3ABN On the Road

Life After Rock Around The Clock

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Louis Torres

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000718


01:00 Welcome back to "Digging Up the Future,"
01:02 Bible Prophecy Exposed.
01:04 And we're excited this evening
01:06 to have Pastor Louis Torres with us again.
01:08 He's been going through
01:09 different Bible truths and prophecies.
01:12 You know, the Bible says they overcame them
01:14 by blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
01:19 And tonight we're going to be hearing
01:20 Pastor Torres's personal testimony
01:23 and there's something about hearing a personal testimony.
01:25 How many of you enjoy hearing those personal testimonies
01:28 so what the Lord has done?
01:29 And I'm looking forward tonight
01:31 to having the Holy Spirit with us as Louis testifies
01:35 that the spirit would testify to our hearts.
01:37 How many of you want that to happen?
01:39 So let's just pray that, that will happen this evening.
01:41 Let's bow our heads.
01:42 Father is heaven, we're thankful
01:44 that there can be overcoming power by the blood of the Lamb
01:47 and that you can give us a testimony
01:49 that brings You all the glory and all the praise
01:53 and tonight as we hear this testimony.
01:55 As we hear this tribute to You,
01:58 we just ask that Your spirit would be with Pastor Torres
02:01 and with each person watching, each person here.
02:04 And we thank You
02:06 and we come in Your all powerful name, amen.
02:11 Well our special music tonight will be in just a moment,
02:14 before that let's stand together
02:15 and sing our theme song, Jesus is coming again
02:19 "Marvelous Message we bring."
02:25 Marvelous message we bring
02:28 Glorious carol we sing
02:32 Wonderful word of the King
02:36 Jesus is coming again
02:39 Coming again, coming again
02:46 Maybe morning, maybe noon
02:50 Maybe evening, but surely soon
02:54 Coming again, coming again
03:01 Oh what a wonderful day that will be
03:06 Jesus is coming again
03:14 Well, you sung so lovely, you can be seated.
03:16 And I've just been blessed as through this series
03:20 Chris Albrecht has been playing his trumpet.
03:23 How many of you been blessed by that?
03:25 And he's going to be playing a song
03:26 this evening entitled, "My Tribute."
06:52 Amen.
06:56 Let's pray together, shall we?
06:57 Our Father, as we spend time again
07:00 this time as I share the testimony
07:03 we pray Your spirit to be here present
07:07 when Your angels walk in these isles.
07:09 You know, God, what I share maybe
07:12 that which will lift up the hearts to You
07:15 and bring glory to Your name is my prayer in Jesus name, amen.
07:21 Have you ever felt like you wanted to feel complete?
07:32 In the scripture it has a text
07:34 and found in the Book of Colossians
07:37 and it's in 2:10.
07:41 I want you to notice the text that says,
07:43 "Ye are complete in him." And what?
07:49 "Ye are complete in Him."
07:56 When I was a young lad growing up in New York City,
08:02 I happened to be born in Puerto Rico
08:05 and my family was very poor.
08:08 My mother had to raise us up in New York City
08:13 after my dad had abandoned my mother
08:16 and then finally after my mother had remarried
08:22 that husband passed away.
08:25 And so it left my mother with six boys
08:27 and she had to raise us up in New York City by herself.
08:32 She also developed cancer
08:35 and she had arthritis and she had asthma.
08:37 So she was a very sick woman.
08:39 And there was always challenges at home.
08:47 And growing up poor
08:49 and especially growing up in the days of the west life story
08:57 where we happened to be Puerto Ricans
08:59 and there were Italians
09:00 and we always had war with another.
09:05 I pretty well got to the place
09:06 where I didn't feel like I amounted too much.
09:10 In fact I remember one time somebody coming up
09:14 and I was around 10 years old
09:18 and the man cleared his throat
09:20 like he has something horrible to get rid off
09:22 and spat in the gutter and said
09:25 why don't you go back where you came from.
09:32 I never knew that I was worth spittle
09:37 but it created in me a real crisis.
09:43 And I began to try to figure out somewhere
09:45 that I could become complete.
09:49 But how do you become complete?
09:52 Well, society makes you think that
09:55 in order for you to be satisfied
09:58 like you have really reached the,
10:01 the heights of what you want to accomplish
10:03 is you try to do something that you're good at
10:06 and therefore you can become complete.
10:09 So I did all sorts of things.
10:11 I remember thinking myself
10:13 if I could just become a good roller-skater.
10:15 In those days roller skates had the old metal wheels.
10:19 I don't know how many of you remembered the old metal wheels
10:21 roller skates with the ball bearings.
