Life After The Road

  Once off the road, I pondered for six months about what to do as far as making a living. Then, found my direction and used all the skill sets I had learned during the past five and half years. All the words I talked about in my book like manifestation, faith, affirmation, perseverance, karma and self belief were the nuts and bolts to building a prosperous business. Understanding these words in detail and incorporating them into my everyday life was critical to my success and are the very fabric of who I am. Once you learn these word aren't just words, but are building blocks to one's personal growth you can do whatever you put your mind to doing.

I have to tell you, out of all  the people I'd traveled and worked with while on the road I was the least likely to attain the goal of being the best at my profession. There were guys smarter and more suited for the job of concert merchandising than I was. They had accounting backgrounds as well as great people skills. In the beginning, being the only merchandiser from New Jersey working for a company that was based in LA and not being one of the bosses golden boy's left me behind the eight ball. But, out of all those people I was the only one to make it to the top and was not a kiss ass or suck up while doing so. Those simple words I just mentioned strung together and wrapped around whatever the goal I was trying to attain, propelled and thrust me past all my competition. I was driven to be the best at what I was doing and wouldn't veer to the left or right of attaining my goal. So, when I came off the road and started a business with my father, someone I trusted and loved dearly, I damn well knew we'd become the biggest little business on the block and made that my intention from jump street. In the twenty years of owning and running that business, we made nothing but money and were royally rewarded by selling our company to a competitor at a hefty price. Selling the business afforded me the opportunity to write my book and enjoy not working for a spell. All of my success stems from those words. Remember they're not just words, they're a way of life and if you focus and harness the power of those words you'll succeed beyond your wildest dreams! You will be tested by karma and self doubt, but hey, nothing comes easy, at least in the world I live in! As I mentioned in my book the banner that waved over my head said SEX, DRUGS and ROCK & ROLL and damn if I didn't get my share of all of the above for that five and a half year odyssey. During my twenty years of running my retail business the banner that waved above my head was a whole lot different, but the gearing remained the same and as I just said, brought about unreal success.

I was a terrible student in school and come from a middle class back round. Believe me when I tell you I owe all my good fortune to those words and self belief. Self belief is all it's cracked up to be, because if you don't believe in yourself no one else will either! You might find yourself having to erase and brush off old stigmas or some other negative situation, hey, that's okay! That's what builds character, just because some jerk off said you can't doesn't mean you can't. Screw that, fight for your beliefs and find it within yourself to rise above self doubt. In the early part of my life self doubt had me in a stranglehold and one day while my friend Eric was mentoring me on becoming a proficient concert merchandiser I told myself if he can do it so can I. From that day I put my insecurities to rest and marched forward persevering until I reached my first set of goals. Once you get a taste of sweet success that's on your own terms, you're hooked and on the road to utopia. Life's short, enjoy the journey be the magnet not the piece of steel that's pulled or dragged along the path of life.

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The Pretenders 1981Tour

The 1981 Pretenders gig was my first real full length tour and I'd like to share a day on the road with all you blogger's. A little back story, the pace of that 3 month journey as I mentioned in my book was easy compared to tours where it's non stop show after show. The Pretenders would do 3 performances in a row then take a day or two off for travel.

So, we'd get to the concert hall in the early afternoon, find the merchandise location and depending on if the building was a union hall (they sell the merchandise) or not, we'd start bringing that night's products into the venue. If we were selling, we'd wait until later in the day, then head backstage to hang out with the crew and get a bite to eat from the caterers. After that, it was time for a card game on the crew bus. This wasn't your normal card game! The game consisted of ten people chipping in ten dollars each to buy a gram of blow. It was chopped into ten nice size lines using a playing card, thus a card game. This activity was a daily ritual and an inexpensive way of doing blow with limited funds. Again, as I stated in my book, the Pretenders tour was all about hard partying day in and day out and I was only making $250.00 a week plus perdiem. After getting wired up and smoking some weed Eric, Rick and I would hang out around our van doing inventory or getting stuff ready for that evening's show. Like clock work, groups of girls would come up to the van and ask if we were with the band. They would say they would do anything to get back stage! At first I couldn't believe what was going on in city after city. But, the next thing I knew, following Rick's lead, I too started bartering with women. Early on, when Rick was drunk out of his mind, in his thick Texas accent, he said "Juan, you never gonna get yourself a chance like this to get you some pussy!" The man was indeed correct and I broke out of my shell and spread my wings all across the USA and then some! Pretender's chicks were dressed in new wave punk rock attire at every show we played and I soon caught myself manifesting into a real road dog that was always hungry and on the hunt! You'd ask some of these girls what they did in the 9 to 5 world and one would tell you she  was a legal secretary, another worked for a doctor, another for a lawyer and you'd think no way looking at the way she was dressed. New wave and the punk rock scene of the Eighties allowed girls to dress up in weird outfits of self expression that you don't see today. Anyhow, after bartering I loved watching the band during sound check. The boys would be jamming then Chrissie would come out and they'd do a couple numbers that they were trying to tighten up for that night's performance. But, the best part was when Jimmy would solo, playing from his heart with Martin and Pete creating a driving rhythm to his amazing guitar work. You had to be there to see and hear it! Next thing, we'd eat dinner if we weren't too wired up and get ready to sell some merchandise. After the show, back to the Holiday Inn and nonstop partying in the hotel's lounge that was full of chicks and dudes offering you all kinds of drugs to feel like they were a part of this crazy carnival of sorts. After closing out the bar a few of us would wander into a hotel room and party till dawn or score with some girl who was in the mood. This went on for three months straight and that's a typical night on the Pretenders tour! I was twenty three and having the time of my life living out my rock and roll dream, only in real time!!!!!

I'd like to extend to all you bloggers an open forum where you can ask any questions you might have about the book or provide what thoughts you have about life on the road. I would be glad to answer your questions and let the blog become a platform for all of us to communicate. So, if anybody has a question fire away and I'll answer in two weeks. If not, look for me in two weeks with another installment. 

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 I'm thrilled & proud to announce that the The Golden Notebook Bookstore| 29 Tinker Street | Woodstock, NY 12498 | 845-679-8000 is now selling the paperback version of my book ROCK MY WORLD