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Out of a Job! So, I'm working in the studio one day and someone said, "Kenny sold the studio". I'm like, so what does that mean? The reply I got still rings in my head every day...."well, they're painting over you name on your parking space right now, today is our last day." Kenny Rogers gave us the opportunity to move with his organization to Nashville, with a pay cut if we wanted, but I was not about to leave Hollywood for Nashville, I mean come on, I was sitting on top of the world. There wasn't a door in Hollywood that I couldn't open with these words; "Hello, this is Eric McClure from Kenny Rogers Productions." I figured I could get a job at any studio in town. However, my staff had just made the headlines in Variety and the Hollywood magazines as the crew of the sinking ship! The news was that Kenny's career was going down. Last year he grossed something like 44 million, but this year he'd only made about 20 million...Oh my God, what a failure! I thought, man only if I could fail that good! Well anyway, no one wanted us; I couldn't get a job to save my life. Here I am, with two weeks of pay left, no real savings (I didn't listen when my parents said; save your money for a rainy day!) Well it started raining alright, in fact our parent's also said... when it rains it pours! My wife's boss went to jail the next week and her company folded. Now we both don't have a job! We'd waited until we had good jobs and good money, a house, new cars, etc., before we started trying to have children. Well we found out Bette was pregnant in that same 2 week period. As happy as we were to find out, the timing couldn't have been worse (so it seemed). But this is when I became a man. I vowed that I would take good care of my wife and our baby. We had always agreed from day one, that she would be a full time mom, never looking back at a career after we had children. She wasn't going to work and hire a baby sitter! So it looked like it was going to be two jobs for me until I could get another gig like the one I had with Kenny.
Looking for a new Guitar Playing gig I went on an audition to go on tour as the guitar player for Jermaine Jackson. I had two or three auditions; I remember it was down to me and one other guy. We were both sitting in the same room, outside of SRS studio in Hollywood, looking at each other. We actually wished each other good luck, but I'm sure in the back of his head, was the same thing as in the back of mine... "I hope you drop dead right now". Sorry dude, if you ever read this, but I needed that job! They called him first; he was in the room for 5 minutes and came out smiling. I was shaking as we shook hands one last time. He said... "Good Luck". I was next, I entered the studio and it was huge. There was a slightly elevated full size concert stage on the left, a huge vacant area in the middle, and a couch with a coffee table sitting in the middle of the floor on the right. There was a table with fruit and pastries, coffee and cokes and stuff; and they asked me if I wanted anything. I said no and started to set up my guitar and Mesa Boogie amplifier. This guy introduced himself as Jonathan Moffet, musical director for Jermaine Jackson's tour. He introduced the other players on stage and showed me where to set up. About 4 or 5 guys came in and sat on the couch across the room. Jermaine was one of them. Now, I knew Jermaine, I'd worked with him many times, but I wasn't sure if he knew that I was the one in the audition, because I never said a word about it to him. I don't think he recognized me yet. Wasting no time with chit chat, the musical director told me what song to play, and that I should perform as if we were in concert, as he sat behind the drums and counted with the click of his sticks...one... two... three... four.... We launched into a song called “Let’s get serious”, one of his recent hits. I think I did pretty well. No one said a word, no claps, nothing between songs other than Jonathan surprising me with which song to play next. We played 2 or 3 songs and I had been in the room at least 15 minutes, whereas the guy before me literally took 5 minutes. (I think) So now Jonathan says, make something up and we'll follow you. I was like, oh shit... um, and I didn't know what to play. I only knew my Secret Sity songs and a bunch of country western songs I'd been writing. But I couldn't stall too long. I knew that once I started playing something, I was committed to it... it had better be good! It was taking me too long, so I made something up, completely new, right on the spot. I don't know where it came from; it was a gift from the God of music I guess. The band started totally getting into it and we were just jamming, having fun. Then Jermaine comes up on the stage and starts staring me down, I mean from a foot away. He didn't say anything just stood there. I tried to ignore him; eventually I took control of the song, turned to the band and singled "one more time". I played a long solo as we held the last chord and then ended all together! Applause rang out from the couch and I knew I was gonna get the job. Jermaine shook my hand and said, if we decide on you, someone will call you. I went home feeling pretty good. But no one called. I started painting houses with a writer friend of mine, "Daryl Birch". What a great guy. He was straight out of the country, I mean his southern accent was slow and laid back; he was actually French-Cajon or something. I think he was from Louisiana. Anyway, I was painting houses, lathing houses; Philip, my old drummer had a plastering business and he put me to work. That was some hard work. I hated heights and I had to climb this scaffolding and walk along it carrying a nail gun, dragging a hose... forget it! That sucked... but I did it. It was work, and I had to do it. One, two, nearly three months went buy. I basically gave up. I must not have been as good as I though I was... Oh well. It didn't matter, I was a full fledged painter now... making a lot of money painting houses in Beverly Hills for 10 times what any normal person would pay. I was bringing home 1 to 2 thousand dollars a week!, Not quite the money I was making working for Mr. Roger, but it paid the bill. Ring... Ring... that's what our phone used to sound like, there were no ring tones back then! I answered the phone and it was Jonathan Moffet, Jermaine's musical director. I stopped breathing. He said, "Man I'm sorry it took us so long, but you got the gig" It didn't really hit me yet... I said, oh, thank you. He said, "Hey, don't thank me man, you did it, it was all you." I never felt so good. That was such an accomplishment for me. I beat out at least 100 players in Hollywood and I was going on a World Tour, making money, traveling from country to country playing the guitar live on stage. That’s what I’d always dreamed of, and this was a dream come true. The only thing better would have been if the band was Secret Sity and I had my Band-Aids, but hey, I figured that would be next!
