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Lou Stevens and I went way, way back. Lou took the above photo, hand colored it and presented it to me in 1989 as a gift for a song I wrote. By then we had already known each other twenty four years and spent many of them in the music business together. I chronicled several of our adventures and mis-adventures with the likes of Billy Joel, Richard Nixon, Bob Dylan, in my audio - book, " If The Devil Danced In Empty Pockets ... He'd Have A Ball In Mine" ( I just finished Bob's book "Chronicles Vol One" BTW.... pretty interesting but sorry Lou, Bob didn't mention either one of us, nor did he mention Glotzer, Schuster, and the cast of thousands from back then...perhaps in volume two? but don't hold your breath *)

* Lou: Almost forgot, Bob did mention Tiny Tim more than once .... ( Lou produced a Tiny Tim record in the 1980's )

So how does Richard Millhouse Nixon tie in with the likes of the William Joel and Robert Zimmerman? Well Nixon did play piano you know...matter of fact he came to Nashville once to play on the Opry Stage while Roy Acuff looked on playing with his Yo-Yo..(it was at the new Opry house so it doesn't really count) . And to me music, politics and life itself is just a part of ......well life itself .....it goes up and down like a yo yo on a string...

Back in '69 around the time Lou almost changed the course of American History with Nixon & "Belly Gate", a movie came out called "The Italian Job"... It starred Michael Caine and some Mini- Coopers ( I owned one in 1972) The movie got very little notice at the time (Susan and I saw it in the Patchogue Theatre as a second feature and I can't tell you what the main movie was, that made me spring for $2.50 ) but it has grown into a cult favorite over the years. Last year or so they made some shoddy re make of it, with lots of Hollywood special effects and probably a budget twenty times what the original cost... I've no plans to see it even though Charlise Theron is in it!

The reason I'm giving you this Siskel & Ebert scoop is, "The Italian Job" or I should say the literal cliffhanger ending of it, is what would inspire the song Stonewall, that fell out of my head and into a recording studio in 1989. Right after I wrote it and it was getting plugged around music row the Berlin Wall came down. Record label A&R guys and gals kept saying "How Come You Didn't Mention The Berlin Wall? ".... And What The Hell Does Mustard Have To Do With Anything? Mustard .... pardon me I thought everyone in the world saw the Grey Poupon commercial .... (no???? how about Abbott & Costello's Mustard Skit? second only to their baseball classic "Who's On First?" ) Frustrated I would say "It has nothing to do with the *&^%$# Berlin Wall!!.... in the light of 16 years that have have since washed under the bridge, I could say yeah well throw in the Berlin Wall and all the other political crap that has gone on in my lifetime too. I used to say to Lou back in the '60's, whenever any kind of a hassel arose about anything at all "It's Just Whaleshit Lou...It Lays On The Bottom Of The Ocean" .... translation This Too Will Pass ....

Last time I said that to Lou was when I visited him in Stony Brook Medical center as he was hooked up to a dialysis machine in 2002. He would endure that whaleshit for 5 + years before losing out to waiting for a kidney donation this past July 2004. He got a good laugh out of it that day.

In 2000 I went back into the studio to record an CD called "The Stuff I Got Away With" although I never put the record out for personal reasons, I'm offering up the opening selection "Stonewall" on Inaugaration Day Jan 20th 2005. ......

once again if you got a fast enough modem you should be able to hear it play instantly just click on the title below the 1935 Mills Empress Juke Box

"STONEWALL.mp3"

And As Sir Michael Caine said to his mates : "Hold On Lads I'll Think Of Something" ........

STONEWALL

OO7 Said To OO5

Hold the Wire Steady And We'll Both Stay Alive

Never Saw A Bomb Like This One Before

Ten Seconds Left I Could Use Twenty More

Chorus:

But It's Only A Stonewall

Really Not That Tall

Could Be A Breakthrough Somewhere 'Round The Bend

Just Another Stonewall Not More Than Pitfall

Can't Let It Stop Me Now

Can't Let It Be The End

Saw You In The Back Of A Limo At The Light

Said Pardon Me I Must Of Looked A Sight

I Was The Guy In The Rusted Chevrolet

You Passed Me The Mustard 'Fore You Sped Away *

Chorus

Bridge:

You Could Change Can't To Can

So Easily

Grab Hold Of Yourself

Let Go Of The T .......

OO5 Said To OO7

I Hope The Hell I See You In Heaven

Hang On Old Man .... Steady As She Goes

There's Three Full Seconds

BEFORE IT BLOWS!

chorus

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