Been a long time....much has happened...

I know it has been a very long time since I posted. Frankly I've been occupied with survival. NOLA has been a challenge to say the least. But there has been a whole new element to my being here that I have been involved in and frankly consumed by. I have been unemployed now since June of 2009..been unemployed here since 12/13/2010..the longest period in my life..I will share my impressions and thoughts about what I believe on a Global scale what in the spiritual realm has transpired.
I sat here a year and half ago recovering from a near death experience where I had gotten sick wound up in the hospital with a collapsed lung...11 days later and $83,000(which God would totally free me from) I was home doped up on pain pills when I received a simple little gift that would be the match that would ignite a fire in my soul. My mother-In Law's best friend sent me a little devotional..."Jesus Calling"..simple and direct. In times past I had always loved study of God's word but I had never consistently worked out of a devotional. I had been a far from God for many years..lost and as the saying says"Dust on the Bible in drought on the soul". Such was my life for far to many years than I care to admit. Around 2006 I had made a re commitment of my life to Christ but it wouldn't be till I moved here that that act would truly begin to bear fruit.
As I looked for work once I recovered I began to slowly but consistently read my devotional and my bible everyday...God began to speak to me..his word began to become alive and address what was happening to me and what I was facing everyday...as the days progressed..it began to intensify..revelation began to come..whole new concepts and ideas began to take place in my thinking. At times I would sit here on my couch with my jaw in my lap over what God was revealing to me..and so many times through out my day while I looked for work,out in the community or what ever His Word o me,what He was trying to say to me would come at me from all directions.different subjects,a book,a casual conversation,the same verse..several times a day..it was uncanny..I began to anticipate each morning what He would show me that day..I became addicted to his word.(still am) My thinking,speaking and perception of life had begun to be completely re-booted..although as of this writing not a thing has changed in my circumstances..but God has changed me and is changing me from the inside out..which is how God does things..He changes you first before He changes anything else. So I will begin in future posts to share what I believe God has been showing me..s

Where my feet take me at times..

Today I ventureddown to the Quarter. I wanted to give a cd to a nice guy I met at a gallery and ask himwhere I could display more of my work. Let me explain how I'm feeling about the world of art I've stumbled into. I have been painting now for roughly a year. I really don't know what I'm doing or if even if it's any good. In the music world the boundries are very well defined. If you hit a wrong note,sing off key or play a sour note EVERYONE notices. As Any Warhol said.."Art is anything you can get away with" but honestly...you can tell my viewing classic art that the Masters could really convey the world they saw and were able to reach out and somehow make that emotional conections to the viewer. As a songwriter,musician and soloist I understand the importance of this connection. Something happens when I make music and the audience is with me...we "Dance in the Fire" together..The challenge is to take what I do with my music and translate that to the world of art. All those many years ago what drove me to school was a desire to know the real stuff. I didn't just want to play by ear..I wanted to understand the language of music..music theory..harmony, counter point. It was as if I wanted to move to France and live there as a Frenchmen and to fully embrace the life. I had to learn the language and understand the culture. Think "French". Music was like that for me and now painting is becoming the same way..in short "If I'm gonna do this then by God I'm gonna be as good at it as I can..I'm gonna learn the art ...the "Jazz" of it" So today I headed to the Quarter to check on a few things. I was wandering down on Royal street and wandered into a gallery that featured this artist named "Bosso"..I like his stuff simple colors but wondeful paintings. As I was there I wandered down the gallery and noticed there were several prints..they looked vagely familar...turns out I was staring at original prints from..Picasso,Salvador Dali, Matisse...and then I wandered into a small room to find myself face to face with original drawings from.....REMBRANT...on the original paper and dated like 1665..I was dumfounded..and the emotional reaction was surprizing..to be so close to these "Masters" amazing..I could see up close each pen stroke,each shade and swipe of the pencil..I was weak in the knees and almost brought to tears...when I visited the "French"Gallery the guy there informed me that just down the street was a gallery with a special room that you could visit under armed guard where they actually have several original VINCENT VAN GOGH'S...10 TO 12 MILLION per painting!!!...UNREAL...you have to understand...these are works I've only seen in books...the power of their presence..in overwhelming.."Proverbs 16:9 states "Man plans his way but the LORD directs his steps"...very true today..

More Tolley tails..

