When Jack was a kid, he heard the surf anthem, Wipeout and wanted to play drums. "Hell no” said his father, who was an award-winning sports fisherman who held several world records. A few years later, Jack's best buddy, Mike Graves filled his room with black lights and psychedelic posters. They heard Led Zeppelin II for the first time. "We played that record until there was no needle left. Man, the neighbors hated us!" That was all it took; Jack had to play guitar. Once again his father said, "Hell no”
"I had the opportunity to meet Faron Young, during that time because Mike's mom was from Nashville and had grown up with the country legend. Here he was, this bigger than life legend, standing in the alley of our homes and shakin' my hand. He looked like a western movie star out of a Saturday matinee. He shined! I can still remember his perfect polished clothes and that larger than life cowboy hat. I had no idea who he was at the time, but I could tell he was something special. I was really in awe!"
Jack began to mow lawns and deliver the North Dade Journal, a free newspaper that nobody wanted. He did whatever work he could to earn money so he could purchase his first guitar. "I' delivered thousands of that unwanted rag all over my neighborhood, two times a week. At the end of each month, the publisher would send me door-to-door to convince the residents to subscribe to a paper that nobody read and nobody wanted. Time and again, I got cursed, threatened and the door slammed in my face." "Quit littering my yard with that damn trash you son of a bitch!" "Occasionally, I'd get the paper thrown back at me, or chased down the block by an angry dog, to the howling delight of the owner. But, I kept going back month after month, to the same homes, hoping they'd give me that dime, which I got to keep half of."
It took time but Jack eventually saved enough money to buy his first instrument, which wasn't a guitar, or a set of drums. It was a Hohner Blues Harp, key of G. The only instrument he could afford on such meager earnings. It wasn't long before he was escorted into nightclubs and local pubs where he'd jam with house bands and local acts. However, when the show was over Jack was ushered out the back. "No, you can't hang out. You're just a kid. Go home!"
Jack was always being told, no. But the word never fazed him. "That is the worst word ever devised. I simply despise it. The word has NO value."
Jack's musical influences were passed on to him from his sister. "Cindy had a job at a trendy retail store and spent her earnings on the best records available. She also had a friend named George Mazzola, a kid with long blond hair who played a mean guitar. They listened to artists, like Johnny and Edgar Winter, Wishbone Ash, Ten Years After, J. Geils Band, The Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, Humble Pie, Leon Russell, Yes and on and on. When they weren't around, I'd sneak into my sister's room and play those records, over and over. That was my Music 101 class. As far as I'm concerned, I already had an MA in Contemporary Music by the time I was a twelve-years-old kid. I couldn't play guitar yet, or drums, but I could play J. Geils, Whammer Jammer on the harmonica, note for note."
At the age of twelve, Jack played optimist football on the North Miami Beach Gators, a team that was coached by his father. The team won the “Cranberry Bowl” game against a team from North Dade. The North Dade team had beaten the Gators in pre-season and in a regular season game. The bowl game's final score was 6-0 (a missed extra point) with an impressive last minute goal line stance that sealed the victory. Jack won a trophy for the Best Defensive Back that season, and ironically the North Dade Journal would write weekly articles about the team’s victories. "That fueled me to do something outstanding in each game, so I could read about it in the paper." Jack's father also coached his baseball and basketball teams and helped him win a Miami Metropolitan Fishing Tournament for largest Pickerel, which was caught in the Florida, Everglades.
"My father was a well-known sports fisherman and he was invited by the Seminole Indians to eat dinner with their Chief. This particular tribe lived deep in the swamps of the Everglades. My father took me along for the experience. The Chief gave my father an honorarium, allowing him to be the only white man that was allowed to fish on their land without a permit. We ate venison (deer) in a large hut. All the locals stopped by to pay tribute to their guest of honor. I was a skinny, gold haired kid and all the native children were compelled to run to me and touch my hair. It was a great experience and an evening that I could never forget."
"That same summer my father drove me to North Carolina, where we took a new boat back to Miami via the Intercoastal waterway. The following summer my father flew me to Boston, where I spent the entire summer living on a 54’ Hatteras Cruiser. We traveled all around the northeastern seaboard, including Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Province Town, Quincy, Rhode Island’s Block Island, Portland Connecticut, New York's Montauk Point and Portland Maine. On other boating trips, my father took me to the Florida, Keys, the Bahamas and many other sport-fishing trips. My life was truly a kids dream."