10:23 At first they didn't have ball bearings
10:25 but then they finally came out with ball bearings.
10:26 And you could really skate down the street.
10:29 Well, in New York City of course
10:30 there's no real safe place to skate.
10:32 So you had to become a pretty good skater
10:35 because you have to dash around the cars
10:37 as they would come down the street, you understand.
10:40 And in those days cars were
10:41 a lot heavier than they are today.
10:44 Do you know what I'm saying?
10:45 In those days cars--
10:47 when you got hit by a car you know you got hit by a car.
10:50 And so the important thing was
10:52 to always do the escape and evasion.
10:55 So we learned to skate quite, quite well.
10:58 I remember going down the street
11:00 in a eagle form you know,
11:02 and doing all sorts of wonderful tricks
11:04 and jumping over sewer hole, manholes and all of that
11:06 and I thought, boy, if I could just--
11:09 then I got the bright idea.
11:11 I thought, man, if I could just learn to fly
11:14 while I'm roller skating.
11:16 And so I got myself some garbage can tops.
11:19 The old zinc garbage can tops.
11:22 And I thought, if I could just skate as fast as I could
11:25 and finally jump up in the air I could start taking my flight.
11:29 Well, I was discovered that, that didn't worked that way.
11:34 Then I got into trampolining
11:37 and I thought if I could just become a real ace trampolines
11:40 then I would feel complete.
11:42 And I remember finally getting the opportunity
11:45 to do a double somersault.
11:48 You know, most people do one but if you can get to do a two
11:52 well, then you're going pretty good.
11:53 So I remember doing a double somersault
11:55 and I could recall getting so close to the mat
11:59 my hair getting so close to the mat
12:01 and I thought to myself I'll never try that again.
12:03 Because the idea is this
12:04 if your head gets caught on the mat
12:07 while you're doing a somersault guess what, you're gone.
12:10 So I accomplished defeat and decided
12:13 that's good enough for me, I need to do something else.
12:16 Then by this time I was beginning to notice girls.
12:22 And I thought that
12:25 since the others didn't made me complete
12:27 maybe this will make me complete, do you understand?
12:30 if I could just get a pretty girl in a school
12:33 I would be complete?
12:34 And I did get myself a girlfriend
12:37 and she was quite an attractive young lady.
12:39 In fact I thought quite honored that she became my girlfriend.
12:43 And I used to walk with her with
12:44 you know, her arm in my arm.
12:47 And I used to see the other guys looking at me
12:49 and I used to think to myself, eat your heart out, guys.
12:55 Well, I thought that maybe complete
12:57 but I discovered when summertime came
13:02 that she found somebody else.
13:06 And the worst of it was this
13:08 summertime came, school ended, you know.
13:10 So that means we wouldn't see each other everyday.
13:12 And then she broke off with me to go with another guy.
13:14 And then there was a rock and roll song
13:16 that became popular during the summer,
13:18 in that particular summer.
13:20 And the words were this,
13:21 "Yes, it's going to be a cool lonely summer."
13:25 And every time I heard that song what do you think I did?
13:28 I just cried to think that I lost my completeness.
13:36 I finally decided that maybe girls were not the answer
13:41 and I noticed by this time that
13:44 rock and roll had already gotten popular.
13:50 And I also noticed that people who were rock and rollers,
13:54 looked like they were complete.
13:57 They had everything, girls were scream at them
13:59 and you know people would yell at them
14:03 and they had their cars and they had their tuxedos
14:05 and all these things and I thought,
14:07 "All right, well, man, if I can just become
14:10 a rock roll musician then I would be complete."
14:14 So I began to try to sing
14:16 and unfortunately because I was very poor
14:19 we had no means of getting music lessons or anything
14:22 and so when I began to try to put a group together
14:25 I remember they called me bitter tone
14:29 rather than better tone.
14:32 But I decided to continue
14:34 and then until finally I learned to sing harmony
14:37 and not before long by the time I was 13,
14:40 we had our own group called Danny and the Twilights.
14:43 And now we had a manager and sure enough
14:46 we had our own car with our name written
14:48 on each side of it and short skin suites.
14:52 I don't know how many of you have,
14:54 ever had short skinned suits.
14:55 And for those of you who are dinosaur aged
14:57 you remember those things, don't you?
15:03 Our manager was so proud of us
15:05 we're little tykes but we could sing.
15:08 And we began to accelerate very quickly
15:12 in popularity in Brooklyn, New York.
15:14 And then we were taken up to the Bronx.
