HarveyJournal#2

I've given up trying to organize the journal. I'm putting in what grabs me and I'll worry about editing it later.
Rising towards the flame is part of the game If there is beauty in the pain Start where you pass the pain
Always start past the pain - then you don't feel the pain The pain feels you!

Tuesday February 1. 1977 The View from 42 - Reappraisal

Here I sit at the typewriter - facing the fear. The same fear I've been facing for 42 years. I've decided that I want to write. The BA in Journalism that I finally finished last month and all the writing I've been doing these
past 12 years, should be all the tools I need. Now I should be able to just sit down and let it flow out. But it's the same as it was with the music and the producing. The photography and the acting went the same route. The fear
of success ties me in a Gordian Knot that immobilizes my spirit. The screenplay sits there staring at me. When I sit down to work on it, the tension zips me up like a clam. So I decided to set it aside and write an article about Jefferson Airplane. Going up to testify at the Jefferson airplane trial last week brought it all back strong.
I realize I'm facing another crises, just like having to get it together on the electric bass. In '65 the Airplane gave me the alternative of either giving up the upright bass or leave the band. I made the switch. Jorma and I
went out and bought a Sunburst red Rickenbacker. I got so tense behind that change, that I defeated my own purpose. Since getting back from the trial in San Francisco last Friday; I've been doing an article on the Jefferson Airplane experience. I'm aiming the article at the Berkley Barb. I've got about eight pages done. I need information from Matthew Katz to finish it. Matthew is sending me a packet of material this week.
So now the screenplay is staring at me again. I took today off sick from my job at the Daily Signal in Downey. The reason was to write, but also to get away from the newspaper - I can't stand the new editor. George Michaels, who was City Editor at the Whittier Daily News during my writing internship, was hired as Managing Editor of the Daily Signal. He offered me a job as a writer, but politics took over and George had the ground cut from under him by the Signal's City Editor who felt she should have gotten the job. George was fired and the City Editor took over. He knew George had hired me and he is gunning for me.
I've got an appointment to visit my son Jebin at 7:30 this evening. That is a very heavy thing on my head. The total lack of communication between Nancy and I is very painful. I don't really have any communication with Jebin
either and that hurts worse. He keeps asking why I moved away. I haven't been able to find the words to explain it to him. It sure is strange going back to my own house and being the outsider. I miss my home and my family. There is a raw open wound inside, where all that was torn out. Yet I cannot go back to intolerance, misunderstanding and suspicion.
I'm feeling the pressure of having to get my act together so I can bring Rob and Wes back from Ohio. Well, it's time to face the screenplay. The following outline was written in my daily journal in February 1977. It is the
basis for what later became a monthly serial about Thacker Moomjean and his truck, "Thacker's Whacker" which ran in Mother Trucker News during 1978.

THACKER MOOMJEAN By Robert B. Harvey

The story of a trucker named Thacker Moomjean. No! it's not moon - it's moom. Thacker Moomjean. Thacker is in his mid-thirties. He has been on the road for thirteen years. His truck, which he fondly calls "Thacker's
Whacker" has been his identity, and in part, his masculinity. The tractor is a long nosed 1977 Kenworth conventional with a double sleeper attached. The interior of the cab and the sleeper are a rich mahogany colored vinyl. There is a closet and drawer space in the sleeper, as well as shelves and a secret stash place for his dope. An expensive tape system fills the cab and the sleeper with the sounds of Neale Young & Buffalo Springfield.

