James Perley…Power Drummer

Recently I attended the memorial for a close friend and musical brother, James Perley. James passed away on April 30th, 2009 at the age of 46. His band has pics and thoughts on their site, myspace.com/keepyouhanzoff. There you can see the impressive history of this band and what great things they did, who they opened for, etc…

As I was walking through the church parking lot, I started to pass an older man, and slowed to ask him if he was there for the funeral/memorial. He said yes. I asked if he was part of the family, and he replied no…he knew James from his law practice. It struck me just how diversified an age group and cross reference of people James affected. When we got up to the front of the church, there was a long line of people waiting to get in. You saw families, lawyers and professional people in their business suits and a number of musicians dressed a little less formally. I was able to find a seat, but the place was packed and there were people standing as well…and this was no small church.

When the musicians talked about their song selections and that all the songs were played during the last service two weeks prior that James had played drums for them, my eyes started tearing up. They continued with what was a testimony as to James’ coming to grips with eternity and how a sermon preached there by the pastor was as though he was speaking directly to James and everything else faded away. I know that feeling as well. I had a pastor preach about the value of the alabaster jar that Mary anointed Christ with…and when the pastor asked what we had in our alabaster jar to lay at the feet of Christ well, that was my breaking point with Christ where I was broken. I had been praying and it was affirmed for me then. What was interesting was on the day of the memorial, my morning Bible reading, was Isaiah 57. Verses 1-2 (especially verse 2) were the ones I pondered on. Verse 2 says, For the GODly who die, will rest in peace (this is from the Living Translation). I thank GOD for I had shared/talked with James about JESUS and he heard the call. All I did was plant a seed. GOD called and James heard.

I first met James in December of 1981. Why do I remember the time frame? I had someone aka ex-wife tell me that if I didn’t find a band and play a gig by the end of the year (this demand came in the first week of December, 1981), I was to give up my music. Well I went down to the local music store, Gilbert’s Music, and saw an ad for a band needing a lead guitarist. I answered the ad, and got an audition. I went to the garage the band was rehearsing in Newark, CA (basically I traveled down a street called Thornton from the Fremont side where I lived to their place in Newark which was easy). Got down there, got set up, and as we were tuning, the introductions got under way. On bass was Tim Bucher, rhythm guitar was Della Sullivan (whom we have tried to find) and James, who was 17 at the time, was on drums. Later we added a soundman, who is now a killer behind the board with a number of credits to his name, Bob Tiwana. They told me their song list and we started going over the songs we all knew together. The fit was perfect and we had a great time. Well we had to wait for the singer to finalize whether I was in the band or not. She came in from having to work late at her job and we all played a song together. Her first comment about me was, “where’d you find this guy?” With a great compliment like that, I was in. We did our first gig right after Christmas, so I guess I didn’t have to give up my music.

James had this great double bass set of red Slingerland Drums. James was the first drummer I had played with that had bass drums that were that small…22”. He got a great, full, loud sound out of those drums. I asked him how he got such a great sound out of the drums. He shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and said, “wooden knockers”. He had wooden mallets on his pedals that matched his drums. And normally when someone was a power drummer, they had no finesse. James had both and yes he could be dynamic when he wanted to be. The first thing he did that amazed me as to his talent, which as good as he is, was a GOD given talent, was his drum intro for an original song, Rockin’ the Cradle. Where he showed me some serious finesse was in one of my originals, Carry Me On. One night at practice, James let me know he had a surprise for me. At one particular spot in my solo, I did 32nd note triplets. When I went for these triplets, James was right there with me, note for note. And the lick he chose to transcend out when the lick was done…WAS KILLER!!! By the way, James’ favorite drummer at the time was Buddy Rich, which is why he had the Slingerlands.

We played a lot of the local clubs and always went over big time. Some of those clubs were: The Crown & Anchor, and the Ducal Palace in Alameda, The Bohemian and the Brick House in Hayward, Niles Station (an icon and a legacy) and Joe’s Corner in the Niles District of Fremont, the Bodega in Campbell, the Catalyst in the hills between San Jose and Santa Cruz, and Keystone Palo Alto just to name a few.