15:17 We sang at the Puerto Rican casino
15:19 then we sang at the Copacabana there,
15:22 the Cuban Copacabana in Manhattan
15:27 and we were going places.
15:30 And I remember when our practice hall was the--
15:35 the entrance to the subway in the New York City.
15:38 If you want an excellent echo chamber
15:40 that's were you have to go.
15:42 Because you could sing like frogs
15:45 but inside the echo chamber, you sounded like a prince.
15:48 And so we were going there and we would practice.
15:51 Well, we didn't realized however
15:53 that by practicing in the subway entrance
15:56 that people were coming up and down
15:58 and we just got lot of contracts
16:01 just from people who heard us sing
16:02 and they were so impressed with our singing
16:04 that they want us to sing.
16:05 Well, they had to contact our manager
16:07 and we would get booked
16:09 and we would perform in different places.
16:12 But unbeknownst to us
16:14 along with the popularity and along with all that,
16:18 that show business brought other things came.
16:24 Danny who had quite the voice,
16:27 Danny had such a golden voice that Count Basie.
16:31 I mean I'm calling up names and some of you may recognize
16:35 and some of you may not recognize
16:36 especially overseas or wherever the viewers are.
16:40 Count Basie is the famous jazz musician.
16:43 Anyway he was acquainted with Danny
16:46 and wanted Danny to leave us and go with him.
16:49 Fortunately, Danny never did go with him
16:51 because we were very close friends and we stayed together.
16:54 Danny had such a voice,
16:56 one of the songs that he loved to sing was called "Valerie."
16:58 And that particular song was of a person whose girl left
17:03 and he was brokenhearted
17:05 and he's crying for her to comeback.
17:06 And so he takes out the handkerchief
17:08 and he's down on his kneels and he's crying in the song
17:12 and of course you can see all the girls
17:13 just weeping and wailing
17:14 because Danny has weeping over girl that has been lost.
17:19 We had the ability to sing in such a way
17:23 and he had such a magnificent voice
17:26 that when he sang you could hear him for long ways.
17:31 Well, Danny got involved also with drugs.
17:36 And by the time he was 15,
17:38 we found him overdosed in front of his house.
17:43 So he was gone.
17:46 It was devastating to us because we knew
17:51 that we could never find another voice like Danny's.
17:56 Well, it was resilient and we decided to continue to sing
18:01 and we started or formed--
18:04 there was another group and we joined together
18:06 and that group then became the "Vampires."
18:10 So, the Vampires actually dressed like vampires
18:16 keep in all, our car was a funeral hurst.
18:20 And everything about us was vampires.
18:24 Even this-- notice, the white on the sides there.
18:29 We'd a white spray paint that you get you know,
18:31 hair spray or you can spray white and comb
18:33 and then look like we had white hair.
18:36 Everything was supposed to kind of look vampires.
18:39 Well, we had a manager with this group
18:42 and that manager was a very well known in New York City
18:46 because he happened to be what is called as Borough president.
18:49 In New York City there are five Borough's,
18:51 Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island.
18:55 And he happens to be
18:56 the Borough president of Brooklyn.
18:58 And because of that he'd connections with City Hall
19:01 and he'd connections with politicians.
19:03 And as a result then we had
19:05 a lot of wonderful opportunities to perform.
19:09 I remember one time that he took us to the Waldorf Astoria
19:13 now, I don't know how many of you have
19:15 heard of that Waldorf Astoria.
19:17 It's a well known hotel in New York City
19:19 and it's pretty pricy to stay in that.
19:23 We then did performance for
19:25 all that the city officials at that time
19:28 and I remember we'd eight go-go girls with us
19:31 and we were performing
19:33 and Larry Desmond, our manager then finally
19:37 after the performance they took us upstairs to the penthouse.
19:41 And up there I remember the girls
19:42 owing and awing about some handsome Hispanic.
19:46 And I didn't know who it was
19:47 and finally discovered it was a guy named Placido Domingo.
19:52 Any of you have ever heard of that name?
19:55 And so we were constantly finding ourselves in arenas
19:59 with people who were famous etcetera.
20:02 And so I was thinking, "Man, I'm on top of the world."
20:07 Do you understand what I'm saying?
20:09 Here we have a manager and we have all the connections.
20:12 We began to record records.
20:13 You know, in those days if you really wanted to be
20:16 on top of the world you have to record a record.
20:19 And so we began to record, we recorded our first record,
20:22 we record our second record and things were going,
20:25 going quite well for us
20:27 except that along with that as well came the drugs.
20:33 One of the boys Tony, he was a Boy Scout director
20:38 always he'd never smoked and never drank etcetera
20:40 till he join our band, our group.
