My Books
Man of Misplaced Destiny
The Man of Misplaced Destiny ©
The sequel
to The Jerusalem Blues Band ©
Fiction
It’s now
2016. John Palmer, the founder of the world famous rock and roll group, The Jerusalem
Blues band, is looking to get back in the music industry. His band and his
songs have been gone from the charts for about thirty some years. He cannot
accept not being relevant in the music business any longer. He feels lost in
his life and travels to California from his home state of Missouri to start his
comeback. His self-esteem has been jolted slightly and he thinks of himself as
The Man of Misplaced Destiny. It’s this personal strife that motivates Palmer
to get busy and make his dreams a reality. Palmer is now fifty-eight years old.
He is single. His passion for fishing is fanatical.
He moves to
San Diego and meets a beautiful woman his own age working as a waitress in the
dining room of the hotel he is staying. Her name is Chloe Hill. She has two
adult children, one in college in Memphis and the other in the military
stationed in Germany. John and Chloe go on a date for an afternoon fishing trip
and a long talk on the beach. They become companions, move in together and
eventually get married.
John Palmer
decides he wants to call California his home for good. He buys a palatial home
in Del Mar overlooking the ocean. He invites Chloe to move in with him and she
accepts. It is there that he begins to feel he has created a headquarters for
himself to start working on his goal of writing a hit song and get back in the
music business after such a long hiatus. He has visions for having a reunion tour of the old band one day. That
possibility has its own set of circumstances to overcome. He finds a way.
Once settled
into his new house, Palmer stats working in his home studio eight hours a day
to get back in musical shape. He connects with a neighbor who is a musician,
James Moses. John and James become good friends. They form a duo that John
names Moses Alone and start gigging locally on weekends.
Palmer is
determined to reunite The Jerusalem Blues Band. He believes he has found an
opening to accomplish this difficult feat. He first wants the band to perform a
ninety minute show at his old high school in Raytown Missouri to raise money
for the schools music program. Palmer has been asked to give a speech there,
possibly the commencement address at graduation. This would be a great place to
have a reunion.
The guys are
not sold on the idea when he initially presents to them. Palmer then closes the
deal and convinces the old band members after a wealthy woman in Texas has
offered to pay the group TWO MILLION DOLLARS to come out of retirement and play
at her husband’s birthday party.
It is at
this party that John Palmer introduces his new song, The Man of Misplaced
Destiny. The song goes over extremely well and eventually becomes a hit single
for the band. After the Missouri and Texas gigs, the band does a short tour of
the cities they first played in the southwest United States in the
nineteen-seventies. All the shows are sold-out right away. John Palmer has
written another hit song and wins yet another Grammy Award. After such a long
time away from the music business that is now very different from when he was a
rising star, Palmer has reached his goal and has become triumphant. He is
recognized as being relevant and a shining star again. He no longer has to
think of himself as The Man of Misplaced Destiny. He is a world champion.