Oh..Woe is ME!!
Irene said that I should post...so here goes...I got some allergy thing goin' on and my nose is runnin' like a goose with the squirts!! There ya go, Darlin.
OK, I'm confused....Irene tells me, "Enough talk, you've used up your quota of words today."
HMMMM.....no words????....but her favorite movies and TV shows are the ones that the people do NOTHIN' but sit around and talk and talk and talk...lottsa cryin' and it's Ok if these people sing or dance! No blowing up things, killing the bad guys or folks runnin' around in their undies...what's with wimmin??
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
"SITTIN' IN THIS LONELY ROOM".
Signworks, Cotati, CA“SITTIN’ IN THIS LONELY ROOM.”
I went to lunch yesterday with Gary Fire and in our conversation an experience that we shared came up. It was sad to relive it and he asked me why it wasn’t written about on my “Blog”. Good question, my friend….well here it is…..
Back in 1984 I was working for Gamefield Concepts, I had organized the screenprint operation so the company didn’t feel the need to keep me on any longer. There was no other work to be had in the Santa Rosa area at the time, so I started a little signshop in Cotati.
It was taking longer to get established than we had money for, so we decided to pack up Irene and the younger girls and have them go “Visit” Grandma in Utah. Watching my lil’ family board that train was heartbreaking but necessary. Jack Alan and I stayed on in Cotati, Jack stayed with a friend for awhile and I stayed in the shop and in my van.
One night, a few months after Irene and the kids left, a cold rainstorm hit the area. Around 9pm one night, I was sittin’ in the little shop with the rain coming down so hard that the power went out in all of that area. I was playing the guitar and started writing a song….the saddest blues song ever written…when a car pulled up outside the shop. I heard someone sloshing through the huge puddle outside the door and then the sliding door being opened, a bolt of lightning lit up the shop and there stood Gary.
He pulled up a chair and just sat there with me in the dark for what seemed like about 10 minutes, then he told me that he had just talked with Sandy and she told him that she was never going to come back to him. (She had moved out and he was staying in Santa Rosa while he was training for a new job.) So there we sat, two of the loneliest fellas in the Republic of California, Del Norte…. in that “Cold dark room” with no heat….no families and no lights....on one of the rainiest nights in the history of the world….or so it seemed. I had already written most of the song “Sittin’ in this cold dark room”, before Gary got there and so I enlisted him and his broken down spirit and we put the final touches on the song.
A month or so later I went back to Identity Services and sent Irene some money to get a ticket to Reno. I drove to Reno and we got a motel right on the river running through the city. The sound of the rushing water is still vivid in my ol’ memory banks. When I took her to the airport to go back to her lil’ones she cried…it was hard to say goodbye again and watch her get on the plane. Shortly after this though, I was able to bring her and the girls back home….so our lil’ family got back together….Gary wasn’t able to do the same but started a new “Adventure”, meeting Sunni, marrying her and putting his 4 kids and her 6 kids together.
About 16 years ago I recorded that song on a CD with the “ROADHOUSE KINGS”.
We had a CD release party at Waldo’s BBQ and the girls were there…I explained how the song came about and sang it…the girls were in tears hearing the song and remembering our separation. Life can throw real challenges at us….. but the strength that we have as a family seems to carry us through them for our good and only makes us appreciate each other more.
I went to lunch yesterday with Gary Fire and in our conversation an experience that we shared came up. It was sad to relive it and he asked me why it wasn’t written about on my “Blog”. Good question, my friend….well here it is…..
Back in 1984 I was working for Gamefield Concepts, I had organized the screenprint operation so the company didn’t feel the need to keep me on any longer. There was no other work to be had in the Santa Rosa area at the time, so I started a little signshop in Cotati.
It was taking longer to get established than we had money for, so we decided to pack up Irene and the younger girls and have them go “Visit” Grandma in Utah. Watching my lil’ family board that train was heartbreaking but necessary. Jack Alan and I stayed on in Cotati, Jack stayed with a friend for awhile and I stayed in the shop and in my van.
One night, a few months after Irene and the kids left, a cold rainstorm hit the area. Around 9pm one night, I was sittin’ in the little shop with the rain coming down so hard that the power went out in all of that area. I was playing the guitar and started writing a song….the saddest blues song ever written…when a car pulled up outside the shop. I heard someone sloshing through the huge puddle outside the door and then the sliding door being opened, a bolt of lightning lit up the shop and there stood Gary.
He pulled up a chair and just sat there with me in the dark for what seemed like about 10 minutes, then he told me that he had just talked with Sandy and she told him that she was never going to come back to him. (She had moved out and he was staying in Santa Rosa while he was training for a new job.) So there we sat, two of the loneliest fellas in the Republic of California, Del Norte…. in that “Cold dark room” with no heat….no families and no lights....on one of the rainiest nights in the history of the world….or so it seemed. I had already written most of the song “Sittin’ in this cold dark room”, before Gary got there and so I enlisted him and his broken down spirit and we put the final touches on the song.
A month or so later I went back to Identity Services and sent Irene some money to get a ticket to Reno. I drove to Reno and we got a motel right on the river running through the city. The sound of the rushing water is still vivid in my ol’ memory banks. When I took her to the airport to go back to her lil’ones she cried…it was hard to say goodbye again and watch her get on the plane. Shortly after this though, I was able to bring her and the girls back home….so our lil’ family got back together….Gary wasn’t able to do the same but started a new “Adventure”, meeting Sunni, marrying her and putting his 4 kids and her 6 kids together.
About 16 years ago I recorded that song on a CD with the “ROADHOUSE KINGS”.
We had a CD release party at Waldo’s BBQ and the girls were there…I explained how the song came about and sang it…the girls were in tears hearing the song and remembering our separation. Life can throw real challenges at us….. but the strength that we have as a family seems to carry us through them for our good and only makes us appreciate each other more.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
2009!!
2009!!
I can't believe that it's already 2009...hope that it's a better year than 2008 with my work. (2008 was a rough one for this old guy and his bride.) Hopefully the government will quit trying to "Help the economy", I fear that both of the parties are gonna continue hurting us.
Had a nice time at Curt and Cathy's house last night...fun snacks and got a chance to bring in the New Year finally winning a game of "Hearts"...we missed Larry's presence at the table!!
The most fun of the night was watching the faces of the grandchildren unwrapping their "Gifts". they had no clue that "White elephant" gifts are not meant to be real gifts and their disappointment was hilarious!!
I WISH EVERYONE A GREAT NEW YEAR!!
I can't believe that it's already 2009...hope that it's a better year than 2008 with my work. (2008 was a rough one for this old guy and his bride.) Hopefully the government will quit trying to "Help the economy", I fear that both of the parties are gonna continue hurting us.
Had a nice time at Curt and Cathy's house last night...fun snacks and got a chance to bring in the New Year finally winning a game of "Hearts"...we missed Larry's presence at the table!!
The most fun of the night was watching the faces of the grandchildren unwrapping their "Gifts". they had no clue that "White elephant" gifts are not meant to be real gifts and their disappointment was hilarious!!
I WISH EVERYONE A GREAT NEW YEAR!!
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