Sign of the Times

"DO YOU BELIEVE IN E.S.P.?"

I may have related part of this story a while back, but about a week ago, Mr. Carter told me that he had dreamed of me the night before. In his dream, I was down at his shop and I was playing guitar for him. I had just finished a song, and just at that moment, Clint and his friend Mike walked up to the shop. I turned to Carter and he said my expression was priceless. He said that the dream was very clear and vivid and that he remembers all the details. I had wondered about Carter’s intuitive abilities for some time, especially after an unrelated dream that he told me about that I know for a fact came true in exactly the way he dreamed it.
Then on Friday, while I was down at the garage, Carter told me again about another dream that he had of mine and Clint’s second meeting. He said he has been dreaming of us meeting a lot lately. And all the dreams are very vivid and he can remember all the details of them, down to the very expression on my face when I see Clint.
After telling all of this to me, he turned to me and asked, “Debbie, do you believe in E.S.P.?”
I told him that I did. And then he went on to tell me that he often has dreams that come true in exactly the way they happened in his dreams. He said he really didn’t know what it meant, but that he has noticed this happening quite a bit.
Now, Beth and I find all of this very interesting. Based on some of the things he’s said and done and just his unwavering belief that this is all going to end well and that Clint is going to be so happy when he gets back to the garage and finds out what is going on…we’ve always wondered about Carter’s intuitive abilities. And then all of a sudden, one day, he comes out with this all on his own. About E.S.P. And wondering about it. We believe it is very possible that Carter has some psychic abilities, but he’s just never really known what they were or what to do with them.
If this is the case, what does it mean for us that he has been dreaming about Clint and I meeting with great frequency over the past week? Perhaps, we will soon find out.

Updates will follow…

SONG 38...because I was down at the car show on Parthenia on Friday night with Mr. Carter hoping Clint might show up there...
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CHASING YOU

What if I walked away?
Who am I kidding…I can’t lie
I was down on Parthenia
At the car show tonight

Hoping that you might come
Cause you were in the neighborhood
Roll through there…just in case
There was anything good

What will you be thinking
When we meet
A second time?
So unexpected…who would have expected
You would see me in this light?

**CHORUS**
And I just wanted to know
That you did not forget
Just wanted you to know
I knew that we would meet again
And I just wanted you to know
That I could not forget you…
I could not resist…not resist
Chasing you…
Chasing you...

What if I walked away?
Who am I kidding…I can’t cave
I was down on Sepulveda
At your garage today

Watching the guys fix cars
Radiators and power steering wheels
Hoping you might roll down
To work on one of your deals

What will you be thinking
The second time
You see my face?
So unexpected…who would have expected
To find me in this place?

**Chorus**

I know I knew you
From some far off place
I know I knew you
Didn’t know why I walked away
I know I knew you
I know you knew my face
Don’t know why…don’t know how
You let me walk away

What will you be thinking
When we meet
The second time
So unexpected…who would have expected
You would see me again in this life?

**Chorus**

SONG 37...I have nothing I can do besides write at this point...god, this is one lucky man...who else gets 37 songs written about him over 9 months while I am endlessly searching??
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REACH YOU


Tonight…tonight I am manic
You gave me poison…and I drank it down
Tonight…tonight I need magic
To bring you around…to bring you around

Still…there is a beauty to this story
Still…there is a hope kept alive

**CHORUS**
But how can that cover the distance?
How can my call span that far?
How on earth can I reach you? (reach you)
When I don’t know where you are?
How can I reach you when I don’t know where you are?

Tonight…tonight I am wishing
I had refused…to get drunk off of your smile
Because now…I know what I’m missing
The one thing that would calm me down for awhile

Still…there is a beauty to this tragedy
Still…there is a hope I’ve kept alive

**Chorus**

Still…there is a beauty to this utter mess
Still…there is a hope kept alive

**Chorus**

How will you find your way back?
How could you travel that far?
How on earth will I reach you? (reach you)
When I don’t know where you are?
How can I reach you when I don’t know where you are?

