Читать книгу Delivered From Evil - Anthony Greve - Страница 5

A Step Into the Industry

I was about six years old when my parents got divorced. No one gets married planning to divorce, but it happens. My brother was too young to understand what was going on truly. I remember climbing into my mom’s lap to comfort her on one of those difficult nights during the divorce process. She sat on the couch in the living room crying and saying, “What am I going to do?” I kept telling her, “It’s going to be okay, Mom.” It was a difficult time for all of us. My mom found another house in town that she moved into taking my brother and me with her. Though my parents were separated, we saw our dad anytime we wanted to. They always got along and made it work for the sake of my brother and me. Nolan and I would go back and forth between the two houses at will.

As a kid, I got into martial arts courtesy of both the Ninja Turtles and my parents. I was a huge Turtles fan and wanted to be one for the rest of my life. I was a very serious kid, and I took my karate seriously. This was my first real passion in life. I studied a Japanese form of Karate called Okinawa Te. I fell in love with Jean Claude Van Damme’s movies. Bloodsport became one of my favorite movies. I also studied books by the late Bruce Lee. I spent years studying the art and worked my way up to a brown belt, which in that sect of karate was right below the highest level, the black belt.

One time, in the schoolyard in third grade, I got it in my head to pick a fight with the class bully. I remember having seen Van Damme in a movie and his opponent, and he took turns kicking each other in the ribs while Thai boxing, so I challenged the kid to the same type of fight. I wanted to be like my hero. This did not work out in my favor. He was much bigger than I was, and after a couple of kicks to the ribs, I was done.

Since I was into martial arts, my parents would take me to martial arts competitions where I would enroll to compete and see some of the best fighters in the world. There were some amazing competitors in those tournaments. I was completely amazed at some of the men and women I watched spar and perform katas. Karate had truly become my life.

From a young age, I was destined to be a performer. I loved being in front of people and performing for them. One day I came home from school and told my dad that he had to take me to the evening tryouts for a local talent show. I had found out about it in a newspaper clipping. I wanted to make the most of my gift as well as share it with others. While others would play instruments or sing a song in the talent show, I was going to perform a martial arts kata that I had put together to none other than the song, “Eye of the Tiger.” This was going to be epic. I made the cut. This was my first performance in front of a real audience. I didn’t place that day, but I did get some experience under my belt. I met a gentleman there who would soon become an integral part of my life. He was a classical guitarist as well as a guitar instructor and was in the talent show as well. About a year later, I would be reconnecting with him for lessons.

At school, I was making new friends and connecting with a different crowd. More and more, I started getting into music, and my passion and love for it was growing every day. It seemed that what was spoken over me at the music store across the hall from my grandmother’s place was beginning to blossom. Romantic by nature, I was a huge R & B fan. I loved groups like All for One and Boyz II Men. One weekend, my friend Malcolm came to stay over and brought his dad’s tape collection with him. I had no interest in rock and roll at that time. He had to convince me to give it a shot. It was at this time that I was introduced to bands such as Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Jackyl. I would end up doing shows with Jackyl down the road. Although I was starting to get into the rock scene, I couldn’t give up my R & B quite yet. As I said, I was a romantic.

By this time, my dad had remarried. I was about ten years old. My stepbrother and I were dating twins. We had this idea of having them over for a candlelit dinner. I had my mom pick up sparkling grape juice for the occasion simply because it looked like wine. My brother’s date ended up not coming, so it was just my girl, Rhonda, and me. I set the place up like a pro. I had soft music playing in the background, sparkling grape juice in wine glasses, and we ate a delicious meal of Beef Ramen noodles that my eldest stepbrother had made. One summer, I brought a bracelet back from Turkey for Rhonda. It was crystal all the way around. One night, I even went so far as to sing, “I Swear,” by All for One to her over the phone. These were romantic yet innocent times in my life. The innocence was only temporary.

As my love for music increased, martial arts took a back seat. “I Swear,” which I had sung to Rhonda, became one of my favorite songs. While in Turkey, I would practice singing it over and over again on our balcony. I would pretend that I was one of the members of the group performing. Then, one day, something happened that I hadn’t anticipated; I was forced to sing in public.

At my grandparents’ summer place, a restaurant served as a public meeting place for the people of the community. People from our community would meet there for dinner, to talk, or play a game of backgammon or cards. OK was a popular game at that time as well. On one of those summer nights, they had brought in entertainment, a keyboardist who would play and sing an array of the best Turkish songs. I was running around playing hide-and-go-seek in the garden with friends.

Typically, we would get yelled at for playing on the manicured grass. But on this occasion, I remember my grandfather coming up to me and saying, “I talked to the entertainer, and he is going to let you get up there and sing a song.” I told my grandfather that I couldn’t do that. He told me that he had already made the arrangements and that if I didn’t, he would never speak to me again. He then proceeded to walk away. At that point, the pressure was on. I’m sure he would have spoken to me again, and that probably wasn’t the best way to motivate me. On top of my grandfather’s pressure, all of my friends joined in pressuring me to do it. I finally agreed. I got up there on the stage. It was quiet. It was as if the whole city was out that night, and that moment had all been set up just for me. I took a breath, and then I sang. The people loved it, and I received a standing ovation.

Now that we knew I could perform, my cousin and I came up with an idea to have a community talent show. This would be an opportunity for all of the local kids to show off their gifts. We cut out tickets that we handwrote on pieces of paper and sold them to the community people. My grandmother made us keep the price extra low. I would again sing, “I Swear.” The kid who hosted the event even dressed in a tux. It was classic. It was amazing to see all the parents and grandparents out there supporting us. What a fantastic night it was. This was my first real step into show business, and I loved it indeed.