A Kids Dream Turned To A Nightmare
Art Barker, a self-proclaimed war hero, who was in reality a felon convicted of armed robbery and other crimes, was a homeless drunkard from the bowels of New York that managed to slither his way down to the shores of Miami. For a bum like Barker, sleeping on the warm beaches of Miami was a better alternative to cold nights spent huddled in a doorway in the Bowery. Having no education or any prior experience working with children, Barker formed a cult that became known as, The Seed.
The program incorporated fear as their main weapon to convince parents that there was a heroin epidemic coming to south Florida (from New York) and if they didn't turn their kids over to him, their kids were going to end up either dead, in jail, or insane. This pandemic caused mass hysteria throughout the state of Florida and parents, en masse, turned their children over to Barker and his egregious experiment. The “program” used fear, intimidation, brainwashing, rape, violence, imprisonment confinement and kidnapping on children whose parents fell for the scheme. Unfortunately, Jack's mother had also attended one of those parent meetings.
Having never used drugs or alcohol -- a popular kid that loved to surf, play baseball, basketball, football and run track as well as play music and bike ride with friends to the beach, found himself taken to The Seed by force. "My father was out of town on a business trip in the northeast and my parents were in the throws of a divorce. He had no idea what had happened. I spent a year in that nightmarish hell. Hollywood horror movie writers couldn't create a fiction as terribly demonic as The Seed. It's absolutely true when they say truth is more terrible than fiction. The kids in that farce were subjected to physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse by that monstrous for-profit regime. If you were a musician, you were no longer allowed to be a musician. If you were a surfer, you couldn't surf. If you were into sports, you were not allowed to be an athlete. In fact, we weren't even allowed to go to school.”
“We weren't allowed to live at home, we were forced to live with complete strangers who were given no training or experience in working with children and the U.S. government funded all of this without researching any of the programs activities, or having any oversight. Day after, day after day, the “newcomers” were forced to sit in metal chairs for twelve hours or longer. We couldn't use the restroom without permission and even then we were escorted by guards who watched everything we did.”
“We were not allowed to talk or even look at any other newcomer. At night when it was time for our “oldtimers” to take us to their homes, we left that dirty, rundown structure, which had been an abandoned blimp hangar, only to be forced to write a statement called a moral inventory. After writing those "moral inventories" we were subjected to a barrage of questioning that lasted until the sun came up. Deprived of food, drink and sleep we'd be taken back to The Seed by force, many in shackles and subjected to the same routine, and for months. The rooms we were forced to stay in were under lock and key. There was no hope. Only dread and despair."
“If someone did manage to escape, they were tracked down like hunted animals and returned in chains. One of their favorite tactics was to roll people up in old rugs and duct tape then inside, throw them in the trunk of a car and escort them back to the program, where the "escapee" would be stood in front of the entire group and screamed at until late at night. They then would have to start the program over, from day one, only under much tighter security. Some would try to escape from their seats and would be caught by guards and beaten."
"When Barker lost his lease at the blimp hangar, which was in Opa Locka, Florida. The Seed was moved to Tropical Park, a defunct, horseracing facility. One young man tried to escape by jumping through a huge plate glass window. He fell two stories below. He was a bloodied mess and was taken away by ambulance. He was never seen again and nobody dare ask about his condition or whereabouts. Others, who joined the program as volunteers and then later chose to leave, were not allowed to. They would be forcibly tied up and held down and turned over to a more secure “home” environment.”
"Barker destroyed countless lives. It is well known that he was sexually molesting scores of teenage girls. He’d rape them and let them know they were not allowed to return home until he said so. Many children were led around in chains and handcuffs, their hair would be cut in a humiliating manner and their clothes and personal property confiscated (stolen) and used by Barker’s untrained, unskilled, unlicensed, ungodly and immoral staff, who were in reality, the worst convicted criminal elements of society that chose to join The Seed instead of facing long harsh prison sentences. As a result of being psychologically pushed to their limit, some teens ended up murdering their parents, while many others committed suicide."
Congress finally did a full investigation of The Seed and stopped funding the program. The state of Florida then permanently revoked Barker’s license, when Congress determined the program was using the same brainwashing tactics on teenagers that North Korea was using on American prisoners of war. Both, the United Nations and the Geneva Convention condemned those tactics as war crimes. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late for the hundreds of victims whose youths were destroyed and who never received any compensation for the cruel and unusual treatment they suffered at the hands of Barker, his staff and his insane criminal experiment.
