Art Imitates Life? Or does life Imitate art?

A former Band student of mine was in the Aurora Century 16 theaters the night Orange haired freak James Holmes walked in and killed numerous people and wounded many many more in 2012,
The student I'm speaking of will not be named but regardless was not hurt at least not Physically.
The emotional and mental scars of such a horrific scene can't be measured I don't think...

Aurora Century 16 was the theater I took my own two boys to numerous times for showings of the latest
films enjoyed by Teen boys and their dads. Below is my late son Juan as we took in the latest film about a year before the Mass Shootings there...

Of course nobody could predict what was going to happen in that theater about a year after this photo I took of my son.

As an artist myself who's recorded a national Christian Saxophone record for a major Label, I've often wondered...

"Does art imitate life? or does life imitate art?"

I think both statements are true and here's why...
For Hundreds of years art has definitely imitated life, it's glories and tragedies, it's beauty and in it's Debased awfulness as well as it's bloody realities.
Through most of history art imitated life simply because it took weeks months or years to paint a painting on a canvas and put it out.
Or for a writer to finish a novel and have a publisher put it into the Marketplace. These processes used to take years...

Even as recently as 50 years ago a photographer from a news agency covering the Vietnam war had to first process and develop the film, and then have the news agency send it to newspapers all over the world. A process that took at least a few days.
Even with the advent of television, video and photography capturing the beauty of a new lion cub being born at a Zoo, or a tragedy like the famous photo in Vietnam capturing a naked Vietnamese girl running through the streets away from a Napalm bomb took at least a day.

But in the last 30 years publishing has become an instant immediate phenomenon never seen before in man kinds history. Today a Blogger like myself can write, use photographs and publish a blog immediately upon writing it for the world to see.

My own photo of Aurora Century 16 I took my kids to (2012)

In the the last 15 years publishing has become even more immediate when a person can instantly publish not only their words, but photos, videos, memes, cartoons, and any type of media INSTANTLY on social Media for millions to view.

Filmmakers, Photographers, Media producers of any kind can now instantly publish their work, whereas just 25 years ago that was something only in science fiction novels or movies which took months or years to publish...

For this reason I believe life is now ALSO imitating art because the instantaneous publishing of film previews, YouTube videos of violence by ISIS or by insane shooters can IMMEDIATELY be published all over the world and seen by the public, by news hounds, by adults and Children...or by impressionable and insane wannabe copycat Killers...

Nonsense you say?
Well, here's a bit of evidence from years ago.

The mass serial killer Ted Bundy was scheduled to be executed for his decades long string of murders of young mostly college age women. It was a well known story.
The Christian Psychologist James Dobson did an interview with Bundy just shortly before he was to be executed for his heinous crimes.

In that interview Bundy said that his consumption of Pornography as a young boy and teenager was responsible for warping his mind to the point that he then wanted to ACT OUT his sexually deviant and violent fantasies in real life, which he did act out murdering numerous young women and committing sexual crimes.
This was coming from the serial killer himself...

 The Aurora Century 16 killer James Holmes is more evidence that life in the form of insane shooters copies art...
Holmes with his dead staring eyes in his Jail outfit and Orange hair was copying the Joker character from the film...
I'm not saying everyone who kills or all who obsessively consume violent or sexually charged media copies these violent films or Videos or Computer games like Doom, which even the Columbine Killers were known to play obsessively... But I'm saying that
people who are already deranged, and are seeking out media that confirms their violent psychotic tendencies consume this stuff like a fire consumes Gasoline...

There was an old saying I heard in Churches a lot several years ago..."Garbage in, Garbage out"
meaning, what you look at, consume, read, and watch will eventually change your thinking processes and out comes the garbage in some form.
For some who are already insane, that garbage out could be in the form of actually ACTING OUT violence.

This weekend (October 2019) the New "Joker" movie comes out, which I've already read my FB friends reviews of who say it's inordinately and grossly violent and very disturbing...
The Aurora Theater I took my own kids to where Holmes did his ghastly, violent deed is not showing it, and perhaps we should all think about why that is...

I'm just the Sax player so don't shoot me. Thanks,

DT Out.

My time in a work release facility...

Last summer I was playing a gig in Littleton, Co. a very high priced wedding I was hired to play Sax for....

The band leader took us out for drinks before the gig, so...
I thought it was perfectly fine to have a beer or 3 on the gig.
Makes sense to me anyway...

