Typically, my visits to Artesia from San Diego were separated by at least six months. But I decided to go home for Thanksgiving in 1994 because my 1975 Chevy Nova was about to give out. Mom and Dad had pitched in to get me a newer used vehicle and I was going to do down and pick it up. It had only been four months since my last visit, when Mom and Dend got married.
One of the things that had happened prior to my trip was that I had completed my first official cassette release. I had to jump through a few hoops to make it happen, the first being getting enough money to finance it. I was a few hundred dollars short and decided to try my hand at gambling to make up for the difference. I took Abed with me to Barona Casino. The plan was for me to bet $50 a hand at the Blackjack tables and hopefully get a few winning hands in a very quick fashion. THIS ACTUALLY WORKED!
I turned $100 into $350, which was more than what I needed. The only bad thing was that I thought I was winning from one of the corporations who bank the card tables. However, I was getting all my money from an individual player who thought he had a sure thing going by providing the bank himself. He probably thought he was going to win a whole lot of money the second he saw me put down $50 in chips while everyone else was betting $5 or $10. After I won three hands, he had to keep pulling cash out of his wallet. He laughed a little every time, but I could tell he didn't like how his "sure thing" soured so quickly. I did feel bad because my winnings were coming from him, but I had a goal to accomplish. Abed sat at the bar and drank non-alcoholic beer (which he said he actually enjoyed the taste) while I was winning. I was glad he was with me, in case that guy decided to follow me out to the parking lot.
Abed was very surprised by my success. He said, "That's going to make a great story someday, about how you financed your first release with gambling." He was right.
The next step was to find a graphic designer to help with the cassette artwork. When I looked in the Yellow Pages, there were several designers listed, but only one had a print ad. I thought this was odd, because if I was a graphic designer, I would want potential customers to see what I was capable of. As a result, that was the one that got my business.
They provided the design to my specifications and even came up with the printing plate for the graphics on the cassette itself. It was a very reasonable price, I thought, and hired them to do the work. It came out exactly how I wanted.
I then had to find a printer for the cassette artwork. I went to Minuteman Press (an odd name, because it was owned by a couple of lesbians) in Hillcrest. We frequently used them for our flyers when I worked at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas. I gave them the artwork and they were able to produce the inserts exactly the way I wanted them. When I first saw them, I thought they looked like the inserts in major record label releases. They were THAT good.
Then I had to take all of this to the place that would make the cassettes, put the packages together and shrink-wrap them. However, the day I was about to do this, something interesting happened at work. This was the day the IRS came in and forced all of us employees to leave the premises immediately. This was during a period of time in which I was afraid to drive to work because the cops were keeping an eye out for my car (because I hadn't registered it). I took the bus home, not knowing if I still had a job. I had a decision to make. Do I go ahead with the cassette release, or do I just hold onto the money just in case I have to be unemployed for a period of time? I recalled that all the great music stories have to do with making that choice that changes your life forever, and I decided to go forward with the release and took all the material to the recording supply company to produce the cassettes.
I did hedge a little. I had planned to order 200 cassettes all at once, but decided to just get 100 so I could have some money to tide me over. It turned out afterward that it kind of didn't matter. Mr. N had managed to get his attorney on the phone and started bankruptcy proceedings for the company, so the IRS wasn't able to touch anything. I was able to return to work the next day. (Too bad. I was hoping I was living dangerously.) I went back to the recording company to order the other 100 cassettes.
I gave the cassette release to all my friends. I also sent copies to radio stations and local music publications. I also went around to all the local record stores and tried to sell the cassette on consignment. One place actually went ahead and paid me cash for the cassettes, which surprised me. (But I was able to use that cash to go see a movie that night!) This was thrilling! (But I did buy them back after they didn't sell.)
I was going to wait to give copies to my family until I saw them at Thanksgiving. I wanted to do that in person, especially since these would count as Christmas presents and I wouldn't have to get them anything else.
I came to Artesia. On the way between Cloudcroft and Artesia, a crow struck my front grill. When I pulled off to the side of the road, I could see water squirting in a small stream from the radiator. Yes, this car had had it. I hoped that the water would last one more hour before I got home. Luckily, it did.
Dad showed me the car they had gotten me. It was a 1977 Toyota Celica. It was yellow and had a five-speed manual transmission. I was used to driving a three-speed. What the heck was I going to do with two extra speeds? But it was a good car and I liked it. That was all that mattered.
I planned to spend Thanksgiving Day with Dad and Gred. I was to spend a couple of nights with him and a couple of nights with Mom. One of the days I was with Dad, Mom came by the house. This was a bit of a shock to me, since this was the first I'd seen them together in a couple of years and it was the first time I'd seen her come to the house. She stopped by to ask if I wanted to go to Fort Sumner on Wednesday to have dinner with Grandma Bend, Uncle Ord and Aunt Cind. She also wanted to make sure Dad was okay with that. Sure, I wanted to see everyone.
At the dinner in Fort Sumner, I gave everyone their cassette copies, which all came from the second batch. They tried opening them, but couldn't get the shrink-wrap off without tearing up the case. When I examined them, it looked like the shrink-wrap completely melted into the packages. This wasn't good.
When I got back home, it turned out the entire second batch was wrecked like that. I was able to go back to the recording company and have them redo the cases and shrink-wrap at no extra charge.
As for Thanksgiving, I don't remember anything really worth writing about. Dad and Gred had a lot of people over. Some I knew, some I didn't, but we had a good time.
But there were things that happened after Thanksgiving. I'll go into detail about that Monday.
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