20:44 And unfortunately the last time my brother saw him,
20:47 he said that he was so, what is called spaced out
20:51 that he was so drugged up
20:52 that he didn't seemed to recognize anyone.
20:56 Sad to say, that along with all the glee
21:00 and all the glitter came things we had not bargained for.
21:07 Well, one of the problems we'd was that drugs took their toll
21:11 and so after loosing two boys,
21:13 we finally ended up with four of us.
21:16 And so it did mean that
21:19 we didn't continue in those practices
21:22 it just means simply that
21:24 we just were able to hang together.
21:29 By this time now, we are pretty upset with,
21:33 the fact that we had three managers.
21:38 We had the first manager, the assistant manager
21:40 and the booking agent.
21:42 And some people complain about God's plan
21:45 for example for offering some tithes.
21:49 How many of you have heard of tithing? Okay.
21:51 Some people say, boy, tithing is so stiff.
21:54 Well, listen if you thing that's bad go in show business.
21:57 Our manager we paid 20%, the other manager we paid 10%
22:02 and the booking agent we paid 20%.
22:04 So how much were we paying out?
22:06 We are paying 50% of our income just to have managers.
22:10 So when I became a Christian, discovered God only wanted 10%
22:13 I thought, man, that's a deal.
22:18 So, we had finally decided,
22:22 we got to have get rid of our manager
22:24 because all our money was going out for managers
22:26 and we didn't realize that, the equipment belonged to him.
22:30 Somehow we knew it but we forgot about it.
22:32 And when we broke off our relationship with him
22:37 he kept all our equipments.
22:38 So we were without equipments.
22:42 So in the club we were performing at that time
22:47 we told the owner that we couldn't perform any longer.
22:50 He said, "why not?"
22:52 We don't have any equipment.
22:53 He said, "Well, we'll take care of that,
22:54 tomorrow come and meet with me
22:55 and I will take you some place."
22:57 So the next day we went with him,
22:58 he took us some place.
22:59 When we went to his club, we could see along the walls,
23:03 pictures of famous people.
23:05 One of the first pictures I saw was Frank Sinatra.
23:07 Many of you probably remember or heard of Frank Sinatra.
23:11 We saw other pictures of boxers etcetera.
23:14 Most of them were Italians that were along the wall
23:18 and it turned out then that he--
23:20 they introduced us to this gentleman
23:22 who had a big cigar and came up to us and said,
23:25 "Boys, I understand you got a problem."
23:27 Oh, yes.
23:28 "Well, we'll fix that for you, boys."
23:30 He had this big cigar and he said,
23:32 "I am Godfather for arena for you."
23:34 Nicky was his name.
23:35 And so that became our Godfather.
23:40 Then he said "We'll take you and get your stuff."
23:43 So they took us, he took us over to a music shop Sam Ash
23:47 which was a very popular music store
23:49 right there on 45th street Manhattan
23:52 and he said "boys, whatever you want, go and get."
23:54 We couldn't believe that. "Are you sure?"
23:56 "Yes, go ahead, get whatever you want."
23:57 We went crazy like kids in the Christmas story,
24:00 you understand?
24:01 And we took everything we thought and then he said,
24:04 "Doesn't look like you have enough."
24:06 Well, we'd all that we needed.
24:08 He said, "Well, go ahead and make sure."
24:09 And so we went and got some more stuff.
24:11 Anyway then he said, "Are you finished?"
24:13 Yeah, we're finished.
24:14 And we'd never seen so much money at one time.
24:17 He took out a lot of money, all of his--
24:20 a ward, out of his pocket
24:22 and just counted it out and paid it cash.
24:26 Our mouths were open because now we'd hit it rich.
24:31 You understand what I'm saying? We were in it now.
24:35 Well, he took us back to that club and he said,
24:37 "Okay boys, now you gonna
24:39 need to sign a little piece of paper."
24:41 And so we singed a little piece of paper.
24:43 It was a contract and the name of the people
24:48 that we sign the contract with was called "The Association."
24:55 And I think most of you recognize
24:57 what that means, right?
24:59 And so now we were
25:00 under the protectorship of The Association.
25:04 The other name-- known name, the Mafia.
25:09 Well, it was all right we thought.
25:13 Now we have all the protection we want
25:15 and we can do everything we want
25:16 and we can really, really stay high.
25:18 If they protect and they support these other people
25:21 then certainly they can support us
25:23 and we'll go as high as they've gone.
25:26 Remember now, I'm trying to find how I can be what?
25:30 Complete.