SONG 36...I was flipping out last night so I wrote this rather than start breaking shit...
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IMPOSSIBLE


Believe me, I have had my moments
Yeah, I have had my fill
I’d rather murder you sometimes
Than be the one that’s killed

I’ve been to the breaking point
I’ve been right up to the edge
I’ve kicked the dirt off my boot
And watched it fall over the ledge

But no matter what I do I find
I just cannot get rid of you…

**CHORUS**
It’s impossible even though you still evade me
It’s impossible even though you still escape me
It’s impossible…impossible…it’s impossible
To walk away…

Destiny won’t let me go
Even though I’ve tried to bolt
Somehow the deal was sealed
The night the trigger was pulled

Blow a hole right through my head
Blow one right through my heart
Condemn me to a life of searching
For the missing part

No matter how I’d like to cave
I find something won’t let me sway…

**Chorus**

I’ve come to the point…
I’ve come to the point…
I’ve come to the point…
Of no return…
No return…
There’s no return…

Believe me, I have had my moments
Yeah, I have had my share
I’ve stepped right up to the edge
With the trust that you’d be there

No matter how much blood you take from me
There still is more so I endlessly bleed…

**Chorus**

Impossible…
It’s impossible to walk away

MRS. MAGGIO LOVES THE STORY...

I must recount a very touching story I heard yesterday. Over the weekend, Bonney Death and I left letters at several houses that are believed to be possible locations where Clint and his friends may have once hung out. The letter simply told the story and asked the homeowner to contact Mr. Carter if they knew Carter or Clint or had any other information for us. Mrs. Maggio called Mr. Carter on Monday morning. She said that she didn’t know Clint or any of the boys. She believed that it was possible they may have once lived in her neighborhood, but she didn’t know any of them personally. However, she just wanted to tell Carter that she found the story “absolutely beautiful” and she hoped so much that I was able to find Clint again. She also wanted to compliment my “penmanship.” Now, this is a woman completely uninvolved in the story in any way, but she was so moved by it that she just had to call Mr. Carter to tell him how much she loved it. We are turning hearts across the country, my friends.

PEOPLE I HAVE MET WHILE HANGING OUT AT CARTER'S

1) Mike – 6’4” goateed, bald body-builder. Mike is also a transvestite. When I first met Mike, he was wearing a stone-washed denim skirt and a halter top. He drives a 1978 white Cadillac that is as big as a boat. He was recently pulled over because he was fraudulently displaying a registration sticker on his vehicle even though it had not passed the Smog Check for three years. Carter recently worked on his carburetor so that the vehicle might pass the test. Mike loves to ride his bike through the hills at 3am and walked the L.A. marathon last year (sporting a red Hawaiian dress). He would like to go to the beach with Mr. Carter, but Mr. Carter privately told me, “That’s never going to happen. If he’s laying out there in a bikini next to me at the beach where all my friends go, that would be difficult to explain.” I agreed. Mike also loves taser guns and never travels anywhere without at least three of them.

2) Fernandez – Works at one of the shops near Carter’s. Came by to listen to me play guitar one day at the shop. Carter said that he noticed Fernandez trying to look up my skirt the entire time I was playing.

3) Garcia – Works at Louie’s Auto (next to Carter’s). Stops by to say hi frequently. Offers me a Corona or some tequila every time he sees me.

4) Louie – Owns the shop next to Carter’s. Loves to play flamenco guitar. Stopped by to serenade me one day while I was there. Crashed his old Camino into a parked car one day. Bought a station wagon for $250 off of a man named Willie who was being forced to leave the country the next day and needed to “get rid of the car quick.”

