2018: The Last Hurrah

CWF BATTLECADE XIX is in the books and history was made with three champions being crowned and a long-time champion retaining his title against an army of All Stars.  The building sold out two days before the event and it was wall-to-wall.  I got to spend some time with my two favorite dolls, Chasity and Christie, probably made an ass out of myself with guest announcer Brian Hughes and found out a long-time friend was making his last appearance that very night.  I totally understand his decision, I back whatever he chooses to do, but it's not like he's suddenly decided he didn't like to wrestle any longer.  He's adulting, and I really hope to see his smiling face again soon.  Gonna be a big hole there where he usually is.  Miss him already.  Glad I thought to get a photo before we left...This bright young man is a rock.  He's steady.  He's capable and willing.  He will excel at ANYTHING he goes for.  And you just thought he was a sneaky All Star!

Tommy and I recorded the Beatles' "She Loves You" on Thursday, I've yet to hear a rough mix, surprisingly.  Seems Tommy has re-recorded a few of his backing vocals and may have re-did yet another guitar part in the never-ending search for freakin' Beatles PERFECTION!  We're thinking "A Hard Day's Night" next and even knocking around "Nowhere Man" and talking about "She Said She Said".  So basically, I did tell him "let's do them ALL!"  Really.  I did.  It's how I roll.  #RoxX  Oh, and enjoy the fashion of the day below on the record sleeve!

And that's the way it was, in 2018.  The year that spent more time on the highway barely crawling than driving the posted speed limit.  The year some clown thought he could smash into my car and drive off without consequence.  The year that I was attacked by two HPU executives and two different city lawyers on the newspaper opinion page.  The year I witnessed Karen stand up to our landlord and flat tell her to her face "this is B---S---!"  The year I have been conditioned to think that it's normal for my nearly 30 pound cat to jump on me to wake me up at least once a night from a deep sleep.  The year your GPS is nowhere near current with highway construction projects.  I could go on.  But I would probably get depressed!

Be safe ya'll.  It's full-blown idiot season on the roads today, remember to drive defensively.  Also, if you drink, please don't drive, the life you save may be MINE!  Have a safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Newsprint, Enunciation & Christmas!

It's been a crazy few weeks, Karen's on severe retail schedule and I'm on a one week break from rasslin'.  Awoke this morning (Sunday) around 6am by Karen who's telling me from downstairs that the High Point Enterprise had published their interview with our French "exchange student" Ulysse Demos.  Great article, more than a full page including photos with an advertisement on page one pointing to the feature page.  And lo and behold, that's ME they interview about our friend Ulysse.  [That's how they justify doing the story, a connection to High Point!]  I have been immersed in NFL football the past couple of days (again) and working on a collaboration project with Tommy and a couple of British musicians.

Guitarist Phil McWalter and drummer Rick Medlock came on board for a collaboration with myself and Tommy covering Stevie Wonder's iconic "Superstition".  I thought I was finished with my vocals in studio but our British friends noticed something I had not, the fact I was dragging out some lines in the song where Wonder is precise and concise in his delivery.  I don't think there's much to actually change, as I recorded most of my lines with the original playing in my headphones.  I sang along with Stevie for hours!  We're back to work on vocals Wednesday or Thursday of this week, more studio time!

Had a young lady who works at a breakfast/lunch counter I frequent tell me "I've seen you sing here in High Point before, I know I have."  I'm kind of taken aback, so I ask, "When have you been in my shower?"  I'm thinking "No way she was at the City Lake for that one Nathan Hunt gig."  She continues by saying she sings, plays guitar and mandolin and if we needed a chick singer, let her know.  Funny, there IS a young woman working in the same place I've told Tommy about, a sweetie who has sang gospel in a family group.  She keeps asking me to bring her something so she can hear what we do.  I probably will after Christmas.  

Wishing you all some PEACE in your lives.  Have a Merry Christmas, be safe and we'll see you at ringside again on the 29th for CWF Battlecade XIX!