The street car,albeit the "Trolly" has been an interesting peek into the day to day life of New Orleans". The other day I caught the trolly heading downtown to give a cd to a guy I met who may (or maynot) help me get a gig on Bourbon Street. I get on board behind an attractive 20 something lady who sits across from me. I look down the car and see a cross section of the city. Cooks,waitresses,construction workers. Black,latino,white. I wonder "What is their everyday life like"?..what are their hopes and dreams?I wonder..I observe the attractive young woman sits down next to a 20 something guy who is obviously a cook..wearing chef pants and sporting burns about his arms. Wearing a cap,with short trimmed hair and a beard with sharp features..good looking kid. The woman pulls out an illistrated novel.A sort of fancy well written comic book.The kid looks over and starts chatting her up over his love of such work. I'm sitting there thinking "Dude get her number,cuz she looks like a Keeper"..Finally she asks him what he does for work. He lights up and says he cooks. He launches into a description of his daily work. The passion he displayed was obvious to all within ear shot. Sitting next to me unaware was a guy probably around my age,who turns out is a life long chef.He broke into the young guys rant to tell him how much he appreciated his passion and prompted him to ever lose that passion. He it turns out trains all the new cooks who come into the Marriot's resuraunts and gave this kid his number. They were knocking knuckles and high 5 ing. After a few "Amens from me he turns and asks what I do. I tell him a bit of my story and he says this."This is a city that celebrates people like us. First you have to Survive,then you Thrive....then you suceed"...the young chef never got the young womans number but he may have gotten a new step up in his life as a chef...I love this town...

A day in the life of a "Pipeliner"

1975 I graduate from high school. That summer I move to Anchorage and my Dad gets me a job working for the plastering company he works for as a 'hod-carrior". Grunt. A "Hod" was a triangle shaped contraption that you fill with plaster and toss on boards to be plastered on the walls. Heavy and messy. Mostly I built scafolding, scrapped floors and helped out. What it did was give me a union card. As a "B"list union memeber I could go to the hall and get a job. By 75 the Pipeline was in full swing and we had people from all over the world showing up for work. At 19 I would meet and work with people from Scotland,Germany,Mexico South America and nearly every state in the USA. I worked with a lot of southern folk. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas. My first job was in Valdez. I was part of the bush crew. Our job was to cut up trees that had been taken down and burn them to clear the last 9 miles to the port in Valdez. I had sprained my left ancle just prior to getting this job so I show up and realize it was a 4 mile trek up hill each day with a 40 pound chain saw on my back before a 10 hour day!..I was young and "tuff" then. What I noticed about the camp was how well they fed us. Steaks, sea food,pasteries..good food. I roomed with a guy older than my Dad who was nearly retirement age. He was a gnarled old guy with a serious gas problem. I would look at all these guys and tell myself...this will not be me!!!..I transfered my card from Anchorage to Fairbanks to be closer to friends and work the upper part of the line. I really didn't like to work the line. Being young and stupid I didn't understand what had been laid in my lap. A chance of a lifetime to set myself up for life. There were friends who stayed in the union long after the line was done and who have retired on 6 to 7 grand a month. I met one guy who worked all 4 years at the same site. He paid off his home in California,bought a home in Alaska and bought a lodge with cabins and a lake just south of Fairbanks. Today he is a wealthy man. There were many who the pipeline made their dreams come true,there were others I knew who spent 40 grand on coke and at the end had nothing to show for their toil. For years there was a bumper sticker floating around the state that said"God send us another Pipeline and we promise we won't piss this one away like we did the last one!!!" I wish I had been wiser,had more guidence and been more far seeing. But hey I was 19 fresh out of school and wanting only to have enough money to buy a guitar and screw off for awhile. My friend Randy had gotten a city gig thru the union. I really wanted one of those. Union wages, 40 hours a week and in town. I was one number away from getting one when a crack head friend took the job right out from under my nose. Melvin had overdosed on acid 5 times..Randy said a dead monkey could work better than he. Oh well such was my life then. A typical day on the line was one where you fought boredom and sleepiness all day. I had one job where I picked trash up all day. At the end of the shift the boss would climb in the back of the truck and break open half a dozen bags of trash and throw them back on the road!!Job security...I swear I must have picked the same piece of trash up at least a dozen times. My first Job was cutting trees. We spent a week with no chain saw blades..we would go to work every day and nap. We posted someone at the top of this hill who would signal when a chopper was coming to see if we were working. We would crawl out of the weeds crank up the chain saws. Smoke billowing every where with NO TEETH inthe chains just to show the bosses we were working...two weeks without a single lick of real work done...as we used to say back then.."It all Pays the same"!!! I worked the full line from Valdez to Prudoe. I worked 7-10's 7-12's even 7-16's once..seven days a week 10 12 16 hours a day!. It was a very weird scene. A bunch of guys and a few weman existed. A truck driver once told me that this old gal was giving him an attitude once and he looked at her and said"What are going to do when you have to return to the real world AND BE UGLY AGAIN"!!! Her "fan club" got a bit mean with him after that. After 9 weeks up there I would return home and be mildly shocked at seeing more than one girl walking down th e street. I turned 21 working in Isabelle Pass I also remember our countries 200 year centenial while I worked there. In the end all I had to remember was my Martin D-28. I bought my first serious guitar rig with tax returns from my work there. A Gibson 335,and a Music man 212 100 watt combo... Pipeline Daze...wish I'd been wiser...oh well.

