill level to play with helps. Most clubs have an open mic night. A great place to learn and gain experience is at church. Plus many are always in need of musicians to help out with the services. At church you will gain experience working with singers, playing with other musicians, as a guitar player you will learn to play in "non" guitar friendly keys because in all likely hood you'll be working with a piano player(they like the keys of F,Bb,C,Eb) so if you are not involved in a church go find one. Or lastly form a band of your own with guys of like tallent just to get together on weekends,grill something,drink some beer and play some music. Rok ON
Next blog and last on the subject.....set lists...songs you must know to play in a band.

guitars 101.1. stomp boxes,amps and guitars

"Guitar 101" amps stomp boxes and electric guitars
Ok last blog we covered the basics of guitars, the need for a teacher, and what it took to get started. This blog we cover different types of amps,electric guitars,stomp boxes and learning to jam. say guitar 101.1
Lets get started with the world of amplifiers. Since the 50's the amp world has been divided into to two worlds. FENDER and MARSHALL. Which I find funny because the basic design of James Marshall's first amp was based on a Fender Bassman.
But today despite all the hundreds of guitar amp companies in existence today, they are either a play off of either a Fender
or a Marshall. Then there are tubes or solid state and amp modelers. The computer has done marvels for equipment these days from live sound to recording. What would taken a fortune to record 25 years ago can be done today in a bedroom on a computer and a few other pieces that would cost less than1,000.00.
But for many when it comes to amps there are those who still perfer tubes. A thing that may go the way of the 8 track stereo,VHS and vynel records but for now tubes continue to play a big part of the amp world. Part of the reason is this, as the night goes on and the tubes get hotter and hotter the amps harmonic quailities start to sound even better. On many a night by the third set my Marshall sounded unbelieveably rich and full. Where as a solidstate amp the moment you turn it on what you hear is what you get all night long.
Power tubes,preamp tubes Both Fender and Marshall use 12ax7 peramp tubes what gives them their distinctive sounds are two things. Marshall uses EL34 power amp tubes and Celestian speakers and Fender uses 6L6 power tube and either Jensen speakers or stock Fender speakers. On Marshall the midrange knob turned all the way up really gives it that true Marshall sound. Fenders are known for their cleaness and lots of "headroom".It is why certain country/blues artists perfer Fenders either a Twin reverb or a Deluxe reverb. Classic rock,Metal heads perfer the Marshall. (my self included) There are new amps hitting the market place every year but most remain a play off these two. Then there is the whole amp modeling phenom. With a computer program they have been able to sample the best of all these including what could be called boutique amps. Amps that are all hand made in a small shop by just a few techs and the price usually run 2 to 3 times what a production model cost. Still even these are a play off the Big Two. A working guitar player will own one of each. me
Now that we have more or less covered the amp world. lets talk about the other stuff you may need.
Stomp Boxes, Effect peddles,Peddle boards,multieffect units etc. Ok you got an amp what do you need beside a chord and an electric guitar?(we will get to guitars presently) effect peddles. These are like herbs and spices to the proper gumbo. Without them your sound will come out a bit flat. Over do it and everything loses definition. Some of my favorite guitar players have very simple rigs with just 2 to 4 peddles. Then there are guys like the Edge of U2 whose rig looks like something out of Star Trek..a guy like him is 80% sound engineer and 20% guitaroom. player. But let me give you a basic working"cover most of it" peddle rig. First off multieffect units are great if you have both the time and smarts to figure out. I have neither. I perfer to bend over and tweek a knob if something doesn't sound right.I run a three channel Marshall channel one is clean most o crunchf my night is spent there and it is there that I use my boxes the most. So I want a good sounding clean channel with lots of headroom. I perfer to combine reverb and a bit of delay. the reverb and delay also covers the other channels as well. Channel two is my crunch rythum channel. I call it my "Angus Young" channel. For songs like Shook me All Night long,High Way to Hell, La Grange Start me up. Then there is Channel three. Solo. I use alot of my stomp boxes here.delay,wah, chorus.
So lets look at your average peddle board. (mine at least) .The first in my chain is my channel changer(where I can easily switch channels)next is my Cry Baby Wah then we go into a very old boss peddle board. First in line is a DS1 orange colored distortion peddle I use this occationally like when I'm doing "Star Spangled Banner" or I want long controlled feed back. Next
is a yellow overdrive. I use this one a lot for the blues type solos Stevie Ray stuff. Then comes a dark blue compressor. I use this one constantly. I have very light strings and I have this set so when I'm in my clean channel it will "Fatten" up my clean
sound and it works quite well with my chorus peddle(the next in line) this is how I get my "Eric Johnson" lastly all this goes to a red box that powers all of them and my tuner here is where One side goes to the amp the other the guitar(or my chordless should I decide to use it). So there you have it a working guitar players amp and peddle that will get 99% of what you may need done, done well.

Next blog....the wonderful world of Guitars!!

Guitar 101

"Guitar 101"
OK so you want to be a guitar player. Let me guide you here and maybe save you a little money in the meantime. The guitar is the only instrument in the grand scheme of things that can act as both a solo instrument or can accompany singers or other parts of a combo. It shares these qualities with the piano,the harp and the mandolin. With the exception of the mandolin the guitar is the most portable. The great thing about the guitar is you don't have to be a virtuoso to make real music and start having fun.
First order of business; Lessons or no lessons? With the music store well stocked with graduated beginner books and the internet there is a lot a person can do on their own long before they have need of a teacher. When I used to teach I always felt my"Stone Beginners" were really not getting their money's worth because it could take a student a half an hour just to form a simple "C" chord.
As a beginner there are seve!ral things you will be dealing with. Mechanical ability (the skill just making a chord) learning the language of music(it has terms all it's own) and the pain of developing your first set of callous. As well as learning how to use a pick.
Let me explain the difference in what type of guitars and their price range you'll find at your music store.
1) Electric 2) Acoustic 3) Classical. The price range of each of these can run from 200.00 to the price of a new car!
Lets start with the electric. For one it requires a totally different touch and approach and you have to have a lot of other stuff to go along with it just to make sounds.( an amp,chords,tuner etc) I would not suggest starting out on an electric
The Acoustic. Most people start out on one of these. Beginner models usually begin around 150.00 to 250.00 to get one that has a decent sound and a straight neck. With countries like China, Taiwan and South Korea and the cheap labour they have there the availability of well made inexpensive guitars has increased considerably in the last few years. The problem with the acoustic guitar is the strings are made of past very course brass and depending on how much you play this can cause a certain amount of pain while your fingers toughen up. I have met some who could not get past this and gave up.
The Classical, These guitars are made with a much wider neck, a slotted head stock and a wider body. The are made for classical music that is mostly solo. One of the differences between the classical and these others mentioned is that traditionally classical guitar is played without a pick. Another difference is the strings are softer .I have never seen a classical guitar suggested as a good beginner guitar but I will make that suggestion here and this is the reason.
With the softer strings it will be easier to form "clean" sounding chords and there won't be near the discomfort as with an acoustic.
That all being said. Try to buy as much of a guitar as you can afford. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to learn on a guitar that is just over the hill. All guitars can be adjusted and "set up" to play comfortably. The term "action" is something you'll get to know well. Action is the space between the strings and the fret board. the lower the action the more ease in playing.
Let take an inventory of what we are going to need to get started. Guitar,books,a good comfortable strap,picks(try several gauges and stick with the gauge that is the most comfortable) something called a capo(this is something that staps over the neck to change the key) a decent music stand. Ready to rock. Here is a crucial rule. BE PATIENT. Rome wasn't built in a day. Practice forming chords cleanly and moving from one chord to the next..example from "C" to "F" back to "C" then to "G".(F by the way is one of the most difficult chords to learn to play cleanly when you first start out)
When you can do this and do this thru the keys of D,G,A E and begin to use the relative minors to each of these keys.
then you are ready for a teacher. You have nimble enough fingers and a basic understanding of music and you also have something the teacher can work with. Rather than a over wet pile of clay now you are a ball of clay ready to be formed.
Next chapter: electric guitars amps and learning to jam

