GURU: THE PP GURU ACTIVATES THIS MISSION TO BE ON THE SAME TIMELINE!!

The process was a long road the PP Guru had to take in trying to become a full-fledged card carrying Los Anglophile. He moved all of his belongings from a upstairs loft above a cleaners and a sandwich shop in Encinitas where he was renting a room from a pot smoking middle-aged woman and her two meth dropping sons who were hairdressers. The woman used to be the PP Guru's assistant manager at a Circle K until she 'arranged' to have an accident in the refrigrator stock room that would leave her reaping disability claims. This crazy woman went out and got a puppy that would wreak constant havoc in the house and took a dozen or so doggy dumps on the PP Guru's bedsheets. The PP Guru said nasty things to the dog, wishing he were dead or some such. He even dreamed that the dog would fittingly meet a 'untimely demise'. Well, if wishes were horses, as they say- one early Sunday morning, the crazy woman's third elder son brought to her house some bagels and left the front door open. Dog ran out the door and right into morning traffic and boom. The crazed woman blamed me for the entire incident even though the evidence was apparent pointing to her son. This led to a big blowout and her having to call the cops on the PP Guru. The PP Guru left without incident, packed up a bag and went to stay with his former roommate, Jene Ellis for a spell. Jennifer was out of the picture and Jene had shacked up with a strawberry blonde barkeeper, Marianne. Marianne realized after a time, that she too was tired of seeing Jene being drunk in public and just wasn't doing his business of being a man at night- so during the brief week -in -a- half stay that he was there, the PP Guru had to substitute for her wily needs while Jene fell in a stupor and he discovered that the strawberry blonde on a woman's hair does not necessary indicate on what's on top of her head.

Ahhh, another pleasant PP Guru memory. If only the PP Guru had time to reflect.

One of the PP Guru's aunts drove him up to a dirty demolished house in Van Nuys, Ca. It was another temporary shelter until the PP Guru and the Zullo brothers, Mark and Joe saved up for a deposit on a house in suburban Northridge, California. The PP Guru got a job working with Joe Zullo at a bank in Encino called Independence Bank. He was there for approximately two months until the FDIC came and raided the place under the assumption that the bank was laundering money to fund buying weapons to stock up Arab nations- but luckily, working as mail person, the PP Guru services were still obtained by a subsidiary contractor called Fi-Serv and he provided bulk mailings for other bank operations. Unfortunely when November of 1991 rolled around, Bush-economics was ruled as the contributing factor to the PP Guru's layoff and his holidays were shot for that year. The PP Guru then went to work for a software company warehouse for a period of three months in the early months of 1992 until he got laid off yet again due to.... yeah you guess it- Bush-economics. Then, the PP Guru landed a gig at video game place just as the Rodney Kings riots were breaking out- but after two months he just got fired over another employee's negligence of not checking a order's credit card signature and the PP Guru shipped the order out on a fraudant credit card.

The PP Guru said just fuck it - so he went and filed for unemployment insurance and realized he could no longer afford this extravagant lifestyle he was trying to map out for himself. So he took everything he had and threw it into storage and went back to San Diego. The PP Guru thought he could easily slip back into the swing of things, get a place to stay and settle for some menial minimum wage job- but not was such the case. The unemployment checks weren't coming: some imbecile at the EDD misfiled the paperwork and didn't see that the PP Guru had changed his forwarding address to his aunt's PO Box in Cardiff- By- the- Sea, so with no place to put the PP Guru for the night, his aunt and whatever friends remained in Encinitas, (Jene and Marianne got arrested for check fraud) had no recourse but to let the PP Guru sleep it off on the beach with nothing more than 60 bucks in his pocket. And the PP Guru had to stretch it out for three weeks and that meant eating nothing but dollar Caesar salads at Wendy's, toothpaste, and a bar of soap to survive on.

Evidently when the checks did finally arrived, the PP Guru found that he could only afford accommodations in some flea bag motel in the very questionable beachtown of Leucadia called the Red Cabin Inn. Here he was stuck in a neighborhood where lots of shady activity occuried, for one thing, it was one of red light districts in North San Diego county. The PP Guru let some stray female street vagabond stay at his place for one night, and she went totally bonkers the next morning when the PP Guru asked her nicely to leave. The PP Guru got scared- he never encountered a flipped out bitch before- but somehow he managed. The money was not lasting as well as he liked it to, and therefore had to seek out more affordable housing- down south to Hillcrest, Ca where he found a hostel to stay in for a hundred a week. The PP Guru had to pay up front for two weeks which left him with as little as 30 dollars left to live on.

Tenure in Hillcrest was a little bit more involving than the PP Guru was used to: he tumbled upon the fact that he was living in a gay community while he was in a $ 3 movie theater seeing Ralph Balski 's Cool World, and he saw men making out with each other. Then he read in the San Diego Reader about the senseless brutal murder of Revolutionary Comics Publisher Todd Loren which was rumored at the time to be committed by serial killer, Andrew Cunanan - and it all took place just a few blocks from where he was staying. With these torrent of events happening before the PP Guru's eyes, the PP Guru was desperate to find sanctuary in another part of town- so he came across an old friend of who used to hang with the PP Guru on those cold lonely nights when he was a night manager at Circle K (where he got fired for selling liquor to a minor during a police sting operation. The PP Guru was set up, he tells you!!). David Foulk offered the PP Guru some shelter so he could save some money to go to the San Diego Comic Con (actually it was more like stretching 25 bucks over four days. He already paid for his badge earlier that year while he was up in LA) at his tiny cottage in a beatnik beach town of Ocean Beach, California.