“The heroin epidemic, of course, never came, but then Barker also claimed to have had a mail in degree in psychology, which nobody ever saw either. Reminds me of a line from John Steinbeck’s Grapes Of Wrath, “Send in your ten dollars and you’re a radio expert.” The media began to attack Barker as a delusional man living in fear. They called him more dangerous than Adolf Hitler and questioned his lack of education and phony credentials. Barker began to claim the government hired hit men to murder him. He even began making fake bomb threats aimed at The Seed facility. There are two incidents I personally can recall where we were ushered out of the facility, for our own "safety." Barker even tried to get the state of Florida to give him a huge parcel of land to build a Seed City. Instead the mayor of Miami, who publicly called Barker a monster and a criminal, took away The Seed’s lease at Tropical Park and forced Barker and his criminal staff to leave the city of Miami and to never return.
"Unfortunately, no formal charges were ever brought against Barker, because too many judges, prosecutors, city officials and high-profile residents had colluded with him."
"While I was incarcerated/imprisoned at The Seed, I refused to conform. I never participated in any of the mandatory “rap sessions," instead I remained silent and oppositional. If they sat facing North, I sat facing South. If they stood up, I sat down. When they kicked me and yelled at me, I refused to show any signs of fear. And to think I was merely fourteen.”
"The staff sent me to a psychiatrist to find out how they could “reach” me. After being kicked, beaten, starved, deprived of sleep and screamed at for months, they couldn’t figure it out? They were never going to “reach” me. Upon entering the psychiatrist’s office I told him to lay down (on his sofa) and tell me your problems. This surprised him; he asked me why I didn't like The Seed. I said, They force me to lie and say I used drugs when I never have. They told me if I don't admit to using drugs, I’d never be allowed to go home. I told the "doctor' I wanted to go to school and I wanted to go surfing and they wouldn't let me. I left the appointment with a letter from the doctor giving me "life-long" permission to go to school and to surf. Wasn't that very nice of him?"
"When it was someone’s birthday, they'd force us to stand, hold hands and sing happy birthday. On my fifteenth birthday, they sang, Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more, no more. Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more. I stood up and and calmly stated I was never going to come back ever. That this was my last night. They had a good laugh about that, but, I had decided that I was never going back to that place and I didn’t. That was the best birthday gift I ever received and I gave it to myself.”
“I will never stop hating that pedophile known as Art Barker and his demonic staff of criminals. Ironically, Debbie Del Bueno, his most proud "success stories,” a court ordered prostitute, drug addict and program graduate, who became one of Barker's top staff members, died of a drug overdose as soon as the court lifted her Seed sentence. Seems a fitting end to the worst crime ever committed in south Florida. In my opinion, Barker should be tortured and executed. If Dante’s Inferno was a reality, no doubt Barker would face the gallows one day, a rifle squad the next, lethal injection the next and the electric chair after that, repeatedly again and again, and for all of eternity.”
Jack stayed true to his word and never returned to The Seed. He never returned to live with his family either.
Then There Was Southern Rock
At sixteen, Jack had a musical experience that changed his life forever. Lynryd Skynryd was on tour and performing in Tampa, Florida. Jack and his buddies, Mark Dragonet, Otto Sorenson, John Hoss and Joe Regal, pulled together a few bucks for gas and headed to Tampa in an old van that would barely make the trip. However, when they arrived, they learned the show had sold out. "Having no tickets never phased us. We never had any money for them anyway. We snuck into any concert we wanted to see and we saw them all. Every band from Aerosmith to Frank Zappa, from Alice Cooper to Led Zeppelin."
"We called ourselves, The Lows. We were nuthin' more than a bunch of poor kids that lived for the next great guitar oriented album. We snuck into any show, regardless if we wanted to see the band or not. We did it just to prove that we could get into any venue and that nobody could keep us out. We weren't exactly famous for it, but we had a lot of local notoriety. After our ceremonial group piss, crowds would gather to see how we'd 'get in this time.' We'd 'borrow' empty soda canisters from McDonalds and claim to be concession workers. We'd carry two-by-fours with a pair of half rotten construction gloves, claiming to work for the props department. We'd pool a few bucks and give it to any kid who could get names from the bands guest list. That was our favorite technique, because we'd end up backstage, meeting the bands and eating their food. Concert hall doors parted for us like the Red Sea. It was fantastic and surrealistic. Everything we tried worked. We were always successful. However, on that particular evening in Tampa, we didn't have to sneak in."
The Lows stood at the back door listening to Skynryd’s sound check. They were contemplating the best way to get into that massive and unfamiliar fortress, when suddenly, the band stopped playing and the backstage door flew open. There strode Ronnie Van Zant in his bare feet, Artimus Pyle with no shirt on, Allen Collins towering above them all, Gary Rossington in cowboy boots, Leon Wilkeson wearing a wild hat, and Billy Powell grinning ear to ear. They were heading toward a parked limousine. Jack stood frozen in awe. Joey jumped in their path and stated the boy’s plight. Ronnie Van Zant told them to wait by the backstage door and upon their return he’d see to it that the boys got to see the show. True to his word, they let the boys watch the show from backstage and eat and eat and eat. “To me the coolest thing was when I discovered Artimus Pyle was an avid runner and a vegetarian, because so was I.” But, that was not all. The band was playing in Miami the following evening and Skynryd invited The Lows to meet them at their hotel and ride with the band into the sold out Miami Baseball Stadium in the band's limousine.
