Then in 1958, tragedy struck. My father had a myocardial infarction (MI),infarction (Massive heart attack). It was sudden and the results were immediate. Mom and I were on our own. It was the beginning of the end for our time in Gallup. I sold newspapers and converted to Catholicism as I became more spiritually aware and wanted to get to to the root of Christianity believing the Church was the original historical Church.

Heavy thoughts for an 11 year old.

Then, we moved to Grants, NM.

Grants, NM was a desolate little town between Gallup and Albuquerque. It is located on historic Route 66 and is touted as the Uranium Capitol of the World. It was there that I got to ride my first motorcycle. I became my own person. Nobody had heard of my father and mother was the society editor of the Grants Beacon. In retrospect, Grants was a major turning point for me, I received my last spanking form my mother. When she started to spank me, I took the belt away from her and said that was enough. No anger or violence; just stated the fact and she accepted it. We were there for two years when my mother saw the writing on the wall. I was getting too wild and uncontrollable. She had remarried in Gallup to an Italian Bar Tender after my father had passed. He was not my favorite person. The interaction between him and I were to result in therapy sessions for me in later life. It was this union between Mother and this bartender that produced my younger sister Milli. She became a force to be reckoned with as she went through her career with New Mexico General Services. She is a blend of Puerto Rican and Italian temperament and knows no fear. I was the artist in the family. but I already said that.

I was enrolled in Saint Michael's high School in Santa Fe, NM.

The Santa Fe Years

St Michael's High School 1962-1966

Saint Michael's High School was a Catholic boarding School that was founded by the Christian Brothers in Santa Fe, NM. It was everything you would expect from a Catholic Boarding School at the time. It was there that many young boys became men (whatever the hell that means).

I entered there as a Freshman boarding student. I did not fit in at first. Hence the term "Freshman". My class was the second to the last class to graduate " Boarders". The Christian Brothers were shrinking their dominion and the Sisters of Loretto Girls School was closing down as well. It was the time of transition. St Michael's was going co-ed in 1968. Flower Children and hippies discovered Santa Fe. The graduating class my Freshman year was dominated by machismo jocks with all the entitlement that came with that. By the time I graduated in 1966, the culture had changed. Sports were still important but the attitude had changed. It was during this time that my musical inclinations took form.;

My grandfather had bought me a nylon string guitar from Mexico for $35. I put a tape recorder microphone in it and ran it through a cheap amplifier the school had available. My first complete song I learned was La Bamba, a traditional Mexican folk song turned into Rock and Roll by Richie Valens. Next was any three cord rock and roll song that were in the key of C. Finally. I broke out and learned House of The Rising Sun, the Eric Burton and the Animals. By the end of he senior fall semester we had a band that played at school dances. "The Rejects" were all boarders and it was much easier to get the girls than dealing drugs or contact sports. I already had a girlfriend so it was not a perk for me.

A synopsis of my High School years would read something like this:

1962-1963/Freshman year - Testing the waters to find my own level. Sports? Not really interested in devoting my time to getting bruised and beaten up by the older jocks and gangs in Santa Fe.

1963-1964/Sophomore Year - By this time I came to realize that I was not interested in academic achievement. I just learned to be cool about it. My persona had begun its transformation from a follower to a leader. I had no followers and no purpose other than to be cool.

1964-1965/Junior Year - I had settled into my High School persona. Grades be damned! I was having fun.

1965-1966/Senior Year - The Rejects and I was in love.

Susan Gomez from Loretto High School and I had finally found each other. It was to be a tragic tale. We ended up pregnant and wanted to get married. Her parents (father) were totally against it. In retrospect, I can see why they were so adamant. We were young and not familiar with life outside of family and school. I was not disciplined enough to be concerned with what others thought of me.

But, we were in love.

With the birth of our daughter, Sharon, we stayed together for about three years total.

I worked two jobs while going to college. I had a B+ average and had been accepted into the College of Business Administration a year early.