Guitar 101

"Guitar 101"
OK so you want to be a guitar player. Let me guide you here and maybe save you a little money in the meantime. The guitar is the only instrument in the grand scheme of things that can act as both a solo instrument or can accompany singers or other parts of a combo. It shares these qualities with the piano,the harp and the mandolin. With the exception of the mandolin the guitar is the most portable. The great thing about the guitar is you don't have to be a virtuoso to make real music and start having fun.
First order of business; Lessons or no lessons? With the music store well stocked with graduated beginner books and the internet there is a lot a person can do on their own long before they have need of a teacher. When I used to teach I always felt my"Stone Beginners" were really not getting their money's worth because it could take a student a half an hour just to form a simple "C" chord.
As a beginner there are seve!ral things you will be dealing with. Mechanical ability (the skill just making a chord) learning the language of music(it has terms all it's own) and the pain of developing your first set of callous. As well as learning how to use a pick.
Let me explain the difference in what type of guitars and their price range you'll find at your music store.
1) Electric 2) Acoustic 3) Classical. The price range of each of these can run from 200.00 to the price of a new car!
Lets start with the electric. For one it requires a totally different touch and approach and you have to have a lot of other stuff to go along with it just to make sounds.( an amp,chords,tuner etc) I would not suggest starting out on an electric
The Acoustic. Most people start out on one of these. Beginner models usually begin around 150.00 to 250.00 to get one that has a decent sound and a straight neck. With countries like China, Taiwan and South Korea and the cheap labour they have there the availability of well made inexpensive guitars has increased considerably in the last few years. The problem with the acoustic guitar is the strings are made of past very course brass and depending on how much you play this can cause a certain amount of pain while your fingers toughen up. I have met some who could not get past this and gave up.
The Classical, These guitars are made with a much wider neck, a slotted head stock and a wider body. The are made for classical music that is mostly solo. One of the differences between the classical and these others mentioned is that traditionally classical guitar is played without a pick. Another difference is the strings are softer .I have never seen a classical guitar suggested as a good beginner guitar but I will make that suggestion here and this is the reason.
With the softer strings it will be easier to form "clean" sounding chords and there won't be near the discomfort as with an acoustic.
That all being said. Try to buy as much of a guitar as you can afford. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to learn on a guitar that is just over the hill. All guitars can be adjusted and "set up" to play comfortably. The term "action" is something you'll get to know well. Action is the space between the strings and the fret board. the lower the action the more ease in playing.
Let take an inventory of what we are going to need to get started. Guitar,books,a good comfortable strap,picks(try several gauges and stick with the gauge that is the most comfortable) something called a capo(this is something that staps over the neck to change the key) a decent music stand. Ready to rock. Here is a crucial rule. BE PATIENT. Rome wasn't built in a day. Practice forming chords cleanly and moving from one chord to the next..example from "C" to "F" back to "C" then to "G".(F by the way is one of the most difficult chords to learn to play cleanly when you first start out)
When you can do this and do this thru the keys of D,G,A E and begin to use the relative minors to each of these keys.
then you are ready for a teacher. You have nimble enough fingers and a basic understanding of music and you also have something the teacher can work with. Rather than a over wet pile of clay now you are a ball of clay ready to be formed.
Next chapter: electric guitars amps and learning to jam

My Tele

I own a wonderfully beat up 1969 fender telecaster. It has all the look of a road dog bar band been played forever look. It plays and sounds like a dream. There is a story here. There was this guitar player I had known in Fairbanks for a number of years. He was what you might call a bit out of control ( he had a certain zest for particular substances if you get my drift) He was a strange looking guy. We used to call him 'Skellator" cuz he was bald on the top had long white hair and had spent so much time in dark bars either playing or bar tending that he was "Pasty"white. He looked like a walking Skellator. I saw him playing at this fest we were playing at as well and he had this old Les Paul and the old beat up Tele. I remember thinking how cool his tele looked and how if he ever wanted to sell it I'd like to buy it. All of this guys stuff was really old and really beat up. His PA was sold sometime in the late 70's. That was for all I know the last time he bought a chord. I let it past and went about my business. A year or two later I was in this pawn shop on 2 street and there hanging on the wall was that tele. I asked the gal what she wanted for it...300.00 bucks a totally killer deal.She had said she had tried to call him but the number he left was disconnected. Problem was I didn't have 300.00 bucks on me(I was rebuilding after a horrible divorce) I had 20.00 on me asked her if she would hold it for me till that Friday. She said she would. I made two payments and walked away with that guitar.As with any of this guys stuff it was beat to shit. I took the guitar up to my tech and had him replace the keys(I kept the old ones even though they didn't work) I had the frets replaced and new pick-ups installed.(keeping the old ones) Now what was funny is he and I shared the same bass player. Dave the bass player had a gig with him that friday and one with me that saturday. so I told Dave to let him know I now owned his tele...the next day Dave told me he was totally bummed now everytime he sees me he says.."Hows my Guitar Doing?"......dude it ain't and will never be your guitar again.....

Feeling a little better today

I'm feeling a bit better today. Allison and I are going to take a walk thru one of the many parks here. It is nice to be able to do so considering that back in AK it's the dead of winter..and the only thing you can do is hang out inside. I am in no shape to play but God do I want to..I haven't been on stage in months...I miss it.

Marriage

Not long before I left Fairbanks I was having a cup of coffee at this place called the "Two Street" station. The place was owned by a former Gospel outreach pastor named Danial. His son Nate was running it now and had been for quite some time. As I made my order Nate asked me what I had been doing musically lately. I told him that recently I had been doing mostly jazz. Nate related a story to me that really blessed me. I've known Nate his whole life. Having known his Dad since the late 70's. He's always been a really good kid. And a very smart one. During the late 90's I formed the Steve Olsen Band. and we became a regular performer out at the Howling Dog Saloon in Fox (just outside Fairbanks) We were a dyed in the wool classic rock band. Skynard,Stones,ZZ Top,the Doors...I love that stuff I never get bored playing Hendrix,Stevie Ray. I never was much of a Stones fan until I became a band leader and stated playing their stuff. They truly are the worlds greatest bar band. We LOVED the Dog it was and is one of the most fun bars to play at. It was to bad that in my last years in Fairbanks the management had decided to import more out of town bands to play there rather than locals. When we played there I had a killer guitar rig (the best I ever had) and a killer rythum section. My bass player was a guy named Dave who could play anything,from funk to punk. A great guy too. Always on time hell he never even drank much(i made up for that) my drummer was this lefty named Johnny who I had been playing with since I had returned from LA(on and off) the guy was a groove king who NEVER dropped a beat both of them were easily world class players. Thats what was odd about that little town in the interior of Alaska there were players there that could easily hold their own on any big time stage anywhere. They just seemed to like Alaska. Our shows at the Dog were always high energy no holds barred rock fests. Anyway Nate told me he had been dating his girlfriend for quite some time and remembered I was playing the Dog this one weekend. He decided to take her out to dinner then come see me. Turns out his girlfriend loved classic rock and Totally loved to dance. Well they came out that night and I was doing the rock thing,playing guitar with my teeth,behind my head standing on the tables running thru the crowd...making everybody go nuts. She had an exceptional time that night. Nate told me at the end of the night he proposed to her and today they are happily married. There are times when I hear things like that that I am so thank full to God for the gift he has given me. I got to play a small part of the birth of a family. Precious.

me and my guitar2

"ME AND MY GUITAR PART 2"
Sometimes I wonder what it is I do. I'm 54 I started to serious study and learn the guitar at 21. That is a lot of years. A lot of music. I have spent hours and hours in front of a TV with an amp a cup of coffee and a pack of smokes learning. Playing scale after scale learning everything from Joe Pass style chord melody to Joe Satriani. Frankly I was always that guitar player where the big time was always slightly out of reach. Yet dispite that the real joy was the honor and privaledge I felt in the gift God had given me. There are so many common folk who have nothing that they excel at. I used to walk around my home town and there was always someone who my music had touched in some way. I've had a difficult life at times but that is God's forging of the fire Each of us have our story to tell I tell my children that the story of their lives have yet to be written. Their symphony is just now being composed and someday hopefully long in the future it will be performed before that heavenly host.None of us look for hard times. The world is made of trials and trouble. There is always something. What I've always tried to do was not let those trials twist me. We are here to learn grow and give. I've been blessed in that eveytime I strapped on a guitar or fixed a meal for one of my mentally ill clients I was giving. When I left Christian music after awhile God let me know that even though I wasn't"Talking Bout Jesus" I was still using the gift. And getting better at it all the time. I never got rich, never made that much money at it but I felt like I was making my world a better place. Van Goeh only sold 1 painting in his life time. Yet could we imagine a world without his gift in it? So here we are after a life time in the frozen north and I'm here in the most facinating city I've ever lived in. I have had a band that has survived 25 years with out any of us members doing a thing to keep it alive. Yet my drummer who was in fact our manager over the years would continually get calls every 4 or 6 months asking if we were ever going to record or tour again. In 2006 we played Cornerstone and a guy came up to me and said he had worn out 6 copies of our 1st cassette. He was thrilled they were out on cd. 25 years..and I just spent 18 learning my craft...God does things like that. He maintains what the Bible calls a reminant of his people for the plans he has in the future. I am reminded of the prophet Jeremiah who got so discouraged he sat beneith a tree and complained to God that all his people had turned to other Gods...the Word of the Lord came to him and God said "Get up shake yourself because there are ar8,000 jews who have not bowed down to the image of Baal"...does this apply to me? I can't say but 25 years ago God gave me the name of my band and we were and still are called "Stevie and the SAINTS" if you look back at pics from the 80's we didn't even look like an LA band we looked like should have been here. In 2006 we started a new cd it should be out at some point soon...as the Word says...Isa 55:9 My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways. As the heavans are higher than your ways so are my ways higher than yours...God paints on a Galactic Canvas...we'll see what masterpiece he makes of all this.

