THE LATEST FROM THE RANCHO

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

To the friends of Fred, and his Parents Jo and Charles,

In 1977 and 1978 I was interested in learning about the recording industry. In this pursuit, I took lessons offered by Jeff Wells at a sound studio in Houston. It wasn't long before the drummer of Jeff's band "Tempest" and myself became best of friends. We spent much time listening to a variety of music both live and recorded. We shared a lot of moments together with our girlfriends who didn't quite share our enthusiasm and passion of higher pursuits in to the magical realm of the music world. We spent even more time away from the girls talking about Jimmy Hendrix and Led Zeppelin and Jeff Beck and Pyramids and ancient Egyptians and aliens and space travel. We spent some time doing gigs at various clubs and venues around the Houston area with "Tempest and another band known as "Eclipse". My part was running the sound board and setting up all the equipment for the bands. Fred's drumming was always a crowd pleaser! And even though Fred had a passion to play the drums ( he was taking a college course in snare drum technique at University of Saint Thomas if I recall correctly), he had acquired a blond Fender Strat and was attempting to play it left handed and would practice for hours. We even attempted to start a business together called "D B Designs", building musical equipment cases inspired by a company known as Anvil Cases. We actually succeeded at building a few cases for a Guy in Houston named Gus Busby who interestingly enough still had those cases (and they were holding up well) when I had the occasion to speak to him about 8 years ago. One day after disappearing for about a week Fred came over to see me and tell me that he was packing up everything he had and was moving to Hollywood. He had just come back from taking drum lessons from a guy named Terry Bozzio. WOW! And this guy was real down to earth and introduced Fred to an interesting array of cool people in California that were heavy into the heart of the music trade. This is were Fred wanted to be. We stayed in touch for a few months. His old girlfriend Pricilla would call from time to time and keep me updated on him. She really missed him, ...so did I. ...

...many years have gone by. From time to time I would sink back to some of the fascinating discussions we would have of this reality we live in. Where did we really come from,...are we starseed?...will we ever have the opportunity to tour the universe beyond the earthly plane...are we reincarnated?

At least once a year or so I have given some thought to Fred. Did he ever establish himself in the field of music like I knew he would? Occasionally I would spend time in the music stores looking at credits on new albums to see if Fred was featured as the new best drummer. Hoping to find that my old friend had finally MADE IT! Then just today as I was on the internet I thought about Fred again and decided to do a search on Google. .....well ... I found my old friend ... and he did indeed make it. And after reading the entire website with all the wonderful acquaintances and stories of people who also had the opportunity to spend time with Fred. I feel compelled to come out to Joshua Tree and just spend a little time out in the high desert to soak up a little more time with my old friend.

To Jo and Charles,

I don't know if you remember me. I do remember you. I will always treasure the earthly time I shared with your most humble son, Fred. And now I look forward to communicating with him in the astral realms. Not knowing that Fred had ever succeeded in his musical endeavors until today. I just ordered both CDs and look forward to finally getting to hear what he was able to create. As an earthly being, FRED was a truly unique individual in his passion for life. I am happy to see that he was and still is an inspiration for others to live life to its fullest.

Fred,

Till we meet again, I can't wait to hear the stories of what reality is like beyond 3-D,

Your old friend,
Paul Boutte'

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