Back At It...RoxX & Rasslin'

Went back into studio this past Saturday and recorded vocals for new original "Smoke And Mirrors", received same song's first mix and I'm blown away with it!  Another almost 50's style crooner's tune, sang very softly.  You know, a tear-jerker!  Also got the latest mix of "There's A Place" and it's almost perfection.  Third mix of "Message In A Bottle" makes me think that will be the cover Tommy releases Saturday...Still having a blast being #RoxX although we have discussed considering an actual "band name".  He's also been considering how we could pull a live (with tape) performance and the problems with running sound and the equipment required to execute such a project.  His thoughts include playing different instruments on different songs as well as him singing backup.  I think the possibilities are endless.

Really gonna miss my new friend Ulysse "OPA" Demos when he flies home Sunday to France.  His country is in turmoil and flames while he proved himself to be one of the most sincere and coolest customers I've met in years.  Should he ever get the honor, he would make a wonderful Ambassador to the United States on behalf of France, but I would expect a branch embassy to be erected in Gibsonville NC.  Know whut I mean?  I'm sure Ulysse will be an instant celebrity at home after spending time in the US and training with American wrestlers.  As a group, we've made sure his time in America will be unforgettable and that we'll always be family in our lifetimes.  I just wonder how badly some of those who are much closer to Ulysse than I are going to take his departure?  I saw eyes getting misty weeks ago planning for his last night in town...

Wrestling memories?  I can't and will never forget Kameron Jenkins.  The look in his eyes when he got to talk to his favorite wrestlers, the excitement in his voice when he was remembered by name.  That young man treated me like I was special even when he was incredible pain.  I loved having a few minutes with him at ringside, he always shared what he'd like to see, who he'd like to see wrestle and what he liked about the last event.  He was so very smart and nothing got past him.  But the way he looked at me, like he admired me or what I stood for.  I am still humbled to have been his friend.  I'll see you again young man!

RoxX and Roll

We finished off vocals on the Shocking Blue's "Venus" and it wasn't until we got in headphones that I realize that the original song had a woman and two men who don't speak English as their first language basically singing lead together.  And in studio, I had to learn the WOMAN'S part, which is not what I've heard for years in my mind.  After all's said and done, we made it happen.  I'm really proud of the first mixes of the song and equally as proud of Tommy re-recording his vocals and reworking the ending of the Beatles' cover "There's A Place" which we recorded months ago.  

Tommy brought up the fact that when we release Venus that he wants to dedicate it to my mother, who encouraged both of us to make music as children and later as adults.  This was one of her songs.  My mother was one of the few people who knew that I had set up a place in the spare bedroom to practice singing and playing bass years ago and she was more excited about it at first than even I was.  It's no lie, she's why I do it today, especially the song writing, because I still have the urge to make her proud of me.  And she totally encouraged musical self-expression and had a diverse catalog of music she enjoyed listening to, from 50's classics to (dare I say) Scandinavian Death Metal and I can't thank her enough for keeping me up past my childhood bedtime to see the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Yeah.  We go way back with our love of music.  That has to be it.  She allowed me to blast the neighborhood hours at a time with my guitars and stereos over the years with a smile.

I am having more fun today than ever on the pro wrestling side of life.  Helped my friend Jimmy Harris raise $1853.00 for Relay for Life Sunday before last at BCW CRUSHING CANCER in Burlington.  We tore down the house this Saturday at the Sportatorium at CWF ULTIMATE SURVIVOR XVI.  We kicked arse on Twitch, too, according to the viewer numbers we saw.  There are (count 'em) three more events on my calendar in 2018, all in December.  CWF Road To Battlecade hits on Dec. 1; CWF Rising Generation League returns on Dec. 8 and then the BIG one, CWF BATTLECADE XIX is on Dec. 29!  Year 20 of CWF Mid-Atlantic kicks off in January 2019 with CWF NEW YEAR'S KNOCKOUT!  Tickets now at cwftickets.com for ALL events!

Karen's apparently not retired yet and is still working full-time in the retail environment, so I'm back to full-time driver for the crazy season around Thanksgiving heading into Christmas.  Kind of wondering if I'll have to rent again before the year's over, Enterprise has thrown me a few curve balls in the past month.  Had to rent for two shows two weekends ago and they put me in a 2018 Dodge Challenger.  What a ride.  This past weekend, the plopped my behind into a 2018 Ford F-150 STX Super Club Cab pickup bus.  Er, truck.  I'd get a ticket in a second in the Dodge and the Ford had a surprisingly great ride.  I'd take either again if they are "out of the car size I reserved" I guess.

Rasslin' and RoxX Updates!