On the next evening the boys met Skynryd at their hotel and really were invited to ride with the band to the sold out show. As the limo approached the stadium, the energetic mass rushed it. Band members rolled down the windows as throngs of mesmerized kids, reached in to touch the band. "It was really overwhelming. I remember crying, because I had never seen something so powerful in all my life. Nobody pulled at them; nobody tore at their clothing. Those kids just wanted to reach out to their favorite artists and the band was graceful about it. It was truly overwhelming, and something I’ll never forget."
The Lows soon found themselves backstage watching a sold out show they didn't have to sneak into. "To this day, I will never forget that feeling, the energy that flowed from that crowd and the pride I felt when the rich kids got to see us poor kids ridin' into that stadium with our most greatest Rock 'N" Roll heroes. We were the talk of the town. Even the bad guys left us alone. I got to kiss the girl of my dreams that night too. Joe Regal still has his back stage pass and the t-shirt Artimus Pyle gave him that night, to prove it really happened.”
"From then on I wanted people to love my music too, so I got serious about learning how to play the guitar. My first guitar was purchased for 35.00 dollars from a kid named Johnny Byrd, another homeless kid in our gang. He smashed a window at Sunnyland Music Center and walked off with four electric guitars. One being a black and white Epiphone, so ugly we called it The Shovel but it was mine.
A chartered Convair 240, carrying Lynryd Skynryd between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana crashed near a forest in McComb, Mississippi. Drummer Artimus Pyle crawled out of the wreckage with several broken ribs and hiked through swampy woods, where he finally managed to flag down a farmer who had come to investigate. The crash killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick and both pilots. To The Lows, rock 'n' roll had died too.
Look Out You Rock 'N' Rollers
New age and punk ushered in a new era of music. "Many despised the genre, but it sure beat disco. One summer, barely out of my teens I got to travel to Europe with a rich girlfriend. Her parents wouldn't allow her to go alone, so they bought me a ticket to 'escort her.' We agreed to make no plans, just jump on a plain bound for London with a ton of money and a Euro rail pass and see what happens. We slept in the Roman Coliseum, stumbled into a transvestite bar in Munich. We climbed the wall in Berlin and gave the finger to guards in East Berlin gun towers, who gave us the finger in return. But, we made sure we saw plenty of shows, especially David Bowie, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, The Meteors and the UK Subs. The European music scene made me realize that music influenced the entire world on many different levels. I began to realize the impact that theatre had on live performance and vowed to return to school and study music and theatre for as long as I could."
Jack kept that promise and began to study music at Miami Dade Community College. However, instructors pushed jazz and classical music, scorning anyone who played rock and especially those that played country music. "They loved to say, 'There are two words that don't go together, country and music.' They considered it an aberration and did all they could to make young impressionable minds feel ashamed, ridiculous and insecure about the things that drove them to seek knowledge in first place. Feeling inadequate was something I had lived with my entire life, so being scorned was nothing new to me. I didn’t just play the music, I embraced the image.”
"One day a musician friend jokingly suggested I change my name to Stack Jones, so for a good laugh I did." It was at that time Stack discovered gospel artists like Mahalia Jackson and the Sun Sessions of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and rockin' rebels like Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, The Collins Kids, Wanda Jackson and Janet Martin. Stack also got exposed to artists like Bela Fleck and The Dixie Dregs and was blown away how these artists could blend any genre of music into an endless array of new sounds.
The Chameleon
Stack traded his long hair for a pompadour and his Gibson Les Paul for a Gretsch Country Gentlemen and Telecaster Thinline. He traded his high-heeled platforms and bell-bottoms, ala New York Dolls for cowboy boots and denim. "I discovered great storytelling songs, like those of Johnny Cash. I fell in love with the bop/swing guitar of Cliff Gallop and the hillbilly drivin' beats of Scotty Moore and Bill Black, but I also loved extravagant bands like Roxy Music, David Bowie and The Dolls."
