Kenny Loggins 1983 Tour

While riding back to LA from the US Festival in Kip and Sal’s rented motor home I focused my thoughts on the Kenny Loggins gig that I was about to begin. In my minds eye, it was looking to be one of the best tours I’d do. I thought working with Larue was going to be a breeze. HOLY SHIT, how wrong was I. As I detailed in my book our friendship imploded and it really wasn’t cool. Larue was someone I looked up to, again, he got me into this line of work and we were tight friends. In the past when we toured together he was always fun to be around and girls just loved him. He radiated charm and never went ugly early, if you know what I MEAN! I was totally prepared for going back on the road and doing my job to the best of my ability. When we arrived in LA Kip said “I’ll keep you in the loop!” and we parted ways.

Unfortunately, from day one of the Loggins Tour, Larue saw me in a business light of the old version of what I was, verses the current state of mind I now occupied. Things just kept getting shittier by the minute. It’s funny, and not in a Ha Ha way, what rage can make you do in certain situations. A few weeks into the tour when Donnie called unexpectedly and asked if I could help him out of a pickle he was in, I didn’t hesitate. I said I would in fact assist him by taking the tour he was offering and decided to immediately leave the Loggins tour. In retrospect, I don’t know if I would have jumped ship or thought about leaving the Loggins Tour if it wasn’t for meeting Donnie. No one was looking to hire me and I was still internally reeling from my recent karma ass kicking.

As I previously stated, my bond with Donnie stemmed from a simple good deed I’d done for him while on the 1982 Police Tour a year earlier. My

business friendship with him lasted a little over two years and they were the very best of times during my odyssey!

After the dust settled from the Loggins blowout, two years later, Larue and I reconnected. Hell, how many true friends do you really have?

A little side note, just about ten years ago when my loving mother passed away and friends were telling other friends of my loss, one of the first calls I received was from Larue. He was living in Hawaii on the north shore in a beach front house and insisted that I come visit him and clear my head. After we followed my mother’s wishes I caught a flight to Hawaii and took heed in his words of wisdom. I reflected for two weeks on how much I missed my mother and still do. That’s the kind of friend Larue was and is, and I LOVE him for it!

The Kenny Loggins Tour was like most, only this time I was riding on the crew bus and what a joy it was. You could party your ass off, get whacked out of your mind on whatever poison of choice and not have a care in the world until you reached the next destination. What a great escape!!! Kenny’s audience was largely made up of women and there was plenty of bartering in every city we played. The crew chief of the bus I was riding on was a real dick and ran things that created situations reminiscent of the petty crap of high school days. Things like, who’s in with the right click! Who’s being picked on and talked about behind his back. Big Paulie was a first class ass wipe with his bus etiquette, but, ran a tight crew. Though, he really didn’t bother me as much as he did others, he was a big bully with a bad attitude. Honestly, if Larue wasn’t such a dick the tour would have been a blast. The tour was set to roll till early fall and I was making great money. Kenny’s manager was very laid back. He gave me plenty of space to do my job and we had no problems. Again my only reason for bailing was Larue’s unfair treatment and I’d made a promise to never let anyone manipulate me. So, as I stated in my book, I flew off the handle and abruptly departed the tour. Needless to say Larue wasn’t too thrilled that I left him holding the bag. Hey, karma can be a cold hearted bitch! On the jet flight to start the 1983 Men At Work tour I felt bullet proof and never looked back!

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US FESTIVAL 1983

When I arrived at the US Festival driving a rack body truck, the site had workers scattered everywhere. The first person I recognized through the hazy heat was Kip with his hardy hand shake. So happy to see him, I gave him an over the top bear hug. He looked directly at me and said “Are you ready!!!!!!” to which I replied “Dear friend, I’m good to go!” As we walked and talked we soon approached, at the time, the only mobile trailer in what was going to be the tee shirt compound. The sign taped to the door, in bold print said MOTHER SHIP. This was the central hub for the duration. When we walked into this huge mobile office trailer I was assigned a desk under which I stowed my duffel bag.

