Biography Page 2
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Manfred had been in contact with one of their college buddies whose father had been killed in Vietnam. Sam Alvarado had been a close friend and groupie of "Fein" back in the 60's while attending Columbus College and now that he had inherited some money, opened a used car lot in San Diego, California. They called Sam and he had a special offer for Jay. It seems Sam's business partner was a Mexican Federal Policeman from Tijuana and he was asking Sam to make a considerable investment with a friend of his. Sam wanted Jay to come to San Diego, all expenses paid, and put on a front that he was just an old college buddy visiting. But in reality he wanted Jay to investigate the investment partners to see if the deal was legitimate. Jay accepted the offer and flew to San Diego. Sam's partner, Lupe, had a friend named Henry who supposedly invented a water purification system that would convert any liquid to pure drinking water. For a five thousand dollar investment you would get exclusive marketing rights for different countries promising millions in return. For Sam to get the rights to all of Central America, he had to make a twenty-five thousand dollar investment and he had asked his mother and brother to invest with him.. Henry was going to give a demonstration of the unit in Anaheim in a few weeks and Sam's mother would be attending. Jay went to the library and researched all types of water purification. Then he bought a pocket sized micro recorder and a 35mm camera. Lupe drove to Anaheim, just south of LA , Sam, Sam's mom, and Jay rode along. They went to some woman's house in the suburbs. This lady had mortgaged her home for $40,000 to invest in the project. Henry and a chemist associate were present to demonstrate the unit. Jay photographed the unit and asked many questions, secretly recording the sales pitch from his hidden recorder. The next day Jay transcribed the tape and began calling all the names dropped to confirm the veracity of Henry's story. One named dropped was the Governor of Arizona who supposedly offered a tax break and location for manufacturing the units. When Jay called the Governor's office, his secretary took the message and said she knew nothing about any such business proposal. Later that day, Jay received a call from the Arizona Attorney Generals Office. They wanted to know who was using the governor's name and what the details were. Jay told them the deal and they sent a special investigator from the Chula Vista detective department to talk to Jay. The truth came out when Jay called The Rae Research Center in New Jersey to talk to a doctor whose name was on the tape. The doctor said he knew Henry, and they had worked on the purifier but it had an inherent problem with leakage and was finally scrapped as a non -viable project. The doctor said he was not involved in any way with Henry since the unit did not function properly, and that other people had called him about the unit and he did not want to be implicated in any way in the scam. Henry was getting thousands of dollars out of the unit preying on innocent people. The Chula Vista detectives said all they needed was a formal complaint by Jay to arrest Henry. Jay typed his report in full and gave it to Sam telling the police it was not his position to file the complaint. Sam confronted Lupe with the report. The next night when Jay got in his bed there were straight pins stuck in his sheets from the bottom side up. Sam said it was a warning from Henry that if he busted him he would kill him. The next day Sam gave Jay a 1967 yellow Cadillac convertible, a new Les Paul guitar and a thousand dollars and Jay decided it was time to go visit his parents in Georgia.
1979-When Jay was in Imperial Beach, a southern suburb of San Diego, he met a blue-eyed blond Brazilian girl named Isabella Monteiro who was in America on vacation. Jay called her from Georgia and invited her to visit so she flew to Georgia. Jay gave his father the Cadillac and took his father's Dodge station wagon and Isabela back to California. Isabella had met most of the Brazilian music community in LA and introduced Jay to one of her friends Laudir De Oliveira. Laudir had just become a full member of the rock group "Chicago" and had bought a beautiful home in Hidden Hills, California, just a few doors away from Marvin Gaye's residence. Laudir had just gotten his equal cut from a fifteen million dollar record deal between Chicago and CBS. He liked Jay and Isabella and he knew they were staying in a motel in North Hollywood so he kindheartedly invited them to move into his home. They stayed in the studio which was a converted two car garage.. Laudir was from Rio de Janeiro and enjoyed being able to speak Portuguese at home. He introduced Jay to all his Brazilian friends in LA, like Sergio Mendes, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim and Raul De Souza as well as the members of Chicago and friends from the movie industry.. Laudir had a beautiful American wife, Kathy, and two beautiful children, Christian and Angela. Laudir had a profoundly simplistic view of life making it always a pleasure to be around. Laudir had just asked a Brazilian composer friend, Marcos Valle, to write a song for him and he needed lyrics so he asked Jay to write them in English for Peter Cetera to sing on the upcoming LP "Chicago 13". Since Laudir had become a full member of the group he was entitled to place an original composition on the LP. Laudir did not know how to write music or lyrics but did not want to pass the opportunity so he asked Jay to ghost write the lyrics, allowing Laudir to take credit for them. Laudir said he would make it up later. For the next couple of weeks, Jay worked on the song. It is titled "Life is what it is" and is on Chicago 13. Every other day Flora Purim would come by and check to see how Jay was coming on the lyrics. Jay would jam on guitar with Flora, Airto, and Laudir playing Brazilian music and originals. Jay became a friend of Marcos' and they played a lot of tennis with Danny Serraphine, Chicago's drummer. Jay had become a friend to everyone at Laudir's and Kathy began confiding her secret life to Jay. Jay told her he did not want to know that she was having an affair with some real estate tycoon because he did not want to have to lie to his friend Laudir to cover for her. Laudir was a great guy with a big heart and did not deserve the heartbreak right around the corner. He began following her around until he finally caught her at a motel. He hit her in the mouth, she filed for divorce, got the kids and a new house and Laudir got lots of pain. Isabella's visa ran out, she had been here almost a year, so she returned to Sao Paulo and Jay moved to a friend's house in the redwood forest at Los Gatos, California.
1980-