Steak and Cheese

I petitioned the author of steakandcheese.com to present my website to music lovers. He calls my kind "link whores" but who knows? Maybe it'll help me sell a CD or two. Maybe not. We'll see.  Lotsa folks pass thru there on their way to somewhere or to look at the gore....
Its a wacky site that has some good some bad and some really ugly. But I like it and if they pitch my site...mo betta........
Bowe

Sunday rest...Contusion the story

Just to let anyone interested know:
Contusion my new CD on Mutantblues Music is available at CD baby the link is:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rexstratton2

How this came to be was really the fault of Dwyer and Michaels, two Davenport Iowa DJ's who were using a WEST Music company promo on their weekend warrior musicians program. In 2002 in the spring they offered to form a band from any former garage band players. I of course was the OLDEST bastard to apply.  But they chose me to be included and they created this band "strait jacket" and they got a guy called "Saber" to drum. Saber was about 25 over 6 foot tall and a blockhead. He couldnt lighten up with white gas assistance. Then they aquired a bass player John.  I cant remember his last name although it was slavic. He was very teachable but didnt have a lot of licks in his bag. But he did fine. Then Rick. Rick was somekind of outside salesman who smoked a LOT of dope. He had every imginable instrument, PA, Mixer, Korg keyboard, he had been the rythym guitarist for a Macomb, Illinois band called "Fat Sammy" and they had following. He had this friend "Larry" who I never got to meet who was a multi-instrumentalist and evidently beyond excellent. I wished I coulda met him. But like Rick was stoned. He was pretty good looking and had a fox/trophy woman who I thought was an ice princess...she wound up with us on our gigs like a yoko. Rick could play guitar real good. Not much on improvisation but able to reproduce others music quite exactly. Then me. And lastly we got a singer, a karaoke dood that Rick knew named "George". George could sing AC/DC and that was the clincher since none of us could. We tried that nickleback ballad "How do you like me so far" (thats not the name of the song but its the gist)
We played three gigs. At the last gig Bill Michaels the dj wanted to drum to an AC/DC tune and Saber had a fit. We wanted to change the song line up and Saber had a fit. At the first gig the bastard stabbed me in the back with a drumstick because I started a song too early for him. I m sure he could have killed me, but I was gonna wax him with my epiphone. (its pretty heavy) but I considered the show....and my age etc...But that was our last gig. Michaels played drums and
Saber sulked.
     I ran into a forklift driver at work one day. (no not like a crash jes like "hi howdy") and he told me he wanted to sell his old drums (slingerland) and I asked how much and he said 200.00. I thought...Jeeze a chance to get my own traps. I ought to do that. Well I'd seen Mike at our first  Dwyer and Michaels gig and I asked him if he wanted to play... We actually jammed at Ricks place near Geneseo, Illinois before "strait jacket" was no more. Then I set all the stuff I had up in our living room and borrowed a good friends PA that was jes collecting dust in his basement and we'd (me and mike) would jam here. Then Mike introduced me to Steve a bass player who was really good. He was a bluesman and we sounded real nice doing three piece white versions of Buddy Guy, and some Willy Dixon, and Bobby Blue Bland. So after a few months we sat in at a club in Preston, Iowa during a C and W's bands break. We rocked the house! They loved it even the hillbilly band wanted to know who we were... but I was singing and I am soooooooo not a singer..... So we needed personel. I sent out feelers and found two chick singers. Actually Mike found Marla cause they grew up together. She is above superb. I found Tracy but Tracy was offended by Marla I believe and never came back after the first jam. Steve had a drag racer, and he was an avid hunter, and it turned out that he couldnt be in the band much. And Mike and I found ourselves practicing alone again a lot. People over 30 dont have time to be in a band. Its just the nature of the work a day life. We got Jesse Pritchard from work he was a security guard and a good bass player. A BIG DOOD 6'6 or taller, and about 310 lbs. and then Marla told me to call Tim Bowzer, Kathy Bowzers husband. He is a marine biologist working for the Nuke plant down the road. He became the rhythm guitarist. So we had like three practices together and I set up the gig at Jonesys, thats pictured at my website.
http://www.freewebs.com/rexio/
We played that gig and got some video tape. I was wayyyyyyy too loud and in trying to get some effects through the PA I goofed that up in the begining... but hey we had fun. Marla turned out to be pregnant, and needed to get married, and Tim Mike and I practiced I had a bad feeling. I wanted to set up a recording session this spring (May 2004) and I'd gotten pretty prolific and set down a BUNCH of wordless melodies that I wanted to work on either with Mike, and Tim Bowser or Tim Abbott my brother in Law.  I got sick with kidney stones and all that went to hell in a handbasket. So while I was recuperating from the stones extractions, I took all the melodies that I liked the best, put em on a disk and called it "Contusion" and released it via CD baby this april. It just actually got on the market in July, however cause I had to do the covers, and Mike Hall set me up with the silver discs and printed what I needed right away at his studios in Le Claire, Iowa. I fired off a copy to the Library of Congress, and a bunch to CD baby for sale and well. It turned out pretty good. I'm hopin someone will buy the thing when it gets into digital download status. That way I dont have to make millions of hard copies... but I will if people like it. Its getting good reviews...(millions?  man is that wishful thinking..) Anyway thats "Contusion" so please check it owt... I done REAL good on dat one...
Bowe.

