NO! Thank You!

I'd like to share a little story that changed my life! When I first moved to NYC I felt like I was living in a dream. I grew up in a small town; living in a big city had always been just a fantasy. I loved it. I felt like I'm home. I started exploring the big city life, going clubbing and partying. It was a ton of fun.



I was never exposed to any drugs as a kid, so I did try a couple and found one that I liked. Although I never purchased any, I did make it a ritual, going to the Limelight every sunday night hanging with my "friends". We'd go out every night.

One of the many mornings, while hanging out an an after hour place, snoring one line of coke after another, I looked around and thought to myself "wow, it's 9am in the morning, what are all these people doing here? What a bunch of losers" Than I realized, I'm there too, I was one of them. I made up my mind right than and there to STOP. I didn't come to America to get "Fucked up" night after night, wasting my life away, cause that's all I did.



All my "friends" didn't care having me around anymore, because I said "no" when offered a line. And I'm glad they pushed me away. They were poison to me. I started to focus on my goals and began working on my music.

I'm not an angel, I enjoy having drinks when I'm out at a club. Yes, I'm in the music business and many consider it to be a cool thing, especially in LA, well, sorry, you ain't that cool in my book and I don't care if that makes me not cool in yours. I get high on music. I get high on life.

I don't judge people. You do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't affect my life and you don't push it on me.

The reason I'm writing this...

One of my best friends is going through some tough times right now because of drug and alcohol addiction. Not everyone can handle their liquor and drugs and do things in moderation. It hurts to see people close to me destroy themselves.

My message goes out to all you kids who think it's cool. Yeh, it sounds so Rock'n Roll but honestly, most people have lost a ton because of it. So next time you are tempted, think about the consequences. Think about how much you have to lose if you "lose control" (your friends, your job/career, your life!!!).

Depression seems to be a huge factor and the doctors love you for it. You keep them in business. Truth is, no drug can cure the real problem that lies deep within yourself. There's a huge difference between partying here and there, having a blast vs doing drugs consistently. It's easy to get hooked on anti-depressants. Just another addiction, a cover up. I encourage people to seek help using a holistic approach and surrounding yourself with people you love and trust and aren't tempting you. There's plenty of support!

SAY NO to DRUGS.



Self-destruction comes from hatred, from disapproval. Love yourself like you would love another person. Treat yourself like you would treat someone you truly love and care about.

Happiness can only be found from within. No one outside yourself can make you happy. You might not be able to find it on your own at first but with the right support of friends and professionals, you can win your life and power back. You can learn to love, accept and respect yourself.


Am I saying be a saint? No, be a rebel, make a difference, provoke, confront and elevate. You can do it without drugs.

What I'm saying is that IF you know you might have a problem OR you know people that do, don't wait until it's too late. Be supportive or seek support. And support sometimes means "tough love". Shutting them out until they are willing to get help.

I know this is a pretty deep subject, please spread the awareness and teach the 21st century kids to just say NO! How about that for POWER! ?

xoxo
JVB

The Adventures of an Illegal Alien Part4

How I miss the lower east side. One of our coolest friends was Pete. He played bass in a well known band at the time and had an apartment on 14^th near 3^rd Ave.

Pete had a roommate, his name was Greg. Greg was hilarious, one of those typical, cynical New Yorkers with extremely dry humor. The sky was always fallen, doomed to be a slave to the grind struggling to make it with his music, hating his day job and life in general yet always displaying a little smirk while complaining. His music was pretty cool and I wish I could remember the name of the band. It was very NYC lower east side rock’n roll.

Well back to Pete. His apartment was very typical of Manhattan; small; the bathtub and sink were in the kitchen, a tiny shitter, yes, just a toilet in a room big enough to fit one in it; two small rooms. Pete was super cool. He used to wear a lot of kilts or tight jeans and was a total punk. He had bleached blond short hair, always leather clad with a ton of belts and buckles and dock martins.

We had such a Blast with those guys. Pete called his flat the “Freak out Pad”. How appropriate. He looked like a bad ass, actually a little like Billy Idol, but deep down he was the sweetest most generous guy you could ever meet.

One of many nights we went over to the “Freak out Pad” for some “home made” (fresh out of the can) deep fried beans, rice and chicken fajitas. Apparently that was Pete’s specialty and he loved to cook it. We brought some beers and the party began. The food was delicious, something I’ve never tasted before. I loved it, I remember it being pretty spicy; we told Pete it was delicious and something we could get used to. He had this big grin on his face and was extremely proud of his cooking.

Since Pete was signed to a major label, he’d pretty much get CD’s thrown at him all the time, so while we listened to music, we’d go through the CD’s and start sorting them out by “This Sucks”…”Got to Go” and “Pretty Good, we’ll keep it”.

I love NYC apartments, they might be small but they have a ton of character, you look out the window and always see a fire escape. He was on the top floor and his window overlooked a huge roof. So every CD that didn’t make it went out the window onto the roof.

We were laughing our asses off. This must have gone on for an hour or so, after a while we even tossed the once we kinda liked because it was way too much fun. The roof looked messy to begin with, apparently; we weren’t the first to think of the roof as a way to get rid of unwanted things around the pad, lol.

Many beers and a ton of laughter’s later, it started to escalate so much so that Pete decided the CD Player has to go too, hahahaha. And out it went. I don’t know what else we through out there but my stomach was hurting from laughing so hard.

Pete had this really cool skull that I loved and at one point he was about to toss that out too. Noooooooooooo I yelled, I want that; and mine it was.

It must have been around 4 am when we decided it was time to go back to our lovely hostel on 20^th. So, we headed out walking drunk on 14^th, laughing, me with my skull under my arm.

The area can be a little spooky at times but I swear no one dared to mess with us.

Cheers to the good times at the “Freak out Pad”

xoxoxo
JVB