One of my greatest music memories was with James and Breaking Point. I had written a sappy love song called Baby Hold On and shared it with everyone that night at practice. I thought the song was okay and don’t even know why I shared it. Tami really liked it and the others seemed to think the song was pretty good. I wrote it to sound like, Pat Benatar meets Eddie Money meets Boston. We played it out in the spring of 1982 for the first time at Joe’s Corner in Niles District. We announced this was a debut night for a new song, Baby Hold On. As I started the song with the guitar vamp, the people stayed on the dance floor and more rose out of their seats as well. The dance floor packed. By the second time the chorus came around, the crowd was singing it with us. People used to ask me why I didn’t do drugs…and this is why. The natural high I got after cause and affecting so many people like that was incredible…nothing to buy and no damage to the mind or body. And I could bring it back even now…a great flashback.

Not long after this, the band broke up…and I referred to the band as Broken Point. We had a great band and the crowds enjoyed us as much as we did them. An example of this was when the USS Enterprise left Alameda, the crew asked us to be their fare well gig and it was great.

When the band broke up, he joined Handzoff which was a great band. I went to support them at the battle of the bands, and I thought they should have won. This was the first time I had even seen James with the glitter on his drums. I thought they rocked the house and all of them are great talents as was James.

James had a great law practice where he helped a number of people and had a reputation for being a fair person with his clients. As one of them told me when James represented him, they won the case and James’ fees were more than fair. I had visited him a number of times at his office in Fremont and went to his favorite Chinese restaurant across the street from his office on Paseo Padre Parkway.

He had a wonderful family with his wife, Robi, and his sons, James II, Hunter, Ivanhoe Connor, and Carlynn. His sons continue in their father’s footsteps in music as the creative gifts from James flow through the family. I am sure his daughter will share in these gifts as well.

James was a true talent that not only his family and friends have lost, but the world has lost as well. It seems he excelled in everything he did. I know he cared about others…that was evident not only in the testimonies I heard from others, but the size of the people there to pay their respects. And as I said earlier this is not a small church and it was packed by people who came to pay their respects to both this great man and his wonderful family. My comfort is…that I will be able to see him again. My hopes are that all these people that attended the services will make the same commitment James and I have made or have made the commitment to JESUS and GOD and we will all be together “on the other side.”

CHRISTIAN ROCK: THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN THE WORLD

Back in August of 1994, I was going through some very trying times. During that time I was spending time with a man who made two of my guitars, Pat Serna. He was a borderline Christian Pastor (almost but not quite though he now is a pastor). He saw what I was going through and asked me one simple and life changing question, “Dave, you tell me you are a Christian, but where’s your peace?” I hate it when people ask you a question you can’t answer. I started attending his church which was totally different from my Lutheran background and started attending the church which was a Christian Missionary Alliance.

The pastor, Gary Jung, preached such powerful messages that I denounced the Buddhist Faith and came back to Christianity. Powerful stuff back then. The worship was totally different from the hymns with an organ player. This church had a band…wow! While the music I played was heavier rock, this still got into me. And the message of the alabaster jar and what did I have in mine to lay at the feet of Christ, brought everything into perspective for me.

So I went to the Christian book stores and was on a mission to replace my worldly/secular music with “good, wholesome” rock with a message. I met Shawn Doty from Veil of Ashes at one store in Hayward. Later I met Harold Rosas (who has since gone on to be with the Lord) in Newark. I was first introduced to a cassette (later found the CD) entitled Axemen. Some great bands. Whitecross’ guitarist Rex Carroll was called the Eddie Van Halen of Christian Music and a great player. Saint was a band with a great instrumental, outstanding players. Bride’s We Won’t Go, was great, as were all the others. The two Swedish Bands, Jerusalem and Bjorn Stigsson (from Leviticus) were great. Sonny Larsson from Bjorn’s song blew me away with his vocals. He reminds you of Claus Meine of the Scorpions with incredible range. I have a friend John Lipka, who sounds similar, but a little smoother.