Miami was known for K.C. and the Sunshine Band and The Miami Sound Machine. European developers and aspiring models came for fortune and fame. Tourists traded their winter coats for sun block and the surf, sun and fun of it all. Travel agents dubbed it South Beach and marketeers called it the new Riviera. Nothing would ever be the same. "To me they could call it whatever the hell they wanted to. In reality it was a city polarized in drugs and violence that was fueled by deep hatred that existed between Cuban's, the blacks and whites. These outsiders, newcomers if you will, forced out the elderly that had lined the coastline for decades and were dying along with the Art Deco facades they called home." Joe Regal became a hairdresser for the Bee Gees and a photographer for magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Otto, died of a physical ailment that had plagued him his entire life and the rest of The Lows faded into obscurity. But, Stack kept grinding away at playing any instrument he could get his hands on.
Stack formed his first band The Spinouts. The first gig took place at Manor Lanes Bowling Alley in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During the band's performance, a bomb exploded under a van in the parking lot. The explosion was so powerful that it shook the entire building, knocking people off their feet and blowing out windows in the alley, as well as office buildings hundreds of yards away. The blast did major damage to the parking lot and destroyed several vehicles. Luckily nobody was injured.
The Spinouts performed a variety of music, from rockabilly to pop punk, rock, surf and hard rock. The band and hardcore fans often clashed during live performances, where the audience would expect a particular genre of music and the band would deliver another. This especially irked the rockabilly traditionalists, who would come to shows decked in oldies garb and find The Spinouts playing punk, or other forms of contemporary music. The Spinouts performed at the best venues throughout the East Coast of the U.S. including, New York City's legendary CBGB's, Gildersleeves and Miami's Jockey Club and Agora Ballroom. Bob Marlowe, entertainment writer for the Miami Herald wrote; "Stack Jones writes tunes that segue into a set like a hand into a well-worn glove. Boring is one adjective I'd never use to describe this guy."
The Spinouts released a single on Pete Moss', Juke Box titled; Shake Like A Hurricane. This compilation album can be found at The Pete Moss Memorial All-Night Record Shop. The record is described as a snapshot of the South Florida punk/new wave scene at the time.
Band manager Alan Kavares and fans believed The Spinouts had a hit song titled; Once Burnt Twice Shy and the band entered the studio to record their debut album. However, the self-produced EP released in 1985; Revelation VI, did not include the catchy rockabilly tune. A staff writer for the now defunct, Miami News wrote, "It appears that another band hijacked The Spinouts' studio sessions." Revelation VI, was dark and heavy, with apocalyptic overtones and the audience that came to know The Spinouts as a flashy, retroact was surprised by the release, however, The Spinouts relished in the controversy.
In 1985, Stack Jones won the Best Guitarist Award at the first Miami Music Awards show. The Spinouts were interviewed for MTV by FM Station Y100, DJ Corey James and appeared on a variety of local TV and radio shows, such as the University of Miami's WVUM radio station and The Ed Rich Rock Show. While making their appearance on The Ed Rich Rock Show, the band was given cards to fill out. These would be the questions asked during the live broadcast. The band intentionally shuffled the cards and gave straight face answers that were not relevant to the questions posed. Ed Rich remained composed during the thirty-minute airing, but didn't seem to appreciate the prank.
The highlight for The Spinouts was headlining the famous Coconut Grove Bed Race to an estimated audience of 70,000. The opening act was a then relatively unknown, Miami Sound Machine. The band also performed the ballad, Needles And Pins live at Club Blitz in Hialeah, Florida with The Ramones, Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame, front man, Joey Ramone. After extensive gigging in Florida and New York City, the group disbanded in December of 1985.
On December 12, 1985 shortly after returning to Miami from New York, Jones' girlfriend, Maia Matasowski, flight service manager for Arrow Air, died in the Arrow Air Flight 1285 crash in Gander, Newfoundland. On the day of the crash, Islamic Jihad, a wing of Hezbollah, claimed responsibility. The aircraft was chartered to carry U.S. servicemen, mostly members of the 101st Airborne Division, United States Army, from a six-month stay in the Sinai, where they had served in the Multinational Force and Observers peacekeeping force, back to their base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. All 256 on board flight 1285 died in the crash. Arrow Air was secretly being used by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North to smuggle weapons and ammunition in the Iran-Contra Scandal.
That same winter, former Spinout vocalist, Steven Lambert, brother Gary Lambert, Billy La Volpe and Ron Norton, formed Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace had some early club, touring and college radio success with their debut single; The Day, which the band released independently on Entities. The album was produced by Hal Hansford who is most known for his work with The Romantics and their album, In Heat. Surprisingly, rare copies of Entities can be found on the Internet and sell for as much as $1600.00 each.
In 1986, Amazing Grace and Billy La Volpe parted and Steven Lambert asked Stack to join the band. At the time Amazing Grace was performing hardcore punk and Stack agreed to join if the band would broaden their music style including hard rock, alternative and southern rock. Amazing Grace agreed and the band's popularity increased as a result of this change.