A day in the life of a "Pipeliner"

Guitars,guitars and more guitars.

Guitars are to a player like shoes are to some women. You can never have to many. To me many of them are like this they are like girls,some you date,some you chase,some are way out of your league and then there are those you keep. It is an interesting relationship the player has with the instrument. I wish I had every guitar I ever had that I got rid of. I'd be really well off.Some that I've owned went on to become collectibles worth thousands. I currently own 8. Why so many? Like a car mechanic you need proper tool for the job. I never go to a gig with just one. I always have a back up in case I pop a string. I own a stock American made Fender strat that is like 10 years old now.I bought it new and it is beginning to show some wear. It's a great guitar but the next has always been a bit temperamental. I am one of those who like light strings and low action so some of my ladies take issue with that from time to time. Having just moved here I recently found a tech down the street to tweak them periodically. I own a 69 Fender telecaster. The world first true electric guitar..affectionately nick named the "Plank" by early players. Here is how I came to get this guitar. There was a guitar player back in Alaska we used to call "Skellator"cause he looked like the cartoon. Bald with long white hair and pasty white skin from too many years in bars. I was doing a gig once when he pulled out this guitar and played it. It was old,beat up kinda butterscotch colored with a bunch of brass parts(bridge,pick guard,nut) I remember thinking,"Man that cool looking I'd like to own that" but I thought fat chance. His bass player would go to work with me for years afterward. One day a year or so later I stopped into a pawn shop on 2 street just to look around. I was looking for a Tele cuz I was starting to get some country gigs. Low and behold there was that guitar sitting there for a mere 300 bucks!! I knew the lady who ran the place(that another funny guitar related story I'll tell at a later date) all I had on me was 20 dollars I asked her if that would be enough to hold it till that Friday when I got paid. She agreed so that Friday I had that Tele. Now this guy was a bit of a crack head and his gear showed it. The guitar was in dire need of work. The frets were gone,the keys were not working and the pickups needed to be replaced. So I took it to Chris. He put some decent sized frets on it replaced the keys and we loaded it up with Seymore Duncan pickups. I kept all the old parts cus even in disrepair they are worht something. When I got it back I had a gig that night with Dave ,Skellators former bass player. Dave was playing with him the next night.Dave noticed the guitar and I told him the killer deal I got I had less than 5 bills invested in a guitar that could easily fetch 3 grand were I to sell it(I never will) Dave told me that when Skellator found out I bought his old guitar he was totally bummed. From that time on every time he'd see me he'd say "Hows my guitar" I'd reply "It plays like melted butter and IT AIN"T YOUR GUITAR ANYMORE"! This was the best deal I ever got and every time I've pulled that thing out of the case it turns heads. I have a pair of beautiful guitars that I had custom made for me. For a number of years I played an ESP Tiger stripped strat that I had out fitted with EMG pickups and a Floyd Rose trem system. The Floyd revolutionized guitar playing in the 80's because Mr Floyd designed a double locking tremolo bar that gave guys like Eddie Van Halen nthe ability to do dive bombs and the such on the guitar and keep it dead in tune. You can literally drop the bar all the way down till the strings are slack and they will pop back in tune. I have a friend who was living in Seattle back in the late 70's when Floyd walked into the music store he was working at. He had a proto type of the devise on a strat. He was looking for a partner to back him. The owner blew him off. I remember my friend telling the owner that millions of dollars just walked out the front door. Less than a year later Floyd gave an early proto type to Eddie and boom the rest was history. Wish I'd been there for that. I've been using them non-stop since 1983. My Warmoth guitars are killer. 