A blog or so ago, I wrote about two guys that I had met on The Police Tour. They were key people in my affirmation manifesting and Kip was one of them. The other, named Donnie will come to life in my next blog. These individuals single handedly allowed me to understand what it means to be in synch with others. I met both of them in a work environment and finding a common thread with each was based on doing the right thing and asking for nothing in return. Kip saw me as more than a rock and roll soldier. He saw possibilities that my potential could align itself with his own forward growth. Donnie and I bonded over a simple good deed. What I’m really saying is do the right thing because you never know what will come from it!

 Back to the main topic, the festival was such a blast and I had the Midas touch. Kip provided me a secure flexibility of my job description which in turn allowed me to wear many hats. Looking back, he was putting me through the paces to see if I fit the bill for the new business model he and Sal were creating. Hell, I even found a shapely brunette lady friend who was hawking US Festival programs. There’s nothing better than snuggling in a sleeping bag with a hot blooded girl on a cool desert night! We hung together for three days and then she split. After that it was back to sleeping in Kip and Sal’s motor home.

I’d not seen Guy in months and now he looked like a strung out version of the Dutch boy paint kid. His coke habit had kicked his ass real hard! Though, my main man was always up for scamming, fucked up on drugs or not! One last ditty on how crafty Guy really was, after the three day festival finished a bunch of us stuck around for the country western day. During that same time the third STAR WARS movie was set to premier. At Guy’s insistence seven of us piled into a rental van used to haul tee shirts and drove to see Return Of The Jedi. When we arrived the line for the movie was around the corner and someone instinctively said “Forget it, the lines too long, let’s head back to the festival. With that, Guy calmly said “Relax, we’re going to see STAR WARS! Let’s hurry and get our tickets.” As we departed the van, Guy told one of the young bucks who was sitting on a box of concert shirts to grab seven of them and we bolted into the sea of people. While standing in this endless winding mass of flesh and bones Guy said he had an angle to get us all great seats. When the same kid holding the shirts came back with tickets in hand Guy asked him for a ticket and the tee shirts. With that, Guy draped the shirts over his belt and into his pants. Then, with ten minutes left before the movie was set to let out, Guy, with the glare of larceny in his eyes said “I’ll meet you inside, I’ll be dead center waving a tee shirt!” Looking over his shoulder as he walked off he blurted out “Don’t forget to get me a large popcorn with butter and a coke!” I looked at Kip wondering if he knew what Guy was up to and he shrugged his shoulders. To which, I asked, can I tail him and see what he’s going to do? Kip thought and said “Hell Yeah, just be cool about it!” I replied “Understood!” Quickly, I shadowed Guy right to the front entrance of the theater. As soon as the attending crowd started leaving, Guy approached four or five people for their ticket stub under the guise of being a die hard fan. Once he got one stub he sprung right into action. He situated himself by the theater’s doors and abruptly started walking backwards into the mass exodus. Every few seconds he glanced over his shoulder like he was looking for someone and kept his watchful eye glued on the theater entrance. It was so cool to watch, Guy slid like a stick of butter melting on a hot skillet. He was gliding in reverse of the parting crowd, and almost through the lobby. Then he disappeared into the actual theater and just kept going till he reached his destination midway. He sat in the seat of his choice and got that evil grin he hid so well. When the theater was totally empty a young usher came and asked Guy to leave his seat. Guy, being a forty two year old man simply stated he had a ticket stub from the previous showing and for this viewing. Plus, he was holding six seats that he’d put tee shirts on for friends that were waiting on line. With that, the usher said okay and walked away. When the six of us entered the theater, Guy was there boldly waving a white tee shirt and sitting dead center. As we reached our seats, with a shit eating grin on his face Guy said “Where’s my popcorn!!!!

A few minutes earlier, I’d told Kip what I witnessed, but, we both asked Guy with enthusiasm how he’d magically gotten all of us such great seats. He reveled in telling us the story and we all enjoyed watching Return Of The Jedi. As I said in my book leave it to Guy!!!!!

