Battle Between Good and Evil

Good and Evil

Do you believe in destiny?  If you do and you think like I do, you will spend a lot of time trying to justify what you love doing with what you think your destiny is meant to be.  Worst yet, if you achieve a level of success doing what you like, you might spend a lifetime trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.  You almost have to read that statement two or three times to get the meaning of it.

Having exposure to performing for the public, whether on radio, television or stage, even on street corners, you become addicted to the accolades that come with the wonderful public admiration and acceptance.  What one must realize early on is that; that kind of talent is similar to physical good looks (they don’t last forever).  Not everyone can be a Larry King or Barbara Walters.  The type of person that is perfectly fitted for that type of lifestyle is the ones that have the artist mentality.  In other words for those people types, the only thing that matters is the craft (art), compensation is not the main consideration. Money is not my driver, however, supporting my family is.

Ever since my first successful exposure to working behind the radio station microphone, I have been hooked.  To this day many, many, many years later I am still involve in work with music and public speaking.

The old saying, “better lucky than good,” if you could look it up in the dictionary, you would find my picture.  I’m actually afraid to look it up because I may just find my picture there. One day in the early 70’s I was operating two theaters as business enterprise while holding down a full time job.  Between the two features on Sunday as a way to draw a big crowd, I implemented a live one hour talent show.  I hired local bands to provide backup for the contestants (that was probably the start of America’s Got Talent-just kidding); we had a very successful business going on.  One day as luck would have it a dance promoter from out of state was passing through and he saw the theater marquee announcing the double Spanish movie feature and live talent show and decided to take it in.  After checking out the flawless talent show (before a sold out crowd of 335 people in the audience), he asked to see the manager.  Of course that would have been the colorful Emcee, and owner operator (me).  After the second feature got under way he and I stepped out to a local restaurant for lunch and business conversation.

He was in need of a local dance promoter (he was the owner of the talent agency, operating out of Bakersfield, California, and serving the whole of the USA), for the Northwest, and had a good feeling in meeting with me.  The situation was not a job offer but a business opportunity requiring investment.  After checking out his credentials and success history not to mention talent that he promoted (due diligence) I decided that I wanted to invest.  Some of the talent that I brought to the Northwest included recording artists from Mexico and South America that were already in the big time (even featured in Spanish movies of the time), and a select few are still very successful today.  I went on to great levels of success eventually serving Oregon, Washington and Idaho.  I could say with all due modesty that I was the premier Spanish Music Promoter for about five years.  Remember the definition of luck is; when preparedness meets opportunity.  During that time I operated events Thursday through Sunday, and covered all three states all year round. In my mind I had arrived, this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

That is where the devil tempted me.  My success was the perfect storm of need for entertainment for a growing segment of the Hispanic population.  Life was about to change, my success created competition, Hispanic entertainment, was about to become more available, television programing by cable, VHS movie rentals, pre-recorded Spanish music sales through department stores (Kmart, and others), more movie theaters showing Spanish movies.  All of a sudden my captive audience started to decimate.  I was strong and smart enough to fight the urge to keep doing what had been so successful for me.  I can tell you that it’s not human nature to walk away from the proverbial horn of plenty, but I did.  I prevailed beyond the instinct to try to fit the square peg into the round hole.  During this time of battle between good and evil, my marriage ended up in divorce, and I accepted the outcome and moved on.

My new direction was to concentrate in using my education, to totally rebuild my life, and start a foundation that would be strong enough to stand the test of time.  Fast forward to the future, I am happy as can be, definitely blessed, and grateful for the lessons learned, and wonderful family.  In the time left beyond that experience in music, and stage work, I was able to earn two solid retirements, and now indulge in the things I love to do.  The best is yet to come…