It was not easy. He parents were wealthy and wanted her to have the life they had worked for. I felt disposable. After a lot of consternation and ego tripping on both sides, I decided I wanted to move from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, and attend UNM I had a friend who was a member of the Rejects in High School and he was playing a lot there. I figured I could get some weekend gigs and not have to work so much at a second job.

I came home one day and received a phone call. She said, "You can have your divorce. My father does not think a married man should play music in a band". At this point I hung up and never spoke to her or him again. It was an education for me to deal with lawyers and the politics of going against a powerful family. It hardened me. I gave up custody of my daughter and promised I would not interfere with her life as she grew up. Gossip had it that her father had paid me off to leave. He did not. I have never been about money. I saw the power it had over people and chose not to allow it to have pawer over me. This was not an option for me. I knew that, had I stayed, I would always be under the thumb of her father. I knew that my daughter would suffer from my presence in their lives so I cut myself off. The next few months , living in Santa Fe were not fun.

I had been playing at the Ramada Inn in Santa Fe when one of the owners asked me to play at their club in Richardson, Texas. It was Rick's Club at the Ramada Inn there. It was a Friday and I had to start on Monday. I left Santa Fe that Saturday and drove to Dallas. I did not give notice with my job at the State nor did I withdraw from College. That was my state of mind then, Everything I had lived and worked for was gone! I would have fought for my daughter more except that I had no chance of winning and had nothing to offer her. I believed her mother was a good person and would raise her well. Time to start living my destiny.

Dallas, Texas

I was in awe of Dallas. The people were kind and generous and receptive to my style of music which was evolving. I was like a kid in a candy store. The women were some of the most beautiful and friendly people I had ever met. I was by all definitions a lounge act. I performed various styles of music. I used to have stacks of cheat books and could find many requests in a matter of moments. Dallas was very good to me. As it happens it was also very bad for me. I was a nut case after my first divorce. I wanted to be loved by one person and anybody who even hinted at doing so, I fell for.

"Sometimes its heaven and sometimes its hell.".........................Willie Nelson

Wife No 2

I met her at Rick's Club and she was a dazzler! We were inseparable. It lasted about 9 months. Aletha and I were married within months after we met. I was needy and she wanted to have the "marriage experience" before she settled down. I found this out after we divorced. It seems like people have personal agendas. I was slow in the uptake of this phenomenon before I started this cycle of my life. I was getting an education very quickly but not quickly enough in this case. It turned out that she she had a fight with her boyfriend as he had joined the military. By the time he had finished his training she had all the "experience" she could handle. She took our St Bernard and went back to Arkansas. She gave the dog to her Dad. Meanwhile, I was 21 years old and had been married twice. She "apologized" for that.

I hung out in Dallas and California for the next twelve plus years and built my "Star" persona. Through many one night stands and packed house performances, I slowly emerged from a small town New Mexico boy to a professional entertainer in a major metropolis. Like the author said, "It was the best of times and the worst of times".

Pros:

• Written up n "D Magazine" as one of the musicians that had something to say and people should listen.

• Became a regular performer at Chelsea Corner, a hip bar close to SMU.

• Lead performer at Lily Langtry's on Greenville Avenue.

• Hosted an open mic at Poor David's Pub in Greenville Avenue.

• Performed for KZEW Radio for their live music series.

• Performed on the KRQE Pubic Radio original music series.

• Worked as a manger for Steak and Ale.

• Managed Frets and Strings a boutique guitar store.

• Attended Guitar Research and Design Luthier School in South Strafford, Vermont.

  https://bluebookofguitarvalues.com/electric-guitars/manufacturers/grd-guitar-research-and-design

• Opened and operate Rose Guitars on Greenville Avenue.

• Opened and operated Beaver Guitars inn Mesquite, Texas.

• Befriended and built custom guitars for The New Bohemians, Rocky Athas and Mouse Mays of Lightning, Craig Wallace and several guitarists from North Texas State University.

• Transitioned from lounge act to original songwriter style music.