25:31 And so in my pursuit of becoming complete,
25:34 I was willing to sacrifice a lot of things
25:36 that otherwise I would have never sacrificed.
25:38 And that's what happens to us.
25:40 We tried to find completeness
25:42 and we think we could find it in this and that
25:44 and we're willing to sacrifice anything to accomplish it,
25:48 to get it, is that true?
25:50 Many many people sacrifice principles and morals
25:53 just to find what they think is completeness
25:56 only to discover that
25:58 you cannot find completeness in those things.
26:01 Well, I didn't know that.
26:02 So we're performing in this clubs
26:05 but things are going down, I see what's happening,
26:09 I'm getting concerned
26:10 because my brother told me one time,
26:13 never get involve with that group
26:15 because once your in you can't get out.
26:17 Well, I understood that but the popularity,
26:23 the protection and everything that came with it,
26:24 we thought it was great.
26:26 But I began to get more and more concerned
26:28 and the thing about it is this,
26:30 that while we were performing and everything was going great,
26:35 I felt complete until I went to the motel room.
26:40 And It was those moments, when you buy yourself
26:43 that you begin to kind of reflect
26:45 and think to yourself, what am I doing here?
26:49 I felt there was something missing
26:50 and I didn't know what it was.
26:52 But I didn't think that it was religion
26:55 because prior to my get into the show business
26:59 I remember that I had Jewish kids,
27:02 they took me to the synagogue
27:03 but they only took me to the synagogue
27:05 to teach me how they could get drunk for free.
27:10 The next door neighbor boy, was the alter boy
27:13 and he had the filthiest mouth on the block.
27:16 And unfortunately the priest used to invite my friends
27:20 and you understand the rest of the story.
27:23 And so I got to the place where I thought
27:26 religion was for people who are ugly or old.
27:32 If you are ugly or old you can't really
27:34 get with it out in the world,
27:36 so you might as well go the Church.
27:39 So that's what I thought.
27:43 I didn't liked the environment
27:45 and finally we were performing
27:47 in a night club upstate New York.
27:50 It was about Christmas time,
27:51 the boys wanted to go back to our home club
27:53 which was nugget I didn't want to go back there.
27:56 So I threatened them, I said,
27:58 "if you go back I will quit."
27:59 I thought I was so important to them,
28:01 they wouldn't go back there, you understand.
28:03 Well, they were just as proud as I was.
28:04 And they said "Fine, you want to quit then quit
28:06 we we're going back."
28:08 Well, it shocked me.
28:10 And they then went to the club and then what they did was
28:15 they confiscated my equipment
28:17 to force me to performing in the clubs.
28:19 So I gave them two weeks.
28:20 I said "Okay, I'll give you two weeks
28:21 and then you'll need to find somebody else."
28:23 And that's what I did, I quit.
28:25 And by that time I was so angry on that what they did to me,
28:27 take my equipment and try to force me to play.
28:30 Then I said, "Okay, I'm done with you guys."
28:33 Well, its one thing to get angry and make a decision
28:36 it's another things what do you do now?
28:38 Do you understand?
28:40 All my completeness went down the drain.
28:42 Now I was not performing, now I was with no one.
28:45 So one night I was in a night club, Greenwich Village
28:48 visiting a friend of mine who is performing
28:50 and at the break I noticed somebody came,
28:53 was talking to him and he was pointing toward my direction.
28:56 So this fellow came up to me and he said to me,
28:59 "I understand you're good bass player."
29:01 Well, what about it.
29:02 He said, "Well, we're looking for someone
29:05 for Bill Haley & His Comets.
29:07 Now when I was performing as a bass player,
29:11 here is a shot of us performing in the nugget.
29:16 There I'm playing bass guitar.
29:18 Tony is playing at most right which is dual neck guitar.
29:22 So you have a six strings and 12 string
29:24 and Mandy playing the 12 string rhythm guitar.
29:31 You see our equipment behind there,
29:32 that's the equipment that was bought for us
29:34 by The Association and so we're going places.
29:39 I got to the place where I could do a solo in the split.
29:44 So I would go into a split
29:46 and then I put the bass guitar behind my neck
29:48 and the guys could stand astride.
29:50 And I would go underneath them
29:51 while I'm playing this bass solo.
29:53 So I became pretty professional in utilizing the instruments
29:57 and also I was the one
29:59 who organized the harmony for the group etcetera.
30:02 Well, when this gentleman said,
30:04 "I understand you play at pretty good place."
30:05 I told him, "You're correct. How did you know that?"
30:09 Well, I've been told that pretty good bass player
30:12 and if you want to play with the Comet
30:14 we like to audition you.
