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The year was 1975...
I had just finished a rehearsal in a garage in Las Vegas...
I was opening at the MGM Grand...
I was so happy to feature Enio Bolonigni on cello...
He was 82 years young at the time and so full of life...
He inspired me to think of longevity and timelessness for the first time in my life...
I wanted to do something noble and worthwhile...
I had grown tired of the scene in Vegas...
Most of the "Boys" in town were being replaced with Wall Street types...
So I made up my mind that I would return home
and pursue a vision I had been dreaming about for a while.....
That is sharing what knowledge I had acquired from my experiences in the so-called"Big Time"....
It was becoming frustrating and I felt my creativity was being stifled or manipulated by the status quo...
so I left for Louisiana....
I went to meet with Governor Edwin Edwards at a function in Alexandria...
Camille Gravel was there and saw me when I walked up to the Governor...
I told him about my idea to educate the people of Louisiana in all aspects of the music industry....
He asked Mr. Gravel to set it up....
2 days later I was sitting in the Governor's Mansion having lunch him...
I..like many others..appreciate everything that Edwin Washington Edwards did for this state...
It was by his signature that HB 760 was signed into law...
whereby the first commission of this kind representing popular commercial music was formed in the USA...
I am very proud of this accomplishment
and join in celebrating the 25th anniversary of "The Louisiana Music Commission"...
This document was sent to me from the Governor's office after being enacted into law in 1979..........DY