The Vampire's Revenge

Halloween will be here in a few weeks and I thought it would be fun to repeat a revised version as my new blog
Tales of CBGB’S:
The True Story Behind The Vampire’s Revenge

Once upon a time in New York City, there lived a beautiful Vampire. She was 5’7’’ with long flowing blond hair and beautiful deep blue eyes. One would say she was absolutely stunning. She looked young, although she was reputed to be over 500 years old. Lorna was able to hide her fangs, except when she smiled. By not smiling she was able to add to the allure of being dangerous. mysterious and sexy at the same time Lorna loved music. Every night you could find her at some club either dancing or listening to music.

Our story begins on a Sunday night in October of 2004. In fact it was the Sunday before Halloween that Lorna made her way downtown to the famous now defunct CBGB’S, where she could hear some of the best up and coming rock and roll bands in the country. It was also the number one place to find young new blood to quench her hunger. When she arrived the band hadn’t begun to set up yet, and it looked like it would be a while before they would play. The crowd was just beginning to make its way into the small club. She decided to go next door to the Galleria. Sometimes there were some interesting groups playing, but on this night, again, the band was just starting to set up. She was about to leave when she heard some strange sounds coming from the downstairs lounge. She asked the young man standing at the top of the stairs, "What is that?" He said it was the Sunday night Downstairs Avant Jazz Series. Lorna decided to take a look.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, another young man sitting behind a table, asked her: “Who are you here to hear?” She said: “Anyone.” He said: “That will be $10 please.” Lorna gazed into his eyes with her hypnotic stare and he said: “Go right in.” Lorna went straight to the bar. She sat down and listened to this strange but intriguing music. She thought to herself: “What have I been missing?” Just then a good-looking young musician (he carried a case over his shoulder…it looked like some kind of horn) said to her: “You must be new here. I’ve never seen you here before.” Lorna smiled and said: “Yes I am.” He looked at her beautiful face with that seductive closed lipped smile and Stephen was immediately smitten and very much taken with Lorna, as Lorna was with Stephen. He asked if she could wait till he finished his set and maybe they could hang out together. Lorna anxious for some new blood said: “Of course.”

Later on that evening, at Stephen’s apartment, Lorna began her Seduction. Slowly she enticed him with short sweet kisses along his face and neck. Stephen felt her rapture and was sexually charged as Lorna lay in his arms. Noticing her fangs, he wanted to ask her Who’s Your Dentist? but he didn’t want to break the mood. Lorna spent a lot of time kissing his neck. Then all of a sudden she dug in with her fangs and started to suck the blood right out of him. Shocked at first, he shouted: “No! No!” But then he began to enjoy it. Stephen moaned as he went into a dream like stupor and when she stopped sucking, he cried "No! No! Don’t stop! Just One More Bite."

Lorna decided she would not kill Stephen, but make him a Vampire. That night Stephen went through a Transformation. When he awoke 24 hours later, Lorna explained what she had done to him. He had been brought over to the Dark Side.

Stephen was very upset. All he wanted was to have a great time with this sexy lady and now he was a Vampire and part of the walking un-dead! Lorna explained how great it is to be a Vampire. Now, he could live forever, "but be careful, you must never walk in the daylight. The sun could kill you!"

The only thing that really bothered Stephen was that he could never play a daytime gig again. On the positive side, most of his gigs were at night and he preferred night to day anyway. With daylight savings time in the winter, it would get dark at 4:30, which isn’t so bad. He would have to plan his practice time and feeding and social life around his vampire hours. One thing was for sure, he would have to give up Sunday afternoon brunches with his Mother and adjust his embouchure (the placement of the mouthpiece). Because of his newly formed fangs he would have to learn play without them being too obtrusive. Oh yes! Because of his paleness he might have make some adjustments with tanning block or makeup and definitely wear sunglasses, which would make him look cool!

The very next night Lorna took Stephen out for a stroll. This was his The First Day (night) as a Vampire. Lorna wanted to teach him how to live and survive in his new reality.

His first kill wasn’t as hard as he thought. In fact, it was fun. With his newly found strength and his keen sense of smell and sight, overpowering his victims was easy. He felt just a little guilty about killing, but he told himself it was the only way for him to survive. He would save on grocery bills and never have to go to the bathroom again and he’ll only try to kill bad people. Stephen thought to himself, who could be luckier than I. I can live forever, and play the music I love forever too.

Then he thought to himself, the audience for free-form-avant jazz is getting smaller and smaller. With this new power of mine, what can I do to help change this? Suddenly a light bulb went off in his head, and Stephen knew exactly what he had to do.

“Yes! This makes absolute sense! If I infect hundreds, no, thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of people, and because I am free form- avant jazz musician, these hundreds of thousands of people will love this music and we will finally have the audience we deserve. It could go on through eternity and I’ll never be out of work!” It was at that very moment that the Blood Lust took over.

For the next year, Stephen did not stop. Sometimes he would bite up to thirty people a night. At this rate, in the next ten years, he could infect over 100,000 humans.

For some unknown reason, the audiences at his performances were not getting larger, in fact sometimes only a few people showed up. His plan was not working! What could be going wrong? He thought his idea was just what free-form avant jazz needed, a Blood Sucking Vampire, but it was too late. Because he spent so much time hunting at night, his lust for blood was increasing and he couldn’t stop himself.

The summer of 2005 would go down in infamy. It was reported on Fox News (and we know, they don’t lie); July 9th, that without a doubt there is a Vampire loose in New York City. Someone had seen Stephen devouring a helpless woman in a back alley off of Canal St. This attack was videoed taped. The tape ran on every major news station throughout the world. The woman appeared on CNN, 60 Minutes,Oprah and every TV news outlet in the USA. Each time, with tears in her eyes, she told what she saw and she described the desperation in the victim’s eyes. She called 911, but it was over in less than a minute and by the time the medics arrived, the woman was dead and the vampire had disappeared in a flash.

