Hi guys. Before we start, I want to take a moment to remember and honor Jim Lovell, the NASA astronaut who died a few days ago at 97. Talk about grace under pressure. Captain Lovell commanded the Apollo 13 mission that aborted on its way to the Moon. He kept his cool and, along with fellow crewmembers Fred Haise and John Swigert, brought it back to Earth against all odds in April 1970. Were you guys fans of the Space Program? I was, and for you youngsters out there, I'm talking about NASA in the 1960s and 70s. SpaceX is pretty cool, but NASA was NASA. Anyhow, when my family lived in Reseda, our Hatton Street neighbor "Cookie" Tom was an engineer at Marquardt Corporation (Google it) near Saticoy and Balboa. Marquardt (among other things) developed the directional thrusters that allowed the Gemini and Apollo modules to maneuver in space. Cookie Tom was an early influence in my life. His daughter Keekoe was my first friend when I was three years old. Cookie Tom once took Keekoe and me to see a Gemini capsule he was wiring at the Marquardt plant on Saticoy...
But getting back to Jim Lovell, I think he was the greatest astronaut of all time, along with the late Frank Borman, his partner on the 14-day Gemini 7 mission and Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were no slouches, but to me, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman were The Man.
And now, we switch gears because we are investigating the 1980s.
Folks, the story of my life is also the story of me and Lilly. This is because we've known each other for a very long time, and even before this lifetime. I realize that sounds cosmic, but it's true and I trust she knows what I'm talking about. To illustrate it, here's another story which we'll call "Why Lillian Doesn't Like Halloween". Briefly, Lilly told it to me on October 31, 1981, just a few months after we became a couple. It was our first Halloween together. I was all made up as an Alien from Outer Space, my hair in a dozen knots held up by rubber bands, green/red greasepaint on my face. I wore a white "paper" jumpsuit taken from the Metrocolor lab; a disposable, protective covering we film developers wore to avoid getting chemicals on our clothes. I was at my band's rehearsal studio that night. Lilly came over, saw me and had a start. It took her a moment to recognize me. She said later on that she didn't like Halloween. I asked why, and she told me a story. She said that when she was little, she witnessed a gruesome accident, on Halloween Day, involving a small boy. That's all the detail I will provide. Years later, around 2002, I wrote a story called "The Go-Kart", developed from my own childhood memory. I wrote another story called "Wingwalkers" that came from a recurring dream about the two of us in another life.
Both stories were contained in a notebook, along with other related tales, that I kept in a backpack. One day, in March 2008, while I was visiting my Dad at a convalescent hospital in Panorama City, the backpack containing my notebook with all the stories was stolen from my red Nissan Sentra.
I was depressed about that, but it didn't stop me. I re-wrote all the stories, including "The Go-Kart" and "Wingwalkers" from 2009 through 2011. This time I wrote them on MySpace, and I did a good job recreating the original versions.
I mention all of this to show our long history, and to delve into some subjects from more recent times.
As noted, I thought - for decades! - that What Happened in Northridge was a twelve-day event in September 1989. In recent years, however, starting in 2023, I began to practice memory recovery in a highly disciplined way. This led to new information indicating 1988 as the starting point of all the trouble. That was shocking enough, but it opened a floodgate of blocked memories that went back even further. I discovered incidents from 1987..'86...(and all the way back to the beginning).
Just nine months ago, in November 2024, I had revelations from major events in 2010 and 2011, and of course, the whole 2009 Thing at Diane's House was blowing up at that time.
I need to ask you guys a question: have you ever heard of the Seventh Day Adventist Church at 17700 Plummer Street in Northridge? If you haven't, you will. But let's shift gears again.
In any investigation, it's instructive to start at the beginning. The very first sign of trouble in my relationship with Lilly occurred only six weeks after we became a couple. In August 1981, a schoolmate of hers named Cathy Roberts threw a party at her parents' Encino Hills home. The attendees at Cathy's party were Lys, Lilly and me, and my band members at the time, Dennis and Dave. The others were planning to stay overnight, but I had to leave to make sure I could attend an insubordination hearing the next morning at MGM, which would decide if I'd be suspended, and I was. It was the beginning of the end for me at MGM. Lilly didn't want me to leave the party. She asked if I could just stay at Cathy's house overnight. I said no, probably because "If I'm with you, I won't want to go to that meeting in the morning". I thought it best that I go home in order to not miss the meeting. Lilly was upset but accepted the situation. I said, "I'll come right back to Cathy's as soon as it's over," and I did, the next afternoon. On my way back to Cathy's house, I stopped to pick up some photographs I'd recently taken of Lilly in her purple jumpsuit. I showed them to her when I got there, but she didn't like them (or said she didn't), and I quickly understood that she was mad at me about something. Nothing like this had ever happened before. We'd been together about two months. I'd known her since October 1980 and had never seen her act this way. Lys was there. I can picture us in Cathy's kitchen or dining room. Lilly was upset, saying things like "these are horrible pictures! It doesn't even look like me!" I thought she was still mad at me for going home the night before, and leaving her alone at the party. She wasn't actually alone, though, because her friends Lys and Cathy were there.
But Lilly kept on about the pictures, and I began to wonder what was up. Lys stepped in, and said something like, "Girl, calm down" or "You better cool it, girl". Lys could see I was getting exasperated. Again, this was totally out of character for Lilly. But she was only 16 and vulnerable. I had a feeling she was "trying to tell me something in so many words", and I later questioned her or Lys about it. Maybe I asked this on the same day. "What are you so mad at me about? I'm sorry I left the party, but I had to. I had to be at that meeting."