Stack Jones appeared as a guest speaker on WSVN News Radio, WQAM Miami, Piper High School WKPX radio and University of Miami radio station WVUM. This was during the time when conservatives were trying to impose an Explicit Lyrics and Parental Advisory Labeling scheme on record albums.
Stack argued that labeling music would circumvent the First Amendment right of free speech guaranteed under the Constitution of the U.S. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Early on, Amazing Grace was managed by Smidek Corporation, a front company that in reality was one of Miami's largest marijuana smuggling operations. The band's manager, Dave Smith, grew up as childhood friends with singer Steven Lambert. Both were indicted along with Pablo Escobar of the Medellin Cartel, with many other Miami area residents. The indictment made the front page of the Miami Herald and most of the indicted were convicted, receiving either fifteen or thirty-year mandatory federal prison sentences on charges related to drug smuggling, tax evasion and conspiracy. Some remain imprisoned as to the date of this posting. However, the charges that were brought against Steve Lambert were dismissed for lack of enough evidence to convict.
During this period, Amazing Grace performed shows at The Cameo Theater, with nearly every alternative act that was touring the U.S. including Lords of the New Church, Killing Joke, Suicidal Tendencies, The Ramones and many more.
In 1987, during the Smidek era, Stack Jones and Amazing Grace recorded the band's second album with producer Hal Hansford titled; On And On. Amazing Grace appeared on the TV show Miami Vice, performing their song 14. The band was receiving a lot of national attention and began receiving a vast amount of radio airplay on underground, and college radio stations, as well as underground dance clubs.
1988, Bill Bakula of Bandman Productions, a Miami based concert promoter, who often booked Amazing Grace at local venues, married Jamie Shoop. Jamie Shoop is credited for discovering Prince in Minnesota and was his personal manager during his early career. Jamie Shoop also managed Los Angeles rockers Warrant who were signed to Columbia Records. It was during this period, that Jamie Shoop was introduced to Amazing Grace and began to manage the band.
In 1989, the band recorded an album with nine-time nominated and two-time Grammy Award winning producer Karl Richardson. The untitled projects, considered by some as Amazing Grace’s best recordings, were never released, due to the legal issues surrounding the band's singer and former management. That same year, Ron Oberman, the vice president of Columbia Records, was quoted as saying: "I'm Amazed by Amazing Grace." He wanted the band to relocate to Los Angeles, and to develop the band under the label. Stack Jones pushed for the band to relocate, but certain band members were more interested in their "other" careers. During this period, the band recorded videos for their songs, 14 and Fire In The Distance, and recorded, Beauty (Deeper Than The Flesh). Other recordings included, All The World Is Roses, Don't Walk Away, End Of Time and Sweet Vibrations. However, the master tapes of the Richardson sessions were destroyed. As a result there are no known copies of the video 14, and Beauty (Deeper Than The Flesh). The entire Richardson sessions are gone forever.
With all the legal troubles that the band was experiencing, it was difficult to remain a cohesive unit. To make matters worse for the band, Jamie Shoop was hospitalized with severe liver ailments, fell into a coma and nearly died from Tylenol poisoning. At the time it was not known that Acetaminophen (Tylenol) caused serious liver damage. Jones decided to end his relationship with Amazing Grace and relocated to Los Angeles.
Education
In 1990, Stack Jones left Amazing Grace and relocated to Los Angeles. In 1996, he received a BA in film production from Loyola Marymount University (honors Magna Cum Laude). In 1997, he received audio/video engineering certification from Soundmaster Recording Institute, which was owned and operated by legendary record producer/engineer, and former MCA president, Brian Ingoldsby. Soundmaster has since changed its name to Pinnacle College.
Stack Jones didn't stay out of the industry long. He began to write and develop projects for the Japanese TV production company, Tsuburaya Productions and two-time Emmy Award winning producer Alan Sacks, creator of Welcome Back Cotter the show that began John Travolta's entertainment career.
Stack began to write screenplays after befriending his next-door neighbor Sally Marr, the mother of legendary comedian Lenny Bruce. Sally got Jack his first break in the film industry when she sent a copy of his screenplay, Vow Of Silence to legendary film producer Marvin Worth. An interview with Mr. Worth led to other writing opportunities. "I met Sally in an odd manner. I noticed the paint on my vehicle was damaged and it had happened by the car parked next to mine. I knew it was an elderly woman who lived next door to me, so I knocked on her door and asked what happened? She told me that she had paid the lawn man a few bucks to park her car because she didn't want to damage mine. Ironically, Playboy Magazine was interviewing Ms. Marr at the time this conversation took place. The entire conversation ended up being printed in Playboy magazine. That's how I learned who my Sally was."