The Blue Breakers night club

"BLUES AFTER CHURCH SHOW"
For years there was a club callled "the Blues Breakers"on south cushman st, Blues Breaker was run the guy named Frank who was a big guy ,hardy laugh and the dumbest buinessman
I ever met.It was also the most fun I ever had because I love dives. The club held about 60 people max. It was right across the street from local strip joint and sundays were the strippers day off. I had a group that played a little bit of everything from classic rock,blues,jazz and even some metal. we did sunday nights hence the "blues after church show" My bass player at the time had a decent metal voice so we could do Priest,ACDC and METALLICA. The strippers loved metal. so as soon as they showed out came the hard stuff.Frand had made this drink called "the Blue Rumbler" I remember you drank it while it was lit.Me and the guys were sitting at bar when Frank decided to give it a try. He lights it up,swallows it down then opens his mouth and out comes shooting three feet of flame! He singes his eye brows and has to put out the flames with a bar towl!The band offered him 50 bucks to do that again. Franks credit was so bad with the vendors that he would have to wait for the first customers so he could have cash to hit the liqour store next door.Blues Breakers was a true late night club so when the city fathers desided to shorten the bar hours Frank went out of business. There are so many memories of good times playing there. I'll share a few here. The stage was all of about 3 inches high and not far from the front door.We were playing one night and this biker comes driving right thru the front door and stops right under my mic. I turn mid-song and shout "Born to be wild"!!! we bust into the intro while the bikers revs up his hog...you couldn't buy something like that.
The Rumblers(my band) had it's own drink. The Mightly Untouchables one of Alaska's best blues bands played there as much as we did. Their leader walks in and goes"Frank whats the deal? Stevie's got a drink don't we rate?".Well Me and the boys sit and watch as the night goes on. The shot glasses began to grow and grow as Frank and the Dog mixed and matched this with that like a couple of drunken mad scientists. By motel time they had come up with something but they were to hammered to remember what it was. There was this one time these 3 "ladies" come in and we were in the middle of a particular hot set. They start dancing right away. One of the ladies could hardly stand up let alone dance. As I said the stage was only 3 inches high. This gal stumbles takes a nose dive head first into my drummers kick drum and passes out. I mean out COLD!!!!. Dave's going "Get that bitch out of my kick drum" we didn't even drop a beat. Her two friends grab her by the ankles yank her out of the drum and drag her across the floor all the while her head is banging up and down. They prop her up besides the juke box and there she stayed till closing time.
There was one time I show up and notice that all the bar stools were missing I ask Frank why we were sitting on lawn furniture his reply"I forgot to pay the IRS so they came an took them away.(he did get them back)
There was a time he paid the band in rolled quarters. It was a bad night. I told the guys"Look at it this way fellas,at least we got laundry money for the next 4 months.I was sad to see that place close. I had some really great times there. Last I heard Frank was a security man at a toilet paper factory.

Midnight

"Midnight"
Let's face it divorce just plain makes you crazy. No matter how well adjusted you may be at some point things just unravel. And you wind up like one of those rings from back in the 70's that were made up of 30 different rings. I had told my wife that if she was unfaithful again I'd leave and never come back.Now I usually bloom where I am planted. My student load went from 4 to 30 a week in short order. I construction form Monday to Thursday and played gigs as well as taught on weekends. I had tried working for a printer buddy of mine but frankly I had no talent there. The club scene at the time in Fairbanks was still pretty wide open. This was before DJ's Hip Hop and Kareoke. Live bands ruled and I loved it. It was not uncommon to play from 10:00 to 4:30 6 nights a week. Plus in some cases work part time or like me teach. I made nearly as much teaching as I did playing live. Frankly I was having a blast! I was supporting a woman who utterly refused to work,3 children an apartment and two cars all on less than 20 hours a week and My guitar playing was keeping food the table and heat in the house. The plus was I could tuck my sweet children to be everynight. Two years into being back in Alaska I had given up writing songs. For one the wife would freak if I did thinking off I'll go chasing that dream(I never did in the 1st place) and leave her to fend for her self(something I would never do) And After LA anything in Fairbanks was a bit anti-climatic. But In a conversation with a producer buddy of mine he asked if I had written anything recently. It had been so long I didn't even know if I could anymore. So I sat down to write. In two weeks I wrote 12 songs. At one point I was writing 4 at once. of the 12 I recorded 5 and still have them as a cassette demo. Even though my relationship with the wife was less than fullfilling I loved being a Dad. I loved coming home from work,having pizza nights,building lego cities with Jeremy. Coloring with Jessica. Tickling Emily, I loved fixing breakfast on sundays then going to church. It so totally fullfilled me. I was happy.
All during this time the wife was presurring me to get a job in Prudo Bay(the oil fields) I think she just didn't want to see me succeed in the music biz in general. The season in Prudo ran from January to May just the opposet of the season in town. This was something I didn't know. OK the money was good but 6 weeks later I was back in town. Unemployed.To take the Prudo gig I had to dump all my music stuff, things I had worked years to develope. The house gig,the lessons. 6 weeks later I'm scratching my unemployed ass wondering what to do.
I managed to come up with something but we had to move. A house divided will not stand nor prosper.I took a production gig with a singer/songwriter friend of named Lisa(I would never produce again, not my gift)during the course of recording tracks Lisa says"Steve have you ever considered doing relief work for the Mental Health program I work for?I said "No" although my years as a CNA were some of my happiest work wize. She says"You have the perfect personality for it"....I'm thinking "ya I grew up in a nutty family, I'm married to a lune,and I work in the crazy music biz" crazy and me get along fine. I lwent down the next day filled out an employment app got certified for CPR/1st Aid and they hired me on the spot. This actually turned out to be the perfect scene for me. The clients were certifable but I could handle them fine. I was free to gig on weekends and pick up 2-4 shifts a week. It would eventually become a "real" career out side music. And I grew to truly care for those poor souls. Because I didn't have(nor did I want one) a degree it would take a few years before I had the hours it would take to get on fulltime but in time I would
A word here about the church and I. We were waiting for this apartment to open up for us so the wife got us a one bedroom place owned by a couple at church. I had no intention in staying there for any real lenthgn of time. But we were waiting. The couple had two daughters and lived downstairs from us. They fought all the time. She seemed to yell at that poor guy constantly. I could tell from the get go that she didn't care much for me either. I'd be sitting on the porch in the morning drinkng coffee and smoking and all she ever did was give me dirty looks...real Christian. Well the apartment we were waiting on was taking a little longer than we thought to get ready. So I asked the guy for a few more weeks(I had plenty of money to pay the guy) well his wife wanted to convert our apartment to an extra bedroom for her kids. He comes back 5 minutes later and says we got 5 days to get out. He basically was making us homeless(by now the wife was going to hair cuttting school and it was one of her friends that let us stay there) they stayed in the cabin I slept in the van. My best friend Jessie helped us pack and move. It was a rainy windy day and these "good" Christians sent us into beating down weather and homelessness. Jessie was bitting his bottom lip to keep from giving them a piece of his mind. I told him to keep quiet and let God deal with these two...I was gonna take what ever pride and dignity I left and go. It would be the last time I would ever go to that (or any) church again for almost 15 years. Sad I know a stronger believer may have found a better church but I had had 25 years of this and this was the final straw. It was here that things at home finally blew apart. My soon to be ex used to call all her affairs "Friends" well she found another "friend" only this time I was gonna make good on what I had said years before. I offered her to go to counceling with me(I had found a really really good therapist) she said no....so I took what clothes I could stash,my music gear and walked. I left her with everything. Including a brand new car I had bought her and the kids. That was how she got away with so much she new I loved my children and she used them against me to get she wanted. I won't go into more gory details here except I probably had the closet to a mental breakdown as I had ever had. it was touch and go for awhile there. I even went on anti-depents for a time. Luckily I had a good therapist. He made a tremdous impact on my life. What made all this even harder was the fact my ex looked just like a good little church girl. She looked like one of them,untill she decided to go cruize the bars...when we were together it was like living with Doctor Jekel or Mr Hyde. Things got worse and worse. It would be 18 months before I could drag her to court for our day before the judge.The odd thing was she wept uncontroably during the process. to the point that she had to get up and step out in the hall way several times..I just thought. did you not think it would come to this? It would take me over a decade to pay off all the debt she left me with and I would have to deal with her continually trying to remain a part of my life. The word of God that he had sent me that snowy day in Anchorage was coming to pass. God was making the crooked ways strait. I got hired fulltime at Mental Health so now I could pay child support,I had a second job I worked to pay off my arrears(I was able to pay those off in less than 2 years) but still it would be years before I paid everything off, she never paid a single dime. Yet she would invite herself to dine with my family at any chance she got.
The final chapter of rewriting my life took place in 2001. I came to work one day and there was this new employee named Calisha. She was a big woman of color. She had just had weight-loss surgury. I had determined one way or another I was going to over come this problem. After getting to know her and asking lots of questions and spending hours on the net I decided to do it. I got a second job to cover all the insurance I had a gastric by pass operation..I went from 315 lbs tom 155 lbs...my change complete.
One sunny day I walked into Music Mart and standing behind the counter was this beuitful intellgent woman. Allison. I remember walking away that day thinking "what a pleasent delightful" woman. This is someone I would like to get to know better. At that time in my life I was really comfortable being alone. Maybe that, has been our succsess 2 and half years later we were married. I finally married my best friend,my soul mate, a woman in whose wisdom I can totally trust. It has been an honor to marry into her family. They are the quenticential southern family. All highly educated,very proper southern folk and
good Christians as well. Like I said I think God has been trying to make me into a southern gentalman and I couldn't have a better teacher than her.