Chugging right along on the pro wrestling front, leading into the big year ending anniversary event, CWF BATTLECADE XIX!  I've met a LOT of quality guys and girls over the years through this crazy sport, but I've had the pleasure of meeting my first actual "Frenchman" recently, a young man who traveled to the US to train at the CWF Dojo for several months, Ulysse "OPA" Demos (pronounced "YOU-lease").  I was told "he's going to be your next best friend" when I met him and the first thing he shared was that he played bass and sang in a band at home.  Yup, kindred spirit indeed.  He's became a fan favorite quickly as well as a locker room favorite.  When he leaves NC to return home to France in December, there won't be a dry eye in the house.  We got some more history to make.  I'd love him to return home as some kind of a "star" for making the journey to America and living with Americans and seeing the country and meeting our people.  

Music front continues to chug along with more RoxX originals ready to record, more to write lyrics for and another suggestion that Tommy has made happen.  Our next cover song will be the classic rock staple "Venus" by the Shocking Blue.  Tommy flat NAILED the music.  Nailed it.  Hope I can cover my end of it half as well as he has!  I accept the challenge!  I'm still bouncing off the walls over "Message In A Bottle" and how it turned out that I'm ready for almost anything.

Back to the wrestling thing for a moment.  There have been times I've wanted to quit forever, there have been times I wouldn't miss it for the world.  One of the reasons I stick around is seeing how folks that came through our little world have progressed and moved up through the business.  I've had the sweet opportunity to "mentor" a couple of young ladies in the ring announcing business and currently I am seeing them BOTH appearing on our events together.  I have always thought CL Party was a babe, a pretty face that can remember a large amount of info in a short amount of time before explaining it to the world, but now that I get to spend some quality time with her, I've really became quite smitten with her.  My first love, my protege, "Miss" Chasity has returned and I get the warm fuzzies every time I see her smiling face.  The first night they announced a segment together, I melted.  So proud of these young women and can't wait to see what the future holds for both.  And I also need a photo made with BOTH of these dolls together.  For posterity.  Yeah, posterity!

No Service

Another original penned and sent to Tommy today, "Smoke And Mirrors", and he did post the Halloween tune "Dead Again" this past Saturday!  Check it out on SoundCloud here:  RoxX - Dead Again (New!)

The second hurricane through here turned into the "bad" one, even more water in already water-logged places and massive power failures.  The rain was pretty heavy at times and the wind was serious, but the power failure ruined a perfectly good (otherwise) Thursday.  Power went off around 3pm and returned shortly after 1am, when I had to get out of bed and go downstairs and turn off everything that was on when the power went out, from lights to the television.

Cell phones were useless as the power failures included cell towers and mine read "No Service" like a champ.  I did have a couple of old phones, so I actually had a working landline during the mess.  Totally missed the Thursday night NFL game and even the chance to enter my football picks for the week that day.  Somehow picked up a couple of games on Josh, despite his growing lead after Thursday's game.

Two Halloween-themed wrestling events coming up, Saturday CWF THE FRIGHT STUFF at the Sportatorium and next Saturday in Chapel Hill for CWF TARHEEL TERROR!  Tickets now at cwftickets.com.  Now that's #Neckbone!

It's Officially Autumn?

Yes, it's not stifling hot 24-7 and it IS dark before 7:30, so I will admit it must be autumn once again.  Supposed to still be hot all week, so I may change my judgement at a later date.  Still have two fans running in the house, the windows down and the AC on.  Partially because of my neighbor's miniature Dobermans that bark constantly, partially because of our allergies I suppose.  

Finished up the wildest original yet on Saturday, well the vocals and effects anyways, for what I assume will be our Halloween tune for this year.  The song is called Dead Again and describes the brutal murder of our hero who is in the hospital recovering from a trauma that caused him to...yeah...die on the operating table only to be brought back.  It's creepy to the max, I got to expand my vocal role to sound effects, echoes and growls but it has a great hook that should be over with the musically inclined.  We hope anyways.  Tommy released "Any Time At All" Saturday on SoundCloud, another Beatles cover under the #RoxX banner!

