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people about my guitar. I looked over and there, circling alone on the conveyor belt where anyone could pick it up, was my guitar.
Now it sits in the corner and I haven't picked it up in three months. I played that Boy Blues open mic and it was perfect. There was a table of young people in front and while Boy was setting up the mics I said to them, "I bet you're so excited to hear a really old guy play". They laughed. I did the country song and it went over really well. Boy came up smiling and asked if I could do another so I did my love song, "I'm in Love with Me", and people loved that too. Lots of applause. Perfect. I walked off thinking I'd found a home, a place to play in Chiangmai.
I figured I'd go back to Boy's every week and build up a following but it didn't work. I sang other comedy songs and they fell flat. Also, the crowd was getting louder and more rock and roll. The last couple of times weren't good at all. I realized my bar career in Chiangmai was over and that pretty much means my career on stage was over. That's okay. I tried coming up with new material and it didn't happen so I'm content in the thought that I had my beautiful show biz moments and I really do like my quiet life with Jintana and her family. I wouldn't have it any other way.
People Keep Surprising Me
I never planned to be a comedian, it just happened. My whole life was random and my friends were too. In college I majored in journalism and was sports editor of the University of Washington Daily. We had a photographer named Bob Peterson, who was the son of the trainer of the football team. Bob was a big guy, always cheerful, and my lasting memory is of him dancing on my desk for no reason. I just thought of him as another bumbling student like the rest of us. Wrong.
Bob became one of the great photographers in the U.S., with pictures and cover shots in Sports Illustrated, Life, and the other big magazines of the time. He came up with iconic photographs of presidents, sports heroes, movie stars, authors- -in short, the biggest names of our times. He also did some of the most iconic Nike ads with famous athletes.
Bob put out a coffee table book recently of his favorite photos, with his picture of Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry on the cover. I have it in front of me and can't believe I know someone who did all that.