It’s been quite some time since I posted one of these. Embarrassing as it is, it’s hard to believe that so much time and neglect to the exercise have occurred since then. I guess you could say that I went into a “Blog Fog” But, I apologize. The veil has been lifted. I can see clearly now the fog is gone. So, time to share with you again.

I’ve been an athlete for most of my life. Exercise and fitness have always been a major part of it. But as you get. . . or should I say, as you mature, career, family, life, children or any number of things gain importance and therefore cut into spare time. Unfortunately, spare time is usually where you spend your fun or fitness time.

Basketball and tennis were always at the top of my favorite extracurricular activities. Not only were they loads of fun but they also took care of my fitness simultaneously. Tennis, I still play but basketball is falling off, quickly. I find basketball about as beneficial as I do my CD player these days. B-ball is just too much on the body – especially if played on outdoor surfaces. Now streaming live in my world of fun and fitness, Cycling!

I love this. I never pictured myself becoming a cyclist but who knew, I’m hooked! I actually started about 8 years ago. It was just a silly idea that my girl at the time suggested we do one day for fun. It was a blast. I’ll never forget how much it brought back childhood memories with such fondness. Transportation by your own energy is a pretty awesome vibe. Back then a 6-mile jaunt was plenty for me. Then it was 12 miles – and then 18. Today, I don’t even feel as if I’ve gotten a good sweat going unless I put in at least 36 miles. My personal best now sits at 52 miles in a single ride.

Cycling provides me the freedom to decompress, plan, exercise and above all, pray. The pure enjoyment of an ocean side journey along the beaches in So. Cal. is just the cherry on top. I digressed a bit though; my apologies. The caption for this Blog is called, “The Tough Times”

The more you cycle, the more you’re at risk. The more at risk you are the greater the chances of a mishap or an accident. Yes, it happened to me too. I’ll keep the details brief but the condensed version of this story goes like this:

I was in the last six miles of a thirty-six-mile ride. It was date night so I was already starving and looking forward to getting back home in order to get the night going. In this area of my ride, there are very few pedestrians out walking about so you can safely increase your speed. The best way to increase your speed is to raise yourself out of the saddle (bike seat) just like you did as a kid when riding. However, when you do this as a cyclist, your chest and head are tilted downward to cut back on wind resistance. At this point I had increased my speed to about 25mph. You’ll note I said, “very few pedestrians” not “no pedestrians”

When I glanced up to survey the bike path, at roughly sixty yards in front of me, I noticed there were about five people just off to the right side of the path that appeared to be looking at the ocean or perhaps sightseeing. As I dropped my head back down to focus on the pathway, I made a mental note to look up again in a few seconds to ensure the pathway remained clear. A moment later, I decided it was time to check the pathway again. When I looked up this time, the group had backed onto the pathway but were still enjoying the ocean view and didn’t see me coming. I only had about twelve inches before impact. At 25 mph, that equates to “no time to react” I should have looked up sooner. CRASH! That’s when everything seemed to shift into slow motion.

I remember flying through the air for what seemed like ten seconds and then abruptly landing on my left side. I almost passed out from the pain that shot through my body on impact when I hit the pavement. It was excruciating. One of the people from the group of sightseers was extremely helpful. He could tell that I was in bad shape and quickly stabilized my position. One of the other bystanders called 911. The gentleman helping me called my wife. I could barely recite her number, because the pain was intensifying.

I was taken to the Marina Del Rey Emergency Room. After numerous testing and X-rays the results were in. I had: 5 broken ribs, a broken collar bone, 2 cracked vertebrae in my neck, a cracked sternum, a dislocated shoulder and had punctured both lungs. Not bad for a first attempt at membership into the, “You too can be like Evil Knievel” club.

As a side note, I don’t just talk the talk. I believe the word of God and choose to live by faith. The scripture says that Jesus now sits at the right hand of God because His work is done. Part of His completed work was His payment for my healing. Therefore, I claim my healing regardless of surrounding circumstances.

