HAPPY HOLIDAYS - LIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE ROAD - A SONG ABOUT LIFE..EXCERPT FROM THE FILM "RAHI HIGH...NOT @ HMV"I was born about 360 months ago. Parents worked in a traveling circus group as tight-rope walkers. I was born one warm September night while my mother was in the audience waiting for my father to go on. Shortly after I was born, my parents retired from the road and settled in Minneapolis, where my old man started a career as a thespian, gaining local celebrity.It was also there that they started acquiring one of the baddest vinyl collects in the twin cities area. I had an early diet of Stevie, Sly, Marvin, Lou Rawls, Sam Cook, the Spinners, the Impressions, Coltrane. - This was my soul food. The great thing about living in Minneapolis in the late 70s/80s is that they played some tight white music on the radio - the Eagles, the Steve Miller band, Duran Duran. I started writing my ass off. Words @ first... I was 6 or 7 and I called them Poems in the Key of Life, inspired by Stevies beautiful double album. My poet career was short lived (2 years), but with Michael Jacksons guidance I transitioned smoothly into words & music by 9. I played and analyzed Beat It about 1000 times to figure out what makes a pop song work. I even wrote a tired mid 80s sequels to it called Beat It II.The summer before my last year of high school I heard Eleanor Rigby on the radio. It blew my mind. I thought that all those boys sang were She Loves You Yeah, Yeah, Yeah and I Wanna Hold Your Hand I went out and bought the Revolver Album. Which blew my mind even more (without the aid of LSD). It affected my songwriting, made it more ambitious. That summer I wrote River Round the Sun, which replaced Shes Dead as my favorite Rahi song.Then I started college. Got deeper into that Liverpool group, and the Doors, Squeeze (these guys taught me a lot about pop structure), Pink Floyd. Learned a little Scott Joplin on piano. Started writing rags. After college I stayed in Montana and tried my hand @ being a cowboy. I sucked. The animals loved me, but I couldnt get the lass tie thing down. So I contacted my parents old boss from the circus days, Russ Mayall, and he gave me a shot on the tight rope. Again, I was a favorite with the horses and elephants. I wasnt terrible as a circus performer, but I didnt display any extra talent. But it was here on the road that I started playing the guitar for the first time. The worlds tallest man, Jack Tigre (7ft4), started teaching me Cat Steven songs in the dressing room. I started writing again. I got the courage to pursue music full time. So I moved out to La La and started the band, the Four Hundred Blows. We played around in the late 90s. Mostly melodic punk. Page is one of the few songs that survives from that period. LA is the kinda town though, where you need money if youre serious about keeping your band together. So I started supplementing my music with a little pimping on the side. Which, in retrospect was totally naive, because there is no such thing as pimping on the side. Pimping is the equivalent of 5 or 6 jobs. In my prime I had 2 and a half girls. I say half because one of the hoes real name was Bruce. The main problem that I had was that I couldnt stand lying, which is a serious flaw for a pimp. Id do it, but Id always feel bad about it after the lie would leave my mouth. So I started being brutally honest with the girls - No, Im not gonna beat your ass if you dont give me all of your money/ No I dont love you. This affected my cash flow severely. But even as an honest pimp, I still made more than I did before. I just had no time to anything else. I had become a slave to the worlds oldest profession. So I had to get out.After paying the girls severance pay, I only had $937 - enough for a fender acoustic guitar. This was late 2002, and Ive been playing beautiful music everyday since.
This profile was edited with MySpaceGrill Editor
..LIVE PERFORMANCE "LAST ROUND" (Snaphsot)BEAUTIFUL BROTHER BILL WITHERS SINGING "AIN'T NO SUNSHINE."..REMEMBERING JAMES (Comeback interview from 1986)... Rest In Peace!!!