In 1999 I formed "The Steve Olsen Band". My divorce had given me a lot of songs to record. With my old buddy Bob as my producer we recorded "Alone Again" there were plenty of cd's out there about good weman being mistreated and cheated on by bad men. But there weren't to many about good men being cheated on by bad weman. When I started writing I was going for total truth. I would pull no punches and color coat nothing when It was done the best compliment I got was from a friend who like me had been married to a real cheat. He exact words were these"Steve I feel like you looked deep into my heart and said all the things I couldn't say" my ex wouldn't let me speak.....so I MADE A CD AND HAD MY SAY AT 110 DB!

I have a good buddy who owns "The Greyhound Lounge" to build his biz he decided to start doing concerts. Just so happened that I was doing the cd and It was all my own stuff so for 2 years we were the house opening act for all the bands he brought up we opened for GREAT WHITE, FOG HAT,BLUE OYSTER CULT,PAT TRAVERS,JIMMI VAN ZANT(SKYNARD TRIBUTE)EDDIE MONEY, AND QUIET RIOT

Working for a living

"Working for a living"Within a year of returning from LA I was supporting a wife and 3 kids with music and music only. My student load had grown from 4 to 30. I was playing 2 to 5 nights a weekstarting depending on who needed what (the was the club work) and there were the occational wedding. These were the days before DJ's and Kareoke. Bands were playing 6 or 7 nights a week. The city fathers had not shortened the bar hours yet so some weeks I was playing from 10 pm to 4:30 am 6 days a week. We had rented a nice 3 bedroom apartment in North Pole.I had worked briefly for a buddy that was a printer but that didn't last. I had no real talent for the job. I was getting pressured at home to give up playing music and just get a strait day job with benefits,retirement etc. I was making full time pay yet working part time. I could spend lots of time with my kids.What was cool about this period was I was really starting(for the first time)to use my education from G.I.T. I had this one gig where half the night was reading real book tunes. To my knowledge I was one of the first guitar players to use real book charts. I also had to build a book of tunes I could not only play but sing as well.I had lost a few gigs because of the vocal. I built a set list of Stevie Ray Vaughn,Hendrix,ZZ Top and The Stones ,The Doors as well as misc.r&b number s. A list of around 60 songs Between lessons and gigs the rent was getting paid . I got up one day looked around my apartment. Average place, couch love seat,coffee table,tv, cd player toys strewn in all directions all the stuff you find in a young couples home.The thing was my guitar playing had gotten us all that. That was deeply satisfying
I had not done any Christian music. There really wasn't a Christian music scene although I could have gotten something going but I really felt like God wanted me in the , there was something there for me to learn
I had not written any songs in 2 years cuz I knew the wife would freak. In a conversation with a producer friend of mine I said to hell with it and started to write. I wrote 12 songs in 2 weeks. I wrote 4 at the same time. Of those 12, I recorded 4 and had that as a cassette demo for years.The first few years back in Alaska were cool in that I wasn't some rock and roll preacher I was a truly a working class musician.
I'd like to say things at home were cool. The went from bad to worse. She continually discouraged me with what I was doing with the music. She wanted me to go to work in Prudo Bay. So finally a chance came but to do so I had to dump everything. Lessons,house gig. Little did I know the season runs the opposite of the construction in town. I come back 5 weeks later with no prospects. One thing good that came out of my job up north, two weeks into the gig they made me assist foreman in charge of 12 fitter helpers.
Here is where I turn into the true "Midnight" of my life.One that would be years digging out of.

Into the Frozen North

"Into the frozen wilderness"
We set down in Anchorage with one big bag,3 kids and 50 bucks to my name after 8 years in LA. I had no idea what I was gonna do.We caught a ride with my truck driving brother. There was a very kind and genrious couple from church hat took us in (they had a large house and all their kids had grown up and moved way) so it gave me time to find work,buy a car get a place. I snagged a construction job right away and started saving money to get back on my feet. I was nice in some ways to be back in Alaska it being my home where I grew up. I was able to buy a beater car in short order. One of things that started almost a day or two after I got there was I was offered a teaching job . I was hanging out in the music store I used to teach at before when the two guys working there started asking all these theory questions and I knew all the answers. They said they were in dire need of a teacher and currently had a list of about 5 students. I figured some money was better than none so I became the local teacher. I worked construction monday thru thursday and taught all day Saturday and Tuesday night. Meantime I'm working with this guy who did construction and played clubs on weekends. I had been thinking for a good 5 years before Ieft LA that Christian music was beginning to paint me in a corner. There was so much more music I wanted to explore and I had never been a "working" musician. Strange as this may seem even though I had toured and been signed to a label I didn't feel like a legit working musician because I had never played clubs,gigs or anything that wasn't church related. standing
I get this construction job with this cool guy named Loren. He starts picking my brain all day as we work about theory,scales chords etc. Turns out he was one of the busiest musicians in town. I'm sitting home one thursday night and I get this call from a guy who has the house gig at this club in town. They played 60% oldies and 40%
country. Having never played in a cover band this was gonna be interesting. He needed a guitar player for one night ,the pay was 90.00 bucks. He goes Loren says you are the total shit on the lead guitar. I found that funny cuz he had never heard me play note one. I could have been bullshitting him the whole time.(but then again I always seem to look like a guy that knows what he's doing when it comes to the guitar) Plus Bill the guy who hired me was a hard ass who was known for kicking players off the stage if they didn't know what they were I doing.I find all this stuff out later but as I'm setting up my gear,and tuning both my guitars. I start warming up and thinking "I don't know a single song but right before I left LA I got heavy into 50's music,Chuck Barry,the Coasters,Buddy Holly. Bill goes to this other guy who helped him find me"Well he can play heavy metal lets see if he lasts a single set" Bill gets up and asks me if I knew the Nashville Number method...I think for a moment go then I realize it's the cycle of 4ths and 5ths...I go ya...so off we go. He points and says take a solo....well I just got off the plane from LA they say take a solo there it better be pull out all the stops . I look up and I see this hard core 30 year club vet standing there with his jaw hanging open. At the brake he shakes my hand and says "You are a real good picker" thats what country guys say "you are a good picker" blues guys "Great tone" metal heads "you shred"jazz guys "you can really blow" Bill turns to the guy who helped him find me and says "my other guitar player just lost his job.....what started out as a single night gig turned into 5 months
And 5 months would eventually become 18 years years that would see me play everything from a 10 piece funk band to classic rock,blues, country, hip hop shred and tons of Jazz both in a solo,duo and trio context.God was once again training me.

