The Musician... see you among the stars

I returned to the house to tell Richie the good news that we were moving into 19th Street at the beginning of the month. Richie became very excited, because he liked the house. He suggested we try to find jobs quickly. I went to the Hill area the next day, and went into a few stores to ask if they were hiring. They all said no. I was standing on the corner, and noticed that the shoe store guy was overwhelmed with customers. I walked in and immediately asked the customers if I could help them. The manager looked at me while he was putting shoes on a customer. The woman said that she wanted to try a certain shoe. I told her have a seat, and proceeded to the back of the stock area to find the shoes. The manager freaked. I sold the shoes, took the money, went to the cash register, rung it up, and then I helped the next person. When it was all over, I had sold three pairs of shoes. The manager had only sold one. The manager told me that I was terrific. I replied, Would you give me a job? He said that he couldn´t, because it was a one man operation. However, I´ll call my friends across the street at the clothing store. I´ll recommend you highly, and I´ll tell them you´re on your way over to speak with them. You´re a good salesman, he told me. I then proceeded to Morris Albert, the clothing store, and the manager told me that he didn´t need anyone at this time. I told him thanks anyway.

Richie was looking for a job also with no luck. We had three weeks before we were going to move in to the house on 19th Street and we both needed a jobs. Boulder was tough. There were all these people hanging out with no jobs. We checked the Boulder paper, The Daily Camera, and there was nothing in the want ads. The band had broken-up. We had to the end of the month to get out which was fine, because Richie and I had a place to go to, but no money to move in. We needed $90.00 bucks to give to Seed. I didn´t want to call my mother for financial help, but I eventually did. She bitched at me on the phone about the music thing and asked me to return home. With a great deal of arguing and begging, she finally sent me $100.00. Actually, I think that my wonderful sister Marie had heard that I was starving, and she sent me the $100.00. Richie and I moved in to the 19th Street house and I gave Seed the $90.00. How we had to worry about food and we had to try and find the next month rent. We were living on cheese sandwiches and tuna fish. Occasionally we would tap into Seed´s food. He didn´t like it, although he didn´t say much about it.

Seed was still selling pot with his buddy John through the house. They always had a kilo of pot broken open on the living room table so that anyone who came over could help themselves anytime they wanted. Pot was never a problem at our house. We weren´t eating very well. Some neighbors had heard that we were starving, and we occasionally found a box of food on our doorstep. The food didn´t last very long, and I was starving so much that I hocked my Fender Telecaster for $60.00. I bought food for the house and then I went to the Food Stamp office for help. If we had food, we could think and feel more clearly.

The Food Stamp office refused to help, because I hocked my guitar and received as they put it, income. I was really starving when I walked in, and I wasn´t kidding. I was in a very serious and desperate situation. The Food Stamp office then told me that if I didn´t hock the guitar, they would have giving me the stamps. That was what I didn´t want to hear. I started yelling at them, telling them that the reason I hocked my guitar, a precious belonging of mine, was because I was starving. I needed food! The money is gone, the food is gone, and now I have no food or guitar. They told me to come in again next month to reapply. I walked out very pissed and angry that the government wouldn´t help. What a fucked-up system they have.

I went back home depressed, and told Richie and Seed what had happened. Richie asked if they processed my application. I told him, No ...We never got that far. I just filled out the opening sheet that they gave me, and when they asked if I had anything of value, I put down that I had hocked the guitar. Richie the scam man told me to go back, maybe you´ll see someone else, and don´t put down the guitar. Make believe your walking in for the first time. I said, OK ...I´ll try it. I don´t give a shit. What do I have to lose. The next day, I returned back to the Food Stamp office, and Richie was right. I didn´t see the same person, and I didn´t put down the hocking of the guitar. However, just before I was going to be issued the food stamps, the same guy who interviewed me yesterday walked into the office. He took one look at me, stopped for a moment and thought. He looked at me again, realizing who I was, stood for a moment thinking again, and walked out without saying a word. I thought to myself that he knew who I was, and now I was caught. To my surprise, they finally gave me the Food Stamps. The max., $75.00 worth. Apparently, the first interviewer made me slide. That was nice of him.

Then the next day, I told Richie about the entire process he needed to go through to get the Food Stamps. Richie decided to go and give it a shot. Richie was successful, and they gave him the same amount of Food stamps. How we had plenty of food and we were once again happy and thinking clearly. Once we had some decent food in us, it made me think of how terrible starving was. Especially going through the system. I had freaked out. I prayed earnestly to God that he would never put me in that situation again. However, I was still afraid that I was going to be in that situation again. I had no skills, except as a musician, and the music scene was dead. I could be a salesman, but I hate selling. As a salesman, you have to lie, trick, and con people into giving up their money. I never liked being a phony. I loved playing and performing music. I didn´t know what the future would hold. This starving situation did a number on my head.

Richie faced with the same situation, decided to enroll into CU. He had called his parents and they said that they would pay for the tuition if he received residency. Richie applied, and needed $100.00 for the enrollment. His parents sent him the $100.00. He went to the bank to get a money order made out to the college. The woman clerk made a mistake and added an extra zero on the money order making the money order out for $1000.00 instead of $100.00. Richie then went to the college, and he convinced the college to give him a check back for $900.00. Richie quickly returned home with the money, and quickly cashed the check. How we had money for the rent and we didn´t have to worry for a couple of months. A week later, the bank manager came to the house looking for Richie. I told the bank manager he did not live here anymore, and that was that. We never saw the bank manager again.