30:15 Well, I didn't believe it
30:16 because in New York City there are lot of phony's.
30:19 A lot people a lot of people will offer you the world.
30:20 Brooklyn Bridge has been sold many times to foreigners.
30:23 Do you understand what I'm saying?
30:24 And so I was cautious but he said,
30:28 "If you want the opportunity you can have it."
30:31 So, what do I have to do?
30:32 "Well, tomorrow you meet with me and we'll audition."
30:35 Well, the next day I went and in the audition,
30:37 "Can you play this?" Yes.
30:39 "Can you play that? Can you play this?"
30:40 "Can you play that?" Yes, I could play everything.
30:42 And so finally I was on. I couldn't believe it.
30:45 To all of a sudden take a jump from a group
30:51 that was performing just around New York City
30:53 and some other states up to a group
30:56 that was well known around the world.
30:58 How many of you remember Bill Haley & His Comets, okay.
31:00 And so, now I'm part of the Comets.
31:05 I remember the first time meeting Bill.
31:08 Bill was a very kind of reclusive individual.
31:13 We rarely saw him during day time.
31:15 We only saw him when we got together in the dressing room
31:19 and talked about what needed to take place,
31:22 and what we're going to perform.
31:24 By this time, I was doing the solo,
31:27 singing this song 'La bamba.'
31:29 I don't know how many of you remember any of those songs.
31:31 And so now we're performing.
31:34 I was a soloist as well as the bass player for the Comets.
31:39 I thought now I would be complete.
31:44 And I thought by joining the Comets
31:46 things would be better because life would be better
31:48 with a higher group of higher caliber etcetera.
31:52 But I discovered to my amazement that
31:55 it didn't workout the way thought.
31:57 Here's a newspaper clipping
31:58 of one of the performances that we did.
32:00 If you notice I'm over here.
32:02 And they used to call me Louie.
32:04 Do you see that, Louie Torres.
32:07 As we were performing--
32:10 while we were performing there was the acceleration.
32:12 It was excitement but still there was something missing.
32:15 And I could not understand what it was.
32:18 I thought the fact just have more girls
32:19 if I just have more drugs or if I had more liquor.
32:23 If I had more activity, if I had more money,
32:26 if I had more dress.
32:28 Something has to hit it but nothing ever did.
32:31 No matter how high you went
32:32 you always felt you had to go higher.
32:34 No matter how much activity you did,
32:36 you always to feel like you'd to do more activity.
32:39 There was never enough, there was always something missing
32:43 and I had no understanding what it was.
32:46 But you feel like this is life
32:48 you do the best you can with it.
32:50 And so you live it and that's the way I felt.
32:55 Then of course in performing with the Comets
32:57 I discovered that that the drug problem was there as well.
33:01 One of the fellows I won't tell you who
33:03 but one of the fellows had a $200 a day drug habit.
33:07 Now I'm speaking about 1966, 1967, 1968-- $200 per day.
33:15 He was so skinny as he kept on using the drugs
33:18 he just get skinnier and skinnier
33:20 that the tuxedos, we had to actually straight pin them.
33:23 You know, we get straight pin
33:25 and in the back we would pull it together
33:27 and then put straight pins up the back of his coat.
33:30 And he would button in the front
33:31 so it looked like it fit him.
33:33 But reality he'd all the straight pins
33:35 in the back of his tuxedo.
33:36 Well, nobody knew that
33:37 because he never gave his back to the audience.
33:39 But that helps you to understand how glorious it was
33:42 for us to be in show business.
33:44 Most people will not tell you the truth
33:45 but I'm telling you the truth, living in suitcases
33:48 and living that kind of life is full budge.
33:53 And you know even we should on them.
33:55 Anyway it was a highlife,
33:57 it seemed to be the way to feel complete
34:00 but I found myself, my morals had changed.
34:03 They'd corrupted by my whole thinking process
34:06 everything that I did I became self-centered,
34:08 I became hard and callous.
34:11 Everything that I never thought I would ever become I became
34:14 while I was in show business.
34:16 And I didn't like it
34:17 but I didn't know that there was a way out.
34:19 Well, we then took a vacation.
34:26 We were gonna go on a world tour with the Comets
34:30 and we were going to compete against The Beatles.
34:32 Any of you remember The Beatles?
34:34 The Beatles had written some article
34:36 that was derogatory of our musicianship
34:38 and so we decided that we gonna go compete with them
34:41 and demonstrate who could play better.
34:45 Bang Bang, our drummer was the one
34:47 who had done the drums solo for the song Caravan.