Four straight weekends of wrestling upcoming in October, three at the Sportatorium and the final our return to Chapel Hill NC.  The 18th Annual CWF RUMBLE is this Saturday (10-6), the RGL returns the following Saturday, CWF Mid-Atlantic again the next and then off to Chapel Hill.  Jacked about the Rumble, it's going to be BIG this year, I can feel it in my bones.  Tickets for any of these events ANYTIME at cwftickets.com (unless event is SOLD OUT).

When you pay more for rent than you believe the property to be worth, you notice things like poor exterminator service provided by the owners.  My kitchen was over-ran with ants late in May and I called and asked for an exterminator.  Of course I spent the next 4-5 hours scrubbing, exterminating, spraying and cursing until every one of them were gone.  We left for a couple of hours and when we returned, nothing crawling so I assumed the exterminator had came in while we were away.  Two weeks, yes WEEKS later, the maintenance guy shows up with an exterminator's sprayer and says "I hear you got ants."  He didn't spray inside since he didn't see any, but did spray down the back side of the apartment which faces the woods.  Mid July I had the same problem, handled it myself again, left a message on the property manager's machine.  Nothing.

This time I left the message early on Saturday morning asking if they could tell me when the last time an exterminator actually walked into my apartment, despite the fact I have seen them at the apartment next door 3 times in a month.  I also raised hell on the message about losing sleep over my neighbor's dogs barking all night after the police left around 10:30.  Yeah, neighbor dude likes to slam his girl into the living room walls between slaps and punches, police were here around 8pm, along with her parents, who eventually left with the tiny baby in tow.  Police left, girl leaves for the night leaving the dogs in their kennels to bark all night.  Yeah.  Gotta love people.  Not sure if he's in jail for a cool-down period or what, but his car is here and he's not.  Last time he whooped her up he left in his car and stayed out of sight for nearly a month before moving back in...

More Rain, More Music, More Volume

Been fortunate here at the Crazy House to have missed the majority of the destruction of Hurricane Florence.  We're in a holding pattern of rain and constant Flash Flood Warnings, but we've had little or no wind as was expected with the storm.  Also, don't tell IHFC building owners that, they'll call you a liar considering how much facade of their building was in the road this morning.  

Monday it was all "We gone die!" and by Wednesday it was "It gone rain."  I understand there have been deaths here in NC and in SC already from the flooding and I feel fortunate to have been spared this time around.  Power did go out here today three times in about a one minute span, not even long enough to reset the clock on the microwave.  So that and rain are the extent until there's a mudslide behind the apartment tomorrow or trees start uprooting.  Oh well.  Life in the city, right?

I witnessed the transplants living here go into full panic buying mode on Monday, making bottled water rare as hen's teeth around town.  People were buying 4, 5, 6 cases of water at a time, I'm thinking these people must bathe in it or something, right?  The transplants also couldn't get the sarcasm in the eyes of the "natives" when we'd see them loading hoarded supplies into their Subarus and SUVs.  Same with gasoline.  Stations were running out and people were panicking over gas.  It's not like they won't have more tomorrow.  Where you going tonight, New Jersey?

Karen and I went to see Judas Priest and Deep Purple on Tuesday of this week, despite the imminent death hurricane barreling in on us.  Traffic was murder on I-85 and dammit it was CLOSED completely coming into China Grove.  All cars exit.  We didn't miss any of Priest, Rob screamed that hurricane into a puddle of salty tears as they tore down the house with a wonderful cross-section of their career as a band displayed in their songlist choices.  Judas Priest was the loudest I recall hearing them, but we were on the 11th row, close enough to see them sweat. 

Deep Purple hit the stage with Highway Star, a medley I didn't recognize and a handful of "new" originals, to which I eventually joined Karen sitting.  We left shortly after only to discover how great Purple sounded in the parking lot, so much better than down front.  I was exhausted, so happy to be able to exit straight onto the interstate after one exit and make it home with no delays or road closures.  Small favors I suppose.

When Life Is Fun Again

It has come to my attention recently that done right, life can be a lot of fun.  I'm certain it beats all alternatives, to say the least.  I'm trying to enjoy the little things again, a lost art in 2018, and I'm trying to keep a positive view going without wearing the dreaded rose-colored glasses.  I'm relatively healthy, don't really look my age (NEVER acted it either!) and I have three beautiful grandchildren.  I still get around, I'm still enjoying wrestling and I'm feeling pretty good these days.  I'm still writing, still singing and still covering Beatles tunes and having fun doing it.  

