Robert Livesey

Because I enjoy country and western music, 1 decide to learn steel guitar. Barkdoll teaches me chord construction, inversions, dotted eighths and other theory on paper. I learn fast and become very proficient on steel guitar.

It's years later when a kid approaches me while I'm resting on the grandstand at McNeil Island to request music lessons. He wants to learn guitar and become a music star. "Little Charlie" is so lazy and shiftless, I doubt if he'll put in the time required to learn. He's always in trouble with the officials because he won't shave or get up on time in the morning. He's in the same dormitory as I am so I usually have to wake him or he'll lose his job.

The youngster has been in institutions all his life-first orphanages, then reformatories and finally a federal prison. His mother, a prostitute, was never around to look after him. I decide it's time someone did something for him and to my surprise, he learns quickly. He has a pleasant voice and a pleasing personality although he's unusually meek and mild for a convict. He never has a harsh word to say and is never involved in even an argument.

He and some other kids in McNeil belong to the Church of Scientology, a religious cult which Charlie attempts to persuade me to join. "If you believe strong enough that you can do something, you can do it!" he explains, but I decline his invitation.

When Charlie is getting good on guitar and vocals and also "getting short," he asks me to send him to some contacts in Reno or Las Vegas to get a job. His kind of music is not mine, he likes "rock 'n roll" which is probably in more demand than country and western. Other prisoners, all good friends of mine, are Frankie Carbo, Mickey Cohen, and Dave Beck who have connections with nightclubs in Las Vegas. I think seriously about using my influence to get him started in the entertainment business.

My decision in the end is to leave him on his own, if he has the talent he'll make it to the top. The history of crime in the United States might have been considerably altered if "Little Charlie" had been given the opportunity to find fame and fortune in the music industry. He later becomes in- famous as Charles Manson.