Tim Abbott

My brother in law will be up Aug 12-18 to visit from Austin, Texas dating capital of the world. (according to SNL in a recent weekend update). Tim is forwarding several songs acapella that Im going to work on the melodies to. I am thrilled about this because I've wanted to collaborate with him for many years and haven't had that opportunity. It will be like the Carters, or the Everlys. He wants minimalist style and starkness.  Im astounded. However he's free to add orchestral background to anything we do and eliminate my bare guitar work entirely if the songs need that for success.  He's also suggested some gigs to push the tunes.  I think if we do that the new music haven in the Quad Cities is the place to open. But damned if I can remember their name jes nah. But he insists that we do a duet at the beer pubs to warm it up. Not a bad idea at all. He could easily build a band if he comes off well. He has a great range and style. I'v always liked his voice but his songs lacked that grasp on the common thread, that abstract conceptual music generally contains. Therefore he's had no real mainstream exposure. He's had good music and his 90's release Argument Clinic is still out there in the bins.... But I think with some hooks, and harmony he'll have a base this time. And with digital distribution he'll have a world wide market. He is very good and Im peeing my pants waiting for the rough stuff. ER maybe Im peeing my pants cause of the surgery, but either way, Im peeing. Gotta go...oops! already went! (just kidding)
Bowe