In 1999, Jack Stone was credited for doing stunts for comedian Carrot Top in, Chairman Of The Board. In 2002 Jack Stone is credited for editing the award-winning Young Man Kang, Korean/American film, Soap Girl. The film was released on DVD in 2006. He had been an agent representing top-end artists at Creative Oxygen and Metafor Imaging. Stack also worked as a screenwriter and project developer for Japanese film production company Tsuburaya Productions, known for creating such classics as Godzilla and Ultraman.
In 2007, Jack Stone received a Juris Doctorates degree at La Verne Law School, and a California brokers license. He relocated to Japan to open a language and art school , The Academy of Language Arts.
Law School
"While in law school, I spent two-years working for the San Bernardino County, Public Defenders Office. I won every motion I wrote to the chagrin of the seasoned DA's. Law School was grueling. It was too long and took too much time out of my life for things that mattered more, my writing and my music. However, I'm proud to be able to say I graduated and if there is one thing that experience brought me was the ability to persevere. I know that if I could make it through that rigorous self-imposed nightmare, then there's nothing on earth that I couldn't do."
"Law school finally came to an end in January of 2007. I had won the IVAMS Award for mediation and arbitration, and CALI Awards in Lawyering Skills Practicum, and Conflicts of Law. The moment I finished my last exam, I exited the building, went to my truck, took one last look at the building and headed to San Diego. I packed my studio gear and headed for Overton Beach, Nevada, where my sister had a vacation home. It was to be the place I would set up my studio and begin to record music. I didn't attend the graduation ceremony and never looked back." However, before I could complete my music project, the National Park Service sent notice to every Overton Beach homeowner that they had ninety-days to vacate the land. There would be no just compensation as required by the Constitution -- a document of empty rhetoric that has no valid meaning in this modern age. Chaos ensued and it was time to hit the road again. Deterred, but not destroyed, I packed his studio and moved to Japan, where he finished 13 Rowdy Row and Mostly Odd Things He Does.
Solo Projects
13 Rowdy Row, Mostly Odd Things He Doe and Stack Jones Live, Love Live, are three new solo albums Stack Jones composed, arranged, produced, engineered and performed all instruments. “I began recording while I was attending law school. I had flown to Gainesville, Florida to begin recording tracks, but back-to-back hurricanes destroyed the entire state and my recording plans. I returned to southern California with no tracks and dreading the decision that I had made to attend law school. I didn't care about being an attorney. I wanted to play music, but I was determined to finish what I had started."
"I was in a dilemma. Law school was expensive and so was amassing studio gear for my projects. I couldn't afford both, so I made a tough decision. I placed my possessions in a storage facility in San Diego and lived out of my truck for the better part of three years. The truck had no camper shell, so I was exposed to the elements. If it rained it rained on me. If it was freezing, I had to deal with it. It was a tough time, both psychologically and physically, but somehow I got through it and it paled compared to the experience I had at The Seed."
"I didn't want to be draw any attention to myself, so I kept a low profile. My daily routine was to wake up at 6:00 a.m., eat breakfast on the tailgate of my truck and move on before any of the shops opened. I'd head to the YMCA, where I worked out and then I'd run for a mile or two, shower and then head to the law library when it opened at 9:00. I was the first person at school each day and the last to leave at night. I can't explain what it felt like to leave that warm building and exit into those cold nights. Especially, when it was raining and windy. It never felt good and it was dangerous. I always wondered if I would make it through that night without being robbed or car jacked."
"Night after night I'd park my truck under the same Oak tree that had thick limbs that hung low. The tree covered most of my truck, so it would have been difficult to know I was there. This tree stood against a red brick wall in a parking lot behind a very old dilapidating building that was mostly vacant, but did house a few immigrant families from Mexico. It was an old Spanish neighborhood in East Los Angeles and I knew those folks would be the last people to cause me any trouble. I was just like them. I took great care to be invisible, especially from the gangs. I will say the police never harassed me. To the contrary some would check up on me and even bring me a cup of coffee and an occasional good conversation. I parked under that tree almost every night for the better part of three years. I'd make my bed under that tree that was under the stars. I’d plug in my ipod and listen to law school lessons and count the days, months and years when it would all be over."