A word

"Faithful"
Not long after we returned from the tour Tink came to and said this. He was thinking of moving. He had these two kids he needed to raise and LA was no place for them. He had an offer for a job out in Desert Hot Springs. When John said that to me I totally and I mean from my head to my toes felt God's peace. I just knew that I knew this was God's plan for his life. I also knew that it would be the end of the Saints as they had been. Zee the Kids wife worked for Sparrow records and they were moving the entire company out of LA to Nashville. At the time I was seeing a mass migration of people in the music biz moving either to Nashville or Seattle. I think it was then that the idea that I would someday live in the south was birthed in me.
After the tour our relationship with Roberts and Victoria soured pretty badly. You get on the road and find out what kind of people you are dealing with. Tink,the Kid and I came off the road closer as brothers than we had ever been. we had a motorhome still full of can goods. The idea was after we were done to divy up what was left and go home. Ken handed Tink 2 cans of hash then drove off. Tink had been on the road for 2 weeks with no money coming in and that hash was what he had for dinner that night. I can handle a lot with most people but cheap pettiness isn't one of them. I pretty much cut my ties with Ken after that for the next 2 years. We did one last "Waters Club" gig as a trio and what everyone noticed was how tight we were. Thats what a road tour will do for a band.
So lets look at what Stevie and the Saints did. In 5 years together there was never not once a harsh word between Tink,the Kid and I. There were words between Roberts and us at times but dispite his lack of people skills he is and remains a Saint. For a band that never had a dime we got alot done. "Metal Blue"was the critic's joy and would wind it's way across the west coast,the midwest,the east coast. We would find air play and reviews in England,Germany,France,we would recieve regular air on the Armed Forces Radio Network that went world wide. History would write the Saints into the trunk of the tree that would become the billion dollar Christian music biz. As a friend of mine once described us"Metalblue was one of those seminal albums ahead of it's time that 20 years later doesn't sound dated" You treat the blues with respect and she will return the favor.
For the next 2 years I struggled with my home life trying in vain to save a failing marriage. I had also discovered was dealing with my "Family of Origin" issues. I had stumbled across an article in People Magazine about this writer named Melody Beaty. She had written a book called "Co-Dependant no more" When she described what a co-dependant person was like it was like looking in the mirror. I began to attend meetings and reading everything I could on the subject. It was changing my life and my whole perseption of myself and my life. Meantime I went back to trade school to finish my welding certification.
About 2 years later I get a call from Roberts,he says"I booked a Saints gig!"I go There ain't any saints he goes don't worry I got it covered. I show up and he has a bass player I knew from another band. A black heavy metal bass player named Tony and a killer drummer named Tim (another brother of color) I thought visually this has possibilities. They knew the songs so I'm standing on stage and look out and notice half the front row are guys from other bands. I guess they missed the blues. We played well that night but it wasn't like it was with Tink and the Boys Still it was a Saints gig.
Those gigs led to recording "Eye on the Prize" a cd that untill recently never really saw the light of day.
As I progressed deeper into recovery from being co-dependant and an adult child of an alchoholic things at home went from bad to worse.
Our church was having a series of special services. There was this minister I knew having seen him in Alaska of all places. His name was Dick Mills. Dick had been an ex jazz dj and had been in ministry for years. He taught bible lauguage classes but his gift was that of a prophet. He had memorized 3/4 of the entire bible and if you got called forward he would have a scripture for you and I had seen him many times and he was ALWAYS on the money. The wife and I were in church that week,she being 8 months pregnant. Pastor Ralf calls us out and Dick says this"you have been ministring to the Lord for quite some time but there has been a lack of funds. That is about to change. God is going to begin meet your every need. "BECAUSE A FAITHFUL MAN WILL OVERFLOW WITH BLESSING"
Let me explain my internal thinking,I never ever think of myself as faithful,as having my ducks in a row,as a good Christian. I see myself in a constant state of trying to improve. To keep my nose above the water as someone who has to always try that much harder to keep up. I never see myself as some shinny example of virtue. Come on at the time I weighed 260lbs and smoked 2 packs of smokes a day. but I guess God saw me differently. I left church that day with alot to chew on. The ironery iof that word was this God called me faithful as I stood next to a woman pregnant with a child I didn't know was mine or not because she was anything BUT faithful. The strangeness of my life at times....
It was a word of prophesy that sent me to LA it would be that word that would release me from LA.without
Back in the studio we got a letter one day from a record label wanting to sign us. We had two
others offering the same deal. The head guy of marketing international for the largest Christian label in the country was a huge Stevie and Saints fan. He knew we were recording a new album and he wanted to hear the first tracks. I say all this for this one reason. After years of toil,poverty,hard times the labels were knocking on my door instead of me standing there with my hat in my hand. My fingers were tighly wrapped around that "brass ring"...I realized that without knowing it I had proved to myself I had the goods. I COULD PISS IN THE TALL WEEDS WITH THE BIG DOGS!!!..the problem with all this was I was a husband first and a father second. So I made one of the hardest choices I ever made in my life. I walked away to give my full attention to try to save a failing marriage and be a full time father to children I knew were hurting over the problems at home. GOD HAD LET ME KNOW DISPITE THE MARRIAGE PROBLEMS.....I HAD PASSED THE TEST....I was no longer wishy washy God had given me an iron soul and a razor sharp spirit and in the process made me a professional musician.
In less than 6 weeks we were back in Alaska. The night we set down I looked at her and thought she has no clue what this has cost me,the band, and ultimately the souls we could have brought into God's kingdom.