However what transpired was not what I expected...

I was told by the band leader to basically stop drinking even though he'd took us out for
drinks before the gig so I called him on his hypocrisy...
We argued about it, I apologized by email...twice...
and then got a check in the mail $150 short of what he promised to pay me and then called me basically a racist and a few other threats...claiming I'd breached contract except there was no contract for the gig and nothing was signed...I finished the gig btw every last note to the end of it...

This band leader happens to be an Immigrant to this country btw...

This immigrant band leader then called me a a racist and "I will teach you how to treat immigrants"
to which I said my mother is not white and how dare you call me a racist since my own family CAME from Hispanic immigrants to this nation which I can trace back to Spain hundreds of years ago...

Long story short I let this band leader get to me getting angry and shorting my pay and went to a bar and drank too much too fast...
And was pulled over...I've admitted my guilt and sin to the Lord and asked His forgiveness and He has done that...

Spending 4 nights in the Jail on Fourth of July Weekend 2018, the first night was with about 20-25 others in a crowded lockup, the second night in the Jail proper with a 30 something white man, the third night with two young men about twenty years old and then was released the fourth day at about 7 pm. This all happened over the Fourth of July weekend 2018.

My Trial was moved 3 times and put off until January 2019 for different reasons, and I finally faced a Judge in County Court where I was told I had spent two days in Jail when in reality I was there 4 days as I stated earlier...from this I learned that the Jailers lied about how many days I spent in Jail and I did not find that out until the trial.

I had a Public defender who I'd talked to maybe 5 minutes before the trial, she was nice but of little help and I read a statement to the Judge How I admitted what I did was wrong, said I was sorry, explained how I was ripped off by a band leader,  got angry and drank too much, but admitted my guilt, and asked for some understanding as my son had just died and would like to be able to get my license back ASAP, as well as some mercy in my situation...I was shown very little mercy by this Judge who I learned from a few websites that she is extremely biased in favor of the prosecution...as she was in my case...

I learned that public defenders are so busy with probably 25-30 cases a day that they are of little help if any, and I also learned that Money talks in these situations...If you have money or your family does
for a high powered expensive lawyer you will get half the sentence or less than the poor man who cannot afford a high powered lawyer...I met a man in work release who's family had money and was able to hire a high powered lawyer from Denver that received a much lighter sentence than I got for a much more serious offense...

My sentence was 28 days in a Work release facility in spite of the fact the Jailers lied and had me in the Jail 4 days not 2 days, almost $ 4,000 in fines, court ordered alcohol classes, 2 years probation, and 80 hours of community service.

I began my work release sentence in February which was an eye opening experience to say the least...And I've written a song called "Unjust Justice" about my experiences in this situation I've found myself in...

I work as a crossing guard for Schools and have for almost 7 years, but I'm also hired by the Police dept. which is an anomaly as almost NO Police departments hire their school crossing guards but here in this town they have for years. I learned in work release that that put me at risk being hired by Police in a lock up situation with criminals of different types like a car thief, a drug dealer, a meth addict, an assaulter, a convicted robber and other assorted types of inmates. Most were like me in work release for a misdemeanor...

As I heard their stories and listened to them, some of
these men had been in and out of Jails, Prisons, and work release since they were teenagers and a few were as old as 70.

I had compassion on these men and prayed for all of them while I was in that facility even though some of them absolutely hated me knowing I was an employee of the police dept., which I did not tell them btw, instead I told them I was hired by the school district which is also true.... Yet they seemed to know who I was hired by...

I learned that the men in Jails and Prisons and work release are "Street Smart" meaning, they know what's going on on the street, they know the cops by name, they know a lot of what's going on on the "Street" and they knew me and who I worked for...I was not liked by several in that facility...

One night while I was sleeping on my metal bed some personal property of mine was stolen...a cell phone battery charger I plugged in every night and put right by my pillow.. it disappeared and in place of that I found two earrings that looked like cubic zirconium or possibly even diamond...
Someone was plotting against me to get me to report this theft and therefore cause a Guard "Shakedown" of our sleeping room thus turning everyone in the Pod against me falsely saying I was a Snitch or informant...
I threw the earrings away and did not report it to the guards blunting their plans...They still thought I was a Snitch which was completely false...