Now we had food and money for rent and we didn´t have to worry for awhile. The pressures were off us, and we could decide what our next step was. As we walked down the street, all these girls would come to us asking if we had a place where they could stay. We had many girls walking hanging around the house and sharing our beds. It is most incredible. There was no problem with women and sex. Sex was a natural thing and girls loved having it with almost anyone. The love is in the air, and people just wanted to be with one another. Guys and girls were always together having fun. There was never any mention of rape, happening anywhere. If a girl didn´t want to have sex with you, no problem, because there was someone else that would if one needed it. People loved being together. It is wonderful here in Boulder. What a paradise.

Richie and I went to the Hill to hang out. We went into the record store called, The King of the Hill, with a giant, King Kong, on the big sign in front of the store. We were looking at all the latest releases, and I asked the salesman if the new Chicago Transit Authority album had come out. The guy said, Yes, it just came out yesterday and they changed their name to, Chicago. I said, Why is that? He said that they had got sued from by the Transit Authority of Chicago, therefore, they had to change their name. I told the clerk that it sounds ridiculous. I asked Richie if he would buy me the album, and Richie did. We then went directly back to 19th Street to listen to it on Seed´s stereo system. The album was just as great as the first, and as I was listening to it, I remembered the musical section that I heard in the studio when I was recording with Joey Dee. We listened to the album over and over again, and I became very inspired by the awe of it. This band is so good and tight. Their arrangements are so complicated with distinction, and yet, the lyrics are so beautiful with the vocal harmonies, that it boggles my mind that such a band can exist. The musicians are superb, and the guitar player is ten times better than Jimi Hendrex, without a doubt. The album was just released, and yet, I can´t wait for their next album. I just can not get enough of them. I haven´t felt this way about music since The Beatles.

Richie had bought a cheap Volkswagen Bug, and we drove into the mountains almost everyday. We went to Flagstaff Mountain, which is the very first mountain close to Boulder, and easy to get to. There is a small amphitheater located at the top overlooking Boulder. It is very beautiful and picturesque. We nearly went there every night after dinner to watch the sun go down. We were also turned on to another picturesque view close by. It was called the Eagles Nest. There, you could have a wonderful view of the western mountains and the Continental Divide. You could sit in a little cup of rocks that hang off the edge, and all you hear is silence. It is my favorite place. Then some people invited us to this place called
Dream Canyon. If you didn´t know how to get there it was difficult to find. Dream Canyon was a nice place to bath in a stream. It was surrounded by steep canyon walls, and it is a great experience. Many people went there from Boulder. A lot of girls also went there and they bathed without clothes. It was natural and most wonderful. Most of the guys who lived in the mountains wore beards. Eventually I grew a beard and I looked very funky. The girls liked it very much. I finally had the image of a mountain man. Richie and I were now enjoying all there was to enjoy about living in Boulder, Colorado. Most of the people who lived in Boulder were either supported by their parents or were very wealthy, except for the transients who were like Richie and I, are just POOR!

One early morning while I was in a deep sleep, I had heard someone knocking at the front door. I was hoping that someone in the house would answer it. Then I heard someone calling out in the living room... Hello.... Hello. I got up and looked to see a police officer standing in the living room. The living room was very dark and there was an
open kilo of marijuana sitting in the middle openly right on the living room table. If the cop looked down at the table it would have been all over. I nervously said, Can I help you? The officer said that he was looking for Richie who failed to pay a ticket, and who now had a warrant against him. I told the officer that Richie was sleeping in his room, and that I would wake him up. I asked the officer, Could you please wait outside. The officer was very nice and said OK. He never looked down at the kilo of pot on the living room table. I quickly woke-up Richie. I told him to go with the officer quickly, because he almost saw the kilo of pot sitting on the table. Richie jumped up, got dressed quickly, and went outside to the officer. They went to the court to pay the ticket. I then woke-up Seed and told him that we just had a close call. The cop was standing right next to the pot. Lets not keep the pot in view anymore. Seed was so frightened that he quickly agreed. From that day on there was never any pot in the house, in view.

I needed to buy a new set of jeans, and the only place in town was Morris Albert, the clothing store where I tried to get a job. I was looking very funky. My new beard was very long, and my jeans were e extremely dirty. I went into the shop to try on a new set of jeans. I folded the other ones that I tried that did not fit. The bosses son, Ronnie Albert, said that he liked how I folded the jeans so quickly. I told him that I had worked in a clothing store in the past, and that I tried to get a job in his store when I arrived in Boulder. Ronnie asked me if I wanted to work here and I said yes. Surprisingly, he hired me. I could not believe that I applied for a job here looking nice and clean, and I was refused. Then I come here looking very dirty and funky, and they hire me. Weird! So now I´m working for Morris Alpert, right on the Hill in Boulder. Great...a job!

The manager of Morris Albert was Skip, a really nice, warm, funny guy, and the owner was Geno Alpert. Apparently, Morris Alpert was Geno´s father, and I heard he was very old. Ronnie who is Geno´s son is the one who hired me. In a few days, they loved me very much, because I was a diligent worker and salesman. I would walk to work everyday, and return home the same way. They were paying me $6.00 and hour which was a good salary at the time. I was meeting many people, especially girls. It was the only place in town for Unisex clothes. However, there was a place across the street that had some clothes. It was called, Maudies Flea Market. It had all sorts of things, smoking pipes; rugs; neon lights; stuffed animals; etc. The manager of that place was Leroy. He was a handsome young Mexican guy. I had heard that the owner of Maudies was gay, and that is why he liked Leroy. Maudies tried to give slick competition to Morris Alpert, but they never succeeded.

