It was a sunny spring day in Palm Springs, California. I was seated on the window sill in my bedroom just clearing my mind when a terrible thought appeared before me. It was dark and brooding…and full of menace. I turned away from the vision and spoke out loud, “I will never live in the South and if I ever find myself in the South, I will never live in an area where there is the Ku Klux Klan.”
Two weeks later, I heard a knock on the door. It was Al Rahm, the owner of Sunrise Custom Homes and a friend I had known from my previous years of living in Los Angeles. He was now residing in Arkansas and had stopped by on his way to LA International airport, where he and his family would board a flight bound for India. At that time, it was cheaper for Al to drive his family to LAX than to fly them from Kansas City. Moreover, Al is a Virgo and always was a very frugal fellow.
It was good to see him, his wife Marisa and shocking to learn they had two…no make that three…kids. Where had the years gone? Was I really growing old? We shared some good times and the next morning they departed for India. I didn’t think anything more about it until…
About a month later, I got a call from Al. While in India, he had met Gary Belz who owned the venerated Kiva Recording Studio in Memphis, which has since been renamed the House of Blues Studio. Al asked me to come out for a week to help him produce a demo. I said, “Sure, no problem…where do you live?” “Osage, Arkansas”, he replied. “We’re out in the woods and it’s kinda tricky. There’s a phone at Stamps Store, so just call us when you get into town and we’ll come get ya.” I told him I’d try to be there in a couple of days and hung up the phone.
Then I dug out my Allstate Road Atlas and was shocked to discover that Arkansas was practically on the other side of the United States. Let’s face it, Americans don’t normally excel in geography (which says something about the US educational system) and I thought Arkansas was about as far away as Idaho. When I was talking to Al, I had no idea what I was committing myself to. At first I was pissed and almost called Al back. But I had given him my word and he apparently needed my help…so what the hey.
That day, I drove my Kawasaki 750 over to my friend’s beauty salon. J’s partner had put up the money for a salon located on historic Palm Canyon Drive. J showed me around as they were finishing up the last details. He had built a special, artsy-painted booth just for me. You see, I was a licensed massage therapist at the time, and I was scheduled to be the man, if you know what I mean. That was way back in 1989 and no one had thought of the concept yet. Nowadays, lots of beauty salons offer massage. But back then, we were the first and bound to be way ahead of our competition. I told J that I was headed off to Arkansas and would return in a couple of weeks, in time for the grand opening. Little did I know…