One man in I prayed for numerous times in particular in my "Pod" as they were called or sleeping room with about 16 bunks made of metal with a thin green pad and 3 blankets, was a Hispanic man of maybe 30 or younger and reminded me a lot of one of my Uncles who had died 45 years ago...and looked a lot like my Uncle.

This man did not like me at first as many of them did not  as I read my son Juan's bible at the end of my metal bed I had taken in there...
Some men bristled as I read that bible I'd sent to my son...others didn't seem to mind...

The man across from me told me he was a Catholic, and I told him I was raised a Catholic, but then began playing music in Protestant churches and did so for 25 years as the Catholic church didn't use Saxophones in Worship...I also told him I had played at Pope John Paul's World Youth Day back in 1993 even though Saxophone was considered "Non Liturgical" by the Catholic Church...By the end of my 28 days in work release that man that hated me for reading my bible 4 times a day on the end of my bed told me he was going to Victory Outreach Church In Greeley on Sundays with his mother...

I chose a "Life Verse" over almost 25 years ago for the ministry and work God has put before me, a bible verse that encapsulates what the ministry the Lord has given me is all about..

"For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost..." Luke 19:10

The thrust or focus of my ministry has been reaching people for Christ that are not typically reachable by the recognized Christian church, from talking to sound men and light men about my faith while traveling in a Christian Rock Band in the 1980's, to playing music in Jails and Prisons in California or Colorado, to reaching thousands of people on the web or social media with my music, to reading the Bible that was my sons while being hated and disliked by hardened men in a work release facility, this is the job the Lord has appointed me...


Don't hate me I'm just the Sax Player. : )

A Nation of Lawlessness...

For close to 40 years now our country has refused to follow it's own laws...

We began ignoring our own laws and God's laws around 1980 and our national leaders did nothing to stop this lawlessness.

Consequently, three generations of people in this nation have watched it's own leaders and government ignore the laws they were sworn to uphold, and the result is three generations of Americans that have become accustomed to their own nations lawlessness and are now very familiar and used to lawlessness...It's become part of the fabric of our society....it's ingrained in our very being as a nation, Sadly...

Suddenly and surprisingly however in 2016 a new leader was elected President to the shock of nearly everyone, but particularly Democrats who believed their anointed Queen Hillary was supposed to win...But the American people spoke much to the chagrin of the ideological left wing, and they were mad...very very mad...but yet the new and shocking leader was about to enact the reverse of American lawlessness that most politicians of both parties had created, saying things like "I'm going to build a big beautiful wall", and
"I'm behind Law enforcement", and "I will end illegal Immigration"
Naturally, to three generations of people who had grown accustomed to their own government breaking it's own immigration laws (as well as God's Laws) this was a shocking thing.

To millions of people who now just assumed illegal immigration would fester on as it has since the Reagan era, and that women (of course) had every right to kill their own babies, and Police men and women were now considered "Pigs" who needed to be protested by kneeling at Football Games during the national anthem, this new leader was acting like a Fascist Nazi. And this is the cause of the division we are now seeing...

Why, How dare this arrogant new President actually attempt to uphold national immigration law!, how dare he tell women they cannot murder their own babies!, Who does this arrogant man think he is by backing up Cops! the audacity!
Who does he think he is?!
Racist!, Nazi!, Woman Hater! was their cry...

In 1973 the Country made national law stating that a mother could kill her own baby and used a young woman named Norma McCorvey to persuade the highest court in the land to codify Roe Vs. Wade.
Oddly enough the Roe of Roe Vs. Wade never had an abortion...she was just used by leftist Democrats, feminists, and planned Parenthood to normalize the killing of an unborn human being and persuaded an entire generation of young women that it was their "Choice" to do so...In fact Norma McCorvey the Plaintiff in Roe Vs. Wade became one of the Nations staunchest enemies of Roe Vs. Wade and tried right up until her death to fight against the law she helped enact. Ms. McCorvey also became a conservative pro life Christian having a total change of heart...

The Bible states in Second Thessalonians that a "Man of Lawlessness" (2 Thess. 2:1-12) would rise up and reveal himself during the times before Jesus Christ returns. This man would not only encourage great lawlessness against God, but persecute those who stood against him, that is until Jesus Christ Returns and annihilates him with his breath...

Jesus Christ Himself prophesied in Matthew 24:12 that "Because Lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold"

We can be assured that in the end God wins and Jesus will destroy every last vestige of lawlessness and everything that offends God....and that is the believers hope...

I'm just the Sax Player...