A frenzy took over New York City. Everyone was searching for the Vampire. Major Bloomberg begged people to stay home and let the police do their job, but The Hunt was on! Days went by and then a month, but without any results. People were scared and frustrated. Stephen had become sloppy. More and more victims were piling up, and yet, no one had seen this Vampire.

The Mayor called for calm and made another special announcement. He had sent for the great ‘Vampire Hunter’. Derek was world-renowned. He made his reputation as a Vampire Hunter by killing over three hundred vampires.

The day the Hunter arrived at JFK from Transylvania, there were thousands of people lined up along the Van Wyck Expressway. Two million showed up for the ticker-tape parade along Broadway. When the entourage of Limo’s pulled up to City Hall, the crowd cheered as the Derek stepped out onto the Red Carpet that led up the stairs where the Mayor welcomed him. In a brief ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg gave Derek the keys to the city. When the Hunter stepped up to the podium he growled and screamed “Vampire! Vampire! Where You Gonna’ Go? Where You Gonna’ Hide?" With that, the crowd went wild. They stormed the steps of City Hall and carried him over their shoulders while shouting, “Where You Gonna’ Go? Where You Gonna’ Hide?”

Three days later the police found Derek’s body ripped to shreds. It was said that a newly engaged couple, while walking down 5th ave and 33rd St., could hear shriveling and screeching yells. It was as though an animal was ripping a human being to shreds. As they walked by, the couple looked at each other and said: “Wow, that sounds strange,” and as typical New Yorkers they continued on their merry way.

A few nights later on the Letterman show, Dave got a call while on the air. At first he wouldn’t take it. In fact he yelled at his staff for trying to put through this called while he was doing his opening monologue, but the producer ran on stage, an apparently whispered in his ear; “It’s the Vampire!” Shocked! Dave took the call, ‘live on the air.’ Of Course, NBC were angry that the Vampire would call Letterman and not Jay Leno. It made perfect sense that the Vampire called Dave. Jay leno is in LA and Dave is in New York and New York is where all the killings were going on and NBC had no way of knowing that the Vampire was a fan of the Letterman Show long before he was a Vampire. In fact, he was still felt betrayed that The Tonight Show moved to L.A.

As Letterman put the phone to his ear, he could hear the Vampire shouting, “I will have my revenge.”

And thus dear readers the music to the The Vampire’s Revenge was born.

Bill and Me

In the month of August I got an email from the Ruby Flowers Production Company that asked if I was available to perform on September 14th for a benefit to raise money for the Cecil Taylor Art Museum. There were musicians flying in from around the world for this event. Of course I said “yes” and would be honored to play for Cecil.

A few days later I was sent a list of musicians who were definitely performing and was asked whom I want to play with. One of the bass players was Albey Balgochian, who I regularly play with and is an amazing ‘out player’. My drummer, Jay Rosen was not on the list because he would be coming in from Europe that day and would be too late, but Andrew Cyrille was available, I always wanted to play with him, I was given the OK. As the date got closer, each day I was given more info about the concert. It would be at Brooklyn Borough Hall and the event would start at 6PM. There would be many rooms and each group would perform ten-minute sets. There would also be a Green Room with food and drink for the musicians, This was going to be a classy production and I was happy to be part of it. As the weeks went on, some musicians dropped out and new ones came aboard and somehow the trio I was to play with didn’t exist anymore. I decided to just go with the flow and let things be and not rock the boat.

Then an email came in that announced Bill Cosby would Emcee the event; this was amazing. I knew Bill is a big jazz fan and always had jazz musicians on his show, but never avant-garde musicians. I didn’t care. All I knew was I was playing for Cecil and introduced by Bill Cosby!

A few weeks before it was all to happen, Cecil decided he didn’t want a benefit. Of course I was disappointed, but what could I do?

Two days later an email came in and asked if I could perform on the following day, September 15th at le poisson rouge Lounge for a benefit for the Dizzy Gillespie Foundation that helps musicians pay for medical bills. And Bill Cosby was very much connected to this foundation and would host the event too. How could I say no?

Again emails came in with lists of musicians. Many musicians who were on the original list were gone and new ones had replaced them. Andrew Cyrille was not available, but my regular drummer and long time friend who can play anything, Jay Rosen was. Terrific! I would be in my element.

I was told to show up at 6pm and the first set would start at 7:30. I arrived with my wife Carol at exactly 6:30. Carol found a spot at the bar till other friends arrived and the she sat at a table with Richard and Roberta Berger.

At approximately 7:50 Cheryl Wills from Channel One introduced Bill Cosby. Bill came on stage and was immediately funny. This is a man that I watched from the time he was on Johnny Carson, Mike Douglas and every talk show you can think of, and every time he had me along with and millions of viewers in stitches, laughing at his unique sense of humor. When I Spy became a national television hit, I made sure I watched every episode.

To this day Carol and I watch the re-runs of the Bill Cosby Show, which in my estimation was a role model on how a family can be. It was clean, funny, and informative and stressed family values that are surely missing in the last fifteen years in the so- called sit-coms that I call sick-coms.

Before each act started to play, he would ask whom the musicians were and he would do a little bit and tease them and the band would play. By the time the third band played, I realized none of these musicians were ‘out players’. They all played ‘straight-ahead’. It was modern be-bop, all good, but not what would have been played at Cecil’s event. I was sitting with Albey and we both looked at each other and laughed. I said while laughing, he’s going to F#@**N hate us. And Albey, laughed and shook his head yes.