This got me started, and I had never heard of these bands before, other than Stryper, because they toured with Y & T, who I grew up with. Other musicians that some people know who had crossed over from secular to Christian are, drummer Tommy Aldridge (I saw him with Black Oak Arkansas), guitarist Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad (saw him at the same gig…they headlined the show), singer Jeff Fenholt who sang with Black Sabbath and did the part of JESUS in JESUS Christ Superstar, singer John Schlitt who went from Head East to Petra, guitarist Kerry Livgren of Kansas (on his album Seeds of Change, Dio sings a killer song called Live For the King), and John Elefante who sang with Kansas (his Christian band was called Mastedon). Now we have the likes of people like Lou Gramm singing for JESUS and Brian “Head” Welch from Korn, who have joined the ranks. They understand there is more to this life than what we see…there is eternity.

Well I got turned on to all this great Christian music that was to me so powerful, but was dwindling because the church didn’t support it like they should have. I listen to bands like Angelica, Barren Cross, Impellitari, Guardian, Deliverance, Holy Soldier, Fighter, Fear Not, Petra, Joshua, Mastedon, REZ Band, Sign of the Times, Sin Dizzy, Michael Sweet, Bloodgood, Legend Seven, The Brave…well let’s just say we have a collection of about 1200 vinyl, tapes and CD’s.

Two that stand out for me that are not of the hard rock music are Phil Keaggy and Beverly Rivers. As a guitarist, Phil Keaggy is so far above the curve, it is unfair to compare him to anyone else. I once told him I changed the word phenomenal for him. I call him Philnomenal. My wife says it perfectly about Phil Keaggy; he is in a class by himself. Beverly Rivers is like Phil Keaggy in many ways. They are both natural talents that are well above the formal training that the schools provide. In a very short time, Bev taught herself how to play keyboards. She doesn’t know what she is doing and does a great job coming up with her own material. In the studio, I have watched Bev do everything in one take. She is the only singer I know who can switch from singing low to high without changing her volume or have to move the mike away when she goes from Gospel to an operatic high soprano. And yes I feel blessed to have met and know these two truly GOD gifted musicians. They make me want to throw all my schooling away so I can be like them.

If you want to get an idea of what some of these Christian bands sound like, click on some of the radio stations on this blog, or google search Christian bands and go to places like radrockers.com. If you are a rocker, you will be pleasantly surprised by what these Christian bands have to offer.

What's happened to Krazy Dave?

Greetings Music Lovers,

Many have asked, "What's happened to Krazy Dave and why is this blog not updated?" Well, I am here to answer that question and update you on upcoming events.

My name is Sue Hamlett. Some call me Mrs. Krazy, some call me Mrs. DOG (Dave On Guitar). First off, I want to update you on KD's whereabouts and why this blog has not been kept updated. He is fine (no health problems) but he has been busy with his music students and making his very own CD. We were hoping the CD would have been finished for the new year. However, we had a personal challenge where we had to move so it took up much time where KD could not spend time with his CD or blogging, which he loves to do...anything that has to do with music he loves.

We both have a project that we want to fulfill...personalized online guitar / bass lessons. I have done a lot of research in that area and have found online guitar / bass lessons but they are not personalized. Some offer subscriptions to their online music library--unlimited lessons for X amount of $$$. Their prices are reasonable (with the subscription) but nothing offered for personalized lessons. KD loves teaching his music students and wants to offer personalized instruction online with the student's preferred music genre. Plus get the student playing within a month.

We plan to advertise a free lesson on this blog once a month, along with a hyperlink to the New Music Lesson Site. Does this sound like something you all would be interested in? Please comment and make suggestions regarding this here. Provide us a way to contact you back so we can further discuss your ideas and suggestions. Your Comments, Ideas and Suggestions are very important to both of us and we look forward to hearing back from you.

Everyone-Have a blessed New Year. Let's ROCKKKK in 2010.