The name Thacker's Whacker is engraved on the vinyl covered dash. Thacker carries everything he owns in the truck. He has no car and no home other than his truck.
Thacker is a good driver and a good mechanic. He tries to do most of the mechanical upkeep on the "Whacker" himself. He is an independent trucker, picking up loads wherever he can find them, mostly through personal contacts (brokers and dispatchers with whom he is friendly. Besides the legitimate loads, Thacker also smuggles partial loads of majijuana. Thacker has made enough money from the smuggling to pay off the $30,000 he owes on his truck.
Sex, women and his truck are all intricately entwined. Thacker is very involved with citizen's band radio. He uses it to communicate with other truckers. It is a social tool as well as a means to keep track of and avoid the police. His handle on the CB is the "Shakem-up-Kid".
Thacker has a secret ambition to be a writer. He is constantly scribbling in a daily journal. He writes about his affairs with women and about his experiences on the road. He would like very much to write a book After toying with the idea for some time, Thacker makes the decision to save up a big wad of money and quit the road. He is finally going to take a chance and give writing a serious try.
Thacker's best friend is the "Sneakin' Deacon", who he admires for being smart and for taking things easy. The Deacon is sure of himself and he goes after what he wants. He is 55 years old, dependable, a good trucker, and he
has connections.
Deacon left his wife for trucking and big money. He made the big money smuggling dope, and then retired to enjoy his money and do some traveling with his girlfriend Angie.
When Deacon retired from the road, he turned Thacker on to the smuggling routine and to his dope connections. Lately, Deacon has fallen on hard times. His money is all gone and he has returned to trucking. He meets Thacker in the Alaska bar in Seattle, where they used to hang out together.
"Porky" is a trucker who has known Thacker and the Deacon for several years. He is in his early thirties, medium height and heavy set. He is a first rate Federal agent. His beat is smuggling of any kind, especially if it is connected with interstate commerce.
Porky has suspected the Deacon for a long time, but never could catch him with the good. He isn't sure whether Thacker is into smuggling or not.
He likes trucking and being on the move. He is very glib and talks constantly, but he is two faced. He is accepted but not well liked. Beth is Thacker's girlfriend. He is 30 years old, slim and sexy. She is a waitress in the Beacon truckstop café in Portland. She knows about the smuggling. She accepts it, but it still makes her nervous. The thing that she cannot accept is Thacker's exploits with other women. She likes the idea of him leaving the road and the smuggling. She wants to get married and settle down.
"Ridgerunner" is an independent trucker who falls in with Thacker and the Deacon. He has a run down truck and is behind on his payments. He is a petty thief who will grab anything that isn't tied down. Max Garduno is the captain of the Bogata Star. He has been smuggling for many years. He is well acquainted with Thacker and the Deacon. He has confidence in their ability to get the job done. He has the reputation of being meticulous, extremely well organized and of being loyal to his friends. However, that is true only when it is to his best interest. He is capable
of double dealing when it suits him.
Among the crew of the Bogata Star are two Columbian crewmen that Captain Garduno uses in his dope dealing. They are efficient and deadly.
Lynne is a waitress at the Alaska bar in Seattle. She is a Federal Narcotics agent. She has been working at the bar for two months. She is slowly getting to know Thacker. Her objective is to not only catch Thacker with contraband, but to get to his connections on both ends. She is in her mid twenties, blond and very tall. She knows that Thacker wants her. She has played hard to get, wanting more than a one night stand in order to carry
out her plans. She means to have Thacker take her with him in the truck.
Lynne has no idea that Porky is also an agent. She is very eager to break this case as it is her first big one. She feels that if she succeeds, she will prove her value to her male counterparts.
In the opening scene we see Thacker on the road in the Whacker. It is night and he is travelling fast. He is late for an appointment with the Captain of the Bogata Star in Seattle. He is running alone with no other trucks for cover. He talks on the CB constantly, keeping track of "Smokey". He has been running for 14 hours on speed. He smokes a number and listens to his stereo.

Thacker sees a truck stop ahead and starts backing the truck down. He has to get fuel and make a head call. When he finishes his business and gets back in the truck, he sees a girl on the other side of the road, hitch hiking
south. Thacker gets out of the truck and walks over to her and asks, "where are you headed"? "Los Angeles", she replies. "I'm headed there myself as soon as I pick up a load in Seattle" Thacker replies. "Seattle", she
exclaims. "I just came from there. I'm headed in the opposite direction."
"Fine" Thacker retorts. "I just thought you were cold and wet standing out here in the rain and a few hours extra wouldn't make much difference. Sorry I offended you". Thacker turns and heads for his truck. Suddenly she grabs
her bag and follows him.

 

LEARN TO RECEIVE By Robert B. Harvey February 1977

Learn to receive or you will cry
You will hurt & you will die
Giving's easy - hardly have to try
Taking put you all up-tight-shows up you living lie
Oh my very stomach's gripped
By a bear claw that won't withdraw
Feel it knaw
Take a taste of pain
- but it's all in vain
You never learn
You give your good - but you never tap the root
Run away to Spain in spring
Take your living easy - while your heart grows hard
Though you give it by the yard
As my mother's kindness fed my father's blindness
I chose the path - picked the tree of my own wrath
I heard…my God…I heard the sound of thunder
I have an unfinished feeling
What do you think - I'm the other part of your head
People are listening - everyone wants to know
I know that you know it - so why don't you show it
You hold it & hold it - till the lights go out
You rap and you rap - but you never let go
The fastest way to communicate is to touch
Suck a lemon feel it draw
Suck a lemon dig the bitter
Dig the heat - it's really hot
Dig the light - it's really new
Now dig me - it's really you

Bob Harvey