Left: Vanishing Race album released September 29, 1993.
Butterflies
The defining moment in 1993 was not relatedto music, but it did have a profound effect on my career. It was November, andwe had just come back from a tour of South America. Jodi and I were living on LasFlores Canyon in Malibu. We wererenting a house, as we had just sold our former home in Malibu and didn’t knowwhat we wanted to do. We loved Malibu though; It’s hard not to.
I arrived home that evening after a long trip from Buenos Aires, one of my favorite cities in the world. The tour was a great success. Our album The Vanishing Race and the first single from it, “Goodbye”, were huge hits. We added show after show at the Teatro Opera and ended up doing two shows daily for four days in a row to keep up with demand. So, it was nice to get back home. I needed the peace and quiet and had a relaxed evening as usual. The next morning I was woken by a very early phone call. The voice on the other end said, “Put the news on now. There’s a fire coming your way!” Half asleep, I was rather slow to respond but managed to put on the news. Sure enough, a fire burning out of control was climbing the hills behind the house. Still feeling that it couldn’t be that bad, I got in my car and drove down the street to see if I could see any distant smoke. I got about 200 yards and saw for myself the gravity of the situation. There were massive flames rolling down the hills coming straight toward me, very quickly, preceded by thick, black smoke that was engulfing everything in its path.
I drove back to the house, where Jodi was already aware of the situation. A police patrol car came screaming to our front door. The officer said, “You have to leave right now. I mean right now.” I didn’t say anything but suddenly felt as if I were in a movie. It was the weirdest feeling. The flames were now so close that I could feel the intense heat as they approached the back door of the house. Jodi was quickly putting our car, Merlin, into her car and coaxing our two great danes into my Jeep. When they were secure inside the cars, we pulled out of the driveway onto the road. The officer was hurrying us along, telling us to go. I suddenly realized my wallet, passport and green card were sitting in the kitchen. I looked at the front door, and it was billowing black smoke that was going to ignite any second.
I made the foolish decision to go back in to get my wallet. Jodi was screaming, the officer was yelling, and I ran into the smoke, grabbed my wallet and ran out of the house. As I drove off, I glanced back at the front door as it burst into flames. I had been 10 seconds away from being incinerated.
We had to leave Jodi’s mint condition British MG sitting in the driveway. We had no extra clothes. She did manage to grab a few photographs, but everything else was lost. I had guitars, keyboards, everything there. But it didn’t matter. We had the animals, and that’s all we cared about. The traffic out of Malibu was deadlocked, but we finally made it to Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, who said they would take animals under the circumstances. We checked into a room and put on CNN. To our disbelief, we saw aerial camera shots of Malibu burning. After a few seconds, the question of whether or not we would have anything left was quickly answered, as we saw Jodi’s MG on the news. It was already burnt out and the house had disappeared. It was a foot-high pile of ashes. Everything had gone.
We spent that night scanning the vast line of fire across the mountains of Malibu. It was hard to believe what had happened, and what was still happening.
Late the next day, residents were allowed to see the remains once the fire had burnt itself out. The only thing left was our dogs’ kennels. A neighbor from across the street that we didn’t know came out of her house and gave us a bunch of flowers. Her house was untouched. I thought that was a beautiful gesture. We had herbs growing a little distance from the house, and funnily enough, the mint plant survived the heat. We dug it up and kept it.
The next day, we loaded up the animals again and began the journey to our house in Utah that we bought a few years earlier. I’ll never forget that moment as we began the 700-mile drive----Jodi with a few clothes, Merlin in her car, and me and two great danes in my CJ7 Jeep. The feeling as we crossed the Mohave Desert was not one of loss, but of great reward. We had the things that we loved, that you can’t replace. Everything else didn’t matter. We were about to create another chapter in a different place. It was exciting and exhilarating. I remember thinking I felt like a butterfly that had just shed its cocoon and was about to take its first flight.
When we reached our Utah home, the first thing we did was plant the mint from Malibu. That same plant continues to grow today.
