Turning Point Recovery Society 11th Annual Gala with Alice Cooper

Thank you Brenda Plant and the Turning Point staff for another stupendous gala event.
Turning Point Recovery Society is the gold standard for recovery housing and programs in the province. It was especially fine to see the support of present BC PremierJohn Horgan as in previous years governments have rallied to the excellence and success of Turning Point.  The Four Seasons venue and fine food offering is certainly an attraction.  Elegance is appreciated given the road to recovery often starts on the streets with homelessness,  alcoholism, or a bloody needle.  The present Fentanyl epidemic is especially grim.
Thanks to the love and experience of Turning Point so many facing ‘incomprehensible demoralization’ begin  the road back from the brink. The videos showed tonight told the stories of such individuals. Nadine who’d lost everything before  Turning Point was there tonight,  years later a fine and sober mother and great employee of a local community clinic. It’s a heart warming tale.
As ever the silent auction was the best with amazing offerings. I was thankful to win tickets to Bard on the Beach and Firehouse Theatre.
Howard Blank is the auctioneers auctioneer coaxing thousands of dollars more support for the big items, Whistler, and Victoria Retreats, Paul Simon concert tickets, Red Rock Casino and Cloverdale Race tickets.  .  “For an extra thousand” Howard rumbled, " we’re have you on stage as one of the back up singers!  “If you  just add another $500 we’ll put you on a  horse behind the jockey at the Cloverdale races.”  
This year Chris Gailus of Global News BC mc’d to resounding applause.  The West Jet, ticket for 2, draw was especially appreciated.
Willy Percy and Alice Anderson then sat with Alice Cooper in a cozy fireside chat format. What followed was utterly enthralling, the grandfather of shock rock revealing the behind scenes history of rock and roll..
37 years sober. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he’d had 27 albums, many of those platinum, but he said, “It could have only been 4 albums if I kept drinking. I ended up in hospital and it had all caught up on my liver and pancreas …I had to stop and I did.”
He told stories of those years with his friends Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and others who didn’t make it.  They were all dying at 27 or 28.   “I thought it was part of the job, drinking, drugs and fooling around”.
 “What I liked most,” he said, " was meeting the classics” He told sometimes crazy zany stories of escaped snakes and toilets,  haunting tales of meeting a young Elvis and older Mae West.  His stories of the Vampires, Johnny Dieppe and drummer Keith Moon,  the Manson Hippy girls, the night the band inconceivably was photographed with Anne Murray, his neighbour Frank Zappa and his other neighbour Elton John’s garage sale..  It was so intimate, like stories family share yet not like just any family for sure. Especially with friends like Jim Carry.
It was heart warming though to hear that Groucho Marx had  seen his show, famous for guillotines and gore , and thought it ‘good vaudeville.” Frank Sinatra praised his dancers who glowed to hear such praise from the one and only
One night he had a helicopter drop hundreds of pairs of panties from the sky while a camel walked on the stage.  Stories of the Beatles, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.  Each so personal, and kind. Willy Percy, a life long fan,  summed it up by saying though he loved Alice Cooper,  he most loved the  compassion,  genuineness, and caring human who spoke so fondly of his wife and children.
Alice Cooper's father,  a pastor, had told him  he loved the show and he loved the music but he couldn’t condone the lifestyle.
Alice Cooper is still the greatest of story tellers.  He came alive mostly talking about recovery and helping others.  He used the word miracle for the loss of his own craving. “I had a beer before I opened my eyes and always had a buzz on for years.”   He carried the message throughout the world to so many who had suffered the pain of this disease.  He described it as a part of recovery to give back and carry on. He helps kids with addiction.
It was an honour to hear his testimony, to stand with the hundreds there this night to applaud.   We applauded also Brenda Plant and Turning Point for their great work and this gala.  We had gathered together celebrate the success of recovery. Turning Point’s motto is  “making recovery a reality”.
The word Reality and Alice Cooper seem a bit of a stretch but not when it comes to recovery.  He really gives reason for hope.