• Participate in a songwriter contest at Kerrville Folk Festival

• Repeatedly performed at Culpepper Cattle Company, Rockwall, TX

• https://www.culpeppercattleco.com/rockwall

Cons

• Married third and fourth wives.

• Learned that being moneywise meant thinking about it all the time and I was not that good at it.

• Discovered that I was not as honest as I thought I was.

• Learned how to recognize agendas and how to deal with them.

• Leaned that what is good for the goose is not good for the gander. Powerful people did not live by the same rules as those with less power.

• Not all friends have your best interest at heart.

• Got a taste of greed and did not like it at all.

• Stay in the public eye or they will forget you quickly.

It was during this period that I went to Nashville for a year. Willis Alan Ramsey was moving there and offered a place to stay if I wanted to go. My life was not going well in Dallas so it was propitious that he offered to help me when he did.
I moved to Nashville and was published by Famous Music (Now Sony in 6 months). Within 9 months I was planning on moving back to Dallas. I did not fit in. I was not a joiner, nor was I cool, nor did I require rehab, Mainly I did not look at songs as product. I did not want to write 600 songs and have four of them be any good. It was a personal decision and I accepted the consequences. Nashville was Music Business City and I was not a good bidnessman.

I had a son and a daughter from my third marriage and they were not in a good situation at the time. I moved back and attempted to revitalize my life and success in Dallas. It was not to be.

I remarried for the fourth time to a lady that had been the fiancé of my best friend (re: Frenemy). They had left around the same time I did to go to Nevada and get married. By the time they got there he had ended it. We got together after and it was a tumultuous relationship. I was not mature enough to handle a crazy person and she was not sane enough to raise me. Yes, I was on the cusp of growing up.

Santa Fe - The Final Years

I finally hit rock bottom in Dallas. I had a sham of a marriage; a son who was in dire need of therapy; a business that was folding due to a landlord selling the property and a changing music scene in Dallas. Mediocre acts were taking the gigs with their tracks. I did my best but I was too busy trying to save a business and my son while dealing with a divorce and back payments in the house that she gave up after being three months behind on payments. It was too much but it was the life I had made for myself.
I decided to move back to New Mexico. Not the best decision but the best choice I had at the time. I needed help with my son and the systems in Texas were of no use. I moved into my frenemies two bedroom apartment with everything I owned in a U-Haul truck, my son and no job prospects. Fortunately, I found work in the service industry and some gigs there. I started getting back on my feet but my son kept trying to destroy me. I had him in and out of therapy/rehab situations but he was smarter than the therapists. Finally I managed to get him placed in a long term facility which required him to stay in until he worked out his issues or turned 18. His mother pleaded with me to not send him so I gave her custody and she too over his care. Within two weeks he was arrested for possession of stolen property and stayed on probation until he turned 18. I bring this up now because it is amazing to me how much a child can punish their parents. It is a lesson I had repeated to me several times over these past few years. "When is it going to change", I wondered?

Enightenment.

I was back in Santa Fe, my son was taken care of and i was getting dumped by whole better class of women. No joke. I was dating some spectacular ladies and the process kept repeating itself, I had decide I would not date and had been married enough to know that I was no good at it. So, I relcused and spent my spare time walking the riverbeds with my dog, Jake.

This worked out well for a few weeks until I realized I wanted to be married but had gone about it all wrong. I had been looking for a person who would validate my by being beautiful. It was a social thing. Texas was great for meeting those people and the results were always the same. So what was I going to do to change my pattern?

The Ad

I called the ad and quit answering the questions they were asking as I realized it was a money making scheme by the Reporter. I was into it for forty dollars before I hung up. The Java Junkie turned out to be Margaret. Two weeks later she called to end the ad as she was moving to Massachusetts to try to make it happen with a friend of hers there.

We made a date at Il Vicino in Santa Fe for the Friday before she would go home for a vacation.

She walked in and asked her brother how it would sound to say Nurse Beaver in the prison where she worked as an RN.

We moved in together shortly thereafter and the real life adventure began.