Church life in La and Fatherhood

"The Weird,Wonderful and Sometimes Whacky World of Southern California Churches" As we were settling into LA the wife and I attended this church we had heard about called "The Hiding Place" it met in a school and had a youngish pastor who referred to preaching as his "weekly rap". What stood out to me about the place was we only attended a handful of services yet every sunday there was this wonderful latino brother,an older man, who sought us out and insisted that we join him at his home for lunch after church. He was quite a successful businessman and had this home in Beverly Hills!. He was a tenderhearted unpretentious and treated us like royalty(I sorta felt like it sitting in a house next to movie stars,rock stars and the such..that's a long way from Fairbanks) I remember how he would our hands along with his wife and daughter and pray over the food many times getting choked up telling God how much he loved him and us...sweet.
I have one word for some of the churches we tried out..HUGE..I was invited to a Baptist type church that had 7000 members and a sanctuary that could hold 3000..we visited "Church on the Way" and heard pastor Jack Hayford preach..we was and still remains one of my favorite. It seemed there were large churches every where. We had to go to Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa the birthplace of Christian Rock. I recall sitting there as a surfer preached using all the surfer lingo...I hardly understood a word he said. I found the fellowships much more light handed at handling folks. Much less legalistic. One of the first things I got to do that was choice was to go to Disneyland and a "Christian Music Night"..Here I saw up close some of my biggest heros. Mylon La Feverre and Broken Heart, Darrell Mansfield,The Rez band, and Phil Keaggy. Plus I saw a few newer bands I had never heard of. I saw one of the first punk bands ever. "Undercover" I remember seeing this guy up there sporting a MO Hawk with a torn tee-shirt that had "GOD RULES" painted on it. I wasn't sure what to make of them until the singer took out his Bible and began to share..I immediately felt God's presence. The other bands were just as cool. There was even a Christian Rockabilly band called "The Lifters"..I stood there as the guitar player prays.."God bless our singing and our playing and our Dancing".."Did he say what I thought he said?..Dancing?"...as soon as he says "Amen" he turns to the crowd and hollers..."TIME TO ROCK"..and off they go and the dance floor fills up with bodies that boogie!!! I'm in shock..If we had done that back home we would have been run out the back door of the church faster than you could say"Jitter bug"...I definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore!..and I LIKED IT!
On any day walking down Hollywood Blvd. you would be buried in every kind of religious flyer imaginable. Not two blocks from school was this big purple building that was the local "Scientology" center, there were Moonies,Mormons, Hare Krishna's and Happy Christians every where.There was a group who passed out fliers that had their whole doctrine built around how the Pope was in Fact the Devil! Southern California truly was the proverbial "Box of Granola"..what wasn't fruits and nuts were absolutely FLAKES! There were churches that catered to surfers, bikers,ex-cons,ex-gays,drug addicts and every walk of life in between. One of my old friends from Alaska has been the pastor of a biker church for years.
During the 1984 Olympics I was still at school when it seemed like the entire world wide church had converged on Hollywood with grim determination to get every freak there saved. There were street revivals, gangs of fresh faced Christians from all across the USA who were "On a Mission" I found it amusing to be walking down the street with some fellow student(sinner usually) and find myself surrounded my a bunch of believers wanting to share Christ with us(I guess having long hair,sporting a guitar and Jimi Hendrix tee shirt made me look like a sinner) I'd go...."Saved,Set free and Tongue talking! Can I get a witness?...now my friend here....well you know what to do"...it was sheep to slaughter.
Eventually we found a nice little fellowship to become involved in. The "Household of Faith" was a little storefront church located in the Sunland/Tujunga area of the San Fernando Valley. Located in the foothills not far from Glendale and Pasadena. Pastored by a nice young couple Terry and Lisa. Lisa was an athletic woman who also loved music and Terry was a be-speckled good humored guy with a heart for God and a lot of kids. I told right from the git go that I was a musician and had a call on my life. At our first sit down I played some Jazz arrangements of hyms I had done on Lisa'a guitar and they invited me to get involved with the church music(a sometime drummer and one piano player) We found a home. By this time we had moved out of crack central into an apartment in Sunland where we would remain till we left LA. The wife was pregnant with our second child and I had found myself in trade school.
I would find that in LA there was always work to be had but the vast majority of it rarely paid a living wage. When I left Alaska working for the state I was making 11.00 an hour good money for Alaska in 1983. That same job in LA required a license and paid a measly 3.65. So off to welding school I went.
It was, by this time, becoming obvious to me that I was in for a tough road. I was in fact in the middle of what would become a wilderness that would last for years. But having been led thru serious Bible study on the subject I was not unprepared to handle it...not that it would ever be enjoyable..I just knew what God's intention would be during the coming trials. As a welding student once my instructor gave me a demonstration on how to turn cold rolled steel into case hardened steel. It was a simple process a combination of heat and water. But it required a sense of knowing when enough was enough. Not to much heat not to much water, the perfect blend of hot and cold...too much would make the steel hard yet brittle. The key was to produce a piece that was both extremely hard yet flexible. As he worked that steel I knew I was staring at God's working in my life.
Just prior to moving out of crack central the wives mother had asked if we would take in her younger sister. She and her step-dad got along about as well as two alley cats thrown into a gunny sack. I find it fairly distasteful when adults don't act like adults in the face of a poor wounded kid from a divorced family who was just trying to find her place in the world. So we took her in. They offered to help out with room and board(gave his money but not his soul..go figure) I thought it would be good for the wife to mend the broken bridge between them. Looking back I see God's hand in it considering what the future would bring.
Life with my little family was a mix of trials,troubles, joy and jubilation. Jeremy was growing like a weed and was a constant source of joy for me. He was a funny little man. Loud as hell and hungry as a bear. I remember bring home a chicken McNugget for him once..the thing was a two handed affair with him and he hardly had any teeth but he devoured it and when he was done had chicken grease all over his face and his filmy hair stood on end. He was so funny. I was so very fulfilled and found a completeness in me being a father.
On a sunny winter morning the wife woke me up with "It's Time"..needless to say I was wide awake and ready to go. So off to Newhall again and this time after 2 hours and three pushes the world invited Jessica Joy Olsen into it. My beautiful dark curly haired bundle of love.
I held her for what felt like an hour. And forged a bond with her that would remain steadfast even today 23 years latter. Precious she was and is. I remember giving Jeremy his first bath moments after his birth and the serious look he had on his face. Then watching him fall asleep a moment later. He came out of the womb relatively quietly. Not Jessica...She arrived crying like hell and displaying all the power of her spirit immediately. She calmed down and started sucking her thumb as I held her and she nestled into my chest while her mom tried to recover. It was one of the most soulful heart warming and full filling moments of my life. From a solo artist I had gone to a duo then a trio now we were a quartet!!!What was once the empty fallow ground of my like now had become a garden of love with a fine strapping young oak and in time not one but two lovely and fragrant roses. I was so full of joy and never knew what perfect unconditional love was until I had become a father..it completed me...and still does.

We'er on the Highway to...the Midwest

"I'M ON THE HIGHWAY TO.....the midwest"
In 2006 Stevie and the Saints had a reunion of sorts. Tinker and I were talking one day about our one tour. He stated that there wasn't a single band during that time that didn't go the same hell as we did.
We were getting good airplay in the midwest at the time so Ken came up with the idea of a tour there and had set up one paid gig...one. To say this was stupid is an understatement, But in fine Saints tradition we charged off to go play for the opening of yet another garage.Only this was not across town it was across the country. Ken had talked Ray into coming along with the mobile stage we used at the Rose Bowl. It would have been the perfect match our music ,Ray's preaching except for one thing we needed support and had none, Despite all this we charged off anyway.
I had tried in vain to convince Ken that there had to be churches out there that would be at least open to inviting us to minister to their youth groups and evangelistic efforts. But Ken wouldn't have any of it. So we had 1300 miles to go to our first gig. By this time I was attending Pasadena Four Square under pastor Ralph Torrez who had come up under Jack Hayford of church on the way. Looking back Ray was also a Four Square pastor. with a few simple phone calls we could have played churches from LA to our first gig.
We headed off the Ray's in Pomona thinking that we would hit the road strait way. We ended up refurbishing the mobile stage that put us 5 days behind schedule. I had given Ken and Ray fairly detailed instructions on what to look for in renting a motor home mainly what kind of hitch it needed to have seeing as how at the time I installed them for a living and knew what kind of poundage we would be pulling. They came back with an older motor home with a hitch I really didn't think would make it. But I was out voted when I suggested they take it back. So finally off we went.
I had never been to that part of the country so it was a big adventure for me. Still being stuck in a rickety motor home...or as Ken would dub it..."The Motor HOE" pulling a stage...we were 70, 80 yards of trouble waiting to happen. Paying for it all on Ken's credit card,faith and very little else. What were we thinking? Despite all this God would take care of us time after time and there would be fruit for His kingdom when it was all said and done. A preacher I would hear years later would say this" Security is the Enemy of Faith" those who are more concerned about security never fully experience the amazing provision of God. And never see Him move in their lives in a way that he would if they Struck out in Faith to serve Him". Here we were doing just that. and God did look out for us.amoung the all the normal gear we took with us Ken brought a video camera. He would be catching nearly everthing on tape as we ventured thru of "Lost in Egypt " tour.
Our first pump in the road happened just outside of Vegas. We broke down in a town called "Baker" they should have removed the r and just called it "BAKE" it was 120 degrees and our carburator decided to give up the ghost. No engine, no air.......we were stranded on the suburb of HELL. Ray thumbed into Vegas and manages to buy the one of only two things that made the rig run that were left in the entire town. Meantime Ken sets up the camera inside the home motor ho and we decide to have church. He says this on tape...."This is were God separates the Warriors ...from...And we go in chorus...."The Wimps" It finally started to rain and this was the first time I ever stood outside in thew pouring rain like a dumb chicken and loved every moment of it.
We got back on the road and drove thru Arizona and New Mexico. I was struck on how beautiful in a red desert sort of way it was. I loved it. We would continue to have problems with the motor ho thru out the trip. When we weren't driving it Ray,myself and Tinker was under it trying to get it to run.
What I soon discovered was we had greatly underestimated both the generosity and compassion of the believers we would meet on the road. Another surprize was how we were percieved. In LA we were just another band trying to get noticed. Once out of LA we were looked in a completely different light. A Band with a record deal getting a regular mention in the rags and on tour. The locals in the know were a bit in awe of us. Something I found amusing considering I still had the 71 Maverick parked outside my stinking cockroach infested apartment and we still had to stand in bread lines on occation.
I won't go into day to day road stories but I will share some of the amazing things that did happen. Shortly after hitting the road when things started gettings hard there was talk of giving up and going back to LA. It was Tink who truely expressed what many in the band felt he said "No one kicks my ass and gets away with it..not even the devil" so press on we did. The tour would be a combination of comedies of errors and miracles.
Back in those days I was sporting a rather large ear ring. The running comment was every time Ray had to ask for help the first thing he would say would be "Steve take out the ear ring I gotta ask these nice strait church people for help" "OK you can put the ear ring back in" all tour long"in and out,in and out".
We pulled into the black hills where we would wind up in a town called Spearfish. The Black Hills were a windy, twisty turny...just plain scary considering we were pulling a 32 ft motor home and a 40 foot mobile stage. We pull out of the hills And right in the middle of main street we lose the hitch. I had told them guys what kind of hitch we needed now they knew why. What tragity it would have been had we lost it while still in the hills. Just so happens we broke down right in front of the Spearfish 4 Square Church. Out came the earring and some one from the church jacked up the van and welded the hitch back on. We played the church that sunday(sans my earring)
We toned it way down but the pastor and his wife along with the congregation were more than generous. And accepted us with open arms. After the hitch got fixed it being a Saturday night and not much to do Ken found a large Taco stand where the teenagers hung out. So up goes the Stage and on go the Saints. A very well known comic from that area who had a son that was strung out happened to be there(small town news travels fast)once we were done playing Ray got up and preached with such power I wanted to get saved all over again! This guys son comes forward and commits his life to Christ. Last we heard he was still clean and still very much saved. The church fed us well and gave a donation and sent us on our way. We had to buy a new carb outside vegas so we pulled this truck shop to get it adjusted now whats funny about this is the guy working on it could have been Rays twin.
The next day we pulled into Sturgis South Dakota. The Worlds largest biker rally. We pull in Tink and I fall out the side door he looks around gets that shit eatin grin on his face and says" We are gonna fit in here just fine" Black leather,cut off levi jackets, big bellies an lots of hair.
There were bikes everywhere. Every type size and shape. From vintage museum bikes to custom racers and all types in between.We connected with the local chapter of the CMA(Christian Motorcycle Association) Our buddy Freddy Z had told us about Sturgis. Sturgis as a city makes 98%of it's yearly budget in the month of August each year.We connected with the head of the CMA explained who we were and how we were looking for a place to set up and play then preach. Let me be very very clear here. This guy was not only no help he was totally useless. He looked and acted as if he would rather be anywhere but there. I LOST ALL RESPECT FOR THE CMA.I just couldn't believe how utterly LAME and in charge some jack ass could be.We found a parking lot set up and rocked. Meantime Ray had found a church and was in his element. Preaching up a storm to a bunch like minded holy rollers.
The next day we loaded up and headed for the kids Dads place Sioux Falls. Cruising down the high way doing 65 I'm in the back sound asleep when "Bang" we lose the hitch,the trailer and the bumper. I go from being sound asleep in the back to being wide awake in the front and wondering what the hell just happened. So here we are sitting in the grass on the side of the freeway wondering what to do next when Ray looks over his shoulder and sees a Catepiller factory. He thinks they got welders big presses etc there. ''''Steve"''....let me guess..out goes the earing again.
Kenny the Kids dad and step mom lived in Sioux Falls. a sweet couple. He sold insurance and she was a bartender at the local country club. We had several gigs to play there. Staying with the Kids folks was an oasis of sorts. They sell this mild light colored beer out there that tastes killer. Plus they Tgrow the sweetest yellow corn. So each night we would grill burgers,drink beer(much to Ray's displeasure)and eat sweet grilled corn. Here is the funny part.The Kids step mom being a bartender knew just about every joke or off color song out there and it was a hoot watching her and Roberts go at it. He would start a joke or an off color song and she would finish it!!! to funny. What I noticed was how humid it was there. I had never been in that kind humidity before( Alaska is a dry climate.) Our contact there had arranged for us to go play a maximum security prison. The next day we rolled into the main yard. Maybe 400 by 400 yards. It was sad for me to think that this yard was all some of these guys would ever see again. We rolled out the stage got ready to play and man was it hot...humid...hot These two inmates brought out two big coolers of ice cold sweet tea!...so off we went and in no time the entire yard of say 300 were standing shoulder to shoulder sweating in the heat while we rocked and rolled and Testified" Finally the band took a breather while big brother Ray started preaching. Mean time I'm standing behind the stage when this Mountain of a man comes up to me. He starts asking me questions about Go,the Bible, Jesus. Hear me folks this guy stood a foot and a half taller than me covered in tattoes. Turns out he was the prison "bill collector". I don't recall what I said but the Chaplin said I had gotten thru to him in a way no one else had. The Chaplin said all the hardness had gone out of his voice as he spoke of the band,his conversation with me and with Christ Finally Brother Ray made an invintation to come to Christ with several coming foward. We ended the day like this. The younger inmates were shouting "More leads!More Leads!More Leads!
So I sat down at the end of the stage surounded by maybe 30-40 guys and I just shredded away for another 30-45 minutes. We signed a bunch of New Testaments and called it a good day.