Turning Point Recovery Society Gala 2016

The 9th Annual Turning Point Gala this year was a great success.  I love the elegance of the Four Season Hotel.  It’s a perfect backdrop for the glamour the lovely ladies in the latest fashion in gowns, dresses and accessories,  bring to this night of nights.   Many of the men mostly in black and grey suits were sporting wide ties again.  Dressed in a brightly flowered spring frock, the delightful Radene Neill was the very best MC. Later she interviewed David Crosby with the charm and wit that makes her warm presence and beauty so appreciated in this city.
The evening opened with a short film of founder Jim Ross talking of the 1982  humble beginnings of Turning Point. From one person saved in a room Turning Point Recovery has grown to several homes throughout the city with the finest reputation for safety recovery and community relationship.  It was good to see all the dignitaries, the Honorable Terry Lake there again this year, and the red serge of the RCMP.
David Crosby, before coming to the gala had sat in a Turning Point Recovery House meeting with those fresh from the downtown streets and addiction sharing his experience, strength and hope.
Brenda Plant, Executive Director welcomed us all there, sharing anecdotes of her meeting Nash then awe at meeting David. She spoke of his humility and compassion while knowing his genius.  Howard Blank was hilarious as the auctioneer who helped to raise a hundred thousand for Turning Point.  Special  thanks are due the generosity of Westjet, Bear Camp at Chilko Lake, Red Rock Casino, Palladino Jewelries, the Okanagan wineries, 54-40, Fairmount and Four Seasons Hotel. Those bidding were  competitive  for the best of causes.
David Crosby shared that his recovery from drugs and alcohol, in a Texas State prison, was the hardest thing he’d done in his life.  His loving partner was his greatest gift of recovery.  He’d sailed oceans, scuba dived for the sheer joy and beauty of the sea, ridden motorcycles despite the dangers and contributed the world over with the unforgettable music of the Byrds, Crosby Still Nash and Young, and now his songs, solo, or with his son and CPR.  He said that his greatest regret was the people he’d hurt and the time he’d lost.  His creativity was harmed by his drug and alcohol abuse.  Sitting in that Texas jail he found that the poetry he’d thought he’d lost through his addiction came back in his recovery.  Having  just completed a new acoustic album, he described the joy he finds with music.  His preference these days is for the intimacy of audiences he can see compared to the nights playing to  stadiums with tens of thousands.
Yes he spoke of Woodstock but the special significance of Turning Point Galas is that those invited are there to speak about the personal not the iconic.  He shared his deepest sorrow as one day he wrote the names of those who he’d known as dearest friends but were killed by drug addiction.  It went on for two yellow foolscap sheets single spaced. " They were my friends,” He said.   “Think of what music Janis would be making today.  Think of what Jimmy’s guitar playing would be like today.”  "When someone says that alcohol or drugs is needed for creativity,  I say no….  Alcohol and drugs are a scourge that destroys creativity."  At 74, two heart attacks and a liver transplant later he is grateful for his continued creativity  so thankful for the  life that recovery has given him.
When he ended speaking, when Radene had asked her last question, when the audience had put their last question to him. When he spoke of anxiety he had for America today, what remained for me was that wonderful line he shared, as memorable as countless others his gift has given us for so many decades.  Paraphrased,  ‘war brings us down, music lifts us up. I’m so thankful to have had a life of making music. Thanks to recovery I'm still  making music."
He was a beautiful man.  As a teen I learned  guitar to play and sing his songs. It was the late sixties and early 70’s  when his music harmonized with an era.  Tonight his humour,  humility, depth and sincerity enthralled us still.
We all stood to applaud, thankful to have been apart of something rare and beautiful and intimate.
I felt truly blessed.
Thank you, David Crosby.  Thank you Turning Point Recovery Society.