PLIGHT OF A DISC JOCKEY

In the summer of 1985, I was sharing a house some friends. They had another renter that I formed a friendship with, Kent Eriksen, and we became pals hanging and going places together. While I spent most of my time in the East Bay, From Oakland, CA to Fremont, CA, Kent grew up in Redwood City, CA, which is called the Peninsula. Kent graduated from the Columbia School of Broadcasting and when you hear him speak, you can tell he is a radio DJ...he’s got that kind of voice. We had a lot of fun hanging together as he introduced me to his friends in the radio industry. They were all from the local stations I listened to, the FM arena rock and hard rock stations. And Kent would go to the local jam nights with me, and enjoy the local talent that played there, and watch me go crazy as well.

When we first met, he was putting together a book called The Baby Band Book. The names went from crazy to cool with all kinds of words and combinations. He got all of us to contribute a few names to finalize the book. On the front cover was local rocker, Eddie Money. The first picture on the inside was a truly great guitar player, Jimmy Lyons, from the Eddie Money Band. The next picture in the book was the lead guitarist from the band Stagecoach, taken a Keystone Berkeley, me. Other pictures of local talent were in the book as well, my good friend Leroy Silva, Dave and Dan Moreno, Penny Piper, and others. Recently Kent and I reconnected and he told me the book sold on ebay for $100.00.

His handle on the radio stations was The Kent. We had similar tastes in music and from what I remember Jeff Beck was probably his favorite at the time. Later on he turned me onto Jeff Beck’s Guitar Workshop album. Wow!! He has also shared a few of the stories that happened to him behind the scenes. So let’s have some fun. Here are the incidents in Kent’s own words:

“It was the summer of 1985......I think--strolled into KSJO.....small talk chat with the receptionist, a few people of the staff.....began setting up camp in my 'cubicle of music madness'. Hoisted my headphones on...began setting up the mixer board---and low and behold>>ShaZamm Zap...Electricity...Zap. I had gotten an electric shock from one of the control knobs, which sent me falling backwards and off my chair......thus, causing me to get a whiplash.
Sometime in 1984...........I did a favor for a dj friend of mine---he needed someone to take his place, so he could go to a party. I had just worked 8 hrs earlier......but, the money was good--so I said no problem. About 3 a.m........my friend-Larry......left his party, and was heading back to the station--he turned on the radio station--and heard me snoring in the background while the song "Nobody does it Better" by Carly Simon....play again, and again......and again. Larry arrived.....and woke me up!”
Interesting stuff...

When we were living together I found out it was easy to sneak up on Kent and scare him. So I took full advantage of it. I’d sneak up on him at his window on the first floor and yell or patiently sneak up on him in the gravel driveway (I could do it too) and yell and touch him at the same time. He was a great victim. My favorite time was late one night we went a jam night. He came home with the other room mates after I did. We had a laundry room at the back of the house that was an add on. This house was over 110 years old and this room was more of an afterthought attachment. I waited forever as Kent took his time smoking a cigarette and I guess looking at the stars. Well he finally came in and as he entered the room which was unlit, I grabbed him by the knee and roared at him. His reaction was priceless. I laughed so hard as he told me we needed to take his head out of the ceiling and pay for a new pair of underwear.

At the end of our stay, they were preparing to tear the house down. Power was cut, so they ran power from a neighbor’s apartment. The kids from the family we were living with had a band called Atomic Serenade. They later added new members and formed a band called Fungo Mungo and released one really good album...if you like Primus and good bands of that caliber. Well...they had a destroy the house party. Kent and I were outside working on my truck. Beer kegs were thrown through windows and through slam dancing the house became a victim with walls and plumbing being destroyed. First of all, we didn’t buy them the beer and they were all under age. We took a break and went to 7-11 for some coffee. As we were entering back onto the property, the police were converging on the party. They told us to stop and we didn’t. Kent and I made it to the old tank house behind the property and climbed up the ladder to the second floor, pulling the ladder up behind us. There were some cabinets that were big for us to hide in. So we climbed inside and covered up the openings with plywood to conceal us. The cops shined their flashlights up there a number of times. We hid up there for about 2 hours. Mike Johnson, Atomic Serenade and later Fungo Mungo’s guitar player, recently reminded me of this comic event. That was all we would have needed...to be busted at a party of drinking minors for contributing to something we didn’t do. We go a chance to see the damage the following day. Man those kids were a great wrecking crew.