5) Arty – Works at one of the garages in the strip. Works for a man named Kojak. Arty is a heroin addict, though according to Carter, Kojak doesn’t know this. Arty asked me how I knew Carter. I told him he was my father. Arty turned to Carter and said, “No shit, Carter. I didn’t know you had a pretty daughter like this.” He turned to me and asked, “What’s your last name?” I replied, “Carter.” He said, “No, that’s his first name.” Carter corrected him and explained, “Around here, everybody goes by their last names.” Arty asked to see my ID. Carter said, “We Carter’s never carry our IDs anywhere. Just in case.” That explanation seemed to satisfy Arty. He said, “Take off your sunglasses. Let me see your eyes.” I did and he said, “Wow…yeah…I can totally see the resemblance.”

6) Mr. X – Lebanese man that sells arms out of the back of his van. Came to the shop to sell Carter a couple of taser guns as well as a few swords. Was bitten by a brown recluse last week and showed up at the shop on Monday in a wheel chair. Carter doesn’t trust him.

7) Jose – The local porn dealer. Has a friend who works in a warehouse where they store porn. Steals it and sells it on the street. Sold Carter 30 pornos for $20. Carter gave me “Hardcore Havansu” because he already had that one. I have not seen it, but MBM took it home and told me “it was just awful.”

8) Hector – The mailman. Comes to the shop just to hang out. Likes my music. Told me that he has seen cops pull up behind Liquid City to down a few beers while on duty. He has also seen cops picking up prostitutes on Sepulveda. “They’re human, afterall,” he says.

WE ARE VOID OF COURSE

Recently, the blog has been dedicated soley to the Clint search. However, I have to update everyone on what else is going on. I recently found myself a new drummer. His name is Johnny and we really believe that he’s going to work out well for the new band. Having found Johnny, spurred me to put my ads up again on Recycler, Craig’s List, and Music Connection. I have had much interest in the band and will be auditioning players this week. We hope to have the full band put together in the next couple of weeks so that we can begin rehearsing and booking future shows.

This is all very exciting. I will keep you all updated on this as well.

P.S. It should also be noted that “Psycho Vic” of my last band Static 99 called and left me a message the other day. He was wondering if I was still looking for a drummer because he would like to play for me “now that Craig will no longer be there to bring all that extra tension to the band.” I have no clue why this man would want to play with me again. After he threw his drumsticks down and stormed out of the last show and then called me the next day to tell me to get my shit out of his practice space (for no apparent reason that anyone could discern), I never thought we’d hear from him again. I thought he could barely stand to be in the same room with me, let alone in the same band again. Not to mention the fact that I don’t need a drummer who is running around with his pants undone, standing up on his stool, flipping out while he’s playing, and talking about lighting his drum kit on fire at the next show. Why the hell would he want to be a band with me again? Corey Taylor could sum this one up best: “Why do crazy people do crazy things? Because they’re crazy…”

CLINT UPDATE...MON Aug 22nd

We are continuing to follow leads. I spent the day with Mr. Carter last Friday and plan to do the same this week. On Friday, he is going to give me a course he calls “Automotive 101.” At least I have found a “dependable and trustworthy” mechanic out of all of this. As Jerry Seinfeld says, that is one of the hardest things to find.
Mr. Carter tried to pay me for the lunch I brought him on Friday (a Reuben sandwich from Canter’s deli). I told him that his helping us find Clint was payment enough. He truly has no idea how grateful we are to have found him and how grateful we are that he allows us to call him everyday and stop by to visit. How grateful we are that he continues to follow any leads that come his way and hopes as much as we do that Clint will be found. I was driving Carter to the bank on Friday afternoon and he turned to me and said, “Debbie, do us all a favor and marry that boy when you find him.” I said, “Mr. Carter, I just want to talk to him again.” Oh, Mr. Carter. He believes in this story as much as we do and hopes for a beautiful resolution.

On Saturday, Beth and I drove to Brentwood to steal a sign that Carter had told us he wanted. We then drove to his house and I attached a note to it that said:

“Dear Mr. Carter,
This is in payment for you helping us find Clint again. It was very easy to get this sign. If only finding Clint were so easy.”

