Member-only story
Good vs. Evil
Which voice are you listening to you?
One evening in April 2009, I was resting on the floor in what had become my empty apartment in Rochester, New York. My mother had passed away the year before and, for months, I had been contemplating whether or not I could return to Los Angeles and reignite my career in the entertainment industry — at 48-years-old.
That night, I had just returned from my bon voyage party at a local club, where I performed a few happy songs, surrounded by loving family members and many good friends. It was only a few days prior when I had finally sold the last few pieces of my furniture, gave away to friends my prized possessions and, in the process, dismantled the shrines and remnants of the past.
Once more, it was time for me to leave Rochester, which I had done several times before. Those other times, my parents would still be there if ever I wanted to return. But now, both of them were gone — as my father had succumbed to lung cancer in 1995.
So — would I now be able to succeed, to start again in L. A. at nearly 50-years-old with a lot more gray hair? Would I have the stamina and the guts that once drove me so steadily through the 1980s and early ’90s?
I wondered aloud if anyone would care.