It is too bad that the house was torn down. The history that those walls held was priceless. Recently Kent sent me one of the door knobs from that old house. Pretty cool.

The Past Touching the Present

Due to some new meetings that have happened, I need to retrace some tracks down memory lane. Here is an excerpt from my blog Euphoria - The First Band:


“Curtis Soward was our manager and like another brother to me. I spent a lot of time at his house as well. The way I met Curtis’ parents was they came home after being out of town and into the middle of a party Curtis had going at his/their house and yes we were still allowed to party, music and all (at 20 I had gone through GOD’s one step program and didn’t drink or do drugs). His parents were some really great people. Most of the gigs we played were for the Skyline High crowd. Curtis was Mr. Popularity and once the party was on, he would pull out his 3 phone books, call everybody and their brother. The houses were always so packed, we had to rope off an area for the band to move and put on a show. After the band broke up, Curtis put on some shows with local talent like the Tommy Dee Band and Rubicon. Because of his way with people he met many famous people and had books with pictures of these rock stars and all. I know, because when he died (which hit me like two tons of bricks), his parents gave me those books. It’s hard to lose a brother….”


It has been explained to me recently that Curtis’ parents were not out of town…they had gone to the movies and Curtis threw the party.


Recently, I had attended a meeting for my wife’s internet business in LA. They had an incredible speaker by the name of Stephen Pierce doing the meeting. We drove down Saturday morning, went to the meeting, and came straight home…what a day. When the meeting ended, we were outside talking with people and the town Oakland came up. A pretty young lady turned toward me and asked me about Oakland, saying I looked familiar and she was sure she knew me. I said that I used to play music in Oakland. She asked me if I knew her father? I asked her what was his name, to which she replied Curtis Soward. I grabbed her and we both started crying. She had prayed and written down a goal that she wanted to meet a friend of her father’s the week before. As a comment on the prayer, my wife put it properly, when you ask of GOD, you get the best, and we were best friends…or more like brothers. Her best friend and mom were part of Stephen Pierce’s entourage from St. Louis, MO (if you have ever been there in the summer, St. Louis is not in the state of Missouri, it is in the state of Misery). She had shared this goal with them so there were four of us crying.


This is the perfect example of a divine appointment. Brandee’s grandparents had this beautiful house in Oakland, CA, with a creek running through the front yard and lots of trees and vegetation. If you wandered a block or so from their house, you had left the oasis and entered back into the concrete jungle. I hadn’t been over for awhile and they moved from the house. I had lost track of them and had tried to find them without success.


A great deal of old memories have flooded in since our meeting. I have shared some things with both Brandee and Crystal about their father. Going places with Curtis was an adventure. You couldn’t afford to be shy. Curtis could walk into a room full of strangers and walk out with all of their numbers and a warm relationship with everyone of them. He never bragged on himself, but he was confident in what he knew he could do. He was a good listener, a compassionate and good friend. His people skills were so good and he was so natural at it, if he had gone into politics, he is the only person I know that had a chance at the Presidency. His widow, Lynn, told me two things, one which I kind of remember. He had figured out how to gain the services of Lear Jets without owning them and was putting together a service company, that rented out Lear Jets and Limos. He was talking about me being one of the limo drivers. The other that was far more important to me was that Curtis had dedicated his life to Christ. The wonderful thing about this is that I know that when it’s time for me to “go home”, my close friend and brother, Curtis will be there as well….


Brandee, who is Curtis’ oldest daughter, is the mother of Nikos, a 2 year old that is working on speaking 3 languages and loves drums and guitar. I get the feeling he will become a student of mine. Brandee is the successful business woman of an advertising agency. She is successful because Curtis passed on his giftings and some great traits. You can sense and see the powerful presence that I remember in her father. I have no doubt that Brandee will be a force in the advertising world, or anywhere she chooses to be.


Brandee was in LA to open up a new office and was supposed to be on a plane for home, not at the meeting I was at. She opted to stay and take a later flight home. My wife and I almost didn’t go due to a sick animal. It all happened because GOD wanted it to.