Carter has a couple more leads that he doesn’t want to tell me about because he doesn’t want to get my hopes up in case, they too, do not pan out. But he is still hopeful that this will all happen soon. I am too…

Updates will follow…

"HE KNEW HE WAS BEING PURSUED"

While I was at Carter's Auto yesterday hanging out, a transvestite named Mike showed up because Carter was working on his carburator for him (as his 1978 white cadillac had not passed California's smog test). Mike was quite loquacious, shall we say, and during one of his rants he told me a story that I found quite symboloic of the Clint search and, therefore, felt the need to recount this to you here.

There is an alligator who has somehow become trapped in a small lake in Hidden Valley, California. Apparently, people have driven from all over California to see this alligator and it is at the top of the news each night in Hidden Valley.

Mike said that they hired a "professional gator chaser" to come in there and trap the alligator and relocate him to a safer place. However, they have been down there for almost three weeks now and no one can catch this alligator.

Mike says: "He knew he was being pursued. But he didn't know who was pursuing him and why. That is what makes him so elusive. That's why he's hiding."

This story may sound funny. And it's made even funnier by the fact that it is being told to me by a 6'4" bald, body-builder wearing a stone-washed denim skirt and a halter top. Mike was simply rambling on about some story he had heard on the news that fascinated him. I'm not even sure what spurred this story to be told to me in the first place, as we had been previously talking about taser guns. However, I got to thinking about Mike's words. And were they somehow symbolically sent to me from some higher power?

It is very likely that Clint knows he's being pursued. But he doesn't know who is doing the pursuing. He doesn't know who is looking for him-whether it's the cops, someone he owes money to, a crazy ex-girlfriend. He has merely heard through the grapevine that someone is looking for him. And when pursued, some people lay low for awhile. It is for this reason, that we must all remain patient. The alligator needs to calm down and feel more secure before it will come out of hiding. We continue to search and follow leads and we honestly believe that we may be only days away from our goal. At this time, though, the gator remains hidden...

A message from your President at www.findaclint.org

Friends:

As I have mentioned before, I like to drop in periodically just to update you on what is going on at www.findaclint.org or any other news or events that may affect our organization. It is with some disappointment and mild amusement that I must announce that Chuck will no longer serve as Head of Security for www.findaclint.org or for my band, Void of Course. Chuck was arrested last Thursday night for fighting a man named Jimmy outside the Kibitz Room on Fairfax in Los Angeles. Though all charges were dropped by Jimmy, Chuck was “86-ed” from the Kibitz Room and told never to return there again. Seeing that this is a bar where I frequently perform, as well as a common meeting place for many West Coast members of www.findaclint.org, it was decided that Chuck should be removed as Head of Security. His “second-in command,” Victor Hugo, will now take his place. We feel this is a good move as Victor was spotted “one-arming” a full-sized refrigerator he was carrying during our recent move to “The Crescent Manor.”

In other member news, Cricket, due to her undying love of the “Clint Story,” has been asked to come on board as the 13th member of the Board of Directors. She will serve as Early Childhood Education Expert, and along with Jill Wilhite (Head of Education) will be in charge of educating the future leaders of tomorrow and ensuring that they always follow through with their dreams.

It has come to my attention, through my travels and through the telling and re-telling of the “Clint Story,” that there are people who viciously HATE the story. We are confused by this. Most people are very enamored by the story, as it gives them hope in romantic fairytale love in such a dark and sometimes cruel world. We understand this. We even understand those people who are simply just ambivalent about the story, as they can’t quite see how it could affect them personally. However, we do not understand what there is about the story to adamantly and actively HATE. On more than one occasion, during the telling of the story, I have had people turn to me and say, “I hate this story. I hate this story more than you can know.” We do not understand this. Our only guess is that they somehow fear the story and that fear, they disguise as hatred. Nevertheless, it has been decided that these people will be banned not only from www.findaclint.org, but also from the movie premiere of “Finding Clint,” all future Void of Course shows, the forthcoming Ann Bonney’s Tavern in Long Beach, The Crescent Manor, The Travis Cooper/Petey Gannon Foundation and all of its affiliations, the forthcoming men’s clothing store MAN DEAD, The Lair, as well as the entire state of Tennessee. If you know any of these haters, please pass this message along: “Clovis is looking for you.”