A short time before we were to play, Rash Moshe asked if he could play with the trio. He said it was too confusing who he was to play with, so he rather work with us. I said, “of course play with us”. Ras is good guy a great player. I used him on The Vampire’s Revenge and of The Bird The Girl and The Donkey. He brings so much talent and creativity to any group he plays with.

My group was standing about ten feet from the stage, waiting for Kim Clarke’s group to finish their set. I told the guys I wanted to play solo for about forty seconds and then join in and when they do, rip it. So that was the plan. Bill Cosby asked, who’s up next and Cheryl Wills announced the Dom Minasi Group. Bill immediately asked which one of us was Dom Minasi. I nodded and he came over to me with mike in hand.

Bill: Okay Dom, What are you going to play?
Me: I don’t know.
Bill: What do you mean, you don’t know?
Me: I don’t know”
Bill: Does the bass player know what to play?
Me: Ask Him

Bill goes over to Albey and asks, “Do you know what to play”? Albey answers’ Yes!
Bill walks back to me
Bill: He knows
Me: Of course he knows. He has to know.
Bill: what are you talking about?

This went on for a few minutes. Meanwhile I’m laughing. Bill is making faces and the audience is laughing and in my head, I’m thinking, here am I on stage doing a ‘bit’ with Bill Cosby. What could be better than this?

We began as planned, I started and the band came in. We played at a very high energy level for about 10 minutes. The crowd went wild and we got a thunderous amount of applause.

When we finished, I unplugged my guitar and was about to leave, when Bill comes over again with mike in hand and says’, "Wait a minute. Tell me about yourself and where are you playing next"? I was kind of stunned. Here is Bill Cosby asking about me…Whew! What can I say?

A few minutes later I took my wife backstage to meet Bill. He was so gracious to both of us and told me how much he loved the set.

This was one of the best nights of my life. I am so grateful to all, especially Annabel of Ruby Flowers Productions that helped make the night a success.

Dom Minasi

A Letter From God

Dear Dom, I received your letter via Mindwaves.com three weeks ago. I ‘m sorry it has taken me so long to answer you, but sometimes I’m a little busy. What struck me is why are you writing me now? You haven’t prayed or gone to church in over fifty years. In fact, you stopped believing in me, so why bother me now? I know you are concerned about many things as I am too, but truthfully there is nothing I can do. You see, I gave mankind free will and in doing so, I allowed you to do whatever you wanted to do with your free will. Of course I gave you some rules to follow, but it was your choice to follow them or not. What I don’t understand about mankind is the violence, hatred and greed. I don’t understand starvation, homelessness and sickness. I know this is your main concern, because not like others, you are not asking for yourself, but for humanity. Because I am God, you want some kind of miracle to straighten every thing out, but there is nothing I can do. I am happy that after all these years you have decided to connect with me again. You must feel things on earth are really bad and you must be desperate to call on me. I hope this is not a one time only sort of thing. It is important that you talk and pray to me, for I am your redemption. Prayer is always good. It helps clean the soul. You’ve heard that old adage that if your prayers aren’t answered, God has said no. That’s not true. I never say no, but I also never say yes. You may ask, why do I exist? I exist to guide and love you, but to not to do things for you. That is up to you. Again, Free Will. I must say I’ve been very disappointed in you, especially the remarks you have made throughout the years about the Catholic Church and now their priests. You know, the church in the very beginning was finding its way. And as in all things, mistakes were made. Just because millions of lives have been taken in my name, doesn’t mean the church is bad. Remember their original meaning was good. Yes, yes, I know many priests have strayed and have committed unthinkable acts, but look at it this way, they have been found out. They may not have been punished, but the new Pope has done what he thinks is best. He moved them to Rome where they are under his watchful eye. Know this! It is not true, if you are not a Christian, you will never be admitted to heaven! I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no Heaven. There isn’t a Hell either. There is a place you go to, but it is hard to describe. All I can say is, you’ll know when you get there and no matter what you believe, you will all go there no matter what faith, creed or color. Will we meet? That’s hard to say. You may feel my presence, but meeting face to face, well not really. You see I don’t have a face. I just am. I know this is hard to understand, but trust me, someday you will. Throughout the centuries, I have instilled in some minds new discoveries or ideas through science and math to help advanced your species, but you have taken these advances and misused them. You have developed weapons. The drugs and medicines I help you with, cost so much money, that unless you are rich, you can’t afford them. The whole purpose of discovery is to help mankind, not make them suffer through illness or violence while others reap the profits. The people of earth have been on the wrong path for thousands of years and yet through it all you haven’t learned to live and love and help one another. My heart, yes I have a heart, cries for you. I even sent a mystic, who you called my son to forgive you and sacrifice his own life to wipe away your sins and start anew, but you started a new religion and it became about money and greed and not love. All I wanted was for all of you to be happy, and live a loving life filled with health, abundance and creativity. I am very sad. Millions of you are good souls, but through circumstance you have had to do things and become who you are not. All I can say is look into your heart and try to be the best you can be and do it with love. Love is your saving grace. Dear Dom, I leave you with this one thought.

Look to the inner, not the outer, for in all things there is goodness, but it is up to you to find it.

Sincerely With All My Love and Blessings God

Short Stories About Kids

My Kids

I loved to tease or joke with my kids when they were growing up. I am proud to say that my son has carried on the tradition.

Here’s one little antidote about my son.

