Two Bills

First things first. 

A confession:

I can't take credit for the blog name, "Shaolin Wolf". 

I stole it from my friend Bill, who once said that he wanted to "spend my next life as a Chinese monk. I'll play and sing the blues, and call myself Shaolin Wolf."

So credit where credit is due. 

Bill and I sometimes differ politically, but unlike some other friends, I respect his insight and intellect. He's also got a dry, sarcastic, roadie sense of humor that I'm very familiar and comfortable with. 

Bill and I once spent a weekend working a show next door to the Super Bowl and he kept me laughing with some very inappropriate humor when the hours got long. I also got Emmett Smith's autograph that weekend, the day after the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. And while I'm talking about celebrities, Bill was the lighting guy for a famous old school country singer who died on the road while Bill was working for him. He said, "If anyone ever tries to tell you that he's still alive like they do with Elvis, it's not true because I saw 'em take his body off the bus."

So Bill is the original Shaolin Wolf.

The other Bill is the guy who suggested I start writing some of this random nonsense down.

He's a writer. A very good writer. He says he likes the way I write, and suggested I investigate that, so I'm doing it. He's another one who's insight and intellect I deeply respect. 

I was introduced to Bill through his books about ten years ago when I was at a pretty tough fork in the road. The old saying, "when the student is ready the teacher will appear" was never more true than when his books showed up in my life. Bill appeared with what felt like a message of, "Yeah, it's weird, but follow us, we know the way. Not the way 'out', just 'the way'."

Then I found out he's an old Tennessee boy with a heart for the blues, and a head for zen mindfulness. Apparently the student was ready and the teacher appeared. His words have been a constant companion ever since. 

I finally got to meet him and break bread, where he told me stories of Hollywood actors and trickster gurus. I don't have many "heroes", but if we're lucky, sometimes we get to know people who have a way of ringing the bell of truth inside us. Bill is one of those people for me. Having been in the music business for many years I can attest to the old adage, "Never meet your heroes because you may be disappointed". 

I'm glad to report that this was not the case with Bill. 

And that's how this space came to be...