The Chaplin reported several converstions and an all around good impact. That night we had more beer,more corn,more burgers as we listened to Ken and the Kids step mom seranade us with off color songs.We played a pig roast the next day(the gig was boring as hell but the pig sure was good) and that night we went down to a rock club and talked our way into doing a set. What I recall was Tink bringing his own sticks and snare. Tink warned the drummer that he hit hard but the guy said to use his gear. After the pig roast we were chomping at the bit to rock. We TORE THE ROOF OF THE PLACE. On the last song Tink had dented all the cymbles and broke his snare head. I'd say that was a fitting departure to the midwest. I will mention the guys who were running the local Bible book store where "Metalblue" was on sale took us out to this little place in a town called "Tea" for these huge steaks. That was a blessing.

We had to bag our last gig in St Louis cause frankly we were broke. So we pack up all the gear ready for the long haul back to LA. There was this kind brother who ran a shop that did all the brake work for the local police. He custom built us a class 3 trailer hitch free of charge and even took us out to lunch afterward. God's people were good to us there and this time I didn't even have to take out my ear ring. There is one thing I should mention, we were in a service in one of the churches out there where they had invited Ray to preach. Ray was a card carrying 4 square pastor but at heart he was a firery street preacher. I remember during the sermon he goes "If your wife is a bitch it's because you made her one"!! we heard several "amens"on that one but Roberts leans over and says"There goes the offering so I guess you can put your ear ring back on" The next day we were off back to LA. With the new carb and trailer hitch we got home with little trouble. It was an adventure non of us ever wanted to repeat even though it did produce some good fruit for the kingdom.

