A break from the depression of Divorce. Go Rev....

Divorce and Art Alexakis

Divorce and Kurt Cobain

Please, watch the whole 9 part series. But on this video pay special attention to Kurt's recorded testamony at 5:55 minutes into the video. He talks about how his parents divorce effected him.

When to Kick them to the curb

Again, if a couple does not have children; I still feel that couples should try and work things out. The only reason I would justify filing for a divorce is if there was physical abuse involved. And I don't care if the abuse is just to the other spouse and not the children. If one spouse is physically abusive, they gotta go.

There is no reason for a sane person to resort to physical violence unless it's self defense. Physical violence that is tolerated can often lead to spousal homicide.

Get out. I repeat, get out. And if you have kids, get your kids to someplace safe and call 911. The biggest lie couples hear is that there is a fine line between love and hate. This is not true. There is no fine line between love and anything. Love deserves more credit than that. A person has a million options before physically hurting a supposed loved one. For that matter, anyone.

But how can you tell if you've married a physically abusive person?


I'll give you some tips tomorrow.



Ace out...........

Divorce and it's effect on Children

One thing that children think no matter how much you try and convince them is that the divorce is their fault. Children use child logic and assume that at one point mom and dad loved each other enough to marry each other. They define marriage as something adults do when they love each other. They also understand that this was a happier time before they had children. Now they hate each other and by deductive logic, the only new thing that is ruining their love for each other must be the child.

Like I said, this is child logic. The truth is, mom and dad or mom OR dad is putting selfishness ahead of their child's life needs.

Enough can't be said for Abandonment syndrome. It follows a child thoughout their life. On the mild side of the syndrome, The adult of AS will be driven anytime he or she loses something like a pair of sunglasses or the car keys. The search for the lost item is a subconcious satisfying motion that let's the person look for their lost item. They see their parents or their ego as being the lost item. In searching desperately for the sunglasses, they emulate searching for their lost parents. However annoying this is, it's nothing compared to the other end of the spectrum of Abandonment syndrome. Suicide. But understanding these subtle effects help outsiders and potential divorcees understand how deep the level of separation effects the child.

The argument that a child is better off living with 2 separate happy parents than 2 hostile parents in the same house is a flawed paradigm. Divorce teaches children how to run from their problems. Divorce teaches children that their parents love themselves more than they do their children. Sadly enough, divorce warps a childs view of interpersonal relationships. They either steer clear of the mess called marriage, or they run and cling to find someone to love them better than their parents did. Both are unhealthy views of love. Keep in mind, Adults have the choice to stay or leave. A child does not. If you can't stay with your miserable spouse until your kids are old enough to leave the nest, then you are an irresponsible parent. I don't care what the reason is. The only reason for not being in your children's lives is that you are either a prisoner of war or a guest of the state.

Tomorrow; the only acceptable reason for divorce.



Ace out.................

S.I.N.G. it Tammy

D.I.V.O.R.C.E Became final today........

When Tammy Wynette was singing a beer crying song back in the sixties when she sang a song about getting divorced and how she had to spell it out for the K.I.D.

Today, divorce is a common as wisdom teeth being pulled. But if everybody that got divorced were childless parents, the trend would still be appauling but not tragic. I'm not going to throw a bunch of statistics at you to try and prove my point, because the atheists and heathens in the opposition will come up with hideous stats to try and negate the horror that is known as divorce. I have a pleathora of stats that show the effect of single parenting on children. In essence, children, are being raised by television and even worse,computers or computer games.

Why is the government and all the liberal leftists so worried about global warming and a green earth. The truth is, there is very little we can do as a person to effect the temperature of our atmosphere. I'm not going to argue whether Global warming exists or if it does, whether we need to be worried about it. Remember; anthropologists and meteorologists tell us that we've been through 2 ice ages already. We must have had some serious global warming the first and 2nd time around.

A corrupted mind of a child due to parental hatred and instability is something that we (as a person) can do something about. You don't need to have the statistics of children of single parent families that reside in federal and state penatentaries shoved in your face. It's no wonder the newest generation is called Generation Y. As in Generation Why? What's the point. What are the odds, not chances, of a child from a single parent home graduating from college and making an upper income? Compare that to a child of 2 loving nurturing parents that are supportive. Our country is becoming a country of emotionally damaged children that have grown up with some serious bagage. These "dependents of divorced parents" are the future of America. Is it any wonder nobody trusts politicians or even priests? What you reap is what you sow America.

I promised myself I would keep these segments short, so just chew on this till tomorrow.


Ace out...............

What is KILLING AMERICA ?