Someday Im sure

That the medical profession will be able to assist people with kidney stones in a manner that allows their recover to wander farther than 1o feet from a bathroom...but I digress... I got an e mail from a dear friend from Joliet, Ill. She was my girlfriend in 1965. Yes, just after the civil war. She always remembers my birthday. Its so kind. I enjoy hearing the news of their lives and familiy as well.  I used to think that getting old would be boring, but after all the crap I've been through medically I can tell you rollercoasters aint shit. But you grow in relationships. I have another very good friend in Silvis, Illinois who although I rarely see him I keep him in my thoughts. He was like my big brother when we were kids and we had a band together. He went on to immense wealth and prosperity because he was industrious and frugal.  He saw some huge ups and downs in life and turned them all into positives. He is my hero in a lot of ways, because even though he had no parental guidence as a boy, his grandparents loved him and gave him good counsel and he followed it to success in his life. I have a friend near Philadelphia who was my running buddy when I lived in Upstate New York. He recently had a nasty bout with pneumonia and told me on the phone the other night that he was glad he didnt die cause he wants me to do that first. (!) I said ok, but now ya pissed me off and I'm gonna live a long ass time....I have another beautiful friend in Connecticut who runs a fabulous Italian ristorante that his father left him, and goes to Italy one month a year for vacation. He is a superb chef, and a part time disc Jockey at the university of Connecticut. He knows his music. He loves folk music, but he and I were always Rolling Stones fans. He can rattle off jazz greats, and he loves Sinatra and Armstrong. He had a huge struggle with Hep C. He was on interfereon for a while in his life and it nearly killed him. Im so glad he's alive. I was able to drive up there after my surgery in 2002 and we spent a couple days together talking spirituality, music, and I ate his fabulous cooking.  He grills Salmon with honey/mustard sauce and oh my GOD!
We went swimming in a local lake and played guitar and jammed with his son the drummer.  Life and age are wonderful. Im certain there are those who have some issues that seem hopeless. All my good thoughts are with you this night. Overcome. Find a way. I've seen people who have been totally written off by the medical profession with cancer live for years and thrive. I've seen others just give up. OR they have simply to change a habit and live happier and they refuse. Above all prove what you say so your word is good. Old can be truly delicious. It can be touching, and dear. It is for me where its at now and I am glad I arrived. I know too many now who have not. That is saddening. That is a shame. I know too many who are, (like I myself did) throwing caution to the wind.... My sons for instance.
I have a fifteen year old daughter, by another marriage. She is pregnant. I was so disappointed because she's beautiful, and talented, and has an high IQ.  She plays piano, flute, and sings quite well. (classically)  She hates me because I insisted she take a different path than the one she's on and I attempted to get her into therapy. She couldnt take the confrontation and walked out of the sessions. Her mother had me sign off my parental rights when she was born in 1988 and showed up at my door when she was 12 years old, telling me stories of fear and rebellion.  Of course she also wanted to reinstate my parental rights because I held a good job for a long time and she could get good money from me. But thats neither here nor there. Its not long now till she's eighteen. She's going to cosmetology school after finishing her high school at home, and caring for her baby. The father is 16 and is flipping burgers. I dont know much more about the situation because she doesnt talk to me. She hasnt since she walked out of counseling in Jan of 2004. I know it isnt the end of the world. I wish things had been different. I tried hard to get them to be but I had no general control over her behavior. It was obvious to me from the get go that this was going to be the result. I wasnt shocked when I was presented with the news. I was just disappointed. It makes the life struggle that much harder and what kind of life is that baby going to have being raised by a rebellious teenager?  I have another friend and he and his wife are raising their daughters, daughter. Its quite common these days. They love her  like their own daughter, who is running and stoned. The little granddaughter is always asking..."does my mommy love me?" "Will she ever come back home?" and that is heartbreaking. I know, I can hear the advice flood in already. I guess I belong to people who are picking up the pieces that are scattered generationally.  I guess Im dealing with a situation that I do by the seat of my pants. I will for the rest of my life try to make it better. No matter what. I am and have had some successes in the last 18 years. I no longer consider myself useless shoeleather. I once thought I would never have anything or amount to anything and this was reinforced by my parents who were eternally disappointed in my behavior. And I was disappointed in theirs. It must be God. He put good people in my pathway in really bad times in my life. People who cared for me, put up with my drunken stoned stupidity, and loved me unconditionally. They taught me what my parents wouldnt or couldnt. I try to pass that along to the daughter I have who lives with me.  Having a beautifull wife who is loving and smart dont hurt one bit. Getting old is really fine. Its really different than what I expected and somedays when its cold, and my arthritis is hurting and my kidney stones are moving and my angina is squeezing my chest, and my head aches from the stupid medicine I think ..jeeze....I need sleep. I need rest. But I pull on my pants and my boots, go to work and do the best that I can. I come home and help out. I do the best that I can. I play my music to relax. Music is everything. Music is love. Music is me.
And I will always do the right thing and I will always do my best.
Bowe

I made it

I made it to 54 today. How wierd and I had uteral surgery as a present.They plucked several stones from my uterer and my kidney today. My my it hurts to pee. I know Im like too old for this shit but Its fun to write and its fun to play music so I do both. I either get a rapt audience or people leave. Either way I play and enjoy it. Life is what you make it. I had an old episcopal priest tell me if life hands you a barrel of shit, turn it into fertilixer. so  so so................
  wow 54 that 2 times that I've been 27 years old.  I feel like Im 27 years old. (well except for the kidney stuff that makes me feel like Im 89 years old)
I had an heart attack. Technology advanced enough to give me new blood vessels to the heart and a job with insurance to afford the surgery. (IM GRATEFUL) I had a 2" long kidney stone. technology has advanced enough that it was extracted and no new holes were cut in my body.(IM GRATEFUL)  In 1978 I managed to cut off all the fingers on my right hand. At that time tecnology was advanced enough to reattach three of the four cut off. (STILL GRATEFUL)
  I said at one time I believe in God. I believed that Jesus Christ was his son and that by the spirit of adoption, God adopted me. Im so glad.
I cant explain why I went through five years of anger at God.  I literally hated him.
That was washed away by a phone call from Leroy Williams. Wierd. I cant explain it.
But Im grateful.
I cant explain why, me, a drunken loser with no education can live in a nice neighborhood, have the musical instruments I've wanted all my life
ABOVE THAT
A beautiful wife and family.
I just cant understand it but I'm grateful.
I cant understand why I never reconciled with my father.
or my mother. And why my sister is the dork she is.
its like I never had a family. Until 1987. The year I quit drinking alcohol.
And I met my wife.
and we stayed sober and got married
and had a daughter.
I cant understand it.
But its wonderful. If this is God at work, Im grateful.
Im sure that it is.
Im layin off critcism for a while.
Im gonna ride the grateful train and shut up.
Bowe

and in passing

(heh)
music is everthing. No nicer way to let your mind be free. Music is life and music is peace.

