Ken Hoover:  

2Chapter 2 of auto-biography titled "Yet Will I Trust" We moved to California in 1962; as we camped across the USA in our Studebaker station wagon on our way across the U.S.A. We used a tent that slept 5. There was Mom, Dad, Robbie (3), Tommy (5) and Me (7). Let the adventure begin! I saw many new vistas the flatlands of the Midwest, the majesty of the Rocky Mountains and the intrigue of the painted desert. The lights of Las Vegas were unforgettable. The stars in the night sky were magnificent. When we were in the Rockies, a memorable event occurred. My little brother and I were in the campground restroom. Suddenly, there was a loud bear growl that reverberated through that natural echo chamber. A teenager might have been playing a prank on two little kids? It sounded real enough to scare the crap out of us! When we finally got to California, I immediately noticed the lower humidity. They call it the mediterranean climate. It can be hot, but you don’t sweat. You take a beautiful, low humidity spring day in the Carolinas, and then make that every day in Southern California. Average high temperature is seventy-five degrees. The drawback to this “eden” is the crowded roadways. Why do people endure fourteen lanes of cars which crawl along at rush hour? To me, it is not worth it to endure this kind of traffic for the pristine weather. There are hundreds of thousands of people who disagree with me. Another factor of living in California is the appreciating real estate market. Let me jump ahead through time for an example. My dad bought a house in Newport Heights for $28,000 in 1964. An old friend told my sister that it sold in 2014, for $750,000. Even if the house was bulldozed away, the lot was worth a fortune. If you had bought in the sixties, you would get a good return on your investment. Now only millionaires can buy in. We initially moved to Corona del Mar (Crown of the Sea) and rented a house for a year. November 22, 1963, I came home from second grade to find my mom quietly sobbing in the kitchen. When I asked what was wrong, she said, “John F. Kennedy has been shot, and it does not look good.” I had never seen my mom cry, but that day was different. Three months later on February 23, 1964, another incident happened. The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, forever changing the musical landscape. I can remember the buzz on the playground. “Did you see their hair?” ”Did you see their boots?” Thus, the “British Invasion” had come, and our lives would be forever changed. The summer of 1964, we moved to Newport Heights. I got my first job as a paperboy for the Daily Pilot. I played clarinet in the 5th grade so I could play drums in 6th grade. The reason was that the school required it. The school wanted you to be able to read melody as well as rhythm. I would take the one school snare drum and set it up with shelf boards on chairs to create a faux drum set. I jammed with The Tijuana Brass, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, etc. in the sixth grade. This led to my first band in the seventh grade, for which I bought a real set of drums. Tyrone Baumer came to Newport Heights Elementary School in the sixth grade. He was the lead singer for two bands in which I was the drummer, The Electric Banana and The Hypnotic Teabag. Stop laughing. These were days of The Jefferson Airplane and The Strawberry Alarmclock. Tyrone and I are Facebook friends over fifty years later. When we were 14, Ty sold me his big brother’s Davy Crocket style jacket. His brother, Eric was incarcerated at the time. It was a gorgeous Colorado Red, silk-lined, long fringe jacket with hand carved bone buttons. I bought it for $5. Do you think Ty was an opportunist? We actually played at my alma mater; Horace Ensign Junior High. Side-note: when we moved to North Carolina in 1970, my drum set, mysteriously would not fit on the moving van. I suspect my parents were tired of listening to me practice. I traded the drum set for a nylon string guitar at Coast Music. Thus, I became a guitar player. Music is foundational for me. My mother was a music major at Converse College in South Carolina. She is a vocalist and a pianist. I use is as she is still alive at 90. She tried to teach me piano, but I was more interested in Steppenwolf than “Mary Had A Little Lamb.” Therefore, she gave up. Yes, I was a rocker at heart. Music was predominant all my life. I was 14 and went to see a local band called Yesco Train playing at the Balboa Pavilion. The drummer was Tris Imboden; he ended up playing drums for Chicago. I was infected by the music disease from an early age. When I was around thirteen or fourteen, I was riding my bike in Bay Shores. I was distracted by something and ran into the back of a big Cadillac. I was not going very fast. No damage to car, bike or me. The owner was just inside his front screen door and witnessed the whole scenario. He leaned out his screen door and inquired, “Are you OK, lil’ pilgrim?” It was “The Duke” himself, namely John Wayne. There were a few other famous folks that have lived in Newport Beach: Jane Wyman (Ronald Reagan’s first wife), Shirley Temple, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, George Burns, Joey Bishop and Buddy Ebsen (Jed Clampett, Barnaby Jones). My only encounter with another celebrity was when Buddy Ebsen and my Dad spoke at the same 4th of July event. My dad gave the invocational prayer and Buddy was the keynote speaker. In the sixties, public prayer was normal. That has certainly changed in fifty years. My first alcohol related experienc...Expand for more