Planning A Happy Ending

Edition #87 — November 5, 2006

(please read to the end, it's worth it!)

Recently, I paid for the same mistake twice. This time, however, I did it willingly.

Some of you may remember my October 2002 newsletter in which I recounted having an expensive musical instrument stolen from me by a trusted friend. I believe in forgiveness, but not victimhood and stupidity (remember, vote Democrat on Tuesday, folks!). Needless to say, that starving Toronto artist is no longer trusted, nor a friend of mine. Yet the damage has been done. I have been without my Korg 01/W FD for the last ten years. Just look at this sexy beast and you'll know why I missed her so much...

Sure, I could have moved on, musically-speaking, except that I still had some of my songs on diskettes that could only be read by this keyboard — some too good to abandon. And although I had tried to recover my songs using other machines, somehow the circumstances were always working against me. Or so I thought.

This past June I had found a used machine for sale but couldn't afford it. And when the owner gave me a couple of hours to salvage my songs, disk errors arose to leave me frustrated and with nothing to show. I left thinking that I may never hear those songs again as I'd initially recorded them. Those sounds, there was something magical about this keyboard...

That decade long frustration was eating away at me again in the last few weeks. Determined, I began to scour the internet, looking for a used Korg 01/W FD. I found only one, in Nashville, Tennessee. By all rights, given its condition and price, and how long it had been advertised, it should have been sold already in a town that loves vintage sounds and music. But it hadn't. Better yet, it also included a really nice case and a stand.

Trust was not something I was going to be giving away at any price. And after being ripped off by my closest friend at the time, I now thought better. Wouldn't it be the ultimate irony to send someone money in a different country only to be ripped off again? I needed help.

I know a handful of people in the States. One is Max, a Canadian working in the music publishing business — in Nashville! I know him through a mutual friend, whose band, Syre, recorded tracks at the studio I co-owned in Toronto. Though our contact has been fleeting and sporadic, he impressed me as someone who would help others, and so I called him up.

It turns out that Max lives within 5 minutes of the guy who was selling the keyboard. He was more than glad to help me out and within a couple of days I had a confirmation from him that everything checked out, including the distant stranger to whom I would be sending my money.

New, my stolen Korg 01/Wfd had cost me about $3000.00 (with taxes and a nylon carrying case). This time around the price tag wasn't as steep. And despite being 14 years old, my Korg 01/W fd arrived here this past Monday in perfect working condition. And now I have one less thing for which to bang my head against the wall in frustration. Isn't that life's quest anyway — less lumps?

Friends come and go, but my Korg 01/Wfd is a keeper...Woohoo! Thanks Max and Steve (and my faultless network of "coincidence creators.") You guys rock!

I'm Bushed. How About You?

On Tuesday, November 7, 2006, the good people of the United States of America will decide which political parent will be responsible for cleaning up after George W. Bush's 6 year keg party in the White House.

Will it be dear old Republican dad with his appeals of "let the boys have some fun!" or Democratic mom who finally puts her foot down after doing load after load of dirty dishes and laundry only to find herself unappreciated and taken for granted? Yes, it's all in the family in the USA on Tuesday. Will it be Archie and Mike? It's going to be up to Edith and Gloria to decide.

The Republicans have recently had to rethink their GOP name to reflect the past year of embarrassing revelations. Perhaps they will become the GOM "Grand Old Mess" after the election results are in. The embarrassment has nothing to do with the shadowy actions of congressmen and senators but rather in their being caught in the act. Not getting caught is what they refer to as "winning!"

The Democrats have the unique advantage of not being Republicans. But if Hilary Clinton or another Democrat winds up in the president's chair in 2008, they'd better not have heterosexual sex out of wedlock or those Republicans will be onto them like flies on poop. After all, that's immoral behaviour. Lying to the people and driving up the deficit to sell arms and alter the Constitution? That's different. And besides, it's good for business. Haliburton's anyway.

No matter what is said, or by whom, we all have ingrained prejudices. George W. Bush could pull off a rubber mask he's been wearing since birth and declare: "I am Satan, worship me!" and yet he'd still get votes just for being Republican.

But history is not made by closing our eyes to the horizon but by turning our backs on past failures. Good luck, America. I love you guys even more since having travelled state to state on tour with the band. I find you generally fearless and outspoken, yet something has you cowering and silent.

Tuesday is the time to prove that you are not sheep being led by wolves into the den of destruction. Tuesday is the day you decide to order "french fries" again because that's what they are, no matter how someone tries to skew their name or reputation. Tuesday you go into battle to fight for your freedom. And then you will have a long, long time to heal those self-inflicted wounds, and the ones left upon other nations around the world.

Good God! (what a "massage!")

To end my newsletter, I would like to thank the New Life Church's Pastor Ted Haggard for admitting to be a gay drug user and for not blaming his lies and value system on Satan, or the Democrats.

Yes, as moral leader of 30 million souls seeking to be more pious and pure, he has shown that there is only one person in the world that any of us can trust to do the right thing. Ourselves. And if we screw up, then we are the one to blame. If there is a god, she does not "hate" gay people or drug users. She just won't tolerate hypocrites, that's all.

2006 has been the year of light, and all the hypocrites are scattering like cockroaches on a greasy kitchen floor. If Ted Haggard has a sore butt it's because he just got it kicked for being a lying, power hungry, family-devaluing ass. Anyone who swore by Pastor Haggard's supposed "godliness" a mere week ago may want to reconsider how they choose those who best represent them and their interests. Historically it has mostly been those who lie and manipulate others for their own personal gain and glory. Will we force history to keep repeating itself?

Remember Pastor Ted, and all you members of his recently "shock and awed" congregation, and everyone else within reading distance of this newsletter: vote Democrat on Tuesday! Why? Because they're not Republicans. Sorry, but talk is cheap, yet life doesn't have to be! Actions speak for themselves. So does inaction.It's time to act!

I've never seen the world in better shape for a major house cleaning. On a personal note, my keyboard was stolen by just such a hypocrite. On a global note, America has been stolen by people who secretly live by lower moral values than those they condemn.

Now is the time for the people to speak. What will they say? And will they even be heard? SHOUT! Let there be no doubt.

See you all next month,
Roland K.


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