We got together with her grandparents, Curtis’ parents, eight days later on a Sunday for dinner and time together. It was so good to see Keith and Vi, who were like another set of parents to me. Keith was probably one of the most creative wild life painters I had ever seen. I remember watching him pull out feathers from birds he had hunted to make the colors. His mother, Vi, is a very smart woman and when we got together for that great meal, I remembered one of the staples around the Soward household, Italian Mayo. Things were added to the mayo to give it more twang. We had a great time together.


Crystal is Curtis’ younger daughter and like her father has a big heart. Like me, she and her husband, Eric are Christians, real Christians. Brandee told me that Crystal is a Christian singer and yes, as they would say, girl got voice. I am looking forward to working with her on that voice and recording her voice. I am already working on a song, she’d be perfect for. We met her husband, Eric, who unfortunately was unable to be at the grandparent’s house that Sunday. I liked Eric right away. You could feel the same spirit in him that is in Crystal. They are wonderful young people. The two best words I can find to describe Eric and Crystal are genuine and compassionate.


I feel that if Curtis could look down on his daughters and their families, he’d be proud of them. I know I am as well as being blessed by having them back in my life as well. And it was so good to reconnect with their step-mother, Lynn as well. She has two sons with Curtis that she has told me will need to have me share with them as to who their father was as well. All I can say is when GOD blesses, He blesses…and these are people I need back in my life as well.

Some Music Trivia-Part 1 Foreigner

I remember when Foreigner first arrived on the scene in the mid 70’s. Their first album Foreigner is still my favorite album…every song was a winner as far as I was concerned. Starrider was the first song I heard from the album. And then I heard Feels Like the First Time. The band I was in at the time added Feels like the First Time to our play list. We had the vocals and players to pull it off. Three of the members of this talented band I was familiar with. The other members though not known to me at the time were great as well.

Ian McDonald played in my favorite line-up of King Crimson. This was the first generation of King Crimson players. They were Robert Fripp (a very innovative guitarist), Michael Giles (one of my favorite drummers/percussionists), Gregg Lake (Emerson, Lake, and Palmer), Ian McDonald (keyboards and wind instruments), and Peter Sinfield (lyrics). Ian’s keyboard work was powerful. The swells and emotions he played on a mellotron in songs like Epitaph and The Court of the Crimson King were absolutely incredible. His flute work in I talk to the Wind, haunting and beautiful. 21st Century Schizoid Man had so many great parts, April Wine redid the song. The melodic part of Mood Child is sweet. All aspects of this album from the instrumental parts to the melodies and the beautiful quality of Greg Lake’s voice, to the incredible lyric writing makes this album my favorite of all time. It was released in 1969 with an incredible cover done by Barry Godber. I would call the music progressive with a classical flavor.

On a side note, Peter Sinfield is probably my main inspiration for lyric writing. He wrote with such depth and power, creating word pictures that you could close your eyes to see the images he wrote about. Both the music and the lyrics are what empower a song, with the lyrics defining that power….whether good or evil. Mine are about GOD and that is good.

Mick Jones, another Englishmen, came from the band, Spooky Tooth. Probably the most notable member of Spooky Tooth was Gary Wright (Dream Weaver). Mick’s guitar playing was always very tasteful. My favorite Spooky Tooth album was The Mirror. Two of the songs off that album that I enjoyed were, The Mirror and I’m Alive, both of which I am thinking of Christianizing in rewrites.

On another side note: Spooky Tooth was a band I had followed since the Spooky Two album (yes I am that old and did say album). Luther Grosvenor aka Ariel Bender (killer guitarist for a British Band called Widowmaker), was the guitarist on that album, and was a really great player…check out his solo on a song called Evil Woman. I caught them on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert one night in the very early 70’s doing a killer hard slow rock version (not a ballad) of the Beatles’ song I Am The Walrus. I was so thunderstruck, the first band I played in, Euphoria, did it that way.