mining and moaning

Tonight 12 hours at the factory. 11:00 t0morrow back on the table for more kidney stone mining. But supposedly this is it for a while. I still have 9 big stones lodged in my diabetic kidneys. Whoo Hoo. So send me your good thoughts tomorrow, I'll need em cause it hurts when ya pee.......................
Bowe

YAY I get to go back

To work on Wed night. The doc called and is faxing the OK to human Resources. I cant miss anymore.
I fixed the boat lights. DUH...I fogot to run a ground wire from the battery.  But thats all mo betta now.I put in some oak trim and repainted the white sections since I had some white paint handy. Im gonna run it over to Lyndon Ill tomorrow cause theres this guy who works on em and he'll fix my lower unit problem fer pretty cheep. AND he does grate work. (or so I heah).
I need to get out and go fishing. I want to go to Lake Michigan and float around and ketch some Lake Trout.  I want to take a 4 day weekend (I got one comin up) and go campin up in Door County Wisconsin. Its sooooooo nice and the Lake is so clear and clean.  My daughter can swim and I can fish and my old lady can read....and relax.
Damn I wanna I wanna..................................

Politics

     The 9/11 commission didnt let this information out until Saturday. That way everyone had a chance to stew and react on Monday. Evidently Iran gave the skyjackers a pass.  Big suprise. But wouldnt a preemptive military strike against Iran been better than Iraq? The entire ethnic group of Muslims world wide is now at war with the US. Maybe that was inevitiable. Maybe not. I keep hoping that someone with brains will come along and calm the situation and end the immediate fighting. But thats what Judeo/Chritian biblical writings espouse. A savior who unites the world. He and his prophet.
    All these axes to grind.
It seems to me anyway that if an Islamic person is slighted, then war is the only recourse.  That is stupid as far as I'm concerned because offenses will come because people are people and in different frames of mind at different times of the day.  Again maybe this is the cultural difference between Islam and Christianity. Maybe Islamics are so tightly wound they can't slack back.
      Christians have no MANDATE from God to destroy anyone.  They are told by the Master that you "Love your enemies" and you "Do good to those who hate you and despitefully use you." Yet we really dont believe. I think the schizophrenia that president Bush seems to evince is the result of believing/and playing the American Political Game. You cant 'sorta' believe Christianity and have good results especially if you are in the spotlight. Then again, you cant just  do what you figure "God" has spoken to you either. My argument for separation of church and state.
     Why Why Why.  They could have gone after Osama. (Now he's irrelevant) They could have waited for the UN weapons inspectors. But they rushed to destroy the rest of Iraq because, thats what they wanted to do.  Saudi Arabia is a Sultancy. Democracy in Saudi Arabia is probably not all that welcome  by the FAUD family. And with this latest revelation, Iran who has consistantly thumbed its nose at the US for twenty odd years would have been a better target. It makes the average working man, who pays for all this in money and children, wonder just what the hell is really going on. But then I'll never ever really know.
Bowe