Myself and two other accomplices continue to follow leads that we are receiving almost daily at this point regarding Clint’s wherabouts. We feel that it is not long now before there will be a time of great celebration and rejoicing.

Find Clint. Find Peace.

Sincerely,

Deborah Little

President

www.findaclint.org

SONG 35...because truly, in the moment of our second meeting, I will be speechless...
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SPEECHLESS

What I lost
What I left behind
Will return to me, assuredly, one day
I will be speechless
I will be speechless
For once, I’ll have absolutely nothing to say

And in that moment
When you are in front of me
I will crumble and cave in for you
I will be clueless
I will be clueless
For once, there’ll be absolutely nothing to do

**CHORUS**
Only days…separate me from the
Sight I crave
Don’t you know I need to see you
Need to see you like I
Need to breathe

What I want
Is to sit with you awhile
Have you smile as I tell the story of how I found you again
I will be shaken
Yeah, I will be shaken
For once, I’ll be terrified…scared half to death

**Chorus**

I’ve been waiting for awhile…that’s true
I’ve been hanging for awhile for you
Now, I’m faced with the knowledge it’s soon…
I shiver cause it feels so soon…

**Chorus**

What I lost
What I left behind
Will return to me, assuredly, one day
I will be speechless
Yeah, I will be speechless
For once, I’ll have absolutely nothing to say

CLINT UPDATE-- THURSDAY AUG 11, 2005

I, as well as two other accomplices working very closely with me, continue to follow leads. We believe that we are very close and it is only a matter of hours or days. I spent two and a half hours at Mr. Carter's yesterday chatting with him and gathering information. He was able to give me a lot of "inside information" that we previously did not have. Mr. Carter continues to be very enamoured by the story and believes that Clint must be found and will be so happy when he finally comes back to discover what has been going on this whole time that he has been away.

We are receiving information from various sources everyday. It may not be long before the phone chain is called.

Updates will follow...if the situation changes in any way, you will be the first to know...

GOD, I HOPE NOT...

While in the midst of our search, I was tipped off about this article...

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IDENTITY OF MAN SHOT BY DEPUTIES RELEASED

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Wednesday, August 10, 2005.
By JAMES C. LOUGHRIE Valley Press Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - The identity of a man shot to death by sheriff's deputies was released Tuesday by the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Clint Edward Updyke, 26, of Palmdale died at 7:22 a.m. Monday at Antelope Valley Hospital after receiving a gunshot wound to the chest.
Updyke allegedly fled a car that he rolled after deputies responded to a hit-and-run call. He then allegedly assaulted a deputy with a large rock during a fight in an open field near Lancaster High School.

A preliminary report has been completed by an investigator in the coroner's office, and an autopsy could be scheduled as soon as today .

A statement released Monday night by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Updyke fought with deputies even after two hits from a Taser.

"The deputy discharged his taser to subdue the suspect, but after the second activation the suspect grabbed the wires and pulled them out of the unit," according to the statement.
After Updyke knocked a deputy to the ground, knelt over him and continued to rain blows upon him, the deputy discharged his gun, the Sheriff's Department statement said.

"The deputy, fearing for his life, fired one 9 mm round from his weapon, striking the suspect in the upper torso," according to the statement.

CLINT UPDATE 8/9/05

I am not at liberty to say much at the moment. But I wanted to take a second to let all those who are reading this know that the Clint search is ongoing and has taken many twists and turns this past week. Each day we are receiving new information, even if it is only a little at a time. I, and those working closely with me, are diligently following each of these leads. We believe that we may be only hours or days away from the crucial information that will put us in contact with Clint. That is, of course, if he doesn’t show up at Carter’s before then.

Updates will follow…