Twan Mac A Million Thoughts & Thousand Hustles (The Album) CD

I grew up on Elvis. Every song, every movie. Even today, Elvis Aaron Presley remains one of the greatest influences on my life. From him I leaned how, and that I wanted to, SING! Sing with all my heart, from the soul, as if the song and I were ONE!Then, eight years later, came THE NIGHT ! Musically, THE most important night of my life! As usual, I lay in the darkness of my quiet room, as my parents slept, secretly listening to my Western Auto transistor radio ( the kind with the single earplug )... when from my favorite radio station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with D.J. Art Roberts, came the most beautiful piece of music I had ever heard: Mr. Bob Lind's '' ELUSIVE BUTTERFLY ( OF LOVE ) '' ! I said to myself, out loud, " That's what I want to do with the rest of my life..... write beautiful words like that '' ! And so, by the Grace of GOD, I became a teenage poet, inspired by not only Mr. Lind, but also especially by the Scottish minstrel, Donovan de Leitch ( SUNSHINE SUPERMAN ), the awe-inspiring compositions of Paul Simon ; the uniquely beautiful works of Rod McKuen... and even one lone young poetess/singer, Janis Ian... ( o.k., I admit it---- there was a teenage crush involved. BUT DON'T TELL JANIS !!!!! )The 6th song on this c.d., my original '' THE RHYMESMAN '' is respectfully dedicated to BOB LIND .... but it is also for every poet/songwriter/composer who ever woke at 4 in the morning, to grab a pen, a guitar, or a pianostool, to write the next musical masterpiece!!!!Then came the second-most important musical night of my life!!! When I was 20 years old, an old friend called to ask me if I was still writing poetry. Telling him that I NOW lived in the real world, with a young wife, children, a job, and bills.... I had little time to write. He scolded me, saying I should definitely write... then adding that '' you should put MUSIC to your lyrics. "" I reminded him I was " just a poet'', but again he said, that I should put music to my poetry. Well, GOD ...

By his teens Jimmy ...

, when a chance encounter in the bar they were playing the night before, got Vernon West, bass player and one of the two lead singing, harmonizing West Brothers, a backstage pass to the Bonnie Raite show the next afternoon. The next day found Vernon making the acquaintance of Ms. Raite, who upon learning of the missing opening act, recommended to the promoter that 'Vernon's band' open the show for 12,000. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Dana West, lead guitarist and other lead vocalist for Sass, was summoned, along with their drummer, and as they hit the stage vibrating with adrenaline, they kicked off the show with a song they'd just written out of frustration with all the DJ's playing disco at ...