Another Saturday Night and I

am going to bed pretty soon.
I have a motorboat. My motorboat is 14.5 feet long
It has a W bottom. It seats 5 but only 3 comfortably.  i've been out of work with kidneystone troubles all week in fackt Friday they Lithotripsied me. So Im home. I rolled the motorboat out into the driveway. (Its in the garage on a boat trailer and it rolls very easily)
I bought this boat 4 years ago. I paid 50 dollars for it and the trailer. The trailer had a flat.  the boat had a hole in the hull and the deck was rotten. I dragged it home and cleaned it up. I fixed the deck. I patched the hole and carpeted it and painted it and got it a 35  horsepower Johnson outboard motor to push it along. Motorboat motors new or used are about 100.00 per one horsepower. but I got my 35 horsepower Johnson for 1000.00. its a Johnson Seahorse.  I had to reinforce the transom with steel plates. (which was no prob i work for a steel mill/pipe making facility) I probably have about 1500.00 bucks wrapped up in this baby jes nah.
Last year the igniton switch went out. And the lower unit (where the propeller is) leaked gear grease like niagra falls. So I put her up and aint done nothing with her till today. I went to farm and fleet (hillbilly farmer department store/feed store/tractor store/clothier. I got a new ignition switch, and a toggle switch cause I've never wired up the lights. I did all that today. lolling around in the sun. On my back in the sunny driveway. I rewired the new ignition switch completely new from the battery to the outboard and then to the dash. I figgered them old crusty wires were half the problem. I had a couple spools of wire from other tasks in my garage so I used em up. I must have wired the lights wrong however cause they dont work. But I ran  over what I did today in my mind and I think I know where I went wrong. Ya see.... each light (the back one is on a pole about 18 inches high and the front one is on the bow its in a chrome case) has TWO wires on it. One for power and one for neutral. The toggle switch has a post for power and then one accessory on the right and one on the left. Well, I want BOTH sets of lights to light up when I throw the switch. so I wired the neutrals on the side I wasnt using. and the powers together on the side I was switching to. Nuttn happens that way. Well darkness happens. The boat cranks right over when I hit the start switch. but I didnt have a post for the electric choke (I usually use the manual one anyway) and a black wire that blew a main fuse where ever I tried to attach it. Its not hot. (I have sixty meters to tell amperage, wattage, voltage, ohms, etc... I dont know what any of that means but I do know if a line is hot or not.) It could be a ground but on the old switch it didnt say 'g'. and jes because its black dont mean shit.
Anyway tomorrow Im gonna pull the lower unit and see if I can stop the gear grease leak. I went to a former dealer in my neighborhood this moanin. He's a nice guy in his early forties. and he sells me parts that are in his warehouse for cost.  His dad used to fix Johnsons and died a while back and he shut the place down. BUT he's got all the stuff I need to fix my motor in stock cause there aint many do it yer selfer motorboat fixers in my neck of the woods. In fact THATS the exact reason I fix my own stuff. The people you have to deal with are total Assholes. They take forever, charge unrealistic shop rates and mark stuff up 160 % and well... theyre rarely polite, and usually drunk. So I'll do a lil wrenchin tomorrow if my back will allow. Its really not hard to get to and I  got all day..............
Bowe

Nightfalls again

What another odd bizzare and happy day.
Fifteen years ago I'd be dead. The medical technology to keep people alive is really pretty good especially here in the Midwest.  I had  whats called "Lithotripsy" today. I had a kidney stone (we started with about 14, two passed on their own, One that was 2" X 3/4 around was chipped out by the doc with a laser knife and a teeny air hammer and today they blasted one) that was in a position to be smashed and so they did it. there is a window because of the kidney and the pelvic bone that the stone has to be in. He saw it during a visit yesterday and today they blasted it. Next week, should I live that long, on my birthday theyre going to dig out the debris. IF I dont piss it out first. In the last 26 months I've had an heart attack, a quadruple bypass, and kidney failure due to a stone blocking my ureter. My day job saved me cause I have insurance. Im kinda loaded on Vicodin right now, My back has a good size bruise on it where they blasted me and without a lil help it hurts.  Nothing like pissing the fire that accompanies the internal removal of the stones via hammers and chisels, but nasty nonetheless. It was pretty funny. I was calm and they x rayed me to locate the stone which fortunately for me hadnt moved in 24 hours. I was prepped and naked. They forgot the shorts they give ya for the lithotripsy.  so they brought em and I put em on in the tank room.  I joked a lot and when I couldnt get the goofy gowns they put around me out of the way to get the shorts on without fallin over I jes threw em off and said.."look, You've all had anatomy correct? They said yes. I said "my anatomy is not typical however its pretty close to the schools Im jes gonna put these drawers on here ok? They all laughed.  They had a gurney next to the litho seat.  That is a loose term for more or less a recumbant bicycle seat with two leg supports. An overhead bar attached to a one ton hoist lifts the body into the air and places it into the Litho tub. (all this is done with powerful ultrasound and in a tank of water). My Urologist/Surgeon explained that the Nazis developed the sound focuser in WWII to bring down enemy planes.  I was not really comforted by that information but I thought the historical content was worth repeating. At first I thought he was gonna tell me is was used on jews who misbehaved. But No. 
     I grabbed the bar and pulled myself into the seat and then the anesthesiologist plugged me into the dope and thats the part I really like . Its like falling backward and I know in a minute that I'll be dreaming.... As I began to go I asked them all one more question, I said, "Is everybody happy?" and they all said YES! its FRIDAY!  I just said "well I feel safe now... and          I awoke about an hour and a half later in a recovery room.
not too much discomfort but my back is sore. (Like if somebody kicked me in the kidney) At least it doesnt hurt to pee...(thats next week again) I cant work till Wed now and that s the rest of my vacation till next May. Anything else that comes up is outta my pocket. (I HATE THAT!)
 