中文译文：
一定意义上来说，1993年与音乐并无太大关联，但是这一年发生的事，对于职业生涯有重大的影响。那是11月，我们刚刚结束了南美的巡演。Jodi和我当时还住在Malibu的Las Flores 峡谷。我们真的爱Malibu这个地方，但实在不得已，前不久刚刚卖掉了之前的旧房子，还不知道接下去想要什么，所以我们临时租了个房子住。
从我最喜欢的城市之一的布宜诺斯艾利斯结束了长长的旅途，傍晚到了家。巡演获得了巨大的成功。我们的专辑“The Vanishing Race”以及首支单曲“Goodbye”好评如潮。我们在提亚特罗剧院加演了一场又一场。应要求，我们最后四天内保持每天两场的演出。所以，真的很累回家真棒。我需要一个平静如常的夜晚来彻底放松疲惫的自己。第二天很早的时候我被一个电话吵醒。电话那头的人说：“赶紧看新闻啊，有一场大火正朝你而来！“半梦半醒之间，我反应迟钝的打开了新闻。毋庸置疑，失控的山火以及攀上我屋后的小山坡。可我仍不敢相信，情况已经糟糕于斯，我钻进车里，开到路上想去看看烟离我多远距离。我大概就开了200码路，然后亲眼目睹了严重的现状。我看到了大量的火焰翻滚着，并且夹杂着浓厚的黑烟，迅速的笔直的朝着我的方向席卷而来，沿途吞噬了一切。
我赶紧开回家，这时Jodi也已经意识到了危机的情况。一辆巡逻警车伴随着刺耳的警笛，驶来我家前门。警员说，“你们现在立刻必须撤离此处。我强调是立刻。“我什么话都没有说，但突然觉得像是置身某部灾难片，令我倍感诧异。我知道，山火已经离我家后门非常近了，因为我切身感受到了强烈的热浪逼近。Jodi迅速上了车，Merlin把我的两条爱犬哄上了我的吉普，随后也上了她的车。当我们大家都安全的呆在车内时，我们从自家车道驶离去到路上。沿途的警员们都在为我们指路，催促我们赶紧离开。突然，我意识到我的钱包，护照绿卡都还留在厨房。我回头看向我屋子的前门，那汹涌的黑烟随时将要点燃它。
我做了个愚蠢的决定，我要回去拿我的钱包。我听见Jodi在我身后尖叫，警员在我身后大喊，而我竟然义无反顾地冲进浓烟里。我无比迅速的抓起钱包等再跑出屋子。等我坐上车开走的时候，我在反光镜里瞥到，前门已经被大火吞噬。只差十秒，我也会灰飞烟灭了。
我们不得不把Jodi崭新的英国名爵车留在了车道上。我们没有一件替换的衣服。她匆忙中倒是带了不少照片，但是其它的一切都没有了。我的吉他，我的琴，所有的一切都留在了那里。但是，这有什么大不了的？我们的宠物，我们在意的一切都在。
我们整晚都在关注着这山火席卷了整个Malibu的山谷。我们真的难以置信正在发生的这一切。
第二天晚些时候，当山火自己燃尽的时候，居民们被允许回去查看还烧剩些什么。我的屋子，只有狗舍还在。对面不认识的邻居从她屋里出来，给了我们一束鲜花。她的房子未受影响。我想，她真是体贴的宽慰了我们。我们种在前院的植物，几乎不剩什么了。不过有趣的是，一株薄荷草竟然在热浪中幸存。我们把它挖出来带走了。
接下去的一天，我们载着我们的宠物开始了去犹他州的新家之旅。这间屋子是好些年前买的。永远不能忘怀那段700英里的驾驶旅途。Jodi还有一些替换衣服，Merlin在她的车里，我和我的两只大丹在我的CJ7 吉普车里。我们穿越了莫哈维沙漠，然后我们全都平安无事，这真是莫大的恩赐。让我激动又无比愉悦的是，我们挚爱的不可替代的一切，都依然彼此拥有。其它的相比之下，都不重要。我们即将在另一个地方翻开崭新的一章。我依然记得，我当时觉得自己就是那刚刚钻出茧，准备开始生命中第一次张开翅膀飞翔的蝴蝶。
当我们抵达犹他的家时，第一件事，就是将那株从Malibu山火中幸存的薄荷草种下。直到今天，它依然长得很好。
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