The greatest world empires in history could not compare to the Roman Empire. By size and by conquership, no other country accomplished so much so quickly. I guess they lived in a time when the human mind was discovering various important characters about "self". Conquering your nieghbor took will, conquering your neighboring community took organization, but concouring a whole continent from an area the size of Florida took Will, Determination, and in this case superior military advantage. Rome trained soldiers that were stronger and more caloused than Nazis. They were Killing machines

The same can be said for the downfall of almost all of the world empires except Rome. (Greece, England,Germany) Rome never crumbled because of an opponent's superiority. Rome fell from within. Let me repeat:"Rome fell from within". Nobody conquered Rome. Nobody defeated Rome. And for those who say the Body of Jesus Christ was stolen from the grave, remember, the grave was being guarded by Roman Soldiers. Roman Soldiers were feared. They were fighting machines.

But I digress. My point is that even America by comparison can't hold Rome's jock strap when it comes to world conquest. But for all intents and purposes, America is viewed as the #1 power of planet. Just recently a report was released on the World's GNP. America was recently in the #2 spot for almost 30 years. We were recently surpassed by "China". Who's number one you might ask? Germany. They export some great automobiles. Always have. Just think for every Mercedes Germany exports you need to export 3 civics. The only way America will regain any kind of competition is to change the rules of the game. Make fossil fuel outdated. And this has always been America's strength. Innovation.

But the America of Today is not the America of 50 years ago. 50 years ago, America looked outward and welcomed the "outcasts" of other countries. "Give us your downtrodden" the lady speaks. And people came to America because of Opportunity. A chance to be equal. A chance to own your own busines or work for a large company that didn't care what you did in your time off.

50 years ago, America proved itself to be the biggest and baddest country in the world and proved it by dropping 2 simple bombs. We had brought an end to death in Europe at the hands of the Nazis and a quick end to the killing in the pacific theatre at the hands of Emperial Japan. The world viewed America with a new reverence. If a World War could be ended with 2 Bombs you didn't want to mess with that country. So America and Russia began the "Nuclear Race" But we couldn't use the Bomb in north Vietnam. You see, Vietnam was never our war. Korea was never our war. Desert Storm was never our war. (it was Kuwaits) And the current occupation in Iraq is what I see as a strategic aquisition to stabalize the middle east. I don't think it started out to be as such. I think we just wanted Saddam Hussein to roll over and let a newer freindlier government take over. But Hussein was a paper Tiger who used the threat of WMD's to his mystique. He had a large non-disciplined army (for the region) that could terrorize, rape and kill the innocent, but was no match for F-22s and Kevlar. Saddam had the killing mind of Hitler (whom he admits was one of his heroes) but the Army of a cheap third world power.

The biggest offensive pressure that came from Iraq actually came from the current administration's pundants. The Democrats. Throw in the sound bites from the hippies and you can begin to see the enemies of Rome.




Love him or hate him; Michael Weiner wrote a very profound book in 2003 called "The Enemy within". I think it could have been re-titled "Beware of the Ides of March". For those of you non-literal readers, The Ides (or middle/15th) of March was the day that Brutus was to kill Julius Ceasar.

Once our visable enemies dimish, our enemies become ourselves. If conquering America by military force is no longer an option, conquering from within is the next challenge of our enemies. And it is not a right wing conspiracy, there are those in government that would want to see America disassembled and turned into a socialist regime. Who would want to see Americans give up their rights?

1. The ultra rich, as usually they will rise to great power. And Power is a more lethal aphrodesiac than money.

2. The under achiever. Every culture has had it's drone class. America , a reletively young country had very small drone cultures because you either worked hard to survived or you died as a relust of a life of destitution. The underachieving class has aclimated to a federal or state paycheck and found joy in not working. These are the people that would have lived outside the kingdome walls and waited for "Humble Pie" to be thrown over the walls. They lived in caves and stole and robbed for a living. A part of this culture resides in penitentaries and makes no excuses about it. quote: "Hey I get three squares a day and that's more than I get on the outside". Just like waiting for the Humble pie to be thrown over the castle walls.

For those of you who don't know what umbles are, In old Englan it is the undesirable part of the animal that was caught for supper. umbles or (humbles) were usually the intestine, stomach, urinary tracts etc..... that would get boiled down and baked into a cassarole. Then the concoction was given to the outsiders as a form of charity.

So until the 21st centery, America had a thriving "middle class". But in 1990 an upper class Idea called "Outsourcing" became a reality. It was passed under the guise of N.A.F.T.A Unfortunately, along with sending American resources to 3rd world countries for cheaper labor, we sent American jobs to places like Mexico and Indonesia (where slavery is legal)

So this has added to the diminishing middle class. No longer could Joe American graduate from highschool and get a job at the plant. The plant is now in Delhi or Bombay. And if that isn't disgusting enough, some of our democratic elected officals want to award China a contract to make our defense supplies. Our land weapons, our Kevlar vests and our tanks would be made by our potential enemies. Do you see a potential "Brutus" in government?

