A little insight to my music......"Just a Little Bit Crazy"

Both songs”LOVELY LADIES” & “DEATH FOR LIFE” I wrote when I was seventeen years old. The song LOVELY LADIES is meant to be a humorous song implying that all exceptionally beautiful women have the power to make a complete fool out of most men if they really want to.  In this particular song, the guy quickly realizes that not only did the girl give him the wrong number she gave him a fictitious name as well. In DEATH FOR LIFE, the basic ideal is that people are born & people die, it’s the cycle of life, but if we somehow could spiritually know the day our time was up, would it not be nice to make our final day on earth be the ultimate gift for a child in need of help somewhere?  There is one thing about the writing of this record that I probably will never fully be able to explain. I had already written 9 of the 13 songs in May of 2015, when one morning my girlfriend (Kathie), a very strong, intelligent, beautiful and independent woman who had a fantastic career working for a big internet banking company, was working from home one morning and came downstairs from her office and said to me, “I can’t turn on my computer!” Naturally I assumed the plug had come out of the wall or maybe another very easy fixable solution.  I smiled at her and said let’s go take a look, as if I would even have an inkling of a clue to know what to do if there happened to be a real problem with the computer. Well there was nothing wrong with the computer and when I turned to Kathie she had this blank look on her face as if she had never seen a computer in her life.   That’s was the day our nightmare began.  Well after months of hospital stays, 911 calls, emergency room visits, seizure’s, coma’s,  horrible hallucinations, psychosis, paranoia, extreme anxiety and one missed diagnosis after another, we finally received her diagnosis.  A very rare brain disease called (Voltage-Gated Potassium Channel Autoimmune Limbic Encephalitis).  Of course the record immediately took a back seat, but the first time that Kathie came home from one of her hospital stays, and was having some good days she immediately insisted I continue working on the record!   After all, she was the one who kept pushing me to write my second solo record since I had finished my first. So the one day I started playing & singing everything I had written right up to before she had gotten so extremely ill, & we both looked at each other with our jaws dropped to the floor! More than a quarter of the songs I had written so far had taken on a whole new meaning and very eerily seemed to have been written personally for Kathie. In fact the song “FRACTION” was so similar to what Kathie was going through that I sent it to The ENCEPHALITIS SOCIETY to see if they would want to use the song to help bring awareness to this horrible disease. They really liked it and released it in the UK on February 22^nd, 2015’ on NATIONAL ENCEPHALITIS DAY! I sincerely hope the song will continue to bring much needed awareness to not only the persons in the future that may experience some or all of these symptoms, but also to the entire medical community everywhere! There are only a few qualified neurologists in the world that even know where to start to treat the different forms of Encephalitis. And as of yet there is no easy test to prove the diagnosis and they are still collecting data on the best ways to treat this long term illness.  

The second song on the record is called “TRAIN #413”, It was inspired by an Alice Cooper song called (The Second Coming) In my song, it starts out like that and then goes into a song about someone who is very close to having a nervous breakdown.  Now the train is boarding passengers and he soon realizes, that it is actually the CRAZY TRAIN and once you board, you will never again be returning to that place you once knew as reality. Yikes!!! The song “LOST WITH OUT YOU” was another one of those songs I had written before Kathie became so very ill. The song was about a guy that was bound & determined to never fall in love again and by the time the song ends he realizes he had. When Kathie had her first life threatening seizure and then went immediately into a coma where she was unresponsive for two and a half days, that song just kept playing over & over in my head, but I just couldn’t bring myself to sing it to save my life! I immediately added (Kathie’s Song) to the title where it belonged! Love you Kathie!   