This is what I remember. I may not have all the details but I know this part is correct. After I left, somebody called Terry Meissner to drive up to Cathy's house. I didn't remember this until recently. I don't want to speculate on the idea behind calling him, but I am guessing that it came from either Lys or Dennis. I doubt it was Lilly herself. When we got to the bottom of why Lilly was so mad at me for leaving the party, the reason (in part or entirely) was because someone called Terry Meissner to drive up there and "replace Adam", so Lilly wouldn't be alone. I was assured by Lys or Lilly or both that "nothing happened". I believed them and the whole thing blew over. The issue lasted about a day, maybe two. It ended up as no big deal because it was the Summer of 1981, which was already on its way to becoming The Greatest Summer of All Time.
But we've been wondering a lot about Lys recently, and we've been talking about cults, and I know a lot more than I used to know about a lot of things, and this problem at Cathy Roberts' house shows the same pattern of Lys being present when something bad happens with Lilly. Something bad in our relationship. I am trying to like Lys, who I've discovered was present at many noteworthy and notorious Incidents in the 1980s. And Lys did some good things later on. But I'm wondering if she was something of a provocateur where Lillian was concerned? Lilly very much wanted me to stay at Cathy's party. When I couldn't, she was upset, and mad at me the next day. Did she know that something would happen if I left? I don't think she called Terry, I think Lys or Dennis did...to put her on the spot.
Why is this important, 44 years later? Because Terry and his parents were evil personified. We don't have enough blog space (or time) to go into all of the details right now, of what I know about that family, but one day we will. Maybe even soon, or little by little.
Let's look at Howard Schaller for a moment. We mentioned in the last blog that Howard was connected to the Meissner House, but what we really meant to say was that he was connected to the Meissners.
How can this be? Howard Schaller was my co-worker at Metrocolor; my speed dealer from 1980 through 1982. How could he know the Meissners?
Before we try to answer that question, we must revisit one of my original and most visceral memories from September 1 1989, the "Sean Young Car Ride" that took me to Northridge Hospital. The occupants in that car were Mary Sean Young (driving), Ann in the front passenger seat, and Lys in the back with me. I was out of commission after being assaulted at Concord Square, an account I've described many times.
The important point is that while we were parked at Northridge Hospital, Howard Schaller attacked our car. This happened shortly after Lilly got into the car, after she was driven to the hospital by Jean Meissner (in Jean's dark blue Mercedes sedan). Terry was in that car with them.
In the parking lot, from Mary Sean Young's car, Ann and Lys yelled for Lilly to get out of Jean Meissner's car and get into our car. It took some prompting from Ann and Lys, but Lilly did change cars. Now she was in our car, which was parked in the front Northridge Hospital parking lot bordering Roscoe Boulevard. MSY was attempting to back us out, but another car was blocking our way (possibly a police car). Suddenly, a madman was upon us. To my great surprise, it was Howard Schaller. He threw his body on the trunk of MYS's car, at the same time swinging a heavy "tow chain" at the rear windshield. I was in the back seat and scared witless, even in my debilitated state, but I remember looking back at the rear windshield, reacting from the sound of the assault, and when the recognition hit me, I said (in a meek voice)..."Howard"?
He was after Lillian that night. He was as crazed as any murderer. To everyone's astonishment, Lilly got out of the car. I followed her. Howard assaulted her in the Northridge Hospital parking lot, and for decades I wondered what their connection could've been.
Did Lilly buy speed from Howard? That didn't make any sense. it took me years to decide that the only possible connection between Lilly and Howard Schaller was Dave Small, because Dave went with me to Howard's house, on speed runs in the early 80s. Howard was also a patron of Mr. B's Flowers where Dave Small worked. Mr. B's was not far from Howard's house.
But I was a naive young man, ignorant to the ways of cults, drug dealing, et al, and it has taken me over thirty-five years to even begin to understand the connection between Howard Schaller and Lillian in the Northridge Hospital parking lot.
But now I know that it started at the Meissner House in 1983, perhaps in July of that year. And Lys was present at that incident.
And we have to ask, yet again, why would Howard Schaller be at Elmer and Jean Meissner's house in any year or time?
And the answer is that the Meissners were part of a swinger cult that engaged in high stakes partying. And Howard was the overseer of their parties.
Yesserie, bob.
The Meissners were rock bottom scum.
Now let's shift gears again, going backwards to January 31, 1982. We are vacating the Golden Glenn Studio. Lilly is helping me move my equipment when she notices a loose strip of molding on the window between our unit and the next one, which was rented by a band named Zilch. Lilly pointed it out to me, "Look, this is loose". She may have showed me that the window glass was loose, as well. I was in a hurry to move out, so I said (paraphrase), "Well, it's an old building." In other words, no suprise that it was in disrepair. But Lilly was insistent. "Why would this be loose?" In hindsight, she was trying to show me something, and to tell me something in so many words. I now believe that Lilly had foreknowledge of what Dennis and Dave were going to do. Who could've told her? Likely Dave Small, who was himself nervous about going through with it. But Lilly was 16. What could she do? She tried to show me by tipping me off to the loose wood and glass, and she insisted "in so many words" that it was more than "just because it was an old building". So she was on the spot, knowing what Dennis and Dave were going to do, which was rob Zilch's unit that night. They stole every piece of equipment that band had, left them with nothing. I've never understood why they did it. Both had jobs. Dennis worked at a movie studio, made good money. They couldn't pawn the hot equipment. So what was the Zilch rip-off for? Was it a cult thing? Did it involve an unpaid drug debt on the part of Zilch? Who the hell knows. But it's important, even to this day. My memory recovery work has opened up a floodgate of information.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading. Tons of love, as always.
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