I didn't mean to pontificate on the history of the World, but had to be framed to help you understand what I'm going pin point as the demmise of this great country called America.

IT's DIVORCE.





I'll be back to explain it.



Ace out............

Choose To Be Successful

The Idea of determination says that man has free will and can "Choose his behavior". I firmly believe that with the power of positive thinking, man can choose his outcome.

Scenario 1. years ago I use to drive a tour van through San Francisco. I would take a group of visitors to Coit tower, Lombard street, Fisherman's wharf and eventually the cliff house and the Pacific Ocean.

One of the favorite attractions of Fisherman's wharf in the late 70's was Pier 39. It is sort of a pier/shopping mall of souvineres and restaraunts. The traffic and parking in Fisherman's wharf is the worst on the planet. And a phrase hit me that stuck with me to this day. And to this day, I get great parking ALL the Time.

Scenario 2. Christmas shopping in any mall USA. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, most mall parking lots are packed solid. You can see some interesting road rage figts and hear intense colorful language all in the name of a parking space.

The phrase that changed my life and I didn't even know it was: "Ya know, the parking is so crappy here, that it's just as easy to find a good parking space as it is a bad one. So I'll choose to look for a good one."

The reverse of that statement is easier to understand but is framed in negative language: "The parking is so crappy here, it's just as hard to find a bad parking space as it is a good parking space. So I'll choose to spend my energy looking for a good one, not a bad one."

Do you see how this pardigm (view of life) can change the way you approach life? Even before that epiphany, I remember reading a Peanuts comic of Charlie Brown saying to snoopy, "Snoopy; If you expect nothing you get nothing!" This is SOOO true. But so is the opposite. If you expect goodness, you'll attract goodness. Because you'll find yourself in better and better environments.

I won't go into the atomic level of vibrating, but just know that you control much of your destiny.

A wise man once said, "Worrying about things I can control is called planning. Worrying about things out of my control is a waste of time." I'm paraphrasing here but the Idea is the same. I'll even take it one step further. The more you think worrisome thoughts, the more you'll attract those actions into your life. I'm not saying you can control everything that happens in your life. God gave us humans a precious yet dangerous gift called "Free Will". But I truly believe that if we choose to be positive and loving, we'll be less likely to be victims of someone else's negative free will.

So practice being positive. Listen to positive lectures. Read positive books. Quit watching depressing TV shows. Fill your life with the things that you want. And watch what happens.


Ace out......

Another April 15th

I'm getting more and more pissed off at the government. I'm having exactly what the w4 worksheet says to have taken out. Actually, more. And still I owe those bastards almost 2 thousand.

I'm also really heart broken at all the people that are getting their homes forclosed. The only thing that disgusts me more than people losing their homes are the hacks trying to sell you DVDs on how to take "advantage of the foreclosure market" I know what it's like to lose my home. My ex-wife set me up like a bowling pin and got everything that didn't fit her. And here's the real BS. After she used the kids to get the house, I ended up with the kids. I was a single parent for about 5 years. No house, just a trashy apartment at the end of an ally.

You would think that we could stop spending so much damn money buying houses for Iraqis and work out a way for Americans to keep their homes.

It's just Wrong. This country is becoming more polarized by the day. The rich are getting richer and the middle class is getting poorer. And the poor, well, it's getting harder to be poor. The poor are becoming indigent.

I'm really sorry for everyone that's lost a job or lost your home. The American Dream is becoming the American Scream.


I'm sorry,


Ace

RSM PLEASE.......PUH- LEEEZE

The Top 100 greatest "Rock and Roll groups of all time". ROCK AND ROLL IT SAID.
With no disrespect intended but what the hell is James Brown and Aretha Franklyn doing on this list? The "King" and "Queen" of SOUL?????? Add Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Sly, Smokey, Otis Redding,Dr.Dre, Public Enemy, eminem, NWA, RUN DMC, Howlin' Wolf, Louis Jordan, Miles Davis, Al Green, Jackie Wilson, The Temptations (although they did rock in the 70's),The Four Tops, The Shirelles, Tupac,Etta James, Martha and the Vandellas, Dianah and the Supremes and finally Curtis Mayfield to the list of those who belong on the R and B list. All of them are great talents but they would probably tell you that they don't belong on a list of Rock greats.

I also question the appropriateness of Radio Head, James Taylor, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patti Smith, Simon and Garfunkle, Fats Domino and Bob Marley. I mean; what do they have in common with The Rolling Stones or the Beatles?