What's in a Name? Bam! Then it hit me, when I looked at my pregnant wife. The tour schedule had me in Europe at the exact time our child was to be born. Damn! I thought about it for a minute, but in my gut I knew what I had to do. You see, you don't bring a child into this world and then make him number two. Your kids have to come first. My mom put me first and I was gonna do the same thing. As much as I dreamed about touring, it really wasn't even a consideration when I looked at her cute little poochie belly. We didn't actually know if it was going to be a boy or a girl, but we just felt that it would be a boy, I mean we just knew it. We had gone through baby books looking for the perfect name but we hadn't decided on one yet. For some reason, I started thinking about a movie I saw about the band "The Who" called Quadraphinia. I remembered this biker group, they were called the "Mods" and they were riding decked out mopeds or scooters in England. They were in a town called Brighton Beach. I always wanted to go there one day. The name Brighton just stuck in my head. I told Bette, what about the name "Brighton"... she just casually said OK, but what if it's a girl? We never discussed a boys name again other than how to spell it. The name we picked for a girl was..."Whysper". It's funny; when Bryton was a baby and he would start singing or talking real loud we would say... “Bryton whisper". We tried not to raise our voice to get his attention; we whispered and talked real soft. That's the best way to get their attention and teach a child to behave, believe me! Don't yell... lower your voice...It scares the hell out of them! An unbelievable turn of events took place. I was thinking how was I going to get out of the tour without ruining my reputation. Then it happened, America went to war against Kadaffi in the middle east. Jermaine postponed the European tour and I was home free, never even had to back out. So Bryton was born, grew up and found himself on a TV show at 3 years old. How did that happen? It just did... he was meant to be in the entertainment business, so he could have access to the world, because he will need that in his life to help make the world a better place. I'll tell you how he got his first commercial for Disney and then landed the job on Family Matters, but first... after he was on TV for a few years... Bryton started getting asked to appear and perform at charity events, for Dare America, Heal the World, RADD, Hollywood for Children, etc. I wanted to find ways to keep him grounded as a human being because he was always getting recognized everywhere and we didn’t want the whole TV thing to go to his head. Not only that, but people would come up to us and say, “oh aren’t you worried about him turning into one of these “Child Actors” … like it was a horrible disease or something. We knew that the way your child turns out has everything to do with the way you parent them and little to do with the fact that they are on TV. There are tons of kids who were child stars that became well rounded husbands, businessmen, professionals, directors, etc. So now, people are basically attacking us, saying that we are ruining our son’s life by letting him be an actor. (Or as I saw it, by giving him a great head start in life). So now we wanted to prove to the world that just because you grow up on a TV show, doesn’t mean you’re gonna end up robbing Seven-Elevens or dry cleaners! The first thing we did was taught Bryton how to give back the attention he was getting… for example, when he was 4 years old, we taught him that if anyone asked him a question, he should ask them two questions back. Our idea was that this would reverse the attention back on the person who thinks Bryton is so special… you see we told Bryton, that one day these people might be doctors, or firemen or teachers or whatever, but they are just as important as you are, but we can’t see them on TV every Friday night, so we have to ask them who they are and what they do. He thought it was fun. Someone would say… Oh my God, aren’t you that kid from Family Matters… he would say “yes, what’s your name”, followed by “how are you” and then something like…”where are you from”, or “what grade are you in”, or “what kind of hobbies do you like”, etc… The idea was to make those who approached him feel special, but more so, it was to let Bryton feel that they were special. It worked great, you should try it.