34:52 I don't know if any of you remember that song
34:54 with that drum solo, that was Bang Bang.
34:56 Rudy Pompilli was the saxophone player.
34:58 He was the one who had done the Yakety Sax
35:01 one of those old songs if you remember that.
35:04 And so we had some excellent musicians with us.
35:07 And so we're looking forward to that.
35:09 However we took a vacation and when I got home
35:12 I want to get comfortable only to discover
35:15 that I could not open the door completely.
35:17 And so I tried to push myself
35:19 and see what was behind the door
35:21 I discovered that my brother Willie
35:24 was on his knees, praying.
35:26 And that spooked me
35:28 because I had never seen my brother praying.
35:32 We grew up as tough boys in the yard.
35:34 My brother was the Vice President,
35:37 pardon me, the President
35:38 of the largest gang in the New York City,
35:41 The Dragons, the Puerto Rican gang.
35:43 My other brother was into terrorism.
35:45 What I'm telling you is that
35:47 we were into all sorts of things.
35:51 And we respected mother, she had her real ways,
35:55 she would always go and I remember her
35:57 when I was a young lad
35:59 one of us always had to go with her to shop
36:02 because she had arthritis and she had asthma.
36:04 And so to carry her stuff for her
36:06 but when the sirens would sing--
36:09 with sound at noon day in the New York
36:11 because of the fear of an atomic bomb falling,
36:16 she would stop as soon as the siren would ring
36:18 its was mid-- noon day.
36:20 You know what she would do?
36:21 She would lift up her hands up to the sky like this,
36:24 right there in the streets and she begin to pray for us.
36:30 ( speaking foreign language )
36:31 I will never forget her voice.
36:33 My God, take care of my boys
36:35 and she'd mentioned each one of us by name.
36:38 ( speaking foreign language )
36:40 She would go down and we would act like we didn't know her,
36:43 look in the store it's so fun.
36:45 You understand what I'm saying.
36:47 Now I regreted I did that but you understand
36:49 when you're ignorant, you're ignorant,
36:50 isn't that true?
36:52 You don't know any better, you don't know any better.
36:53 Well, my brother is praying.
36:56 So I go to my mother and said,
36:57 "What in the worlds happened to him?"
37:00 "Oh, leave him alone, he's religions."
37:02 So he comes and he comes to talk to me about God.
37:06 You know like Jesus and I got so upset with him.
37:10 I said "Look, you have to keep it yourself.
37:12 Don't talk to me about it."
37:13 Well, you don't understand.
37:14 I understand, if you keep on talking we gonna have to fight.
37:17 So he left me alone.
37:19 Well, few days later, my oldest brother shows up.
37:23 And he says to me I'm gonna get baptized.
37:28 And I want you to come to the baptismal service.
37:31 I don't know what he was talking about.
37:32 "You gonna get baptized." He's talking about God.
37:36 And because he was the oldest brother and had left school
37:41 and went to work to support us
37:42 we always respected him as the eldest brother.
37:45 Do you understand? And so I respect then.
37:47 I went, when I arrived at the church
37:50 I'll never forget, I had the Tommy John shirt.
37:53 I don't know how many of you remember,
37:55 Tommy John shirt was kind of open up in the front,
37:56 tear down to almost the belly button
37:58 you know, to show how much are you wearing.
38:00 Do you know understand what I'm saying?
38:01 And then it had kind of like a bloomer sleeve
38:03 and I'd bell bottom hip hugger rainbow color palsy, okay.
38:09 And I'd hair down to my shoulders
38:11 and I had ring on every finger
38:13 and so I came with my showbiz best.
38:17 And when I entered into the church,
38:26 I'm glad the Lord had mercy on me.
38:31 Think about it, friends,
38:32 if I felt so uncomfortable there in that audience,
38:35 what would had happened
38:36 if the Lord had taken me directly to heaven?
38:40 So I kind of shrunk into the seat pew and watched.
38:46 Well, the ministry took my sister-in-law
38:49 and she was gonna get baptized
38:51 and put her in the water and came up,
38:53 out of the water again and she was crying.
38:55 I remember thinking to myself,
38:57 "Silly woman, they always cry about nothing."
39:00 And then my brother stood there and he said some words
39:03 and put my brother under water and bring him up again
39:04 and my brother is crying and that troubled me.
39:07 I'd never seen my brother cry, never.
39:10 One time two guys caught him,
39:11 three guys actually from the opposite gang.
39:13 And while two guys held their, his arms,
39:16 the other guy just punched away on his face.
39:18 And even though he'd a bloody lip
39:20 and a bloody nose, no tear.