There were times when we sat around the kitchen table and I would say to my son, “I know what you did so you better confess. He would say, “ I didn’t do anything.” “Come on it’s too late I already know”. This would go on for a minute or two, and then he would say OK, OK but I didn’t mean it ,and he would confess to some stupid thing and I would just laugh and he would get so angry that I fooled him.

My Daughter

When my daughter was about four years old, when she said, or did something or misbehaved and I told her if she didn’t stop I would spank her. She stood there defiantly and said,” If you hit me I am going to call the police and report child abuse” What? Child abuse? What do you know about child abuse? Apparently she picked it up from TV.

When my kids were young I would take them on music jobs with me. One summer I had a jazz gig playing in between races at Roosevelt Raceway.
On one of those nights, Ray Nance of Duke Ellington fame was the featured guest star. Ray would play violin or a pocket trumpet. Whatever he played, it was great fun to be around him and listen to a master. Ray would also sing. He loved to sing Take The A Train and the audiences loved it.

After the job, Ray asked me if I could give him a ride. I said of course I could. We were all in the car with Ray in the front seat and my two kids in the back. I asked Ray where he was going. He told me to drop him of at the nearest E train. At once my daughter responded, “I thought you took the A train”

Family

There was the time I was baby-sitting my kids and their cousins. One of the cousins, Scott, started talking like Donald Duck. I asked him who taught him how to talk like that and he answered very seriously, “Donald Duck “

Sometimes my son, my daughter and I would sit around the breakfast table and make believe we were a jazz band. I would pick a tune (when they were young they knew the jazz standards). My son sang the drum parts. My daughter sang the bass parts and I would imitate all the different instruments’ taking solos. We would laugh and we had a great time. My ex-wife would come and say,” you are all crazy”. Yeah, but we were happy crazy.

Teaching

A few years back, as a teaching artist, I was teaching a second grade class.
I had a distinct program, which was teaching literacy through songwriting.
No matter what age group, I always started with the Blues. I would play a blues and I would give them a short history and then we would go about and write a down-home blues. We would move on to what I called a Rock & Roll Blues, which was Rhythm & Blues from the fifties. Next came a Jazz Blues. It was important to me that the kids understood the difference and recognized the difference.

When teaching a Jazz Blues, I would incorporate the use scat singing as an example. Of course the kids would laugh, but they really enjoyed themselves.

One day after demonstrating how to scat, I asked for volunteers to try and scat a blues. A young black girl came up and to my surprise she was able to do it and do it well. When I asked her how she learned how to scat, she told me her parents played jazz in the house all the time.

The next student to come up was a young white boy. He immediately got into it and was just as good as the little girl before him. When I asked him where he learned to scat, he calmly answered from Bill Cosby. He watched the Bill Cosby show with his parents and Bill always had jazz and scat singing on his show (The power of TV).

It’s important that we guide our kids and make sure they are watching, listening and learning things that matter to help them grow and reach their potential as human beings


Till Next Time

Dom Minasi

My First Girlfriend

This story is true, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent

When I was a young teenager in John Adams High School, I never thought about having a girlfriend. I was too busy with studying, practicing guitar and going to school. Don’t get me wrong I liked girls, but having a steady girlfriend never entered my mind until one day I bumped into this really cute girl on the way to class. I distinctly remember that it was the beginning of the new fall term and the new freshmen had arrived. You could always tell who the freshmen were. They looked like babies and they were always getting lost. Of course, I was a ‘mature16 year old junior’.

Her name was Rose. We started to see each other in the hall everyday at the same time. I finally had the nerve to ask her out. On our first date we went to a church dance, She wore a dark blue satin dress, with high heels. Her black hair was long and down. When I first picked her up at her house, my jaw dropped. She was beautiful. Now you may ask how can you date and go to school and practice and play music? That was the year I stopped practicing. Throughout the first two years of high school, my father kept telling me how dumb I was because my marks were not high enough. The truth is I didn’t care about my schoolwork. I was only in high school to have a good time, play football, play in the band and sing in the chorus. But I got fed up with his accusations. To prove to him that I could be as smart, I stopped practicing for one year and studied. That year I got a ninety-four average and proved I wasn’t stupid. So the year I stopped practicing was the year I met Rose and had time for a girlfriend. Before that I really didn’t have time to date even though I had started dating when I was eleven.

Yes! Eleven.

I loved to dance at weddings and I had always had a dancing partner at family affairs. My first partner was Helen. We weren’t romantically involved, we were much too young, but we had a great time dancing together. We were so good that whenever we danced the other dancers would form a circle around us and cheer us on. My cousin Al’s girlfriend and latter wife Lana had a sister Teresa who was a great dancer too. If she were at an affair (different side of the family) we would dance together. I loved going to weddings in those days because some of them were what we called ‘sandwich weddings’. There was no dinner, just different kinds of sandwiches. I loved eating all the different types of sandwiches and drinking the different sodas’. The music was always ‘live’ and they all seemed to play great Lindy’s. Even if it was a family wedding of distant cousins, I always found someone to dance with.

When I was eleven years old, we went to a wedding. Helen and Teresa weren’t there and I was miserable because I didn’t have a dancing partner. My mother would look around and she would point to a girl and say “ how about her?’ If there was something I didn’t like about her like, she was too tall, too fat etc. I wouldn’t ask her to dance. Shows you how stupid young people could be. There was this one girl at this wedding that I took a fancy to. Her name was Chicky. I asked her to dance. Well we had a great time. I thought I would never see her again, but low and behold there she was in my class, the first day I attended St.Anthony’s Catholic School.

The church’s fall dance was coming up and I asked her out on a date. She asked her parents and they said yes. Of course her aunt came along as a chaperon to keep an eye on us. Believe me my intentions were honorable. All I wanted to do was dance. Now if I were twelve, it would have been a different story. My hormones would have been popping and I probably would have been embarrassed the whole time. What a difference a year could make.