       Really great news is my new CD is at
                              http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rexstratton2   
Please go and check it owt!!!! Its my verybest and Im sooooooooo proud.
Bowe

Im not the sharpest tool

But I have my moments. I've been drunk and disorderly. Totatall anarchistic, I was on DC during the war riots of the sixties, I got tear gas lobbed at me at Georgetown U and I got maced at the Smithsonian the days after Kent State. I had a change of heart and I tried to be a good soldier when I was drafted. I got pneumonia when I was half through basic and decided rather than recycle Id visit Toronto. I lasted there One fucking week. I returned and submitted myself to Fort George G Meades MP corps and was stockaded. I was after a long stretch invited to leave with and Unconditional Discharge for the good of the service. I took it. It was like Christmas. I drifted, playing anyplace I could find an audience. Before I'd gone in I loved a woman who I felt was the theo only woman in the world. She left me for College, and considering my economic condition at the time and my past drunken/stoned mental attitude It was for the best. But love yer I did and I carried a torch for her for many years. Curcumstances led me to Virginia Beach, Va. in the early 1970s and I got religion at that time. Unfortuantely, a beautiful Red Head with a converted Bread Truck changed my mind about that with her charms and her really good Lebanese Hash. But that didnt last and I met a guy who liked to hitch hike and with a bedroll a couple pair of jeans and an acoustic guitar we walked off to Look for America. All my trials and tribulations led to California, then back east to Virginia again. Then one day friend said "I know some great communes in Upstate NY. wanna go?"
He had an old Charles Chips truck and we rolled on up the the Adirondack Park. It was Beautiful. Pines, reefer, physically beautiful women who were really pretty losse. In no time at all did I have a pregnant companion who "I decided to do the right thingy by". Well there was one small problem. She was married to a guy in Jail. So she told the guy in jail that she wanted a divorce. It was her SECOND divorce. But I didnt know that at the time. He grudgeingly aquiesced, and in July 15th 1975 I married this woman. I had a job and it was in a mill that made pallets, We got a cold water third floor walk up and lived that winter with a space heater running and we had no vehicle so we walkd everywhere we went rain, snow etc... Then one day we found a house. We moved in cause it was really close to my employer a refridgerator factory. I drank, I worked, I got an even better job in Canajoharie NY at Beech Nut Baby foods. We moved to Dolgeville NY a quaint lil town in the Adirondack Park. I knew people there and it was a nice community. I made much more money than ever before and we were livin large and steppin wide. Got a pickup truck.... I still drank after work and on weekends. It eventually ruined my marriage. After a weekend sawmill accident where I chopped off some fingers, and a downgrade to another sawmill job, my wife was making plans. I went back to school and got a B avarage in my education major the first semister. I got a job as a night shift janitor and went to school days. After Graduation I took some bad advice, We'd bought a shack down by a creel in Salisbury Center and it was like 6000.00 total cost, I sold it and we moved to Gloversville. I wanted to attend Albany State University's Education school because I wanted to teach. The missus had had enough. She asked me to go get a job somewhere and give up the idea of going on. She told me she no longer wanted to be married to me. I left and went to Illinois. I got two jobs in the midwest almost immediately. I begged and begged her to reconsider. Shed had sex with some truck driver on a one night stand, and was feeling remorseful. She said if I'd put the money together she'd move to the midwest and giveit one more try. I drove back for them and brought them and a U-haul with our furniture and we lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa about two years, She met these people fron Maine while I was working the two jobs and told the woman she wanted out of this marriage, The woman told her that in Northern Maine, a woman with her good looks could pick and choose her man. I'd been working on cars for years and had planned to start my own business. My ex talked me into going to Maine because good mechanics were few and far between, I said HEll... I love the mountains! Lets go! So We loaded up out truck and headed on out.