We bought a condo, near the famous BKK Landfill. This was a toxic waste site in West Covina. A year later they approved the land for inhabiting and the price of our little $62,000 condo tripled. We sold it and moved south, to Mission Viejo California. I hooked up with an old friend named Russell Anderson, who taught me the alarm business and trade. I soon got my low voltage contractors license and started my own alarm company with another guy I met from Missouri named Rob Smith. After I educated him to the fact that you cannot have open containers in your car in America... I mean California, he turned out to be a damn good installer. He, I, Russell and my dad installed alarms, phone lines and cable TV in new home construction, 200, 300 homes at a time. We had a contract with a guy named Carl Karcher, who was a real-estate developer, who also had a small hamburger stand at one time. I named the company "California Central Innovative Alarm Protection", so we could call it “California CIA Protection”. Did my company install or monitor your alarm system? After I educated him to the fact that you cannot have open containers in your car in America... I mean California, he turned out to be a damn good installer. He, I, Russell and my dad installed alarms, phone lines and cable TV in new home construction, 200, 300 homes at a time. We had a contract with a guy named Carl Karcher, who was a real-estate developer, who also had a small hamburger stand at one time. Rob was a nice guy, he was still from Missouri, which I am convinced is another planet, but hey. Robert Smith was a cool dude and a good friend... poor guy made some big mistakes and poor decisions as time went on. I sold my half of the company to him, to go on to bigger and better things. We hired a CPA to sever the company legally and properly. To make a long story short, he continued the business without removing my name from the business license (which he promised me he would do) ... Anyway, he did not pay his state taxes properly... Oh my God! 10 years later, I heard that he committed suicide, which was like someone telling me there are people on Mars, I mean this guy was not the kind of guy you would ever in a million years imagine doing something stupid like that, but apparently something must have gone terribly wrong in his life to do that, leaving behind a wife and a beautiful baby daughter. Man, I cried so hard when I realized what he'd done. I cried even harder a few months later, the IRS called me and said Rob Smith owed them $30,000.00 dollars, and since he was dead.... I had to pay it! I argued my point; I hadn't been involved in that business in 10 years, I hadn't received a penny... but do you think the IRS cared? I had to PAY IT... no ifs… ands… or buts! Rest his soul. OK here's a lesson for you... don't trust anyone, your CPA, your lawyer, your business partner, your tax preparer... double check everything!!! And then question it and check it 2 or 3 more times. And then pray! …Hard!
Bryton was about 6 years old and he was getting asked to make more and more personal appearances at charity events around the country. I had an Idea to start a anti-graffiti clothing line in his name; (1) to start a business, (2) to do something cause-related to help the environment, community etc.
I looked for an established company that could invest in the idea and bring it to fruition. I just did all of the artwork and graphics. I found this guy named Ivan. He really liked the idea. So he invested in it and we took it to market. It didn't do very well because; I guess it was too political, especially around that time, when all of the most popular clothing brands were actually promoting graffiti; i.e., Tag Rag, Cross Colors, etc.
Ivan and I became pretty good friends over the next several years. We both played guitar and had a lot of the same simple interests.
Ivan was very successful by this time; he owned several clothing lines, like No Rules, Suburban, 26 Red Tread, Black Flies, Sugar and Purr to name a few and he manufactured clothes for OP, Billabong and Quicksilver to name a few more.
So one day I got up the nerve to ask Ivan, how he became so successful. It was a long story involving hard work and good ideas, but along his journey, he made it a point to talk about a man that really befriended him when he was young and green to America. You see, Ivan, a white South African, came to the US on a boat when he was about 17 to find the American Dream. While working his butt off on a farm in Salinas California, he was just about to give it all up. He said he had never worked so hard, he was busting his back, loading watermelons on trucks in the fields.
He told me that there was man who showed him hard work and good friendship. This guy used to go fishing every night, and gave Ivan some food, sometimes a place to stay and always some encouragement and friendship. Ivan talked about this man with passion. He said, "I wonder what ever happened to that guy". I'm making a long story short, but many of the things Ivan said about this guy, reminded me of my father. Finally I said, "Ivan I think you are talking about my dad" He said, no way. So I asked Ivan what was the name of the company he worked for, and sure enough, it was the same company. When Ivan realized, it really could have been my father, I called my dad, who was living in Texas at the time and said; "Dad, do you remember a guy named Ivan Spiers?" My dad said yeah, a little South African kid I used to work with about 17 years ago... why? I told him that Ivan was standing next to me. He could not believe it. They both got on the phone and couldn't believe it. Ivan asked my dad to come work for him... then he said, "No, I want you to work with me."
My mom and dad moved from Texas to California soon after that and my dad works with Ivan still to this day, as do I.
My dad was nice to a man 17 years before I met him. A man that would help me with my business, nearly 5 years before discovering that my dad helped him; It's too amazing of a story to be a coincidence.
Today, I am partners with Ivan in several business ventures. We designed a new product together, which we were able to get patented. It's called the "SnowJack." The SnowJack is sold all over the world! You can see it at www.schneejack.de on our European distributor’s website.
