My
nature has always been to live in the extremes. Nothing was more extreme
than life in the fast lane of the entertainment world; nothing is more
extremely beautiful than the peace I have now in my musings here on
the edge of nowhere. The Beatles stories are mainly about my twenties
and thirties, when my hormones were raging at an intensity matched only
by my unbridled ambition. Now that the sun and the greater part of my
daredevil determinations are simultaneously sinking slowly into the
western horizon, I ask the reader to look at these times in a complete
framework of what ultimately our lives are all about. If I had had any
concept then about the whole picture, I would have probably planned
things a little differently.
I
hope everyone who reads this can find themselves somewhere in these
chapters and will be surprised in the realization of how much there
eventually is to each of us. The younger man in London-on top of the
Apple building (and the world!) as he watches the Beatles perform for
the last time-and the older man on a remote Sonoma beach-on his knees
looking out to sea and into the heart of his Creator-are the same person.
Yes, this is one story.
It is written in
the present, but it relives the call of the rock and roll world that
still rings in my ears like a restless echo out of the past. It also
reflects ahead to another roll call from the "Rock of Eternity"-eternity:
the long part of our existence--that lives in my heart like a peaceful
cool stream flowing into my future.
Every man and every
woman must have three elements to qualify for existence: a past, a present,
and a future. If one of these is missing-then so are you!
For those who still
insist that this is two different books, then consider the Beatles,
the Bible, and Bodega Bay as a "two for one" offer. If that doesn't
work and the "other" stuff is of no interest, simply treat it like a
hamburger-take the meat out and just eat the lettuce.
Enjoy-and as John
Lennon's mother once told him: "You've eaten the spuds, now give peas
a chance."
Ken Mansfield