On the RoxX front, we have recorded everything planned, original Earthbound kicks out the jams and the first mix of the Beatles' Help blows my mind.  Can't wait to hear later mixes of both.  I have two songs now to write lyrics for and haven't penned a single word on either at this point.  Guess what I'll be doing the rest of this week?  Tommy's back to work this week, so I don't know when the next time we'll record, but I'll update when it happens.

On the rasslin' front, CWF Mid-Atlantic has finally moved it's produced events to a pay channel, the HighSpots Wrestling Network!  Subscribe to the network for $9.99 a month or rent single events on demand!  We are currently still airing our live events on Twitch for folks that can't join us at the Sportatorium!  Tickets to CWF Mid-Atlantic events at cwftickets.com!

And yes, wrestling has become fun once again.  I've wavered between continuing and retirement for a couple of years before deciding to stick with it, if only to irritate the ones who would rather I quit.  I'm digging seeing guys I've watched unloading and setting up the ring finally step through the ropes and show the world what they've learned at the CWF Dojo.  That whole Circle of Life in real time.  It's what we do.  And you thought it was just rasslin'.

Wide open on the pro wrestling schedule again, if you can count four events in 3 weeks "wide open".  Heh.  I seriously remember doing 3 events in 2 days without batting an eye.  What can I say?  I'm particular about what I do these days maybe?  Picking my spots perhaps.

We'll be doing a free live event Wed. August 15th on Twitch kicking off at 2pm!  It's our end of the summer annual bash for the Alamance County Boys And Girls Club from the Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium!  Nothing like a little free weekday wrestling before school starts back up, right?

Pip has became an even larger part of our family in recent weeks, demanding attention between 2-4 am daily.  Some mornings I can pat the bed and he'll lay down and go to sleep.  Then there's most mornings.  When I hear Karen screaming at him I know he's on her dresser swatting her jewelry around.  He's smart enough to know that both of us will react to him doing that.  Smart darn cat.  The only mornings I know I can sleep in are the ones after a late night (wrestling) or after being up with acid reflux and spending quality time with the cat on the couch for an hour or longer.

We're still kicking out new music, both originals and covers and will be heading toward the studio in the coming weeks to attempt our cover of the Beatles classic "Help!".  New original "Earthbound" lyrics (original referred to as the "Foo Fighters inspired song") are finished and it's on the list to record as well.  

https://soundcloud.com/tom-roxx/the-hellion_electric-eye-cover-by-tom-and-hedd-roxx-new

Shocked at the positive reactions to our cover of Judas Priest's Hellion/Electric Eye, it's going through the roof!  Thanks ya'll!

Screwed

Follow up on the previous post, we got royally SCREWED by our landlord.  Our rent did not increase $26 a month, it increased $56 a month.  Claimed we were have "supposed to paid $15 a month for a pet fee and a $15 a month maintenance fee" the previous year and they forgot to charge us.  Didn't budge a single dollar, basically told us we were screwed.  Point of order:  What the hell did we pay a $250 non-refundable pet deposit for if they are going to now charge monthly?

Screwed isn't the term for this one.  Karen's mother passed Tuesday morning.  We have not been in contact with her or Karen's sister Pam since September 2016.  We got a call from our nephew at 7:30am saying she wasn't going to make it through the day.  Um.  We didn't know she was in the hospital.  OK?  Later that same afternoon I get a phone call from an old friend of Pam's who informed me of the death and the time of death.

Then she went into that "I know I'm not family" spiel and eventually it turned to "Pam can't afford to do anything except donate the body to HPU Medical and get the ashes when they are finished with it."  I replied quietly and evenly, "I'm sorry."  

She hadn't mentioned anything definite to me, but I was SURE Karen was going to do something toward her mother's final rest, but this morning we awoke to a newspaper obit with the message that there would be no services and the body was being sent to a crematorium.  Then to top it all, Pam's son posts a "full obituary" on his own little Facebook page this morning, with names and dates, etc., purposefully leaving out Karen (oldest daughter), our son Josh (grandson) and his three kids, who are her great-grandchildren.

That explains my own post on Facebook today where I proclaimed that the Karen A.T.M. has closed permanently and customers should find alternate sources for emergency cash.  Speaking of cash.  No.  I shall not go there.  Not now or ever.