Throughout the US Festival Kip told me small pieces of a business plan he and his friend Sal had brewing. More than once, he mentioned I was a part of it. I trusted Kip and was thrilled to be part of a business plan I knew very little about. In my eyes Kip was like a guiding light and the vibe he was sending made me very enthused about the future. I was sold! Little did I know a couple years later that business plan would in fact allow me to attain my goal!

The 1983 US Festival was a brilliant reentry to the world of concert merchandising and I was looking forward to immediately starting the Kenny Loggins Tour with Larue.

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Karma Comes Knocking 1982

The six months I spent sidelined from the road showed me just how powerful the words manifestation, karma, affirmation and especially perseverance really are! These words single handedly pulled me through that very dark time. I used all the techniques of attainment I mentioned in my book all through the high points of my odyssey and now found they worked even better during this really low point. It would have been so easy to throw in the towel and say I had a great two year run and received all I asked for. But, I refused to let go of the last affirmation I'd made about going around the world with some rock outfit. Every god damn day of my six months in purgatory I analyzed all my negative actions and took whatever steps I could think of to get back in synch with attaining my goal.

Man, I can only imagine how some of these rock bands must feel after two or three years of making it in the rock & roll business and then find themselves washed up and left for dead at twenty some odd years old! Not a real great feeling or situation to be in.

Anyway, I was tested daily on my own self belief and what it would take to right my wrongs. Doing an inventory of all my past actions which included a lot of lying, cheating and stealing changed me forever and for the better. Sometimes in the quest of wanting something so badly you're totally blind to all the under handed shit you've done to attain that goal. It took a karma curve ball to knock some sense into me and I'm here to tell you it's not worth doing the wrong thing. Because, like it or not, sooner or later you're going to be responsible for all your actions and you'll have to pay your cosmic debt to the universe. During this wake up call, I found that the two words affirmation and perseverance in combination are amazing tools for getting thoughts that are theater of the mind to manifest into stone cold reality. Again I know it sounds like pure bullshit, but, at least for me these words are the real deal! I kept asking the sprits of the universe for a second chance and if given it I'd always do the right thing by being a positive life force while on earth. Again, my guiding light through that time period was my affirmation and I wouldn't veer to the left or the right of attaining it. Honestly there were days I felt so defeated, it would be a week or two of pure hell before I found the strength to right myself back in the saddle. To give you an idea of my train of thought during that ordeal, when I received the call from Kip about working for Guy at the 1983 US festival I thought this was a karma cock tease. But, when Larue called a few days later and offered me the Kenny Loggins gig, I knew all my dirty deeds had been exonerated

Second chances are so important in the game of life and not allowing a person to redeem themselves doesn't make sense when that person is genuine about redemption. I'm sure if you look at your own life there are some dark or grey situations you'd like a second chance at changing. A word to the wise, if you're ever in a position to give someone that opportunity, do it, because, it's the right thing to do! I'm not saying everyone deserves a second chance, do it, only if the person is looking to right their wrong and again truly redeem themselves with the sprits of our universe.

The reality of doing the US festival and going out on the road with Larue had me on the purest natural high one can muster up. I looked at Larue as a brother and was thrilled we'd be working together again. He and I had been best friends since high school and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have been a concert merchandiser. Larue was always upbeat about life and knew how to party with the best of them. All the sudden the summer of 1983 was shaping up to be one splendid grand reentry and I started getting big time road fever. I'd become so addicted to life on the road that I needed a fix in the worst way!

So, after a half a year of being in dry dock and nailing up aluminum siding all winter long my faith in myself had been restored. I took a moment and gave thanks for the second chance I was about to receive, and that my rock & Roll odyssey was set back in motion. I'd learned my lesson well and from that point on I told myself, and to this day, always stay on the right side of things. I sure as hell wasn't looking to repeat that negative episode of history ever again!

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