I worked for Morris Alpert for about two years straight. There was a barber shop next door to Morris Alpert, and the barber name was Dennis. Dennis came to me and asked if I would be willing to participate in an experiment. He told me that they were experimenting with a new hair replacement system called, Hair Weaving, and he wanted to use me for practicing the hair weaving replacement. I was losing hair rapidly, but I was not interested. Finally after much talk about the experiment with Dennis, I agreed to participate. The entire process took place in Longmont, Colorado. They sat me down in a chair and sewed onto my hair a very fine tread line which surrounded the top of my scalp. It was extremely tight, I knew it was not good for the remaining hair on my scalp, but the process had already been completed. I just went along with it. Then they took a patch of human hair which was the same size of the weave, and the sew the hair patch onto the weave. Once everything was in place, they then styled the hair, and it looked remarkable. You could not tell by looking, but if you felt it closely you could barely feel it. I told them that it looked great, and then I asked them to remove it. They suggested that I wear it for a few days. I told them, no. They said that I didn´t have to pay for it, but that they wanted me to wear it for at least a couple of months. They wanted to know how long it would take before it became loose. I told them no. I wanted it off. Then Dennis said, Look how good you look. I said yes it does look good, but if I go back to the house everyone will know I´m wearing it. They guaranteed me that no one would know the difference. They´ll just think that you got a haircut or I doubt that the would even guess that closely. We discussed it for awhile and I eventually agreed to wear it.

I arrived back to the house. Seed was in the living room, and he didn´t notice anything different. Richie knew that I was going to the experiment, and he thought my new hair looked great. Everyone else I ran into, including everyone at work, didn´t realize the difference. Except, I was getting better results with the girls. They were all of a sudden liking me, much, much better. I was suddenly more attractive, and I had noticed it from the start. My relationships with females had doubled and I was enjoying every minute of it. However, I was afraid that they would notice or touch my head and find out the truth. I instinctually developed a method of keeping girls hands off my hair. After about three weeks, it started to get a little loose as the hair that was holding the weave underneath grew. I looked underneath the hair in the mirror and I couldn´t believe the damage that the weave caused to the small amount of hair that I had left. Also, it became very itchy at times causing me to scratch under the hair piece. Three weeks later, I went back to the people who originally did the weave for a cleaning and tightening. They took off the weave, and I could believe how little hair I had left on the top of my head. It was frightening. I now realized that I was totally bald on top. They cleaned my scalp very thoroughly. It felt much needed, and pleasurable. Then they reattached the piece, and once again I looked fantastic. They charged me $20.00. I didn´t know how to deal with baldness. In the music business it is dreadful. It was my worse nightmare and I needed to somehow in the future confront the issue, and accept the fact that I was now bald. I made me very upset and very unhappy, and at the same time the hair piece improved my sex life considerably. I needed to come to grips with the issue of baldness. That Adorn hair spray stuff really fucked my hair up for good. The only one who knew I was wearing a hair piece was Richie, and he never told anyone.

I had heard that Leroy, the manager of Maudies Flea Market across the street from Morris Alpert, was looking for someone to work, I recommended Richie, and he got the job. After a few weeks Richie told me that Leroy was steeling money from the store big time. This went on for months, and Richie saw every move and played dumb. Then unexpectedly, the manager Leroy apparently stole the weekend profits and disappeared with a girl he was madly in love with. He had left a note that he would repay the money someday, and the owner got very pissed. The owner put out an all points bulletin with the police and they eventually caught Leroy somewhere in Nevada trying to get married. This left an opening for Richie and I to work together in the same store. Richie and I quickly went to Denver to speak with the owner in person. I came on to the owner in a gayish way, the owner fell for it, and hired me as the new assistant manager at a higher salary then at Morris Alpert. I gave Morris Alpert a one week notice and joined Maudies.

Richie knowing that Leroy was ripping the store of for at least $100.00 a day without the owner ever knowing it, continued to dip into the till. Richie took $50.00 and I took $50.00 to keep everything going as usual. The owner was very happy that things were going on as normal. Every time we went to Denver to stock up on goods for our store in Boulder, no one ever made an inventory check of what we took. We took cases of Bamboo rolling paper and brought it to our house. We took many carpets and decorated our house. All sorts of things. Then one day, the owner took us to this storeroom where he had all these refurbished jeans that have been sitting there for years. He was desperate to get rid of these jeans. The owner thinking we were great salesmen, because of all the stuff we were taking week by week, and said to us could you try to get rid of this stuff in Boulder. Richie and I told him no problem. We loaded a truck full of these refurbished jeans, brought them to the Boulder store, and ran a special ad in the paper which read, Refurbished Jeans, $19.95 ea. .. No one will know. The people stormed the store unexpectedly buying the jeans like crazy. The money was pouring in and in one day we grossed $1400.00. Our normal gross was $400.00 minus the $100.00 Richie and I shared. We reported $300.00 a day as Leroy did. However, reporting $1400.00 gross would be a catastrophe, because the main store in Denver always grossed $600.00 a day and if we were to beat them by double, the fairies working there would have been on our ass constantly. So we called in a gross of $700.00. We told them that the reason we were up was because we had the sale on the jeans. The fairies replied, Good show. Well done, try to do that tomorrow. We told them that we needed more jeans. They told us to come down and get them. We did. Richie and I pocketed in one day $350.00 each.

The next day was fantastic. It was Saturday and everyone came from everywhere to buy these jeans. Richie and I grossed an unbelievable $2,200.00. We told them that we didn´t have as good a day as yesterday. Then Richie asked them how they did, and they replied that they did $750.00. So Richie replied that we only did $600.00. The fairies were very happy that they beat us, and Richie and I pocketed that day, $800.00 each.

On Sunday, Richie and I decided to go shopping, and we went to the biggest camping store. We bought two $300.00 sleeping bags, and two backpacks with stoves and all the extra gear. We had even bought some freeze-dried-food as well. We spent $1,200.00 and still had a lot of money left over. That night Richie and I went to Flagstaff Mountain in the cold to try the sleeping bags out which were supposed to go down to 20 below zero. They were goose-down bags, and they worked perfectly. While we were laying in them, and the wind started picking up to about 50 miles an hour. I told Richie, Let´s go back to the house and sleep in our beds.