It was at this point in his tumultous pontificating life that the PP Guru was to undergo a ritual of redemption. He had to reinvent himself in a way that his nom de plume of Cary Coatney would commandeer respect. He had to make the name Cary Coatney known to the world- so he made a conscientious decision that after spending lots of his unemployed time in libraries reading Castenada or Chandler books (and spending any spare money he could on the Death of Superman or Batman: Vengeance of Bane series or any Vertigo comic that he could) it was time for Cary Coatney to make its' literal mark upon the world- so he started to contributing essay material to the Oh So? section of the Comics Buyer's Guide. And they got printed. Cary Coatney was once again a published author!!

It was also during this period that Cary Coatney would germinate the idea of a certain static snowy charged landlord of the afterlife at David's house. Cary Coatney originally wrote the script out during bus trips to job interviews and typed it up on David's word processor at night. However the pilot episode of the Deposit Man wouldn't appear until the tale end of 1999. Back in the guise of the PP Guru, he would also briefly find a new love in his life.

The PP Guru wound up dating a Mexican girl named Consuelo - who already had two kids. She was more of a drinking buddy than a girlfriend for the two months that the PP Guru and she dated- but she was the one who motivated the PP Guru to move back to Hollywood because the PP Guru was inspired to work for the entertainment company who put out Batman: The Animated Series cartoons. And seeing upon that the PP Guru was making writing contributions to a comic book industry magazine, suggested that he go back to Los Angeles and try to get a job writing for animation - because the PP Guru is certainly not going to find that job in Ocean Beach, California - not with all these degenerate heroin abusers, mental cases, and gunga smokers around. The PP Guru decided he had enough of the riff raff, especially the case of the one living next door to him which is going to fictionalized in the next Deposit Man: Playgod mini-series, has had enough, so he took upon Consuelo's advice called up Joe Zullo and negotiated to come back and give it a shot again in LA.

Upon finding a apartment in North Hollywood in another dodgy neighborhood nonetheless, the PP Guru caved in and started working forty hour weeks with various temp agencies - and supported himself by selling some of his old comic books he had placed in storage to a couple of septugarian retired gentlemen who starting up a baseball card store who were also interested in carrying comic books in their store. They needed a consultant of type to walk them through a Diamond Catalogue and make reccommendations. Before too long, the PP Guru was now a staff employee at Rookies & Allstars in North Hollywood. Sadly, three months of steady work yielded the PP Guru his first fatal blow, when he was stunned that the friend who helped him in San Diego was now becoming a heroin addict. David came up to visit the PP Guru & Joe Zullo at their apartment and was betrayed by him when he ripped off his entire collection of Todd McFarlane Amazing Spider-Mans and pawned them off to help support his supply of horsey juice. Three months later, David died of a overdose somewhere in a alley in Ocean Beach, his apartment was taken over by a bunch of derelicts who eventually got arrested and sent up for involuntary manslaughter.

A good friend was taken from the PP Guru. David at first, was a positive influence. He got the PP Guru first into reading some works by Philip K. Dick, Norman Spinard, and Harlan Ellison. However he did have a death metal streak about him under his bookworm exterior. David would constantly berate the PP Guru of his constant prog noodlings of Marillion, Peter Gabriel or Asia with a bombardment of Metallica, Megadeth, or Pantera- but we were both big fans of Brian Eno. And everytime, the PP Guru puts on Another Green World or hears the King's Lead Hat- he also thinks of David.

The PP Guru shortly moved in a condo with Joe Zullo when he got engaged and married to Carol Ruth Hamiliton. This union of a guitar player wannabee and a law student proved to be nothing but a incendiary mistake made countless times over- that they would involve the PP Guru in every single one of their love spats that she would kick Joe out of the house and leave the PP Guru alone in the house with her. There was something about Carol Ruth Hamilton that made the PP Guru sqelch in horror. For one thing, her face was constantly worked over by plastic surgeons. She was a fucking Nip/Tuck episode come to life and when the PP Guru would glance and see her without make-up or after getting her nose fixed, he ran into his bedroom and locked the door behind him. Although she had a blessed little body- the PP Guru didn't go for messing with his best friend from high school's wife.

<>Luckily for the PP Guru, Joe was in the house when the 1994 Northridge Earthquake hit. The PP Guru had got himself blitzed on a pitcher of Newcastle when last call came around at a bar around the corner. The PP Guru went straight and delved into some of Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novel nirvana and passed out. Suddenly at 4:45 AM, the PP Guru was awoken by constant pounding at his door, yelling to get out. The PP Guru tried to turn a light on and found that he couldn't. All the power was out, car sirens were at a deafening high, people were screaming and crying and all the PP Guru could think of was: He knows he doesn't have any fucking pants on.