Finally there was an American, Lou Gramm. He looked familiar and sounded familiar…and then it came to me. I searched my album collection and low and behold, I found him. In 1974, there was a band called Black Sheep. The singer was the same person…a little different name, but the same person. His whole name is Louis “Lou” Grammatico. They did a song that got national airplay that was a “cover” song. The song was Woman, originally done by Free (Paul Rogers). While I mean no disrespect to the great singer Paul Rogers was and is still to this day (My wife and I have seen him twice and both shows were great), Lou’s voice was incredible on the song. They slowed the groove down and Lou just wowed me with his vocals. But I am sure all of us Foreigner fans know how good Lou Gramm is. He did two solo albums and on a few songs had a guitarist I would love to learn from….Dann Huff from Giant. What really excites me is Lou Gramm will be coming out with a new record/CD soon. The great thing is Lou is a Christian and the new record will be Christian Rock. I can’t wait.

To those of you that don’t know how good Christian Rock is, ask me for some bands and I’ll be glad to direct you to them. Christian Rock is the best kept secret in the world…but some of the world/secular musicians are finding out there is more than just this world.

Humbling Gig

As I said in an earlier blog entry, Euphoria Gigs, that I never put on airs of who I “thought” I was. As Euphoria started out, we played a lot of gigs. At one of the earlier gigs, we were the second bill band. I don’t remember the other bands…sorry.

I liked being out in the crowd, because I never really saw myself as a “different” person, or “special” because I played guitar and wrote songs. If I was “special” then so was everyone else, because we are all “good” or “special” at something. However when I played, my philosophy was to give people more than their money’s worth, so that way they will come back for more…that’s probably why my knees are in such bad shape, with surgery on one of them.

As I was standing there, another young man came up and stood beside me. We said the usual greeting to each other (“What’s happening, dude”) and then he asked me what bands were playing. I named the other two and told him I was in the 2nd band. He asked me if we were any good. I basically told him that I could play like a ringing-a-bell and be a monster player, but if he didn’t like my style, it wouldn’t make a difference. So I suggested that after we were done with our performance that night that he come and tell me what his thoughts were, and that if there was anything I needed to change, I would listen to him. He said cool, and walked off to be with the friends he came with.

I got dressed in some wild clothes and went on stage. We did a great set, and the people in the crowd let us know we smoked the house down. Euphoria had some talented musicians that I was proud to say I played with. As I got off the stage, I saw the smiling face of that young man I had talked to earlier. He ranted and raved about what a great player I was and I could feel the pedestal he was trying to put me on, sliding underneath my feet. I backed off that pedestal, so I could see him eye to eye once again.

I thanked him for his wonderful comments and then asked him what he did for a living. He told me he was a carpenter working on some track homes in the city of San Leandro, CA. I looked him in the eye and told him, so you get to build things that you get to look at and see the fruits of your labor, to which he nodded yes. My response was gee, I wish I could do that. I watched his smile broaden all the more, when I shared my appreciation of him, just as he had done for me. I didn’t want to be worshipped for something that was as easy for me to do, as framing is to a carpenter, or rebuilding a motor is to a mechanic. I didn’t tell him though that my day job at the time was as a carpenter building custom homes, because my goal was to get him to appreciate who he was.

A paraphrase from Khalil Gibran’s famous book The Prophet sums up my philosophy concerning humility, which is what this is all about. This was in a section of the book called work, where someone asked about working to which Khalil replied: We have a tendency to praise the bakery for all the wonderful pastries he makes, but forget about the farmer who plants the field. We praise the maker of the clothes who puts a rainbow of color in the cloth, but forget the one who makes the common sandals for our feet. But I say unto you, the sweetness of the breeze whispers no more softly to the giant oaks than to the lesser blades of grass.

I see high-mindedness as one of the single most destructive forces in human relationships. To think one is better than others ruins opportunities to meet some really great people who could fulfill empty places in one’s life. As a Christian, I see it as one of the more destructive forces in the church. JESUS didn’t say to sanctify and set your self apart from others, but to sanctify (set apart) to be His body and Church to others. After all He told the religious order of that time, when they shared their disgust of whom He was spending His time with, that He came for the sick and not the well.

Goal number one for me is to share with everyone regardless of station, age, or anything else is that we were all created by a master creator, GOD. We are born into a greatness that GOD created us for. However Christ put it in perspective, if you want to lead, you need to serve. I’d love see everyone grow into that greatness…