"SAX MAN" and...GOODBYE MIDWEST

SAX MAN" and...GOODBYE MIDWEST.

2 years of research, heartache, pain and strain, and many sleepless nights, were gone. Now, the story of Johnny Paris is told. Handing it off at last, is like a baby you lose. Its the same thing. No more re-interviewing. Not much more additional content...so, it's literally waiting to be born for Johnny, Sonja and myself, into bookstores around the world.

I grabbed my bag as usual in the darkness before work one morning, only to realize I had been carrying that thing all the last 2 years filled with cassettes, files, cd's., records and zip drives, because of the book. I carried it everywhere. And as I watched it head off into the sunset, I was kind of surprised myself that now I could not even add or correct anything anymore, even if I wanted to. It was no longer in my hands. It was a new baby about to be born. But thats not all.

After being based in Germany for many years as well, for the second time in 50 years, Johnny and the Hurricanes are leaving the Midwest. The memory and music of Johnny and The Hurricanes will forever be in the hearts of all his wonderful fans and friends around the world. And when it comes to the business, it will always be 'business as usual", no matter where the home company bases itself. We believe that Johnny is now free. His story has been told. Its time for those who chastised us, to see in themselves the truth we have written, and in fact discovered about our own relationships with John, as they too will understand why he did what he did...and why for so long. We didnt know till after we wrote the book either....

It will be easy to talk about all we've written, transcribed and learned. It's a kind of 'looking back'. We still read parts of it and think 'Wow! Did we write all this? This really happened from Johns diaries?!" We know we did, and it really did come from his own words, tapes and friends. We had become so overwhelmed with people, rock and roll artists, places, dates and times, that we had forgotten just how much and detailed we had been. 500,000 words and over 450 pages, minus the photos. The amount of research was staggering. Now it was done.

PARIS-THOMAS promises that when it comes to Johnny Paris and The Hurricanes, the buck stops here with us. We stand together against the world against all infringers and those who would tarnish the image and legacy Johnny worked hard to protect. My partner Sonja is fiercly protective, and Johnny would be proud how she's stood up to the adversity both here and over in Germany and abroad. I'd like to think he'd be equally as proud of his once Hurricane guitarist, who gave him so much grief on and off stage, way back when. John, I did what I could, as best as I could. You belong to the ages now, right or wrong, good or bad. It was your life and how you lived it. We did not judge.

So, Im off into my own new book I guess. On "SPIRITS I'VE KNOWN, AND A FEW I DIDN'T", I've asked Sonja to write the Forward. So, it all starts anew. Fresh. Original and something to look forward to. Not a rehashing over Rock and Roll dates and times, events and records, but a free-flowing recollection of some of the stranger things, from the stranger meta-physical side, of my long and weaving life.

Maybe now with Johnnys story coming out there...his beginnings, his life with Sonja, and me with my days in the Hurricanes in the book as well....I can finally get a little sleep.....
Hurricane Duane
WWW. JOHNNYANDTHEHURRICANES. COM
PARISTHOMAS@JOHNNYANDTHEHURRICANES.COM