Getting back to my girlfriend, Rose. Having a girlfriend was great. I would walk her home from school carrying her books. We talked about everything. Of course my parents had a fit. “A girlfriend! You’re too young to have a girlfriend “. The one thing my parents couldn’t argue about with me was that she wasn’t Italian. If I had to have a girlfriend, at least she was Italian!

By the time I turned seventeen, I had grown a lot and looked much older than my years. I also had become very serious about life and it’s meaning and all the crap the Catholic Church and my parents had fed me. I would sit on our front stoop all the time and look up at the stars and wonder what it was all about as I still do, but without the stoop.

When I entered my Senior Year, I was voted Senior class President. I was working every weekend and had been a professional musician, (union card since I was fifteen) and was starting to play in nightclubs too. I performed at every school function including the Senior Class Talent Show, the Accappella Chorus and I constantly practiced.

At the last show of my senior year, my band was performing and I was also backing up a singer while a ballet dancer danced. If I had to say so myself it was very classy. During rehearsals, everything was fine. During the performance with the singer, my amplifier was on, but not a sound came out. I thought it might be my guitar wire. I kept an extra one in my pocket just in case this would happen. I took the extra wire out, but it was all tangled up. I tried to untangle it, while the audience looked on and laughed. I was so embarrassed I finally gave up. One of the stagehands put a microphone next to the guitar and the performance went on. When checking the amp after the show, I saw that a tube had fallen out of its socket. Talking about my embarrassing moment, Rose said it was not a big deal. That was the wrong thing to say to me. My ego couldn’t handle it. I wanted to be consoled. I was spending less time with Rose because of my practice routine and working and she didn’t like it. I knew it was time to end it. All my life, music had come first. There’s always a price to pay, but that’s another story. The way I broke up with Rose was awful and for many years I wished that some day I could apologize.

Senior Prom was coming up and of course I brought Rose. As it were in those days, the Prom was held in a hotel in the city. A group of my friends and I chipped in and rented a Limo to pick our dates and us up and drive to the Hotel. After the dance we went to the Hawaii Kai for drinks and a show. We were too young to drink alcoholic beverages, but they served us exotic looking drinks that looked real. The plan was to go back to Rose’s house, change clothes and then go to the beach.

The beach was cold and it was raining. We stayed under the boardwalk under a blanket. It took me a couple of hours for me to find the courage to break up with her, but I did. The bad part (it’s hard to write about this) was I left her there.

I got on a train and went home.

Yes, I know. I was a real bastard. My only defense is, I was young, stupid, thoughtless, mean and a coward.

There is a happy ending to this story.

Last year, feeling guilty and wishing I could apologize and through the magic of Facebook and the Internet, I found her.

I did apologize for my behavior. I told her how bad I felt. She remembered the break-up, but not how I did it. She did remember her white formal dress how much she loved it.

Can you imagine, I’ve been carrying this guilt around for over 50 years and she remembers the dress? She still has a baby face and she says she very happy and I am happy for her.

A few weeks after prom I graduated and a whole new chapter of my life began. And that’s another story.


Dom Minasi

It's Only My Opinion

It’s Only My Opinion

When I was much younger, I didn’t care about politics or anything that was happening around the world. I was too busy scuffling and trying to get enough music jobs to support my family. My two children, riddled with allergies, were in and out of the hospital due to asthma attacks. We had a landlord that refused to give us enough heat in the winter to be comfortable. During the sixties I was oblivious to drugs and rock and roll and the changes that were happening. As I stated earlier, politics and the state of the world were the least of my problems.

I didn’t start to vote till I was 28 years old. I really was naive about the government. I trusted everything they said and did. Even though I had split from the Catholic Church it never entered my mind that priests could turn out to be pedophiles. Now that I am much older I have become acutely aware of what is happening to us in the United States and the world. Sometimes I am so disgusted by what is happening, I wish I could leave, but that’s not up to me. Being abducted by Aliens, well, that may never happened so I have to stay and the only thing I can do is voice my opinion.

I know this will get some people angry, but this is only my opinion and this America and I do have the right to say it.

We, here in America, live a sheltered life. Yes! We have a high murder rate and Yes! There are children being abused and starving. And Yes! There are too many homeless people in the USA and bigotry and racism runs rampant throughout the states and congress. And Yes! There are too many guns on the streets and the corporations run or should I say ruined this country and our senior citizens may loose Medicare, gangs control the streets and woman’s rights are being dismantled piece by piece, but we still live a sheltered life. Look at what is happening around the world. Constant riots and killings in the streets. Millions killed. We have 911, but 911 is nothing to what is happening in other parts of the world. Some countries have a 911 everyday. If that happened here we would be paralyzed.

The families of the 911 victims have a say in everything that goes on at the World Trade Center sites and yet it is ten years later and hardly anything has been rebuilt. The families have to approve of everything that goes on there. Can you imagine if that were true in Israel. That country would be a land of rumble. They get attacked. People die. Buildings crumble and they move on. It’s that simple. We are locked into the past and we don’t move on.

Now that Bin Laden is dead, controversy is abounding. Is he really dead? Can we see the pictures’? Why didn’t we capture him so he could reveal all his secrets? Yeah, right! Will anything change now? Did the USA take the law in its own hands etc, etc.??? Enough! He’s dead. That’s what you wanted and got. Move on. We are like little babies crying because we can’t have it our own way. It’s time this country grows up and faces reality. We can’t always have what we want. Yes there are dangers around us, but we always protected ourselves and moved on and have gotten better for it.