Monday morning we returned to work. I asked Richie to cover for me, because I wanted to go buy a stereo. I bought a nice turntable, amplifier, and speakers. I also bought a real nice reel to reel tape deck that does over-dubbing, for my room. Now I had a real nice, comfortable recording setup in my house. I felt like a normal person, and everything was fantastic. Seed was shocked at how well we were doing, although we never told Seed or any one else that we were ripping off the store. It was just between Richie and I. Morris Alpert could not believe how well Richie and I were doing, and we were giving them a run for the money. It took us two more weeks to completely sell all the jeans. Richie and I went back to normal routine of just ripping off the $100.00 a day scam.

I really didn´t like ripping off the store. While I was at Morris Alpert for two years, I had never took anything although I was partially aware that Skip the manager was. I always kept my mouth shut. There were two occasions where Skip tried to rob some jeans, and he got caught, but not personally. The owner Geno suspected me both times, and I still kept my mouth shut. Geno liked, and trusted Skip too much, and although Geno didn´t really think that I was behind it, he tried to accuse me in front of Skip. Again, I didn´t like the idea of ripping off Maudies, but Richie didn´t have a conscience. I went along with it, because I was broke. Although I had a job, and I was making decent money for the time and the place, it really was not very much. Boulder is a place for rich kids. There is no middle class. You either got it or you don´t. If you don´t you´re struggling. Richie and I struggled for over two years and even had to resort to getting Food-Stamps, which is very demeaning to a human. Richie and I were so poor at one time that we went into a super market and put steaks underneath our shirts so we could eat a decent meal. It was not right what we were doing, but for the time it was an opportunity, and we grabbed it. It was an opportunity to live more comfortable, and to have some extra cash so that we could go out and enjoy ourselves like everyone else.

Richie had a plan in ripping the store off. It wasn´t easy. As we sold during the day, we did not ring up certain items correctly which created a surplus of $100.00 a day. At the end of the day when you count your cash in regards to the rung-up receipts, you will have a surplus or and extra $100.00. That is how Richie did it. One day the owner showed up unexpectedly at the store near the end of the day. He brought his fairy god mother, assistant manager. They were convinced that we were ripping off the store from their inventory in Denver that was not jiving. They decided to make a spot check. Richie and I were caught by surprise. I told them, Hey, it´s good to see you. Its about time you come up to visit us. The owner was polite, but his fairy assistant went straight for the register and opened it. He then pulled all the grips up from the bills and started to count the change. First starting with the pennies. Richie already had about $75.00 surplus going which was sitting on the right hand bill pocket, and we started to panic quietly and unknowingly. Richie was standing next to the assistant counting the money, and I asked the owner who was watching, How come you guys are going straight to the register and counting the money? Don´t you trust us? The owner turned to me and said, I trust you guys, it is something we do from time to time. I quickly noticed we were running out of time so I took my coffee cup which I was holding when they walked in and I slammed it to the ground and broke it in many pieces and started screaming , You fuckers, we have been busting our asses trying,... ( I had caught their attention. They stood there stunned and shocked, and while I was screaming, Richie quickly grabbed the $75.00, from the right hand pocket of the cash drawer, and put it in his pocket. The assistant took a quick glance at Richie and continue to count the money, ignoring me.)¦to make money for you and your accusing us of stealing.? The owner didn´t say anything as I started walking around the store in disgust. Then I said, This is bullshit! The assistant finished counting all the money and hit the register key for a total and it all came out right. They were both in shock, because they thought that they had caught us. The owner started to apologize and invite Richie and I out to dinner with them. The owner said, I´m sorry boys. It´s not the way you think. We just do this from time to time. Close the shop early and come have dinner with us. Come on. They took us out for this great dinner and continued to apologize to us all evening long. They told us what a great job we were doing, surprisingly thanked us. Richie and I eat it up and we started laughing all the way home. I told Richie that was quick the way you took that money and Richie said back to me that it was quick thinking on me part. Richie said we are going to have to live with $35.00 each tonight, but we will make it up tomorrow.

On Sunday Richie and I went to the mountains to Dream Canyon. On our way back home, Richie and I noticed someone trying to hitch a ride. It turned out to be this very drunken Indian. He got into the Volkswagen with two six packs of beer. As we were driving, he would drink a can in one gulp. Then he started to tell Richie and I a story of a place in the Grand Canyon where he lived. He told us that when you walk down from the rim, about eight miles, you come to an Indian reservation called Havasupi, which means, blue green water. Richie and I listen carefully as the Indian continued while drinking the beer cans in one gulp, can after can, When you get to the Havasupi reservation don´t stop. Keep on walking. Then you will come to the most beautiful waterfall you had ever seen. Don´t stop, because once you reach this waterfall, you will be very tired from walking. Just force yourself to continue on for another mile, and you will come to a second waterfall which will be more beautiful than the first. This waterfall will be big, and you will now be so tired from walking that you wont want to go on any further. Don´t stop. If you have enough stamina to walk just one more mile, you will come to the third and final waterfall. Although, you will not see it. You will hear it, but you won't see it. This is, because you will arrive at an cliff, where you can´t go on any further. Now, you have to find a hole in the ground. If you look real hard, you will certainly find this little hole in the ground. Crawl into it. Don´t be afraid. Richie and I are looking at this guy like he is nuts, but it´s a great story. He has our full attention, even though he has only two cans of beer remaining. The Indian goes on, Crawl into this hole and you will come out of the side of the mountain where you will have this great wonderful view of this long waterfall. The spray from the falls will be hitting you in the face, because you will be so close to it. When you look down, you will see a chain connected to the cliff. There are these little steps carved into the cliff. You climb down the steps while holding tightly on the chain, and it will take you to the bottom where you will see an island. This tall and beautiful waterfall will be the most beautiful waterfall you have ever seen. There are little pools of water that you could bath in, and you will experience a tranquil beauty all wrapped into itself. You could let me out here, as he finished his last can of beer. He quickly exited the Volkswagen and disappeared into the crowd.