Here’s the fun part of the story. It was about 6 pm when the doctors gave my wife and me the full picture of my condition. They went on to detail the necessary procedure. They needed to open me up somewhat and insert a tube down into my lungs to re-inflate them. If you didn’t already know, breathing with two collapsed lungs presents a fair amount of difficulty, discomfort and pain and five broken ribs doesn’t help. This procedure, however, did NOT sound so appealing to me. . . at all. Once the doctors finished outlining the course of action, I simply turned to them and said, “No”

The doctors and my wife all looked at me with facial expressions of confusion. I repeated myself and said, “no” I remember the doctors then taking on a new vocal tone with me that was much more deliberate and serious, stating, “I’m not saying that you’re going to die if you don’t do this, however, if you don’t, you’re going to be in a much more serious condition very soon.” This time my response changed. I told them that if my condition was the same in 24 hrs., they could move forward with their plan with no objections from me. The doctors agreed and said that they would return at 7 am to run more tests for the latest results.

The doctors left the room and without even looking in her direction, I knew where this discussion was about to go. Seeing the pain I was in, Sarah still couldn’t understand my objections to the procedure. I knew why but as my wife, she had thoughts of her own about what was best for me as well. I explained to her saying, “I know something they don’t” I couldn’t blame her for continuing efforts to change my mind but my position was set in stone. She decided to let me get some rest and left for the evening.

Now by myself in a cold hospital room, I began to chat with God. “Father you see what’s going on here and you hear what’s being suggested. You, however, through your word, have taught me certain things. Isaiah 53:5 says: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Father. you’ve got 24 hrs. to work with. In Jesus’ name I pray and give thanks. And so, it is, amen.”

They cheated!! At 4 am I was awakened by the night nurse who said you’ve gotta go for more X-rays. I’m thinking to myself, those sneaky. . . They’re three hours early. And if my math is even remotely close to being correct, I still had about 15 hours left in the bank. There was nothing I could do. After the new X-rays were completed an hour passed and in walked the doctors.

I was having Déjà vu. Remember those facial expressions of confusion everyone shared when I said “no” to the initial idea of the tube in the lungs thing? Well, they were back again. Only this time add in a pinch of dumbfoundedness to boot. With reluctance they spoke up. “Well we have the latest test results back from this morning’s X-rays. They show a great improvement in the functionality of your lungs. Their capacity to take in oxygen doesn’t seem to be restricted by the punctures any longer. The tubular procedure won’t be necessary.”

Through all that pain I was in, I was cracking up inside. I wanted to shout out, “I told you, I told you so!” but I hadn’t the energy. My breathing was labored and painful from the pressure of the contractions against my ribs. According to the doctors, it was going to be between six and eight weeks before I could even begin to think about any regular mobility or activity. Fortunately, nothing more needed to be done other than wait out the time period for recovery. The remainder of my hospital stay was brief and two days later, I was released.

As bad as my condition was, thankfully no one from the group of people I plowed through were injured other than a scratch on the head that one person received.

The Moral of the Story:
If you’re gonna to ride your bike into a group of people at 25 mph, make sure that it’s not date night and that you’ve packed a Snickers. You never know when you’ll be eating next. Oh yeah, it’s also quite helpful to know what belongs to you through Christ Jesus and are willing to stand in faith on the promise of God’s word.

What happened to me? I made a complete recovery. Remember what the doctor said about six -eight weeks before even thinking about normal activity? All I can say is when you plan with God – plan bigger. I was back on the bike in three weeks. And, it was the best ride ever.

I’ll “See” you on the bike path!

The success of Real Husbands lead the way to the release of the soundtrack for the TV show in the summer of 2013 which included 2 songs on the CD that M. C. produced, “I like Her” and “Mitches Do That” featuring Kevin Hart. Apparently M. C. is starting to get things right because this June at the 29th Annual ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, M. C. will be receiving this prestigious award for his musical contributions to The Real Husbands of Hollywood TV series!

