Untold Story
Lords of the Wasteland
Unofficial Version
In the early 90's - I returned from an overseas assignment. The Seattle sound was exploding on the radio. I had no idea why, but I ran from the sound.
My family and friends were curious why I avoided this new sound. I had an inner understanding, but I kept it to myself.
In the Spring of 94 - I shut down most of my memories of why. I woke up one morning and was confused after a mystical dream I had with a musician from Seattle. I had no idea why his "spirit" was coming to me in a dream.
Afterwards - all I could remember about the "why" of my avoidance to the Seattle sound was due to an association with a musician from Seattle back in 1986 or 87.
I met him while he was on a spiritual sabbatical. I shared my poetry with him. He felt the poetry was the muse he was looking for. He felt his friends back in Seattle would be interested in the poetry as well. I knew we had penned the lyrics to a few songs together. We had to part company in 86 or 87. I had accepted a dangerous assignment.
I had volunteered for the assignment after I witnessed an American soldier being thrown from a high jacked plane. He had been executed for being an American service man. Uncle Sam was calling on me. I had to give up my musical dreams and put them on hold. A part of the assignment was psychological conditioning which would hide memories from me.
When I returned in the early 90's - something happened which triggered the "denial" process and caused me to bury the memories.
All I could remember was -- I had worked with a musician and we had shared a writing effort together. We had made a spiritual pact with one another about the songs. After 1994 - I had no idea who he was. I had a mental block in place.
I would mention it when people got curious to my avoidance of any Seattle artist, or band. I would not listen to any group from Seattle. I told people I was afraid I would hear the song we worked on together.
People would ask me if I thought it was Kurt Cobain. I left the odds at 50-50. Maybe. Maybe not.
From 1994 to 2006 - I had no conscious understanding of who - or why. Then I watched two movies and the themes triggered a recall of suppressed memories.
On Easter of 2006 - the memories started creeping back to my conscious mind. It was and overwhelming process. It was as if, a part of me had been frozen and submerged into a deep freeze back in 1986. I felt like I had been asleep and woke up to find twenty years had passed.
I wasn't expecting to find out who and why - only to find out that he had died.
Andrew Wood was one of the two musicians I worked with. Andy was in person. The other musician was through the telephone. Andy had been trying to talk me into coming to Seattle. Andy was aiming for a different sound than I was looking to express through my own vision. I wanted to pen songs that were ballads dressed up in rock tunes. I described the type of partner I was seeking. Andy put me on the telephone with another musician. Together we penned a song about a poem I had written with my nephew in mind. The title of the poem was "Lords of the Wasteland."
When the memories started returning - I wrote them down. I was afraid of forgetting them again. The stories in this section of my web site deal with my meeting Andy while he was passing through town. He moved in with me and we were roommates for awhile. He was in a hurry to get back to Seattle and get the songs into the studio.
We agreed to part company while he worked on getting the songs into the studio and I went overseas. I told him when I returned, I would look him up and we could finish the project together. We had a handshake verbal agreement about the songs.
I heard a song on the radio - and I put the odds at 50-50 that the song was about my friend and partner. I didn't want to know the truth. I went into denial to protect myself from the pain his loss was going to bring me.
Eventually - I will share the "untold story" behind the melody and lyrics to the song "Crown of Thorns." The melody was from a mystical vision about the crucifixion. I feel it is appropriate to finally share the truth behind the song.
I never met the other musician in person. He told me his name was Kurt. Kurt Cobain.