I said to Richie, What did you think of that. Richie replied, That Indian was drunk out of his fucking mind, but he told us a great story. It sounded like a place I would love to check out if it were true. You think the story was true? I said. Richie replied, Lets clean all the beer cans out of the car. I never saw someone drink so much before in my life. He was downing one can at a time non-stop. I don´t know if the story was true. Richie and I arrived home and we told Seed about the Indian and the story, and Seed was laughing severely hard. Seed said that he doubted the story was true. Seed thought that the Indian was just drunk and shooting off his mouth. We related the story to many of our friends who eventually decided that they wanted to see if they could find this place, and to learn if it really existed.

Three weeks later, the owner of Maudies decided to close the store. Richie and I were very happy, because now we will be able to participate in the Grand Canyon trip with our friends. It was a chance to try out our new equipment that we had bought. About three weeks after the initial contact with the Indian, Richie and I and about six other friends, decided to go and find out if it was true. We all met at my house with the maps to plan our route. I had asked the girls if we needed to bring any food. They told us no, but bring water. Richie and I put all our new gear together and we all left.

We arrived at the main entrance of the Grand Canyon and boy what a sight. We went into the tourist office to find out where Havasupi is and they directed us. It was another six hours away at the south end of the canyon. We arrived there about 10PM and there was a dusting of snow on the ground. What a surprise that was. We woke up cold n the morning and Richie and I got a chance to try out our stoves to make coffee. The stoves were small and light, but not very good or practical. Any way they worked and soon everyone started down the rim. The Indian was correct. Everything he said was true.

We all arrived at the second waterfall, and everyone could not go on any further. However, as the Indian told us, Richie and I very tired pressed on. It was very difficult. We finally arrived at the end of the trail. We had heard the waterfall, but could not see it. It was about 5:30PM, and we were very hungry. We found the hole that the Indian talked about and we crawled in to find the entrance down. Once at the bottom Richie and I set-up camp on the island in the middle while everyone remained at the second waterfall. It was very beautiful and tranquil. The next day everyone had joined us.

It appears that the only food that the woman brought was rice. They brought bags of rice. They made rice breakfast, rice hamburgers, and rice dinner everyday. Richie and I were rice-out. We could not stand so much rice. Luckily, we had brought our freeze dried food.. The others were all vegetarians. We didn´t want them to know we going to eat meat. We had beef stew and Richie and I went up the hill to prepare it. Once it got nice and warm it projected a smell. The others started to smell it and they all came quickly. They all wanted some. Then I told the girls that they should have told us they were only bringing rice. That was very irresponsible of you to just bring rice and nothing else. You got to be crazy. We told them that we did not have enough to share with six others, and no really minded.......I knew they were jealous.

The next day we all ate Peyote. We all were tripping on the stuff all day and it was very beautiful. It made the colors more intense. It definitely added to the trip. After two weeks at the bottom of Havasupi it was time to return home, and an experience we would never forget.

Richie and I saved money while working at Maudies and we decided to relax for a while before working again. I looked up the girl Nancy and we started to spend a lot of time together. Her roommate Heide´s boyfriend Kenny was throwing a party at his house on Saturday night. We all went to the party, Seed, Richie, and I. We met a lot of new people. Kenny was very nice and I could tell that he was very wealthy. His roommates, Jim, and Bob were very nice guys. Jim Bergstedt was a very funny guy with a lot of energy. We all got high and had a lot of laughs, and Kenny had a great record collection. I was impressed at some of the art that Jim Bergstedt did. He did a portrait of Jim Morrison, and it was large and beautiful. Kenny and Bob were studying film at CU. Seed had told Kenny about my music background and the recording set-up I had at home. Kenny then approached me to help him with the soundtrack for the film that he was doing. I told him yes, definitely.

The next week, I got a call from Kenny. He had set it all up. He was going to film a special place located in Boulder. Uncle Joe´s Barbecue Pit. Uncle Joe was among the very few blacks in Boulder who had a wonderful business. He had a barbecue pit that he had built himself in his small restaurant, and the food was superb. Kenny handed me the portable recording gear and his roommate Jim did the filming. We had a wonderful time filming this event. Kenny and Jim edited it and then they came to my house to perfect the soundtrack. Everything turned out great.

The next day some crazy wild cat got into our house. It was snapping at everyone, and when we tried to get it out of the house it wouldn´t leave. Richie and Seed decided to call the Humane Society. to come get the cat out of our house. What we did not expect was the police to show up. The Humane Society. finally caught the cat and removed it from the house. The policeman was sitting at our dinner table filling out the forms, and Richie, Seed, and I were gathered around to supply the officer with the information. We had a film can full off pot sitting on the table and while the officer was talking with us he unconsciously picked-up the film can and he was fumbling with it. Then his thumb unconsciously began to unscrew the top of the film can, and we all started to freak out. He unscrewed the film can to the top then he started to reverse and closed the film-can. He was doing this over and over again unconsciously, and when we gave him all the questions that he wanted he put the film can down and proceeded to fill-out the form. When the form was completed he then left nearly giving us a heart attack. From now on there would be no pot anywhere visible around the house.

