| Greetings to all you survivors in the Class of
1969! I must be honest, I’m a little surprised that I survived myself, and I
always did wonder what happened to our version of the “lost” generation. I
remember some amazing times in high school, almost all of which had to do
with music, medicinal substances, sex or any combination of the above. I saw
Barrett’s blurb, so I am the SECOND surviving member of the Cretin Society
Jug Band, and yes, that really was home brewed white lightning in those soda
bottles in the cafeteria.
There was also a little band called “The Lost” with a certain keyboard
player you might all recognize. Some guy named Gullick. We were serious rock
stars when it came to those sweet-16 parties.
My fears of Vietnam were allayed by the fact that I went almost directly
from West High to another great institution – Green Bay State Reformatory,
on a possession of marijuana charge. Ah yes – those were the days.
Thankfully, I had a fairly strong spiritual identity, as well as playing a
pretty mean sax, so I survived the experience without undue harm.
My activities of the next 38 years have included several marriages, the
most recent one of which has lasted nicely now for 20 years, and raised
about 10 of hers, mine, ours, and occasionally other people’s kids. I also
lived for extensive periods of time in the SF Bay area and on Maui, where I
completely lost my ability to tolerate the bone-chilling Wisconsin winters.
Throughout the years, I played and sang professionally, and wrote and
produced numerous albums of original music, mostly in the Blues-Rock, funk
and Jazz genre. Most of these turned out to be very well-kept secrets, and
the people who have never heard them number in the millions. I played every
stage from the street (State St., of course) to the big stage at Taste of
Madison. In Madison, I was a member of Honor Among Thieves, The Dieter
Brothers, a whole lot of pickup Blues bands, and spent a couple of years
getting a master’s education in funk with the Clyde Stubblefield Band. I
played in full-time show bands in Hawaii, and just about every bar in every
town I lived in.
About 20 years ago, I managed to walk away from alcohol, tobacco, and any
other substance you could name, which explains why I don’t have even more
marriages in my serial monogamy file, and to be blunt, it also explains why
I am alive to write this. Some of our classmates were not so fortunate.
After a long, beautiful time living on Maui, picking up personal growth
and leadership skills from some very cool experiential seminars, and getting
attuned to be a Reiki Master, I eventually ran away to a home I had never
seen before, here in Portland, Oregon. Portland’s kind of like Madison, only
the thermostat’s not broken here.
Once I turned 50, I finally figured out that I probably wasn’t going to
be a teen idol. I let go of the few smoky, boozy bar gigs I had been
playing, and set about growing up (just a little) and developing a new
profession. With some excellent support from my amazing wife, Carol, I began
to examine my options. My health would no longer permit me to pursue the
jobs I had done to support the lean times in music (in other words, almost
all the time). If they had known about ADHD back in West Jr. High, I most
certainly would have wound up medicated. I ruled out almost all typical
professions by process of elimination. After 40 years of teenage rebellion,
the corporate world was unlikely to welcome me into the club.
All this changed when I heard about opportunities in the counseling
field. At long last, here was a field that would look at my prison time, my
multiple addictions and recovery, my oddball, creative thinking process, and
my relatively profane speaking style, and see them as the most positive
skills on my resume.
I went to college at age 51, loved it and never stopped. I am working as
a Chemical Dependency Professional today I love it, and I am just about to
get my BA in Psychology at Marylhurst University, and next fall this time I
will be entering a PhD program in Clinical Psychology with a Transpersonal
basis in Palo Alto, California. Transpersonal is all the “woo-woo”
psychology that came out of the 60’s and 70’s. I was born to do this. I love
it, and I get results with my patients.
Some of my less forward-thinking acquaintances have asked me: “Wow!
Starting a PhD program at age 56! Do you realize how old you’ll be when you
finish?” My answer is simple. I tell them I will be “exactly the same age I
would have been if I hadn’t gone.” It seems like all of you have been
thriving over the years, so maybe this doesn’t need to be said, but I’ll say
it anyway. Don’t die with the music still in you. |