Maine was an adventure that I pesonally wouldnt want to repeat. Im sure the people I met were dirt poor and grasping at whatever, but I never met a gang of liars that large. I fixed cars. I was cheap, I worked as often as they came in. I had a trailer in Dyer Brook. It had a garage. I cut stumpage on the slow day By hand with no twitcher. I hand carried the logs out of the cedar swamp on my shoulders. .80 a log and I'd cut 50 a day.After three months she came to me and said she wanted a divorce. I was angry and begger her to reconsider. She just said no. It turnd out that she'd fallen for a native american with an Oxycontin habit and they now live on the reservation. But at that time he was a successful truckdriver and he built her a new house. (they later forclosed on it). I went back to NY. I tried to find work. I wound up living in a warehouse. I didnt even have a winter coat, so this man I knew who ran a car repair place gave me an old OD green US army field jacket that belonged to a former employee who'd died. It had snotall over the sleeves. Another friend gave me the money to wash it and I had a coat. After 4 months of freezing and panhandlng for a living I got a job. But I was depressed. It was 1983. Id call my kids and my ex would hang up the phone on me or her live in would curse me and slam the phone down. I got a cold water flat, But I couldnt stop drinking. I cut my wrists at one point but I fucked it up and I lived. Our divorce was final in May of 1984 and I owed 50 a week in child support. I didnt make but 100 dollars a week at my job. Needless to say I got behind. In the spring of 1984 I hitched bach to Moline, Illinois. The work situation was bad but it was much better back there, I lived in a 25 dollar a week room in the black Ghetto in Rock Island, Illinois. I paid for it with food stanps while I beat the street looking for a job. I finally found one in Cedar Rapids Iowa. it was making cabinets. They trained me. I got another cheap room and took the bus to work. I worked there until I got involved with a secretary. It was not good. I drank she wanted to get married. We had a nice flat and plenty of food and booxe, but NO great vibe. I split one day. Packed my napsack and rolled on down the highway east. I wound up in Clinton, Iowa. I dont even know why and lo and behold the first place I went to was a sheet metal fab shop and they hired me that day. 125.00 a week I found a room again and went to work. All my co-workers were drunks and I fit right in. My boss however was not but he turned out to be a great friend. He liked my guitar playing and I played a lot wherever I could. Time went by. I met my second wife in a convienice store. We screwed for eight months and then Married. She had other men in her life and we fought bitterly. I didnt hit he but I destroyed the furniture. She had me jailed twice and the last time was Xmas 1987. I went into treatment the day after xmas 1987 and aint had a drink since.
However our last copulation produced a daughter. Talk about LUCK!
She served me with papers in Jan 1 1988 at noon. It was twenty below, and I was in my trialer (Id bought a house trailer and never sold it against this very thing) The divorce was final and at that point we went our separate ways, she owned what she owned and I owned what I owened ... deal.
Then a month later I get a message...she's pregnant. Her lawyer wrote to me that they want me torecind my parental rights and not pay child support and gave no visitation. I agreed and after it was all settled again I never saw them again.
IN 1988 I began dating my now wife of 16 years.
We'd met at A/A and we became friends and then later lovers. We laughed and argued and went places and I wound up in the steel industry. She went on to get her Bachelors degree from a local catholic college and we grew and grew.In 1991 we had a daughter who is the apple of our eye. She is so beautiful inside and out. We vacationed in Cape Cod with some of my old east coast friends, we went to disney world one year and in 1999 we bought the house of our dreams, last May my wife got her Masters degree.
One day in 2000 I got a knock at my door, It was my ex and her daughter who looked quite grown for 12 years old. The mother told me of disobiedience and rape, and nightly escapes through windows and said "she just wants to meet you". I said OK.
We met and I immediately began to pay her some support. We tried to integrate her into the family but my live in daughter and my estranged one did not get along. tooo much sibling rivalry. So I did counseling with a family psychologist. The estranged daughter always walked from the session IF they became confrontational at any point. One day a sherrif showed up at my door and I was summoned to family court. I went and found out that in the state we'd lived in (not my present one) parental rights could be REINSTATED by the custodial parents and I was now the proud owner of a 250 a payday child support bill on top of my back support arrears on the boys. (Id been paying that back since 1990.) You can imagine how wondeful that was. Anyway I tried to continue the therapy but the estranged daughter was totally aginst it. She picked a YWCA family counselor to use as an intermediary and I agreed. We had one session. When I confronted her about her sexual behavior she stormed out and that the last time I saw her. January 14th 2004. I got a call last week from a friend of a friend. He told me she was pregnant at 15. I called the mother at her workplace and her mother said "yes its the best thing for her."
I called my Lawyer and got 8 months chopped off my child support sentence. I cant believer it but it happens. Shes blown her future, and it was explained to me that this preganancy was the result of an ongoing relationship with a 16 year old boyfriend. He has a job, I was told. They both are now being home schooled ( I dont know by who all the parents work) and I ought to be glad. Im just sad and well angry once again
Bowe