If they DID put these great talents where they belonged, they would have opened up another 30 or so spots for bands or singers that I feel didn't even make the list such as Alice Cooper,Yes, Metallica, Creedence, Kiss, The Stray Cats, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, The Faces, ROD STEWART (but only before he thought he was sexy) Mott the Hoople, John Fogerty, Tommy James, Status Quo, Dick Dale, Ted Nugent, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc...............

Ah but I think they do it for the readership. Kind of like in the old days when Playboy Magazine use to have their all-star band that had Pete Cetera or Paul McCartney on Bass, Billy Joel on Keys, and Peter Frampton on guitar. This is the mindset that keeps me from watchng award shows like the grammies,oscars,emmies etc.....

I strongly urge you to go out and make your own list.

Here's my top 10:

1. The Stones
2. The Beatles
3. Elvis
4. The Dave Clark Five
5. The Ramones
6. The Monkees
7. Roy Orbison and the Travelin' Wilburys
8. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
9. AC/DC
10 Buddy Holly and the Crickets

Like I said, go out and make a list of your own if you don't like it.



Ace out...........

Being a musician Gift or Curse?

I've been a musician since I was 5 years old. My parents were nightclub owners so It was a natural fit for the kids.

One of the greatest parts of being a musician is that it gives you direction in life. Plato wrote: " The unexamined life is not worth living." I interpret that as "The life lived without a passion is no life at all". Music is my passion. From the time I get up in the morning (singing in the shower) to the time I go to bed, rehearsing in the studio, music is constantly on my mind. I would go so far as to say that Music is more important to me than money.

Part of Life's challenge is trying to find a passion. Mark Twain wrote: "If you do what you love for a living; you'll never have to work a day in your life". I can't tell you how true this is. When I was recording my 3 albums, the creation of the album was more important than eating or even sleeping. I've never been at my day job and not wanted to leave.

On the other hand, making it in music is not like making it as a doctor or attorney. I really wish you could go to college and major in music then find a community that needed a guitarist and open up an office. It just doesn't work that way. And unfortunately, it's one of the FEW occupations that requires LUCK more than skill or education. Youth and looks also help.

Sure there are varied levels of musical occupaions for the musician. Everything from the wedding singer to the next big thing. But at some point the passion drives a great musician past the point of playing bars and bahmitzvahs to creating his own sound and leaving a legacy. One of the 4 basic needs in life is to leave a legacy. We need to Live, Love, Learn and Leave a Legacy.

In my life, I've seen the music industry go from signing bands that just performed in the same key with no social meaning whatsoever to seeing true legends like Eddie Van Halen and Chuck Berry go without a contract.

The curse aspect of being a truly talented musician is that the Industry no longer is looking for great talent. The truth is, it never did. Talent had very little to do with the making of a rock star. It has always been about the marketability of the artist.

A great example would be the grunge movement in 1990. Between 1988 and 1990 bands like Motly Crue and Poisen were singing really decadent songs about being irresponsible and having fun. Songs like Girls,Girls,Girls and Good Time were safely making money for the music industry. Then something up in Seattle swept in and "slew" all the "hair bands" overnight. Kurt Cobain was singing about stuff that really pissed him off and Pearl Jam was singing about suicide. Kids had something that they really could Identify with as every 15 year old boy was not driving Tawny Catayne around in a Ferrari, or Corvette or whatever.

The Industry sent it's A&R reps up to Seattle and signed any coffee strung out band that sounded like Nirvanah over night. THEN every band on sunset strip started playing Angst filled songs and thus we had Stone Temple Pilots. The first L.A. based grunge band to try to dress and sound like a Seattle band.

Soon New York picked up on the Grunge movement and Supermodels started walking down the runways wearing ragged jeans and plaid wool shirts. The Irony was that Eddie Vetter wore plaid because he bought his shirts at the goodwill.

You see, it was never about how talented Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vetter was, it was about their "Gimmick" called grunge.

So what the hell is a musician suppose to do? Try and create the next new wave?

I've been waiting for David Bowie to call. I'm sure he'll call soon.

If he doesn't, Hell, I might just start playing rockabilly. Ricky Nelson said it best when he said "You can't please everyone so you got to please your self".

Same song~Better Band~ please ignore the adult Alcohol syndrome

Use to be great 1973

Things that used to be Great

I love the line from Terry Anderson's song "Rock and Roll Girlfriend" that goes "She'd rather hear a song from 73' than any of that S___ on MTV"

Here's one vintage piece from 73/74 that broke up. Keith is in it for a tease. Ron went with Keith to the Stones and Rod went....... well, let's just say Rod use to be great.

Enjoy