Any Blues Fans in San Diego (near Balboa Park?)
Asking for a friend....
This friend of mine has had such an interesting life, but he finds himself now, in his late 60's, busking for dollars playing the Blues in Balboa Park in San Diego these days to help pay his rent.
What a Life this man has had. I knew him as Jim Wood of the Honolulu Doggs back in the 70's-80's. This man was a Rock God, hair down to his waist (his brother was in the band too, they all had loooooong hair) He can sing the Blues and play the harmonica like you wouldn't believe. He legally changed his name and now goes by Saint James Harris Wood. I still call him Jim.
So after the death of the Honolulu Doggs (how I would love to hear that band play together again.... I was kind of a groupie at the time, but it was my gal friends who slept with the band members, I kind of stayed off to the side at that time) he later moved to the mainland and got interested in Punk, and other crazyness of the rock music scene back in the day, and then, as so many musicians of the time, he got involved with drugs. Bigtime.
I had lost track of the band and had moved to the mainland myself when I was around 19. I'm 60 now. Only in the last year had he resurfaced on facebook and I found out what he had been up to all those years.
He robbed a bank (with a toy gun)! Got caught, and then spent the next 18 years in jail. 18 Years! I can't imagine losing my life like that. That is probably why I would never even contemplate robbing a bank.
When he was in prison, he became a writer, and he wrote prolifically! and in my opinion he is very good. I am an IT Tech, and have great computer skills, so I am now helping him put a bunch of short stories together to put out a book. (I hope he makes a lot of money from it)
He is a very entertaining person to talk to, he is very funny, and has an interesting outlook on life. I probably wouldn't recognize him, his beautiful waist-long hair is long gone.
But he can still sing! and play the blues harp. I still get chills when I've heard recent recordings. I just want to help him out in any way that I can. He tends to blow out his harmonicas (they don't make them like they used to), and so I just bought him (via amazon) a set of 5 new blues harmonicas. He got them today, and so he said he is definitely going to be in Balboa Park later today to play. He plays there often. Always on the weekends, and if he is needing money, week days as well.
So if you ever hear a Blues busker, in Balboa Park playing guitar, harmonica, and some kind of drumming thing with his feet I think, take the time to listen, or talk to him. He is a very interesting person, I bet he will have you laughing in no time. Give him a dollar if you can. He served his time, and had a rough adult hood, and, he is really really very good.
Tell him the gal (from Napa) that bought him harmonicas sent you (he wouldn't know the name Nictuku).
He is a good guy. He will always be a Rock N Roll God in my book.
Long Live Rock N Roll!
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