“STATIONS OF THE HEART”, never stop believing in the things that we can’t see just about sums that song up. I never had any real kind of relationship with my father, not only was he a very stubborn tough Italian that grew up under very rough conditions he suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for most of his adult life. But I do remember he had two favorite songs he listened to all the time, Roy Clarks (Yesterday) & Eddie Arnolds (Make the world go away) so “YESTERDAYS WORLD” is kind of a tribute to a very strong handsome man, who proudly served his country in the Korean War and then probably spent most of the rest of his life pondering on why the hell he became so sick and one thing after another stripped of all his many talents and strengths to pass away bed ridden in a VA hospital.  I very strongly believe that each and every one of us will have many chances to right the wrongs that we may have experienced! I give many tributes to my Amazing Mother all through this record. Not only did she provide as both a Mother and a Father, she taught me so many ways to give in this world and how important it is to have a good set of morals, cause at the end of the day, we have to be able to face ourselves in the mirror and the less regrets we have the better! 

I lost my best friend when we were both 19 years old.   He passed away in a car accident about two blocks away from where I was at the time trying to help a good friend of mine with her English assignment to write a poem about a journey to somewhere.   I remember thinking this was the hardest thing for me to write.   Usually once I start writing it just pours out of me but this time I would write a few lines and then throw down the tablet just to pick it up again and again.   Little did I know at the time my best friend was a couple of blocks away taking his last breathes.  So for the song, “THE JOURNEY” I credit my best friend Jimmy E. who supplied the lyrics for the verses as he passed away from that tragic car accident 36 years ago, the night that changed my life forever!   I was completely devastated and I was just his best friend. He had a wonderful Mother & Father, and an amazing awesome big brother who we both looked up to!   No matter who you are reading this right now, if you have a Mother, a Father or both, you have a responsibility to always survive at all cost!   Our children our supposed to bury us! Never ever the other way around!   There is no pain worse than a parent losing a child……..nothing!  PLEASE, if you love your parents, never ever put them through that kind of pain!   It is an unbearable kind of pain that they will carry with them each and every second of every day for the rest of their lives.  I do realize that somethings in this world you and I may never ever truly understand, and some tragedy’s and accidents are simply impossible to avoid, but if each and every one of us constantly try to practice healthy habits and try our best to avoid carelessly putting ourselves as well as others in to dangerous situations, there would be a hell of a lot less senseless heartbreaking incidents! 

Okay now that I have completely depressed you, let’s talk about my song “DEPRESSION”. I remember when Robin Williams passed away, everyone seemed stunned that a Man who seemingly was so gifted, talented and most would say had the world by the balls, lived his entire life battling the mental disorder we know as depression. Now I never actually ever say the word depression in the song, but it quickly becomes evident what the song is about. I actually contacted the Depression Society, and told them I had written a song to help bring awareness to Clinical Depression and would love to donate it if they were interested in listening but unfortunately never heard back from them.  My hope is for this record to do well for many reasons and bringing awareness to this horrible disorder is just one more reason.   

The last two songs on my record are very near and dear to my heart!   It’s funny while I was writing “BELIEVE” I kept on telling Kathie, I just don’t know about this song, but in true fashion for her, she kept insisting I complete it because it was just “so much me” (Whatever the hell that means) LOL. My Mother (Donna Bowen Eozzo) taught and told me many things all my life and she can be found all through this record. She has truly been such an inspiration not only to me, but to the many she had touched and inspired all her life!   I Love & Miss you Mom!  I try to never regret anything I do or have ever done! That doesn’t mean I am not ashamed of any thing, because I have done and continue to more than my share of really fricking things up! They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over again expecting to have a different outcome.   Um……what’s the name of my New Record again? Well working a very physical night shift job for 20 years after I moved back to Butler, PA to continue raising my two sons, had definitely taken more than its toll on my body and soul. I have no regrets because I was able to put a roof over my family’s heads, and give my kids more than they ever needed.   Maybe not everything they ever wanted, but then again what child has ever responded well from growing up with that? Okay, I’m sure there’s a few. Well my sons & I had a ritual each & every night before I would leave for work.  They each had a little red heart pillow on their beds that had “I LOVE YOU” sewn in white letters on it.  Well we made up this little song called “GOOD NIGHT SWEET DREAMS” and before I would leave for work, the three of us would sing it, & each verse we would get louder & louder and usually end up breaking out laughing hysterically. Folks always start as many goofy or even superstitious rituals as you can with the ones that you love, for believe you me, you will never look back with regret, only fond wonderful memories!