What I’m hoping is that we as a country get better. What I mean by getting better is that we have more humanity in our thinking, our laws and the treatment of all races and our neighbors here and abroad. Is it too much to ask or expect? Our forefathers didn’t think so. Why can’t we? Have we been filled with so much hate and greed that we can’t change? If that is so, humanity is doomed and we ‘will reap what we sow’. Look around it’s already happening. Is that the world we want? I know I don’t, but that’s only my opinion.

Dom Minasi

Memories of My Mother

Memories of My Mother ( The Clean Version)


When I was young man and being of Italian heritage, I was expected by my parents to only date Italian girls and if and when I got married it was absolutely to be an Italian.

Like most young men in the late fifties-early sixties I hadn’t had sex till I was nineteen years old. Most of the boys, when younger, bragged about having these wild experiences, but they were only bragging and none of it was true.

When I was 19 and a full-time musician, I was playing with a band in a strip club on Long Island. While on a break, a tall older, woman about 28 came in and sat next to me at the bar. She looked at me and said: I want you!

Immediately I got hot and ready. She waited for me to finish the last set. She then scooped me up and drove me and my readiness to a motel. She paid for the room.

We got undressed, and I just lay there. She looked at me and asked if I had ever been with women? I told her no. Being a good catholic boy, I never even ‘copped a feel’. She was flabbergasted and totally amazed. She couldn’t believe she had the good fortune of breaking in a virgin

Hold on this is still about my mother.
I was so nervous, but this woman taught me a lot that night. In fact everything I ever wanted to know about sex that would last me a lifetime. We made love for hours. She was very fulfilled and couldn’t wait to tell her girlfriends and I couldn’t wait to tell mine.

Around 9AM she drove me to the Long Island Railroad and I went home.

Little did I know my parents were frantic. At six in the morning they called the bandleader, (who was my ride home), to find out what happened to me. He settled them down and told them I was with a woman.

The next day the bandleader recanted the phone conversation with my father.

Apparently when he told him I was with a woman, my father told my mother and he could hear her screaming, is she Italian?

Dom Minasi

One Day

It started with a whisper in the wind. You could hardly hear it. As people everywhere walked down the street they would suddenly turn as if someone tapped them on the shoulder. Strangers would ask the person in back of them, “what did you say”? And ultimately the reply was the same,” I didn’t say a thing. I thought it was you”. Each day the whisper got a little louder and the Voice became clearer and everyone throughout the world heard this Voice in his or her own language. And the Voice surrounded everything and said, “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

Actors couldn’t recite their lines. Radio announcers couldn’t announce. The Voice was relentless. It didn’t stop. All anyone could hear in their I-pods, cell phones, computers, TV’s and radios was this constant voice. If there were human beings in far away and desolate places on earth, without any sort of electronic or battery communication devices, as mysterious as it was, the Voice was still heard

The Voice went on and on. Airports shut down. In fact everything shut down, Work could not continue for no one could concentrate. Nothing could function. After seven days the Voice stopped as quickly as it began.

Needless to say the leaders of each nation became alarmed, thinking there was some kind of invasion coming. But the best intelligence and radar could not detect anything in the sky or atmosphere. Jet planes were sent scouring around the world, but there was nothing to find. Satellites in orbit couldn’t find anything near earth or in outer space. The leaders of the Christians, Muslims, Jews and every other type of religion that existed believed it was the voice of God. Arguments ensued between all of the religious leaders. The Muslims thought it was of voice of Mohamed. The Jews claimed is was Moses and of course the Christians were absolutely sure it was Christ coming for the last judgment. Jehovah Witnesses though the Rapture was about to begin and starting preparing for the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse to appear.

Meetings were held. The US congress ordered an emergency meeting to discuss this turn of events, as did all the other governments around the world. The tribal leaders in the mountains of Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan met to discuss defending their territory. The Pentagon put all the Armed Services on alert and the UN convened into their separate delegations to figure out whom, why and what is doing this. Had some country or individual found a way of taking control of all forms of communication and threaten the very existence of humanity? Was this some elaborate hoax? Some “super-hacker” showing off his or her ‘skills?’

Discussions continued. There were no results. Nothing was being accomplished. The US congress, acting like little spoiled children and lashing out at each other bickered they way they always have. The same happened across the seas in Parliament. Then exactly one week later to the second, the Voice came back and repeated, “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

This time the Voice added: “you have one week to respond, and I will speak to one person only. This one representative will speak for all of humanity. He or she should be ready to defend the World. We will meet at 10:00 A.M. EST in Central Park in New York City on the Great Lawn. This message continued for exactly 24 hours, then stopped.

Every nation thought this was some kind of joke. But as soon as the voice stopped, televisions all over the world began to list what was wrong with the world. The same thing happened on all Radio Shows computers, movie screens and I-pods. Any kind of communicative device gave out this message. On the Radio it sounded like public announcements, but the Voice was the same voice that came from the wind. On the television it showed up as a scroll, but instead of going across the TV screen, it went down and covered the whole screen with the same voice bellowing out each statement. If there was a screen or any kind of sounding device or nothing, the Voice could be heard bellowing all over the world.