SSunday

I gotta fever. I had it since Friday night. It dont wanna go away. I been to the doctor and the hospital too. I hate it when that happens.
CD Baby released my new CD today. Its at
http://www.cdbaby.com/rexstratton2
And its my best so far. It really rocks and somestimes its quiet. A couple cuts are noisy and thats annoying, but the music was good all around...Im takin some tylenol and going back to bed.........
Bowe

Life as a rollercoaster

Its 12:05 am CDT. Im lyin in my bed, I'd been asleep maybe three hours...I awake, trembling, teeth chattering,shivering all over and its like 72 degrees in the bedroom and I'm covered with a sheet, a blanket, and a comforter. I wake the wife and ask, do I have a fever??? She feels my head and says MY GOD youre burning up. This is the third night of this. The first night Tuesday, my temp was 102. I took a couple asprin (knowing I had to make the Wed. Shift at the plant)and I fell back to sleep. I usually only sleep about an hour and a half because of my kidney stent, I have to piss that frequently.But I also usually go back to sleep pretty easily. I awoke Wed am at 4:30 took a shower to wash off the sweat and went to work feeling ok. Wed night a similar incident happened. But this time it was much less of a fever. About 100 F. But Last night this thing was RAGING. We got up and got dressed and went to the emergency room. We were there for three and a half hours. Well, I was anyway. They did blood work, and an X ray. (I saw my stent for the first time. Its over One foot long. I couldnt believe I was walking around with something that big stuck in my body.)My wife who had to work today asked me if she could walk home to go back to bed. We only live a few blocks from the hospital. They'd given me Tylenol, and some more Uterer relaxer and about 30 minutes after they cut me loose saying that i was not "Septic" meaning I had no degenerating body parts, and that my white count was a lil elevated, but that was because of the stent. They had no idea why I was getting the fevers, but told me to keep taking the tylenol and chill.
It was about 3:30 I guess when I left the hospital. I was really upset because they found nothing basically wrong with me but that visit was probably 500.00-700.00 bucks Out of which I have to pay about 20 %. The Urologist explicit orders were if there was any sign of FEVER or NAUSEA or acute PAIN I was to go there ASAP. Like to be told. We dont know why.
I mean I probably should have gone the first night at the first sign of fever, but after it broke I felt OK. So if I feel OK I keep on keepin on. Its completely depressing to be going back and forth to doctor after doctor year after year...(I know whine whine whine)
Seeing the stent was astounding. Its about an Inch in diameter at the exit of the kidney, a foot on down to the bladder, and coiled (how'd they get that in there?) at the bladder entrance.
Im not septic.
I'm Bowe....

Buenos Noches

!si! y paranomos quieta.
What a fucked up day. What a night last night!
I dont know what happened last night but at midnight I had a fever of 102. I took some asprin and at 4 am It broke and i felt mo betta. I got up and showered and really felt pretty good.
Last week this guy who I replaced at the job came into my lab and said "Im getting this job back soon" I said "yeah? and like what am I supposed to do. He said something I wouldnt want my daughter to read. So this morning my boss told the plant manager that I was fed up with this bullshit weekly and either shit or get off the pot. If Bowe has the job then leave him alone.
Well they reamed this dood. They didnt fire him but they reamed him. He came crawling back and apologized.
I dont care. The dood cant do the work cause he doesnt understand the basic principles. There are several others who do my job on other shifts who dont understand them as well. It was they who taught this dood.
I told the PM that I didnt want this asshole near me ever again. He said that that was understandable. Then he said the dood was contrite and "would you PLEASE train him"
I said
sheeeeit. OK
They told him he needed to shut the fuck up and pay attention to what I taught him. MAYBE he'll get somewhere... we'll see.

Night has fallen

On this day.
Its nice to feel better. I actually got my new CD off in the Mail to my distributor. Its called 'Contusion' and will be available for download in August or September. You'll be able to buy a copy from the store in about a month. Its the very best I've done to date. It rocks, and twists, and has a little Mississippi in it. Its got some sax, and some nice guitar grit.It has my soul imprinted in it. I love music. I love life. I cant get enough sometimes....
Bowe

Thursday Hot and Blue

Its twelve thirty pm. Its 78 degrees farenheit. Its Thursday. Not a Cloud in the cloudless sky. Sun burning down on my beautiful neighborhood. I dreamt that Tim and I were on Saturday Night Live in a band and the song we were doing was sorta country/byrds and it sounded great. I even remembered it till after I got out of the bathroom. Then my feeble mind took over and ..........*...........
But a nice dream is always a pleasure. I usually dream about having sex. Im gettin all warmed up and kissing and hugging and gettin naked and then ....!..... I wake up. Whats up wid dat? Once I dreamt that my first wife was sitting naked on my bed playing saxophone. She didnt even play the flute well. But there she was wailin away on a Junior walker tune. (What does it take....to win your love for me....)UH lunch has arrived....
Bowe