"On weekends I'd drive to San Diego and sleep on the beach and surf. On holidays, when the school was closed, I drove North to Monterey or Yosemite National Park. I'd walk the beaches for miles, or hike Half Dome's trail. Usually, it was Pebble Beach for me. I'd memorize case law and course outlines while walking for miles and miles on the beach in solitude. When I'd take a rare break and listen to music, it was usually Jackson Browne's, These Days, James Taylor's, Walking Man, or Bob Dylan's Bootleg Collection. I considered the entire state of California my home and strangely, as time went on, I began to feel like a drifter, or a character from a John Steinbeck or Jack Kerouac novel.”
"I hated it when night fell, it was always too cold and too damp and no matter how much equipment I had the extreme elements always got the best. I got snowed on a few times and winters seemed like they were never going to end, especially when it rained. Summer brought warm weather but it also brought the Santa Ana winds and the fires. I'd lie in my truck and look up at the falling ash, that looked like a soft falling snow, but when morning came my gear, my truck and my body was covered in black soot and I smelled like a fireplace that needed a real good cleaning. But, whenever those student loans came rolling in, I'd purchase more studio equipment, place it in storage and pine for the day I could use it. Odd to have expensive equipment stowed away in brand new, unopened boxes, while I lived in that manner."
Stack’s Back
In 2009, Stack signed with Indy label Cherry Street Records as an artist and music producer. "When you don't have a major label breathing down your neck you can do pretty much anything you want. And I do just that, whatever the hell I want! My music doesn't fit into any particular formula. I like to write in many genres and my influences are manifold. I perform and write country, pop, rock, easy listening, folk, world and alternative music. I like telling stories in my songs and they come from my experiences and observations in this thing we call life. If you don't like what I do, that's OK with me. To borrow a line from David Bowie and the movie, The Man Who Fell To Earth.' I didn't write it for you."
Stack formed Stacked Deck Music Publishing and released three solo albums; Stack Jones; 13 Rowdy Row, Stack Jones; mostlyoddthingshedoes and Stack Jones; Live/Love/Live. The standout tunes on; 13 Rowdy Row are Ugly Ducklin', Deal With The Devil, and C'mon Be My Gal. Ugly Ducklin' has netted several awards including, Best Male Vocalist, Artist Of The Week and Song Of The Week on Apples GarageBand.com. The album; mostlyoddthingshedoes has five music videos, titles include, Dream On, Different Shades Of Blue, I Heard From Her Today, Madness and Where Is God.
Stack also wrote and illustrated a children's story titled; The Ladybug Loses Her Hat.
In 2010, Jones worked in Japan with activist Ric O'Barry to help stop the dolphin slaughter that's taking place in Taiji, Japan. Ric O'Barry is notable for his contribution as an animal rights activist and the Academy Award documentary, The Cove.
Jones is writing a screenplay, and developing a film project based on Pramoedya Toer’s, Bumi Manusia Quartet; translated as, This Earth Of Mankind," which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The Bumi Manusia Quartet is banned in the author's home country of Indonesia, where he spent more than seventeen-years imprisoned for doing nothing more than putting a pen to paper.
In 2010, Jones is collaborating with Kenneth Andrews, formerly of the band, Casino Drive, and KRH Studios, in a project titled' Embrace Yourself, a progressive, psychedelic and hard rockin’ music explosion.
Stack has two rules in life; learn something new everyday, and do something good everyday. Obviously, the writer was correct when he wrote: "Boring is one adjective I would never use to describe Stack Jones."
Discography
• Pete Moss: Juke Box Compilation (1983)
• Spinout: Revelation VI (1984)
• A Sea of Glass: A Sea of Glass (1985)
• Rick Lennick's: Florida Explosion (1985)
• Amazing Grace: On and On (1987)
• Amazing Grace: Untitled KR Production (1988)
• Miami Rocks Too Compilation: Turn Me Loose, Fire In the Distance (1990)
• Stack Jones: 13 Rowdy Row (2009)
• Stack Jones: mostlyoddthingshedoes (2010)
• Stack Jones: Live/Love/Live (2010)
• Amazing Grace: Risen From the Dead (2010)
• Amazing Grace: Rise (2010)
• Embrace Yourself: Andrews/Jones (2010)
Filmography/Videography
• Ed Rich Rock Show (1984)
• MTV Interview (1984)
• Miami Vice (1988)
• Amazing Grace: 14 (1989)
• Amazing Grace: Fire In the Distance (1989)
• Various credited and uncredited commercials and TV shows (1990-1994)
• Chairman of the Board (1998)
• Soap Girl (film editor/audio engineer 2002)
• Stack Jones: Dream On (2010)
• Stack Jones: Different Shades of Blue (2010)
• Stack Jones: I Heard From Her Today (2010)
• Stack Jones: Madness (2010)
• Stack Jones: Where Is God (2010)