I’ve always been a philanthropist, if you don’t know me that well. I started a non-profit organization called "RADD Kids." Bryton is the founder. With RADD Kids, I invited celebrity kids to record and film safety messages that could be played on the Radio and TV to encourage other kids to make safe and healthy choices; wear seat belts and not ride with intoxicated drivers. I recruited nearly 100 celebrity kids to join my cause and partnered with the Kmart Kids Race Against Drugs to help deliver our message all across the United States.
Subsequently, I was invited to join the steering committee for another organization called NOYS (the National Organizations for Youth Safety). Working with NOYS, RADD Kids became the media-arm to one of the largest and most powerful coalitions in America; NOYS, which is funded by the United States Department of Transportation. For more information about NOYS, visit; www.noys.org. I am proud to have created and spearheaded several projects over the years with NOYS helping to save thousands of young peoples lives. Today, I am a board member and the webmaster for NOYS.
As my son's song writer and musical director, our family has had the privilege of touring the world, performing and doing charity work for those less fortunate than others. It's a great feeling to be able to help someone, put a smile on their face or share something with them. I encourage you to do whatever you can to help others in these worlds that are less fortunate. But the real magic and joy for me, comes from physically being there, helping, teaching, doing things to bring happiness and joy to a child's life.
Later I went to work for a company in Toronto Canada called Gen-X. We made LTD and RAGE, skateboards, Lamar and Burton snowboards, Rollerblades, my "SnowJack" of course and even high end Golf equipment like Callaway. It was too damn cold there. But I met a great guy and a new business partner there named Jeff Lucas.
Jeff was and Executive VP and his job, was basically to get rid of people like me and prepare the company for sale. But, Jeff liked my ideas too much to let me go; in fact my ideas sparked a creative side in him. I'd like to credit myself with unlocking his creative freedom. We wrote a book of ideas together called the "Holy Grail". You will see many of our products on the market for years and years to come. We are business partners today, delivering products, one at a time. The next product to hit the stores is a cause-related clothing line called: "Yield" It was Jeff's idea to develop a line of clothes that will promote good values among youth. The clothes have strength and value messages sewn into the lining, just to remind you to be honest, have integrity, be kind hearted and to make healthy choices in life, starting at a young age.
I'm sitting on a 15 hour airplane ride right now as I write this, heading to China to inspect our first batch of samples! Hopefully you will see our new young men's and junior's jeans on the market this holiday, 2006.
I have a full agenda this trip. I have to visit several factories all over China to inspect the toys I design, sporting goods items and new garments. I will also be nurturing relationships with some of my Chinese business colleges and doing some interior decoration on one of our condo's we own in main land China, just across the boarder from Hong Kong in a city called: Chang' an.
Here are some interesting facts about China:
The New Songs I got the music bug after my life was back in order financially and started to rock again! It was now, me, Phillip Chester and one remaining guy from the sex shop, I mean... the band Monserrat. Eric Rollins, probably the best bass player I've had. I've played with the best of the best, I mean some frightening players, but I'd never had one this creative and solid in my band. We recorded about 5 new songs. I started with a lick and an idea, Phillip had a way of always making it better, and Eric laid down some pretty good bass ideas. We all sang, which was great! But my business career started to get in the way of my music career again, don't get me wrong, I could always still play if I wanted to. The fact that I had been my own boss most of my life after Kenny, was great because I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. The new songs are on the music page if you want to take a break and listen, please help yourself, otherwise scroll down to continue...
Somewhere in this story of mine, I managed to miss telling you the part where I worked for Cerritos Music Center, How and when I created "The LOG" (the thickest solid wood guitar in the word), Plaza Music in Buena Park, who I played with, that I sold a drum set to "Blacky" from General Hospital... how many of you know his real name? And that I co produced and recorded a Christian Rock Band named “Guardian”. Or, that I used to teach Kim Gardner how to play guitar before he got a record deal with his band, “Channel 3”. How one of the Bay City Rollers auditioned for Secret Sity! Let me think of some more... oh how Bob Gore and I were hired to do sound for a Vietnamese Concert and detuned the keyboards before we told a little kid to squirt the drummer with hot oil used for the smoke machine, while we had bubbles, smoke, echo and a strobe light all going at the same time for a stand up comedian ... I had to stop writing just right now because I'm laughing so hard, my tears are hitting the keyboard. I swear, that was the funniest time in my life, if I could show you how it looked and sounded, you would pee your pants, and the best part about it is.... they loved it and they hired us to do light and sound for another show! Remind me to tell you about "Tac". This guy could really play the blues, he was really good and funnier than heck! Bob Gore was a real true friend. I could call him right now, haven't seen him or talked to him in maybe 2 years... he would drive to Arizona at 2 in the morning to help me change a flat tire if I truly needed help. I tell all my friends the same thing. I don't care about keeping in touch, birthdays, holidays, whatever. Just make sure when you need something or someone, that you call me first. I might not be there for your party, but I'll be there when you need me!
to be continued... |