One of Seed´s friends came into town. His name was Stephen, and he was driving a Step Van with a full musical recording capability including instruments. He was a music major and he could play every instrument. He had every instrument available. He had guitars, bass, drums, and horns. He had a most incredible set-up in the van. He parked it in our yard and Seed and I and him would have serious jams. He liked my set-up in my house and he often let me go into his van and record on my own. He was a pretty incredible guy. With his self contained musical van, he could go anywhere and play..... that is, he could find a quiet isolated spot in the mountains and take out his generator and play music all day uninterrupted, and he often did that. Kenny, Bob, and Jim were having another party and we brought Stephen´s Step Van to the house and backed the van up to the glass sliding doors and jammed all night long,. It was great. It was also nice to play again with people. I´d been in Boulder so long thinking on how to survive and once I got comfortable I was thinking of all the girls and work, and although I played on my acoustic a lot and recorded in my house, I forgot about playing live or with others.

A week later, Tulagi´s on the hill in Boulder was throwing a oldies night with singer Freddie Canon who made the hit record, Palisades Park. and Tallahassee Lassie. Some one told the manager of Tulagi´s,
Chuck Morris -- [popup-info in a new window] that I had played with Joey Dee and the Starlighters. He called me in. Chuck Morris asked me if I could put a band together for the show and I had told him yes, my roommates. He said great! I pay you guys so much and I´ll pay you double. I said great I´ll do it. So I talked with Seed to play drums and his buddy John to play bass. We rehearsed Freddie Canon´s tunes and went to the gig. Then Richie showed me the ad in the paper for the performance. It read, "TONIGHT...FREDDIE CANON WITH CHUCKIE HARRIS AND THE OVERHEAD CAMS". Chuckie Harris is the former guitar player with Joey Dee and the Starlighters. SEE IT ALL LIVE.... I read it and busted out laughing. Boy ˜o boy that Chuck Morris is a character. He was a real promoter.

I had told all my friends and the place was packed. Standing room only. Tulagi´s was a very big club. My girl Nancy was there also. We performed with Freddie Canon who I met in New York about 5 years earlier at the Brill building. We jammed the house and everyone went crazy. After Freddie finished his appearance Chuck Morris asked me to sing the Peppermint Twist and Shout. We had the people dancing on the tables. The whole large club was full of people who couldn´t sit down when we played. We tried to quit for the night, but the people would not let us so we played beyond the curfew for the club. People went nuts. When it was finally over, people came up to me and thanked me very much over and over telling me that it was the best performance and evening that they had ever had. Everyone could not come down mentally from the performance so we had an after performance party at my house. There were a lot of girls, but I was stuck with Nancy. Which turned out to be not so bad after all.

The next day I thought to myself about my talent once again and how frustrating the business is. I had the opportunity to do what I did last night for many years with the bands in New York. It was such a wonderful feeling to perform and knock people on their ass with music. I could do it over and over every night and never get tired. I love it. It´s my life. I didn´t ask for it because it is a natural part of me. A gift of God. How the hell am I going to make it. If I don´t make it I´ll be in trouble. I´ll be struggling all my life trying to make ends meet. Is it a dream. Is it a wish. What are the odds. What about my baldness. What about my age. Is it too late. Is it over. Should I quit music altogether and get a career that will pay like my family and mother always nagged to me. Maybe they´re right. If they saw the performance, energy, and the happiness last night would they still think that. I hope I don´t live to be past the age of 35. I hope something happens to me. I want to do my thing and get out. I don´t want to live bald for the rest of my life. When you´re bald, you look at least ten years older. If you´re 30 years old and bald, then you look 40. If you 30 years old with nice hair, then you look maybe 25. I´m 28 years old now and I´m bald. What a horror.

In the next week I went through a revamping of my life. I asked the question over and over, What do I need to do to stay in the music business. I can sing really funky in a mike and drive the people crazy with my style, power, and raspyness, but I really don´t have a good voice. You got a good chance if you got a good voice. I´m not going to get a record deal with my voice. I´m not going to get a deal because I´m a great performer. Therefore, I´m not an Artist. That leaves me with what. I could make it as a writer or producer or I could try to shoot for an executive position at a record label or both. Then I need to concentrate more on writing and producing and keep in the back of my mind the chance to join a record label. No labels in Boulder. New York or Los Angles. Right now with the recording equipment I have in my house I need to concentrate more on writing. I can´t just write. I need to gear my mind toward writing to project ideas. I need to get back into working. My money is running out.

Seed´s friend John was sleeping over every night, and it was making Richie and I upset, because he wasn´t paying rent. I told Seed that it wasn´t right that John had constant access to the house and not paying rent. Tell John to pay rent so that we could all benefit from a lower rent. Then we wouldn´t mind. Seed didn´t like that because John was his close friend. Things started to get bad and Seed moved out. Richie and I decided to get a girl to replace Seed. Girls are easier to deal with then men, and besides, you could have sex with them if it´s right..

I heard that the guys at 905 Pennsylvania Street had lost their place. I also heard that Jim Bergstedt got a new place right downtown and I went over to see his new place. His new place was at 1111 Pearl Street in Boulder. It was directly caddie corner to the Daily Camera the Boulder newspaper. I arrived at his new apartment and boy did he have a great view of the flatirons.
The Flatirons, is a mountain in Boulder with a face of a great long rock that was smooth and flat. Students had carved a large CU into it that could be seen from two miles away. That was the way that one´s mind connected with Boulder, by the Flatirons. Jim defiantly scored with this apartment and we got high together almost everyday and talked. Boy how Jim liked to talk. When he´s high you cant get him to sit down or shut up. Actually, you wouldn´t want him to, because you can't stop laughing from watching him and hearing him. I told him that we pressured Seed and John to get out and that Richie and I were looking for a female roommate. Jim´s apartment became the center where everyone would come to hook up with one another or to bump into one another.

I had bought a 1956 Ford Fairlane from a female friend named, Sharon who lends me the car from time to time. She asked me if I wanted to buy it for $50.00, and of course I would not refuse. She was a wonderful woman and a great friend, and she knew I needed a car. Now I could get around and visit the mountains on my own. The car was not big, but it was like a tank. It went everywhere.