5 AAA maple tops. The kind of wood you find on high end furniture. Birds eye maple necks. These are my classic rock working guitars. I sold my tiger stripped guitar and had the first Warmoth built. It is an emerald green color with black hardware. It went thru 3 sets of pick ups before this happened. Chris told me one day he had a set of used EMGS that he could put in there. Funny haw certain Mojo can follow guitars. When I got the guitar back I looked at those pickups and noticed that the edge of the middle one was slightly wore. They turned out to be the first set of EMGs that had been in my tiger stripped ESP! that guy who bought it had new pickups put in. The moment I plugged in I had my old sound!. That guitar has been a serious trooper. Never EVER had any neck issues,stays in tune fine and plays like a dream..my 'Emerald Princess". George Benson was my introduction to the world of Jazz. I remember seeing him for the first time in the late 70's on the Midnight Special. I tuned in that night cuz one of my other guitar hers was on that night Calos Santana. I'm watching and out steps this cool well dressed black guy holding this big fat hollow body. Who proceeds to blow me away with his rendition on Leon Russel's "This Masquerade" I had never heard that kind of music before. I ran out and bought "Breezin" ,"In Flight" and "Weekend In LA" My affection for his music would lead me deep into the world of Jazz and the likes of Miles Davis,Coletrane,Parker,Duke Ellington ad Joe Pass. These days I play more of that than anything else. My Jazz guitar is an Ibanez George Benson model. I like them because they are a smaller body easier to play and you don't have the feed back problems the bigger boxes do. For years I couldn't bring myself to buy "just a jazz guitar" because I was only a closet jazzer. The bulk of my gigs were blues and classic rock gigs. But once again I found myself ina pawn shop and noticed a Polytone guitar amp for sale...40 bucks!! the same amp George uses. It was broke but 40 bucks come on!. So I bought it had it repaired and for less that 300 nI had a 600 jazz amp!...but no guitar to go along with it. I had owned a George Benson prior to attending school in LA but I sold back to the guy I bought it from cuz at that time I really couldn't play jazz. I went down to the local music store where I had been doing business for years and years. I had noticed some Ibanez hollow bodies but when I got there they had been sold. I had a "casual" conversation about the Benson with Mark the owner. A few days later I stopped in and there was a brand new one sitting there. I had made no comment about buying one but Mark said.."Here Steve take it home and play it and see what you think". It was the most expensive guitar I would ever buy. 1850.00. But as soon as I played it I was hooked. Mark worked a deal for 1350 and payments. Right after that I got a ton of Jazz gigs. The guitar paid for itself in less than 6 months. The Polytone eventually crapped out and was replaced with a Fender DSP Deluxe and that guitar with that amp is a marriage made in heaven. I sound like a cross between George and Pat Methany attempting to play like Joe Pass. I'll finish this with the story of "Red Dogg". In the early 80's I heard Eddie Van Halen for the first time. It was like hearing Hendrix,nothing in the guitar world could lead up to that and nothing would ever be the same afterward.The way he did dive bombs,pick squeels,the hugeness of his "Brown"sound. It blew me totally out of the water. I went out and bought a Fender mustang,only to find that one touch of the trem bar put it horribly out of tune. As I was preparing to move to LA I came across a redish copy of a strat. I think I got it for 250.00. With a standard strat I still couldn't get his sound. Then one day I was sitting around and noticed that I had a humbucking pickup from an old Les Paul I no longer owned. So I went over to a buddy of mines and had him remove the single coil bridge pickup,route the body and pick guard and install this humbucker. Soon as we restrung it,tuned it and plugged into my amp, I hit one power chord!!!CRUNCH HEAVEN!!!Almost EDDIE!!!. Not long after that I left to go to LA. The first couple of weeks in school we took a bus to Fullerton's and visited the Fender factory. One of my classmate got a couple of Fender Statocastor headstock stickers(rare in those days) He gave me one. By this time the original next had warped beyond repair. I had found this little shop down the street from the School. LA GUITAR WORKS. Run by these two oriental guys. Jimmy could do anything with a guitar you wanted. I had them install a new neck and painted the headstock to match the body. They replaced the white pick guard with a black one and put in Seymore Duncan Hot Rails then replaced the humbucker with a Jeff Beck Signature humbucker. They also installed my first Floyd. They were near impossible to get in LA then due to supply and demand. Hence was born "RED DOGG"! A guitar that would serve me well over the next 10 years,Thru 2 cd's,a tour,tons of gigs...unfortunately I would lose him and my beloved PRS to a nasty divorce...sometimes I think I should have a replica of the dogg made...maybe someday.