Producing music for “Real Husbands” has kept M. C. very busy but other recent projects include producing gospel recording artist, Dennis Whitherspoon’s new single, “So That We Can Worship You” Rock n Roll’s not out of the question either. M. C. coproduced Voo Doo Death Kiss’ debut EP “Every Shade of Grey” now available on iTunes. VDK is a heavy metal band from the Los Angeles area that’s been working with M. C. since 2011.

Being a movie lover at heart, when the opportunity arose for M. C. to score a new television drama, it was a no-brainer. “Above Ground” is the story of a successful music producer with extraordinary gifts who provides up and coming artists the opportunity to fulfill their dreams through an American Idol type venue called Above Ground! A project with M. C. ‘s name written all over it! Coincidence? Probably not. This was M. C.’s first full-fledged music scoring opportunity. After hearing M. C.’s work, director Eric Smith-Gunn asked M. C. to score two episodes for his latest drama as well as write and produce the theme song for the show. Be sure to look out for it this fall!

Finally, if you ask him, M. C. will tell you that it’s long overdue but the completion of his book, “Sixteen Stones” is just around the corner. For over 2 ½ years now, M. C. has been working on his first manuscript. Based on his spiritual relationship with God, the book reveals his belief system that stems from his unfaltering faith in God. The life experiences of having in one moment and going without in the next and the close call of losing his son to a medical fluke are just a couple of glimpses into a spiritual life full of tribulations and triumphs. It’s a must read not because of what M. C. has experienced but what he experienced through his faith and God’s glory. There will be more info on the release of the book in the months ahead, so stay tuned. . . .

It was just a few weeks ago, I believe it as August 8th. The day started out pretty much like any other. I woke up, brushed my teeth and began to pray. I don’t consider myself a religeous man. To me that means you spend a lot of time discussing religion. In my opinion, there are just too many to say that one is right and the others are not. However, I am a very spiritual person. Anyone that knows me well will tell you that. I serve one God and one God only.

I won’t bore you with details of my prayers that day, but I will tell you that the Lord was telling me to “prepare myself”. For the life of me, I didn’t know what for. I kept praying. . .Father I know you want me to get ready for something – but what am I preparing for? During this same week, my dad and I were trying to plan a little getaway. Nothing elaborate mind you but perhaps driving down to Mexico for 3 or 4 days. Well, first we were gonna drive, then we decided we were gonna fly and then back to driving. For “some” reason, we never settled on the final details of the trip. I finally told dad that I wanted to wait until a later date so we didn’t have to feel rushed. He had taken some “last minute” time off from the office so we were trying to schedule the trip within his days off. Consequently, we didn’t go.

The sounds of my sick son disrupted my prayer. I listened closely. He threw up. I kept listening and then he threw up again. My son is 24 years old and I’ve been through every illness with him that he’s ever had. This time, it was different. My beliefs teach me that God has never given me the spirit of fear so I choose not to believe in it. But this time around, I knew something was wrong. My first thought was, he had the flu. The regular medications weren’t doing anything for him. My next thought was, an ear infection. When he was much younger, I recalled him having a difficult time when he developed one of those. The vomiting continued and became more violent. In addition to the vomiting, extreme dizziness, balance issues and blurred vision set in. I was well beyond concerned now.

I called his mother in Phoenix to give her an update on his condition. Her response was, “Take him to the ER now!”. On the way to ER, all I kept thinking about was the morning prayer. God said to prepare myself, to get ready. I had no idea what to expect but I knew I was going to have to put my TOTAL faith in God. Again my beliefs teach me that regardless of appearances, conditions, reports or doctor diagnosis’ my Father in Heaven is in charge of all things at all times. Once there in ER, they ran all sorts of routine tests and exams. About 2 hours later the doctor came in to discuss their findings. . . I couldn’t believe my ears.