So why is his best friend Joe and his wife, Carol dragging the PP Guru out of his room with nothing but his tighty whiteys on? Was this some sort of sick Menage a Trois that they've been scheming since the PP Guru moved in?

So the PP Guru now knows how a massive earthquake felt. Well, not really - 'cause he fell asleep on it. But looking back on the glittering rubble and the uncalculable damage in its' wake of the entire CSUN campus and Fashion Square Mall in Northridge, the PP Guru can't help but think - wow, something must have been watching over the PP Guru that night; because once daylight broke and the PP Guru was allowed back in his room , the PP Guru couldn't believe the extent of damage that occurred while he was tranquilized by the elixir of barley wheats and hops. Astounding- a entire book shelf had toppled over and was lying on the bed possibly two inches from the area that PP Guru was sleeping. Two keyboard that were underneath, one a little Casio number and an old ARP synth from the midseventies was crushed and was beyond any hope of repair- plus many comic books that the PP Guru had lying around were destroyed including a rare alternative version of Neil Gaiman's Sandman # 8 that featured the first appearance of Death.

Amidst the devastation, the PP Guru couldn't help but be shockingly moved when he heard that on the Sci-Fi Channel, Harlan Ellison got smashed pretty smashed up at his home while he was polishing off a manuscript- he got bounced around on three flights of stairs and smashed his nose into a picture frame. The PP Guru met up Kelsey Grammer the very next day door walking out of his bank on Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks - he was visibly shaken up, but he or his family didn't substain any serious injury- which is good because the Frazier show must go on.

But from the fallout of unmitigated chaos came a beacon of light:

The last album Talk by what is known as the 'YesWest' line-up, yet an album apart from 90125 and Big Generator. Talk is it's the best work that this lineup ever did.

Originally, the band wanted to continue as a septet with the inclusion of Howe , but his ideas got shot down . The details of the machinations in this period are unclear, but at some point Victory stepped in with a record contract (they also had Emerson, Lake, and Palmer signed to their label) , but wanted a record contract based on the YesWest line-up. There was talk of also of Wakeman being involved since he was technically still in contract with the band and record label through the making of Talk, but reminded of the fiasco spent while making Union couldn't convince him to record on the new album. The bulk of Talk had been led by the partnership of Squire and Rabin, with Anderson somewhat marginalised from the composing process, but eventually most of the track were written by Rabin and Anderson who never really sat down and composed together. Unlike previous YesWest albums, Rabin produced Talk alone. Production on Talk pioneered digital recording technology with the whole album recorded to hard disk—something routine a few years later. Rabin was very much in control of the whole recording process, reacording a majority of the guitars and keys (Tony Kaye was reduced to contribute a few organ parts here and there ) even re-recorded some of Squire's bass parts (much to Chris's grumbling dismay) .

For once, there were pressures from outside the band to give this line-up a more monumental bombastic feel, Phil Carson, the head of Victory Records , asked Rabin for an epic piece in the style of Yes of old. Rabin appears to have been less than happy about writing an epic to order, but he did and was very happy with the result. "Endless Dream" is the longest YesWest piece released. This album also included "Walls", which was song co-written by Roger Hodgson from Supertramp. Shortly with the label not getting the sales figures that were expected of a Yes album, Victory Records subsequently went bankrupt. The PP Guru's favorite track on this album is the Stephen Hawkings inspired "Real Love" and the all emcompassing cultural delight in Jon Anderson's lyrics to The Calling has the band addressing peace and generosity in the third world. The album cover also sported a brand new band logo designed by popular acid tripping sixties artist, Peter Max. No evil blue meanies lurking around here.

The PP Guru saw Yes on this tour at the Greek Theater and he remembers that the band at one time installed some kind of wireless surround sound system into it's seats so that audience members could feel the vibrations from Jon Anderson's synthesizer during the performance of Endless Dream. He also was fortunate enough attended the Yes Festival in Glendale threw by his friends at Music News Network the very same weekend and got to meet members of the band for the first time including Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Alan White, Patrick Moraz, and Peter Banks. The PP Guru still likes to rewind a edited video tape of the event that he bought from them and likes to visit the section where Patrick Moraz goes up to his keyboard and cries before everyone because no one was buying his solo album that was selling at a booth in the back of the hall.

A lot had happened in such a short time for the PP Guru - but the PP Guru overcame adversity and pummeled on to more soaring adventures. Next: the PP Guru grasps his keys to Ascension and gets to see a different part of the world. And just why did the PP Guru have Cary William-Shannon Coatney assassinated anyway?

Yes - Talk Release date: unknown Although by the PP Guru - his estimation is that it was released sometime in April of 1994.

Personel: Jon Anderson, vocals; Trevor Rabin, guitars, keyboards, vocals, programming; Chris Squire, bass, vocals; Tony Kaye, Hammond; Alan White, drums

Favorite lyric: From the Congo to Lenasia/Be the writing on the wall/I'll be calling the colors of India/ See the Asian life explode - The Calling (Rabin, Anderson, Squire) ... Always in a constant state of play and told through a endless dream to:

~ Coat