Thank you each and every one of you for taking the time to get to know me just a little bit better!

Thank You Shaun & Chase! For not only being the two most awesome, amazing, loving, caring, compassionate, talented and understanding men I have ever known, but for making me the proudest father in the whole entire universe! For giving me the opportunity to be everything I ever dreamed or imagined a father could or should be! Thank You Kathie for loving me unconditionally! For believing in me so much more then I could or would ever even imagine believing in myself. I will never understand why someone like yourself, one of the sweetest most beautiful (inside & out) caring & loving girls I have ever known, would have to go through such a ridiculous hideous horrible rare disease, but I do know that we have been and will continue fighting for our lives in every possible way, whether it be physically, financially, mentally or all the above. Rest assured we have no plans on giving up anytime soon in this lifetime or the next! We are survivors & we are warriors and I can’t think of anyone I would rather have fighting & kicking ass by my side! We will beat this together and giving up or to surrender is not or will it ever be an option!!! I Love You! Thank you Gina, Vern, Jan & Terry! I truly do not know what I could have possibly ever done in this lifetime or any other to deserve four more loving, caring, trustworthy, supportive, amazing individuals, constantly giving of themselves and their time then these four! Not to just me and my family but to everyone!!! I love you four, more then you will ever know! Thank you to my oldest sister Diane, for making some of the biggest hardest decisions a teenager could or should ever have to make! You have always been my hero & I love you very much! Thank you Aunt Linda (Liberty) & Uncle Ken for loving and supporting me unconditionally for as long as I can remember and then some! :-)  Sometimes when you love someone, they come with bonuses! Family members and other friends! Not only does Kathie have a wonderful amazing group of friends & family, but I gained a beautiful intelligent hard working very supportive daughter. Thank you Kayla, for not only excepting me as I am, but for welcoming me as family and for the special unique bond that you & I share. Thank you Beth, not only do I get the honor and pleasure of another amazing sister, but I can never thank you properly or enough for all the love, time, talent and support you have given to me and donated to not only this record, but to my music career in general. Thank you to all of my In-laws! Thank you Shannon, my ex-wife, for giving me the best two best gifts that anyone has ever shared with me and for helping me raise them. You’re an Amazing Mother!  Thank you to all my nieces, nephews, great nephews & great nieces for always making me feel special! Whether I am Uncle Don or Uncle Donny to you! Thank you Mike Lendyak, we have been acquaintances for forty years but became very good friends making this record, and brothers for life! Thanks for producing, engineering, arranging and lending all your amazing talents to this record!  Thank you Chuck Moses for contributing to this record your amazing, talented, guitar playing skills, on “LOVELY LADIES” and “THE JOURNEY”.  It’s an absolute honor and a privilege to have you play on my record!  Thank you Brittnany Lee Allen, for your amazing talented contributions of artwork and photography to this CD! You are amazing!  Thank you Shaun C. Eozzo, for everything from your technology and computer skills to helping me with the design and layout on every single part of this CD. You are truly irreplaceable!  Thank you to Mike Bennett, my Brother and friend, you are truly a First Class individual in every aspect! Totally supportive and non-judgmental and you always got my back, Thank you Mike! Thank you to the Beautiful Marie Matthews, Carrie Stevens & Alejandra Ruiz for your support, friendship and for letting me test drive songs on the three of you for your valuable professional opinions and feedback! While on the subject of Beautiful, Thank you so much Kathie for listening to me, and lending your thoughts, ideals and encouragement to every single song on this record! No one should ever have to listen to one person that much!!! Yet you always did, and always with a smile! I Love You So!!!

Thank you to each and every one of you that are reading this right now! I am beginning to think that you may be just a little bit crazy!

Thank you MOM!! This record is dedicated to you.

R.I.P. Donna B. Eozzo, June 12^th, 1935 – April 17^th, 2014