Still trembling from what I just heard, I thought, how am I going to tell his mother. She’s going to hear it in my voice. She’ll have a breakdown. I gathered as much strength as I could and pressed redial. “Tracy, I just spoke with the doctor. His CT scan is showing a significant blood clot in the cerebellum of MC’s brain.”. The disbelief hit her first, then the sobbing, then the realization of it all. The next 12 days were the toughest times in our lives that we’ve ever had to endure. The entire family was in disbelief and on pins and needles. It was the same question over and over again. “What happened?, Why does a 24 year kid’s brain start bleeding on its own with no initial trauma or impact? When doctors questioned MC about any recent impacts of trauma to his head, he recalled only one incident. Back in April, he was playing basketball and took an elbow directly to his head where the blood clot was located. The doctors all agreed, in all likelihood, the elbow did not cause the bleed. The scan shows the clot was fresh blood. An injury 4 months earlier would show a much different picture if anything at all.

My son was moved into ICU at Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank, CA. Although he was completely conscience, his symptoms were excruciatingly painful. Watching him suffer broke my heart. I felt completely helpless. There was nothing I could do but wait. The next step was to have more tests and evaluations completed in hopes of determining a cause. CT scans, MRIs, Angiograms revealed nothing more, yet still no answers. During his 12 day stay in ICU, daily CT scans were performed to keep a close watch on the size of the blood clot. M C’s mother had arrived from Phoenix days earlier – and I don’t think I have to tell you how distraught and physically drained we both were. Tracy’s spiritual beliefs are just as strong as mine. We prayed daily, hourly, every chance we got. The reason I tell you the story is this. We knew there was a chance we could lose our son. Our prayer was NOT one of, “Father please save our son.” Our prayer was, “Father you come first in our lives, even before our son. When we put You first, we know all other issues will be worked out according to Your will. We know that regardless of conditions, circumstances, reports or diagnosis’, You do not work within the limitations of man or medicine. You are God over all things and we accept and thank You for Thy will. We will continue to praise Your holy name no matter the outcome. Our complete faith is in You, Amen.”

I think it was the evening of 8/19/11 and Tracy and I were driving home from another long day at the hospital and she said to me, “Its time to be still and let God finish his work.” and so we did. The following day when we arrived at St. Jo’s, the neurosurgeon advised that there was a reduction in the size of the blood clot from the most recent CT scan. Tracy and I pleasantly smiled, nodded and thanked the doctor for his report. Again, we didn’t care what the reports said. If we didn’t care about bad reports, we certainly weren’t going to care about good ones either. That would be hypocritical!

MC began to improve every day. He was finally discharged on 8/22/11. We are being told that with a few weeks of therapy, along with time (about 3 months), he will make a full recovery. The symptoms of headaches and dizziness that still occur will slowly disappear as the blood clot naturally gets reabsorbed back into his body. We thank God because there was no neurological damage. The bottom line here is that my 24 year old son had a stroke – the bursting of blood vessels in his brain. It still sounds very strange to say the words. There must have been 7 doctors on my son’s case. A team of Neurosurgeons, a team of neurologists and different brain and spinal experts were assembled, but no definitive answers. Some specialists say that it was a delayed reaction from the elbow. Others say it may have been the bursting of an abnormal blood vessel that he was born with. We may never know the true cause. But what I do know is that My God is God. Do you know yours?

I stated earlier that without a doubt, this was the most difficult challenge we’ve ever had to face in our lives, but God didn’t just have us go through this without purpose. I have truly learned that through God, I can endure anything! I have come out stronger than before. I used to think that becoming successful in the music biz was gonna be tough and of the utmost importance. Nonsense is what I say to that! I know tough when confronted. I know importance when I see it. Them ain’t it! (pardon my english) I believe God really challenges those who truly love him. I think about, Abraham, Moses, Noah, Job and Jesus and what they had to endure. I may never end up being named in the bible but I too strive for that kind of faith. As far as my son is concerned, I believe God has blessings beyond his wildest dreams in store for him. If I’m right about God challenging those in whom he finds favor, try this on for size. My son has broken an arm, broken an ankle, broken both wrists, broken his thumb, dislocated his knee, endured not one but two back surgeries, suffered a stroke and had major brain surgery all by the age of 24! My son has also realized his blessings throughout this journey and knows his true purpose has yet to be fulfilled. If God didn’t want him here, He’s certainly had plenty of opportunities to take him away.