Susan from New York had contacted Richie's parents and Richie contacted her and she said that she was coming to Colorado to visit us for the weekend. She told Richie that she was passing through and she wanted to know if it was all right to stay with us for the weekend. Susan asked us to pick her up from the bus station in Boulder at a certain time. I couldn´t wait to see Susan again. She had never been out west and I would try to keep her here as best as I could. I know she would fall in love with Colorado, and wouldn´t want to leave. Anyway, I didn´t forget the way she treated me in New York, and now it was my turn. Richie and I arrived at the bus station, but no Susan. We waited for an hour and no Susan. I told Richie that she might have been delayed. She has our address. Let´s go back to the house. We arrived back at the house, I entered my bedroom, and guess who was sleeping in my bed? Susan. I went to Richie and told him that Susan was in my bed. I could see that Richie got pissed. She had remained in contact with Richie, but when she arrived at our house alone, she went into my bedroom to sleep. I took my clothes of and crawled into bed with her and I didn´t say anything or do anything. Then she cuddled next to me in the dark and grabbed my cock and put in her and I fucked her really hard as I usually did. She always loved the way I fucked her. After we fucked we both feel asleep. In the morning and to my surprise I woke up with my cock in her mouth. I was very surprised because she had never done that before. I said, Look what you learned. Then I eat her pussy. After a good morning fuck, I went into the kitchen to make breakfast. I saw Richie and rubbed it in, and told him that Susan gave me a blowjob. He was freaking with jealousy. I took Susan to the mountains all day. While I was driving through the mountains she was rubbing my dick. It felt great...like old times. In the mountains we found a nice quiet spot in the woods and fucked again. I spent all day Sunday with her and took her back to the bus on Monday morning. It was a good weekend. It was nice being with her again, but she still had the old boyfriend and had to return. I didn´t really care at this point, with all the women in Boulder.

My friend Dave and I went shopping for food. I had invited him to house for dinner. We had arrived back to house. It was about 7:00pm. We were unloading the grocery bags from the car. Something caught my eye and I looked up at it. I could not believe it. Four flying saucers flying in a diamond formation.

This photo is a mock-up photo of singular UFO photograph I found which looked similar to the UFOs we saw. I just copied and pasted three more of the same craft to present to you an image idea. I would learn later on in life after intense study on the UFO subject in which you can read here in other chapters, that the UFO crafts we saw that day were most likely not alien craft, but our own secret US UFOs. This is based on the idea that first, Alien crafts are not visible and can bend the reflection of light and second, that they were probably American Air Force pilots because aliens do not fly in formation as I and Dave had saw.

I called to Dave, Dave come here quickly. Dave came out of the house and I pointed up, Look, Dave stood there staring hard, silently. They were no more than 1000 feet from the ground, and they were just cruising by. I could see great details. Little portholes and a slight glow coming from the bottom of each one. They did not make a sound. It was no doubt what they were, and they weren´t traveling very fast. They were following the foothills south. We watched them overhead for about three minutes until the became out of range. I turned to Dave and said that I finally saw real flying saucers. Dave could still not believe it. I knew definitely, that we weren´t alone. I had seen it with my own eyes and ears. At this time, this sighting changed my life. Dave became totally freaked. He did not know how to handle it. I was hoping that some day I might make contact. Now that I have seen them, I ˜m going to make it a point to concentrate on learning all about them.

A few days later, I had interviewed a few girls who wanted to move into my house. One of the girls was a cute redhead. She had long red hair and a petite little body and she flirted with me during the interview. I allowed her to move in. She wanted to paint the room before she actually moved in, so I helped her paint. That night we were painting the room and we took a break and went into my room to listen to music. She was impressed with the music and the sound. We then went into her room to finish painting and I wanted to fuck her real bad, but kept my cool. Then without warning she said to me, Are you going to fuck me tonight. Oh my God! I looked at her and grabbed her and started to make out with her while grinding my cock against her, and feeling her body. Man did it feel good. We had finished painting and we both were very hot for one another, and we went into my bedroom and fucked all night. Female roommates are great.

Some people I knew were working as a janitor at IBM in Niwot, just outside of Boulder. They were working at night and the pay was really good and they told me that if I wanted a job that they needed and were looking for people. I like working at night and thought it would be nice to have the whole day off so I gave it a shot. It was easy work and a lot of fun. I met a really hot girl named Julie who had a boyfriend. She was really young and beautiful and I could tell that she liked me very much. She was a cleaning girl and we got along just fine. One day I tried to kiss her, but she said, Don´t I have a boyfriend. I played it cool from there on. Surprisingly, I met a friend from New York who used to come see me in the clubs when I was with Rocky and his Friends. His name was Bosco. He and his girl were traveling around the country and stopped in Boulder for awhile and he got a job at IBM. Bosco was funny. He was a hippie type person who was always singing through the halls, GET IT ON...WHEN YOUR GONE...GET IT ON. He made everyone laugh, and he was just as he was when he came to see my band in New York.

I love Bosco, and everyone loved Bosco.

Richie decided to move and get a place of his own. I put an ad in the paper for another female roommate. The rent was due and I didn´t have time to interview the girls so I took the first one that I could. Her name was Shelly and she was also hot, but she had a boyfriend. It was OK because I had the redhead. Her boyfriend came every night late to fuck her. It was OK. It didn´t matter to me. About a month later she started to get into a fight with her boyfriend which got ugly. He was coming to the house late at night and started arguing with her almost every night. Finally, I had to put my foot down and warned her that if this fighting didn´t stop at once that I would throw her out. I told her boyfriend the same thing. Although they stopped fighting for a short while, they started up again and I threw her out.