The Buzz

"The Buzz...begins"
With the finish of the album Ken now had us on wax. The problem now was how to sell us. The challenge back then was distribution. Back then Christian music was primarily sold in Bible bookstores,mom and pop shops an on rare instances record store. It would be years before the industry would grow into the billion dollar business it is today. Really Ken was a one man show and like us broke. still what He did have and was good at was this. He had the underground wired. He had a listing of tons of fanzines,magazines,reviewers, radio stations or shows that would feature us. All with the names of contacts. He had begun to send out advance copies of the cassette to reviewers. Meantime we continued our shows. By this time we were needing a second guitar player. If for no other reason for the song "Saints Boogie" The song featured twin guitar harmonies. The second guitar spot would wind up being a bit of swinging door for a time. We were good friends with another band called "Dave Brighten and the Promise" Dave and I had become friends after I graduated and he and Ken had known each other for quite some time. Thru Dave I met a guy who would leave a lasting impression on me. Troy Moody was a guitar player who was a bit older than I with similar tastes in music and family back grounds. He was average height and build with a mustache and a reseeding hair line. We hit it off right away. Having a second in the band also freed me to blow the harp which I was now doing on some newer tunes I was writing. I had learned a lot about song writing from Ken and I was already thinking of the next album. Song writing in the Saints was like this..If Tinker could catch the grove on a new song I wrote it was a keeper if not it was back to the woodshed with it. I remember I had written lyrics to a song that would wind up on the second album. I liked the words but every-time I brought it to the band Tink just couldn't get it..He'd say"Not that one again" Finally I'm sitting at home one night listening to Bo Diddley when that grove hit me. Yea thats it. Next day I play the groove for Tink and he's all over it like a bad rash.
The shows we were doing were as varied as you could get. One night might be a youth group the next would be a club. I remember we did a gig at this cool club in Long Beach called Bogarts...I had a blast that night It was not long after that that Troy shows up to gig dressed in "Saints Gear" he had gone to this place in Van Nuys called "ReRuns" a vintage clothes store and showed up wearing a shark skin tiny lapel suit, shinny tie and of all things...spats!...too cool I was really beginning to like him. We had done a gig one night for this youth group at a fairly large church. They were cool and even passed the plate. By then we had cassettes,tee-shirts,and 8x12 glossy' for sale. I can still remember someone asking me for an autograph for the first time...it was weird and a bit surreal .He was a latino brother that had just watched us play and could hardly speak english. I made sure I got his name right and signed it. We had been asked by the youth group to come back and do another gig. I remember the first time how we had 400 teenagers rocking and rolling in front of the stage all night..we wore them out..typical to the Saints back then.Gigs were a combination of glorious and gruesome. The week we played the gig with the youth group we had done our first gig at the FM station in North Hollywood. We played the 1 am spot on a tuesday night. The audience consisted of 3 passed out drunks at the bar,the bartender and two very bored looking waitresses. Loads of fun. We were thrilled to go back to the youth group again for another night of boogie with boys. We had set up earlier in the day so when I got there I tweaked a few things then went back stage. We were playing downstairs in a large multipurpose room from the church proper. I peeked out the curtain and saw the place was packed even more than the first time.
I start to get into the magic blue suit and beret when I hear this from the main room....stevie, stevie, stevie it
starts to grow louder accompanied by stomping....Stevie, Stevie, Stevie, I'm standing there shocked..Louder it gets STEVIE,STEVIE,STEVIE,,,Tink is standing there with this" knowing "kind of look on his face."Hear that?"..I couldn't believe my ears..I felt humbled...humbled...then....FIRED UP READY TO RIP!!!!!. We hit the stage that night and broke things.....the church did not inform me that we (specifically ME) were set up over the baptistry. Yea the drink...so on one particular hot tune I jump up and come down to find the floor cracked in two...the only thing between me and getting dunked and electrocuted was a 3/4 piece of plywood and a carpet! We had to stop the show and rearrange the gear so we(i,e ME) wouldn't wind up getting baptized for a second time in my life.
One of my favorite things after the shows I liked was standing behind the merch booth and meeting the fans..it was always such an honor and a blessing to play for them. I always found it wonderful to interact with them,sign autographs, laugh, encourage them in God.
Back at the studio Ken was busy promoting the album..he could only afford cassettes at first. But I remember when he ordered LP's. He took me to a pressing plant in south bay. I t was a cool experience. They had been there for years and years. I watched as they pressed our 1st LP's. They had these machines that looked like big waffle irons. In the center of the wheel out would come this blob of vynal.sitting on the outer rim was a gold master disc(Ken had said he made sure they cut the grooves deep to give us a good sound)the blob goes down on the bottom disc and the top comes down..splat! an LP, a tech trims the excess vynal and attaches the label.And there you have it! a shinny new LP just like the Big boys have! Cool! Ken also decided to press a 45 all this was mostly because the radio stations at the time were asking for LP's and 45's....had we only known that mere months later all this would change with the advent of cd's. Ken took "Don't Knock the Rock" and pressed 40 45's and sent them to the radio stations. Along with the LP's. This is a miniscule amount of 45's and LP's to sent out. I knew bands that would send out thousands of LP's. Out of a mere 40 45's we got regular rotation(which means they played us a lot) on 30 stations. Unheard of.
I'm sitting at home one night when I get a call from Ken. He says "You sitting down?" Well check this Out"
He begins to read to me the reviews he had gotten from the advance cassettes he had sent. For the next hour it was one RAVE review after another, "Genuine Guitar Hero, One of the Best bands to come along in Years,A Christian Jimi Hendrix, The Best Instrumental of 1988," on and on he went! I was dumbfounded . Amazed and humbled. Ken was beside himself and couldn't wait to call Tink. I hung up and sat there for the longest time just pondering all this. I couldn't wait to play our next gig.
There was one review in particular that really hit me. As I said before there were two rags I never missed. Guitar Player and Contemporary Christian Music. CCM said this about us.."This cassette may be hard to find but go to your local bookstore ASK FOR IT BY NAME AND DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!" To get a review like that in a mag I had been reading for nearly 10 years was to say the least thrilling.
Early on in the band we had ran an ad in this south bay publication called "The Christian Activities Calendar"
sort of a who's who's of up and coming bands and events. One day I get this call from a former roommate from Alaska. Freddy Z (Z for Zaritzney) Freddy had moved to southern California gotten married ,had some kids and was a Calvary chapel evangelist. He was and still is a serious biker and a member of the Christian Motor Cycle Association. CMA. We talked about what I was doing and I told him about the Saints. Freddy would over time toss quite a few gigs our way including a "Biker Wedding". We were a good match. Plus Freddy was the kind of guy that seemed to know everyone from Darrel Mansfield to the guys in the Rez band(He had actually lived at JPUSA for a short time) to Chuck Smith the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel..the guy got around He even showed me pictures of him sharing his faith with none other than Sonny Barger the head of the notorious Hells Angels.
The good reviews continued to come as we struggled to figure out how to get the cassette and LP's out to the public. Ken was trying as best he could but it was a big world and to crawl out the underground was difficult to say the least. Looking back compared to your average musician walking the street ,here is what we did have...An explosive live show, a "critically acclaimed band" a producer and a killer LP. Honestly how many guys from GIT were doing what I was? or my friends back home? But at the time we were hoping for more. Ken was doing everything he could but he lacked two things...money and marketing. But really all of us were in some form of that soup or another. I can recall having a conversation with Dave from Neon Cross back stage at a show at the Waters Club. They had recorded a 24 track studio album on their own nickel. A no brainer for any label. Dave told me they had signed with some guys who turned out to be pirates. I remember him saying..."Stevie we got a good deal on our royalty spread..12%...but dude 12% of nothin is still nothin" hence the Christian Music business back then. It took money to promote and money was something we never had. What was great was the buzz that continued to grow. I just felt deep in my sould something would eventually come of it all. I remember early on before tell the guys this."Every gig we play good or bad,every person who sees us,reads anything about us is seed in the ground and it will reap a harvest someday. The key to this is to keep at it, "WEARY NOT IN WELL DOING BECAUSE IN DUE SEASON YOU WILL REAP"
By now Tory had left the band because he didn't see eye to eye with Ken. It was too bad too,I had grown really fond of him. all of us had. Once again the second guitar seat was empty. Finally one day Ken took off his producer hat, took off his manager hat,removed his record label suit and strapped on a guitar. It was a perfect fit. No one knew or understood the our music as well as he did. No one believed in us as much as he did. On top of all that Ken was an excellent rhythm guitar player. He had a knack for tying Tink and the Kid together in a tight groove and he could drive the band as hard as I could. It was a
Goldie Locks and the Three Bears Moment" where Long John had been "to cold" Troy "To hot" Ken wound up being "Just right"
There reviews and reports coming into studio on a regular basis now. We were hearing all kind of rumblings. We were getting airplay in pockets on both coasts the midwest and even Europe. They were playing us in England, Germany and France. We had even received notice from a station in Strasbourg France the we had become the second favorite artist on their station second only to Stryper...not bad for a bunch of broke fat boys.
In England a lady had contacted Ken and expressed a desire to be our exclusive representative over there and had said there was some interest from the Label that Motorhead was on(could you have imagined a tour with them Stevie and the Saints and Motorhead talk about "Heaven and Hell") They were a little put off by our straight forward Christian message. We had heard that Scott Gorham of Thinn Lizzy had heard the album and had expressed some interest. I got a call from my buddy Dave saying he had heard us on the major radio station there in Seattle during drive time(a choice time to played)
The point to all this is this, Most of what was swirling around us would never lead to anything solid but we were on the wire,on people minds and lips and the buzz was continuing to grow and grow..the would eventually lead to something.
One of the funniest things to come out of this was a call I got one night from my former musical partner Paul.
Paul was now living in Juneau Alaska. He was in a mall one day having coffee with a friend when up comes a buddy of his and says this"Dude I just got this totally killer cassette from a band out of LA called "Stevie and the Saints"..Paul goes "Hey I grew up with him, Stevie and I started out playin music together" The guy goes"Get outta Town! Who you fooling".."No really"..You're pulling my chain"...No It's the truth...Tell you what come with me right now and I'll prove it"...down to Pauls place they go. I get this call and it's Paul on the other line.He relates the story to me as I crack up he hands the phone to his buddy going "I told you so.." I hear this stuttering voice on the line...."Uh Uh Uh is the really Stevie?..."Yep the one and the same" there is some silence...then..."DDDDDooode...I really really like your band (smoke a lot pot did we?..I'm thinkin) I thanked him we talked about the music,guitars what we had coming if we would ever play in Juneau..I had a chance to encourage him in the Lord. It was a treat for the brother. It's not everyday a fan gets to chat on the phone with one of his favorite artists....the reality was, the Maverick was still parked outside my door,I was still standing in a cramped roach infested apartment with hardly two nickels to rub together while the woman I was married to complained constantly and basically treated me pretty much like a loser.....could have been worse could have had all that and nothing else.....the next week we played the FM station and as we drove up on the marquis was "STEVIE AND SAINTS LIVE TONIGHT" that made my Maverick look like a Cadilac!