It began with,

The Environment

The oceans, rivers, lakes, canals and every waterway throughout the Earth are contaminated. The fish, birds and cows are dying. The carbon emissions are destroying the atmosphere and Global Warming has been accelerated and it may be too late to stop it. In the name of greed the world has refused to come up with an alternate form of energy. The oil companies have been gouging up as much oil as they can to and selling it at absorbent prices while polluting the water and atmosphere. Within the last 50 years, these problems could have been solved, but your governments have chosen not to fix the situation or they have come up with a time table that is a joke and it would be too little too late. As a result, the Polar Caps are melting. Your drinking water supply is low. By destroying the forests you are limiting your supply of oxygen. Soon your food will be inedible and your water un-drinkable. Everything you need to survive as a race is being destroyed. “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

Humanity

From the very beginning earthlings have been a killing breed. You have turned on each other. You kill everything, and throughout the ages you have enslaved and in some cases eaten each other. Throughout the centuries more blood has been shed than there are stars in your galaxy. You have so many reasons to kill and very few reasons not to. In the United States alone there are 283 million guns. Chicago and Detroit have the highest murder rate in the US, yet the Congress refuses to change the laws. Everyone has a right to own a gun and defend him or herself. With that thinking maybe the US should arm its’ children. More children are killed in the US than anywhere else in the world. Your wars are initially started because of greed. How many wars are going on around the world right now? How many must die before you realize that the death of one person through violence is the death of all of you. “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

The Voice went on and on. It covered one topic after the other. Cheating, lying,
education, health care, gangs, starvation, morals and through it all, it kept coming back to greed. After each topic was stated, it ended with “Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

It seemed there was nothing that could be done to stop the continuous broadcasting. Some unplugged their TVs and radios but the Voice still went on. 24 hours a day. The world was overcome with panic. Riots and looting began.
Police and armies were brought out to stop the looting and control the mob-like crowds, but not much could be done. Many were killed and billions of dollars of property was damaged.

You would think it would be the opposite. People could have gathered in a peaceful way and prayed or meditated and wishing this wasn’t happening.
Some did, but some were afraid to go out. Many went the other way and the thinking was; ‘if I’m going to die, I might as well have and enjoy what I always wanted’. The number of ‘revenge’ killings went up along with rape. It was Clockwork Orange times two billion percent

Meanwhile the UN met and tried to decide whom should they send to literally to save the world. Many names from around the world were put into hat, such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Dali Lama etc. Some volunteered to talk to the Voice. Russ Limbaugh and Sean Hannity along with Glenn Beck went to Washington DC and then onto as the UN, but they were finally recognized as the idiots they are and were practically laughed out of town. It came down to ex-President Jimmy Carter or Presiden Obama. In the final vote all agreed that the best representative and probably the better speaker was President Obama.

The President agreed to meet with the Voice. All agreed if anyone could do it, Obama could. The president spoke to the leaders of the world and told them that if he could convince the Voice not to destroy Earth, there will be much to give up and change. Some hesitated, but finally agreed.

On the following Saturday, the president arrived at 9:45 and went to the middle of the great lawn. Secret service agents surrounded him. One of them carried a chair for the president. The chair was placed down and the agents were directed to step back about 50 yards. At exactly 10 AM a bright blue light appeared in the sky and the voice that the world was hearing began to speak. It said, “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

This question and the Voice were heard throughout the world, which meant that everyone on Earth was listening in. In that instant all the looting, killing and other despicable acts ceased. The Voice had their attention.

The president said, “Before we begin can you tell me if you are God”?

The Voice answered, it wouldn’t matter if I were God, “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

Well if you’re not God, who are you?

“You seemed determined to get some answers before we actually begin”

Obama said, “Yes. Please”.

“Alright. I will give you this much.
I am not God. There is no God. Your religions and faiths were invented by men to control and to steal from you”

“If you are not God, then who are you”?

“I am the Guardian of your Galaxy. It is my job to watch over the inhabitants and to make sure they do not disturb the equilibrium that has existed for millions of years”.

“If that is so, why would you want to destroy everything on Earth”?

“You are destroying the planet with selfishness and greed. The equilibrium is already starting to loose it’s balance and in a few short years the Earth will move off its axis and the destruction that will follow will annihilate everything.” “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

“Would you will be willing to kill innocent children? Isn’t the smile from one child’s face worth everything”?

The Voice answered, “You must think this is a television or movie script where an answer like that saves the world, but here in the reality of it all I say, if that were true, then why are there millions of children dying from disease, starvation or murder? Why aren’t your children protected from pedophiles or sex slavery? If humanity cared so much about its children it would be taking better care of them.

“What about all the medical discoveries that help the sick”?

If you cared so much about the sick, your new drugs would not cost so much, that most people cannot afford them”. Healthcare would be free.

The President said, “Tell me what should we do”?

“I am here so you will tell me what you and humanity will do”.

Obama said, “ I think we should stop all wars immediately and all weapons that are used for war and killing should be destroyed. Every handgun or rifle should be handed in and be destroyed. Every knife or any weapon that is used for killing should be destroyed.

The Voice said, “You are on the right track, but how to you intend to do this and how long will it take”?

The President said, it might take a year or two.

“What will you do about-your so-called terrorist”?” I don’t think they will be willing to give up their weapons or stop killing. In fact I think that destroying every living thing on earth would be welcomed by them and seen as the ultimate martyrdom”.

“Um! You’re probably right. We will have to track them down and take their weapons away from them”.

“ You haven’t been able to do it so far. What makes you think you can do it now”?

“We’ll just have to take that chance and try harder.”

“Ok. Let’s say I give you a year to accomplish this task, what will you do about the rest of problems that were created by your world and have caused so much damage”?

The President said it would probably take even longer to solve each of those problems.

“ And how much longer? “

“Five years”

“It took you hundreds of years to create these problems. What makes you think you can solved all of this in five years when there is so much going on that is wrong”?

“I think we as humans can do this, just give us a chance, but in order to make it happen I think you will have to prove you can do what you said you would do.”

“Are you asking for a demonstration? Isn’t it enough that I can control all of your communications”?

