One of my top wrestlers, from when I coached and taught high school, went on to become a murderer. He had dined with my family, slept at our house. He's in prison for the next forty years. My drummer's stepson was murdered by his current wife's best friend. I visited her in jail, before she was sent away for twelve years.
I was set upon by a guy who held a knife to my stomach, demanding money. I talked him down, and he left. An old friend was accosted on the Chicago L by a gang, with one guy holding a box cutter to his neck. I was sitting in front of him. I got involved and talked the gang down. The guy bought me a steak dinner. I was also surrounded by a gang on 79th & Jeffrey, in Chicago, by a gang. They demanded money from my buddy. I talked them down, as well.
I'm not sure why I'm so good at diffusing potentially violent situations with words. I guess I just have the genes for staying cool under pressure. I am from Chicago, not leaving until I was twenty- five. I grew up in an area with lots of "action." That might have effected me, in a positive way. My old neighborhood is one you now read about when Chicago's murder rate is in the news.
A cab driver story: This guy was catching cabs at Union Station, asking his drivers to carry his bags up to a walkup apartment, then robbing them. I picked up a guy at Union Station, one afternoon, during that robber's run. I took him to the South Side. He asked me to carry his bags up. When we got up the stairs, he said, "You seem kind of nervous. You think I'm gonna rob you? " I can't remember everything I did or said, but I was talking trash, moving fast. The guy cracked up, and said, "You go on, my brother. You alright!" I'll never know if he was that serial robber. I have my suspicions.