I put an ad in the paper for another female roommate, and this time I was going to be particular. I received a number of calls, and during the interviews, I had noticed that the quality of the girls was now changing. Not only were they not as pretty, but the had a different attitude. This opened my awareness and I now sensed a change. One girl that I interviewed was very sexy and beautiful. She had long brown hair down below her ass which I love. She had big tits and a very curvy body. She was not fat at all just nicely shaped. When she walked into the door to my house I could see that she had this I´m very sexy attitude. I had many beautiful girls walk through and none of them ever had an attitude like that. The girls that I interview now were different. They were more business like not loose and friendly. Any way, I didn´t rent the room to the sexy girl with the long hair and big tits. Instead, I told her that there were other people who I promised to interview. The next day the sexy girl called me up and told me over the phone that she was very desperate. She acted as though she would fuck me for the apartment. I took her up on it and asked her to come to my house after dinner tonight to discuss this further around 7:30pm.

The redhead and I were just finishing dinner when the sexy girl walked in. She was wearing these tight blue jeans and a red top where her big tits shot out. I told her to wait in my bed room while we finished dinner, and the sexy girl went into my bedroom as I asked. Good start. I started to get horny as I watched her ass as she went into my room. The redhead asked me if I was going to fuck her and I told her that I was going to try. She laughed.

I walked into the bedroom and closed the door. I went to the sexy girl and put my hand under her ass and put my arms around her. She quickly put her arms around me in a bear hug and held me tight. I could barley move except for my hands. She wouldn´t budge. I felt her long hair on her ass and I told her to kiss me. She kissed me with a small kiss. I then took her hair and brought it around her front and tried to feel her breasts, but she was holding me too close. She was smiling while I was touching the top of her breasts slightly. I asked her to let me go because she was holding me too tight but she wouldn´t. I told her again and finally she let go. I didn´t mess with her anymore and told her that she could move in. She moved in the next day and she had some guy who she occasionally fooled around with. Basically she was very nice, but I could tell that she wasn´t playing with a full deck. Now I was living with two girls and it was very nice. I was steadily fucking the redhead. She was still and always with me, and she liked me very much. She just loved fucking me.

Apparently two weeks later the sexy girl with the long hair had turned on me. The redhead told me that she had made a deal with the landlord with up front money to evict me and take control of the house. The landlord went for it. The next morning I confronted the sexy girl and threw her out of the house with all her shit. I wasn´t going to let her push me around. I had taken the key away from her and threw her out. Then I told the redhead that the house was hers and that I will be finding another place. Things certainly have changed and I knew it. I got into my car and cruised around the neighborhood looking for a place to stay and there was none. I asked Jim Bergstedt if I could stay with him until I found a place and Jim agreed with no problem. I packed up all my stuff and put it at Sharon´s house and then I finally moved out of 19th Street. While I was living with Jim I was still cruising the neighborhood looking for a place. I found a house in Boulder that was vacant for a long time and I asked the neighbors who owned the house. They had told me about this Doctor who owned the house. I looked up the name of the Doctor in the directory and called him. I asked the doctor if he would like to rent the house out. The doctor said that he didn´t want to rent it because he didn´t want anyone to trash the house. I asked the doctor if I could possibly talk to him in person, and he said yes. Come to this address tonight.

I arrived at the doctors house and he was a dentist. He made teeth. He had a lab in the basement for making teeth replacements. The doctor took one look at me and liked me very much. He thought that I was a nice sincere guy. I told the doctor that if he rented the house to me that I will fix it up and paint all the rooms in colors that he chose. I told him that I will take charge of the house and I will pay you the rent directly and that he didn´t have to do anything out of the ordinary. The doctor hesitated and then agreed to rent to me for $135.00 a month. Now I had a new place and this house was nice. It had two bedrooms a living room and a separate kitchen. It had a laundry room and a backyard with a porch and a garage. Fantastic. The landlord for painting gave me two months free rent.

I had moved into the house and told everyone where I was now living. The redhead had called me and told me that she moved out of the 19th Street house because the girl still took over the premises. The redhead came to my house and spent a week with me. The next week the hot blonde from IBM had contacted me and came to my house to live with me. Boy was this girl sexy and hot. I had a great time fucking her. Boulder is great. Then the girl who lived with me at 19th street, the one that I had threw out for fighting with her girlfriend wanted to rent the room in the house. She told me that she was not with the guy anymore and wouldn´t be a problem. She then came over and I fucked her and I let her rent the room. So many hot girls in Boulder.

Richie had got a job as a waiter in a restaurant at the Briarwood. A high class restaurant. I asked Richie if he would train me to become a waiter and he got me a job at the Briarwood as a bus boy. The chief was a Frenchman and really crazy. He liked Richie and I a lot, but treated everyone else like shit. The chef did everything in his power to teach me how to be a good waiter .. as well as Richie. The chief´s wife was the hostess and taught me everything there was to know about French service. I learned very quickly, but the owner would not make me a waiter. Richie gave me very good money, but he was also, making a lot .. about $100.00 a night. I was dying to put everything to the test that I had learned. I even told the owner that I was ready, but the owner still did not make me a waiter. He told me that I wasn´t ready yet. I told him that I was, and that I learned everything there was to know and now I needed to try it all out on my own. The owner still insisted that I wasn´t ready yet. I asked Richie if he thought I was ready and Richie replied yes, but the owner won´t get rid of his friend who is the other waiter. Richie told me to be patient.

About two weeks later the chef and his wife quit. The chef told Richie and I that he was going to open his own restaurant and wanted both of us to be his main waiters. We told him yes. Richie and I also quit and waited for the chef to fulfill his promises. Jim Bergstedt and his friend Dick Jones wanted to take a vacation at the Grand Canyon. Richie and I were interested because we were waiting for the chef to open his restaurant and we planned a two week trip. The only problem was whose car. My car would not make it but Richie was willing to take his Volkswagen.