“I think some leaders will need proof, especially terrorists”.

“Ok. You will have your proof”.

“What do you intend to do”?

In five days the melted ice in your Polar Caps will be restored. Two days later they will be destroyed.

The President said, “Yes I think that will do it. Will we meet again”?

“We will meet on the eight day”.

The light disappeared and with it so did the Voice.

Almost immediately the Polar Caps stopped melting and started to rebuild themselves. Each day the restoration continued. On the 5th day they were completely restored. The weather seemed to level out and the water temperature throughout the world was restored to where it was 100 years ago. It was what we would call a miracle. The news was broadcast around the world. Some Government leaders were hoping the Caps wouldn’t be destroyed, but two days later they were gone and it was as if it never happened.

On the eighth day the President and the Voice met in Central Park.

“You have one year from today to stop all wars and destroy all weaponry throughout the world. If one shot is fired or one person dies due to murder, your world as you know will be over” the Voice said and disappeared.

The first thing the President did was to go to the UN. He gave a long speech and all nations agreed to start destroying their weapons and the mob mentality in the streets has to stop. The question was asked who would go first? Since the Middle East was a hotbed of violence, the Arab Nations refused to go first. They felt they would be leaving themselves exposed to Israel’s wrath. Israel felt the same way. This went on for weeks. The President had a meeting with both Israel and the leader of the Arab Nation. He stressed how important it was for this to get started. They were already running behind schedule and an Armistice had yet to be called between other warring nations. He finally said to both parties, “ I am going to take care of the United States and help countries that need it. I will destroy all weapons and collect all guns throughout my Nation and I am sure that the other Nations will follow. I will make sure no one goes hungry again and everyone will get free medical care. I will create jobs to help the environment. All the money we have been spending on wars and weapons will go into medical research, creating jobs, rebuilding our roads and bridges and feeding the hungry”.

“I am sure the rest of the world will follow. In a year’s time, when the Voice returns, maybe I can strike a bargain with him. Since 99% of the world will have met its obligations except for you two and some terrorists. Maybe instead of destroying everything on Earth, he would only destroy your two nations and the terrorists.”

This argument seemed to work. Both nations simultaneously began destroying their weapons. The biggest problem was to find the terrorists and to somehow cut down on crime.

Criminals being released from prisons all over the world had to re-educated.
Many were mentally ill or just plain violent. The task seemed insurmountable.

The one- year mark was arriving in a few days. Not all was complete. The tribes in the Afghan mountains were still fighting and Osama Bin Laden and his military hadn’t been found as of yet. The heads of Governments were panicking. They knew they hadn’t finished. They also knew what the Voice demanded was impossible. All they could do was hope and pray that the Voice would give humanity some more time to stop the violence.

When the next Saturday arrived, the President again arrived at 9:45 and went to the middle of the great lawn. Secret service agents surrounded him. One of them carried a chair for the president. The chair was placed down and the agents were directed to step back about 50 yards. At exactly 10 AM a bright blue light appeared in the sky and the Voice that the world had heard a year ago began to speak. “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

The President stood and said” There are very few starving children now. Murders have gone down 98% around the world. All wars have stopped except for a few in some mountain ranges in the Middle East. We are hoping to settle them in a few more weeks. We are rehabilitating criminals. We are helping drug addicts. The sale and flow of drugs has stopped and most weapons have been destroyed. The money used for the military has been shifted to research and cures for all diseases and new and great medicines are on the horizon while we work on restoring the atmosphere, and the oceans to what they once were. In five years we will accomplish what you asked of us.”

The Voice said, “yes you have done well, but there is the question of terrorists.
This problem has not been solved. The deal was no weaponry in one year.
I see you are trying. This is what the universe wants. I will give you another year, but only one year to end terrorism in the world”.

The President smiled and said “thank you, thank you!”

You could hear the cheers around the world. Horns starting blowing, people danced in the street it was as if it was New Years Eve on Broadway.

Just as the Voice said “I bid you farewell” explosions ripped through the park and the surrounding buildings. Simultaneously in other parts of the World,
the same thing happened. London looked like the Blitz after World War Two and the same for Germany. Japan and China had explosions that killed thousands of people and Moscow was devastated by destruction. The American Embassies throughout the world were destroyed. Explosions continued throughout the day. All the work and healing that went into rebuilding humanity was being destroyed.

It seems the year that the World was working on changing everything security had become lapsed.

Osama Bin Laden’s cohorts were able to travel around the world and place bombs in strategic places where they would do the most damage. Washington DC was destroyed along with the UN and Statue of Liberty. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was destroyed along with The Church of Notre Dame. The Taj Maj Hall did not exist anymore. Dirty bombs left the atmosphere filled with radioactive particles and mushroom clouds were seen from one end of the globe to another.

Three days later the Voice could be heard all over the world.

“You had your chance and you destroyed it. And in destroying it you have destroyed yourselves. You have cast a cloud of darkness that will take hundreds of years to go away. Within a year you will all be dead. I do not have to destroy everything on Earth. Through your selfishness and stupidity you have done it yourselves. Goodbye”!

The Voice was never heard from again. A year later the only thing left on Earth were its’ buildings. Every tree, every flower and every living thing was gone.

50 years later an Alien Spaceship flew over New York. The buildings were still there but it looked and felt like a ghost town. The Alien ship did not land for the radiation level was still high. It flew to South America and then on to Russia and Europe and Asia. Nowhere in sight was there one living thing. As fast as it came in to take a look was how fast the ship left the Earths’ Atmosphere, calling ahead to its Mother Ship.

“ This place called Earth is uninhabitable!”

Dom Minasi