Friends,Brothers and Sisters.

I have been greatly blessed and loved by the people God has brought into my life. Oddly you never know that from a casual conversation a lifelong friendship can grow. Some friends are like the trees of the forest of my life. Oaks that weather the changes of the seasons the good times and bad. Always there, unchanging and dependable. Some friends come along for a short season, much like a summer rose, they bloom and bring a wonderful fragrance and beauty to your life for a time then they are gone. Leaving you with a lasting memory of your time with them. I've been blessed to have a handful of brothers and sisters. These are men and weman that started out as "hang out" teenagers who I've grown old with. Many have become grand parents. Good people who I could call on anytime for a chat a pray or just a simple laugh. Let me share two examples of friends some life long some seasonal. Main Junior high early 70's walking down the hall on a day they declared would be "wear your clothes backwards"day. Being a stoner and too cool I wasn't gonna partake. I was still getting over being expelled for long hair and I hated that school. walking down the hall coming my way was this guy named Randy...wearing his stuff backwards. Left an amused impression on me. I forget our first meeting it was probably during a pot smoked moment behind the school with all the other stoners. A year or so later I got SERIOUSLY saved! Holy Ghost saved and back then I would share Christ with everyone and just about everything that wasn't nailed down or glued to the wall. One day at school I spent most of the lunch period telling Randy about his need for Jesus. That night he called me at home "HOW DO I GET SAVED?"..."When you were talking to me today I wanted to do it right then and there".".Easy, ask Jesus to forgive you and come into your heart"..OK "click"..a few moments later he calls back.."Ain't I suppose to feel something?" "Ya, that's what happened to me"..".I ain't feeling a thing"...huuum...go do it again"...click...then he calls back and I reassure him we walk by faith not feeling and if he confessed Christ he was in fact SAVED! Randy and I would become involved in the One way In and the early years at the Lighthouse Christian Center. He and I would sit for hours and play music. I would learn my first licks on the guitar with him. I would be best man at his wedding and he would return the favor with my second ex-wife. From mere pups to aged old men we have been brothers and I count myself blessed to have known him. My last few years in Alaska Allison and I got to know this guy who used to deliver mail to the music store she ran. My guitar tech kept telling me about these dinner parties he and Roscoe were having. Roscoe was a total expert on wine and fine food and just one of the coolest guys we had met in a long time. Schedules finally permitted us to attend a meal at his home where we ate and amazing meal. I drank my first class of 300.00 wine and he ,Chris my tech , and myself played some jazz(he played congas) He was a wonderful guy to hang out with,talk about food,wine ,books and music. I was playing a gig at this greek resturaunt a few months later when I called Chris and asked him to bring our wwine expert buddy along(I needed a drummer and bass player that night) Little did I know that that night I would be fullfilling a lifelong dream for Roscoe. He had always dreamed of playing on stage with real pro musicians. I recall He and Chris were looking over the wine with a rather critical eye when I sat down and said"I'll take the house Merlot"...Ross looks at me with a very concerned expression(kinda like a teacher concerned over a failing student) and says"Steve..we have to talk" That night we got up and played jazz and had a great time. He grinned ear to ear all night. When we were done I told him we would do it again soon. I'm sitting at home a week later when Chris calles me and says.."Roscoe has died! He daughter found him in his study inhis chair, heart attack"!!He was a mere 48. Allison and I attended his funeral and we all met at Levlles Bistro where he had helped the owners with the most well stocked wine cellar in all of Alaska. Frank the owner named the cellar atfter him in lew of his passing. I walked away that day with to few memories of my wonderful friend but like the rose thankful for the season I knew him and the feeling I was made a better and wiser(at least in my choice of the wine I drink)man for having known him. In the end..it is not our worldly goods we take to heaven it is all the people we love and who love us in return...I tip my glass to you my friend..God bless you.