Yes, we have all learned a great deal from this test of faith. The key is to continue to use it to show others how wonderful God is! So I ask you. Do you think the trip cancellation was a coincidence?

Our son is going to be just fine. Oh yeah, God loves my son alright. Did I forget to mention that he was born on 12/25/86??

Don’t forget to Praise His Name.

Take Care.

MC

Hurry Up and Wait!

Ever heard this expression? I have too and I hate it!!! However it seems to be the mantra of the music biz. Everyone else’s time is important except your own. Yeah I’m venting a bit. I DON”T miss Corporate America at all BUT I can appreciate the protocol. You do the job, you do it well, on time and you get paid. The entertainment world doesn’t operate in such a simplistic fashion. Unless you’re Clive Davis of course.

I love what I do and I think I’m very good at it. I’m just not a patient man when it comes to waiting on others. I’ve made people wait too so I can’t pass judjudgment too quickly here. Nonetheless, WTF!!!

I’m talking about the process of getting music placed or licensed for television. I truly am working with the best in the business but this is a very sloooooow process. But, on the bright side of things, I’m becoming a much better producer! I’ve been asked to produce music outside of my comfort zone and low n behold, I’m very good in other genres as well!

Since my last blog, wait a minute, this is my first blog of the year? Wow, its going by fast already! I met the most gifted and talented acoustic guitar player in the world, Tommy Emmanuel during a guitar workshop in San Diego last month. Yes, I said in the world – This was a huge thrill for me. Check out the pic in the JONTI Family section. You’re probably saying Tommy who?. Well you’re not the first. You probably haven’t heard of him cuz he only plays the guitar. He’s not a singer like the ones you’re probably thinking of. If you wanna know how good he is, ask Eric Clapton who once said, I would never set foot on stage with him. He would blow me away!! Check him out. If you like acoustic guitar music, you’ll love him!

Well I’m still working at it. What is “it” many ask including my mother. Honestly, sometimes its crystal clear and other times, not so clear. My work for television and film is cool but that can’t be my only source of income. As I see it, the key for me to really getting my music heard and off the ground is one of two options. Option I, a noted artist must record one of my songs. (not so easily accomplished unless you know them personally) Option II, be involved with the music production of an up and coming artist who REALLY HAS A LEGITIMATE SHOT in the biz, as they are up and coming! (not so easily accomplished unless you know them personally) Ah ha, looks like Option II could be developing for me!

Her name is Khristiana Parchman, aka: Tia P. Tia is an extraordinarily talented rapper, song writer, producer and musician. Wow, now that I think about it, why would she ever need me, huh?

She comes comes from a family that raised her to be the very best that she can be by instilling in her the wonderful core values that we all talk about but rarely insist upon in our children. Btw, she’s a strait A student and has been accepted into numerous colleges including Morehouse College and several Ivy League universities! Believe me when I say, she’ll make it, regardless of what direction she chooses. Besides becoming a finalist in the teen category of the 2011 ISC, (International Songwriting Contest) she performs regularly around the LA area. She recently opened up for legendary rapper KRS 1 during a pre-Grammy party this past February at the Roxy. Keep your eyes and ears open for this young lady! The release of her debut CD entitled, “A Legend in Training” is just around the corner. You’ll be able to say, I remember when she was just getting started. . .

I’m very proud to be a part of her project, But don’t take my word for it. See n listen for yourself. She appears on my songs, “I’ma Neva Givit Up” and “Lottery”. Check her out here too.

Ok, so I’ve given you the inside tip. Don’t sleep on her! Now all I need is for her to become a star already!! C’mon Tia, what’s up with that? Oh well, I guess I’ll just hurry up and wait. . . .

Hey is there something going on with you that you’d like to share with me? Drop me a note, I’d love to hear whatzup!

Peace

MC