39:22 Somehow he got loose from this guy
39:24 and with one blow he knocked out that other fellow
39:26 and the two guys ran off.
39:27 Then the next day, my brother got win
39:30 that fellow who was punching at him
39:32 that was so embarrassed as my brother knocked him out
39:35 was looking to kill my brother.
39:36 So my brother had a little knife,
39:38 a little Japanese knife and went looking for the guy,
39:41 caught him up in the rooftop.
39:43 The fellow had a gun and my brother had a knife.
39:45 My brother said, "Okay,
39:46 we'll see who comes out of this one."
39:49 The guy threw his gun away and begged for his life.
39:52 That was the brother who was in the baptistery, crying.
39:57 And I could not understand that
40:00 because we grew up as young men who don't cry.
40:04 Men, don't what? Don't cry.
40:08 And I began to think, could they have found God?
40:16 There was something different about that.
40:18 They were reading the Bible, they were praying,
40:22 they weren't cursing anymore,
40:24 one after woman, not anymore.
40:26 No longer in wild activities,
40:29 they were happy going to church.
40:31 And I just couldn't thought that.
40:33 How can they be happy going to church?
40:35 How could they be happy?
40:39 You have to drink, you have smoke,
40:42 you have to do something to be happy.
40:45 How can you sit down and read that book and find happiness?
40:48 Well, beyond my comprehension.
40:50 But there was something that troubled me about this thing.
40:55 Could they have found God?
40:57 You see, when I was with the Vampires,
40:59 we had a drug party and in that drug party
41:05 while everybody was intoxicated.
41:06 We had four apartments upstairs on top of building
41:10 that we have rented and we'd 50 motorcyclists
41:12 that came like the Hells Angels to follow us around.
41:17 And when everybody was intoxicated,
41:20 somebody raise the question, who was God?
41:23 And we spent the whole night talking about God.
41:25 And I remember feeling so weird so strange about this.
41:29 Here we are all drugged up and we're talking about who?
41:32 God, we're trying to find out who God is.
41:35 And I remember the discussion as they were well today.
41:39 And when I left that place, I was afraid
41:43 because I thought if there's a God, I'm in trouble.
41:47 And I don't want to keep that thought in my mind.
41:50 So, here I'm confronted with it again.
41:53 My brother is baptized, he's crying,
41:55 as he comes out of the pool, in front of all those people,
41:57 200 people, he's crying.
41:59 I can't understand it. I'm home now.
42:02 And I'm thinking about this whole thing
42:03 and I began to feel like I was been pursued.
42:06 Do you understand what I'm saying?
42:07 And I wanted to escape, I wanted to get out of here.
42:09 But also I felt, if there is a God
42:11 and I'm running, He'll know I'm running
42:13 so how could I get out of this
42:15 without Him thinking I'm running?
42:18 Well, finally it was time to go
42:22 and I said, okay, well, I have to go,
42:23 the time is up and he can't get upset with me, you see.
42:27 Well, I got a telephone call, it's been postponed.
42:31 I felt I was trapped.
42:33 Then I realized I was gonna have to face it.
42:35 So I decided, all right, I am gonna test this.
42:42 Because I began to think, I wish I could be like him,
42:45 secretly, I never told him that
42:46 but I wish I could be like him.
42:48 I wish I could get rid of all this stuff
42:50 that think I have to do in order to be happy.
42:53 I wish I could find the happiness that they have.
42:56 But you know human pride doesn't allow you
42:59 to be honest with yourself, isn't that true?
43:01 You may feel a deep need.
43:04 And so I decided to go to a dance
43:07 and when I got to the dance it was at the Saint George Hotel
43:10 there in Brooklyn, New York.
43:12 There were nine bands playing right after the other,
43:14 nonstop music and I began to dance.
43:17 I was a professional dancer
43:18 and here I was on the dance floor doing the--
43:22 in those days, the monkey, the chicken,
43:23 the dog, the waddle and those were the names.
43:26 And all those names mean that person who is doing it
43:29 would act like monkey or act like a chicken
43:31 or waddle like a duck, you like a duck waddles
43:35 or acting like a dog in heat, okay.
43:38 And this was the most immoral dance there was.
43:42 But anyway here all these people--
43:45 by the way in those days
43:46 their hair-do was of course the beehive.
43:48 Any of you remember the beehive?
43:49 Came up like that like a beehive.
43:52 And so here are all these young people dancing
43:54 and jumping up and down and all.
43:56 finally I got tired, I got up to the balcony
43:58 and decided to look over to see
44:00 another girl I could find to dance with.
44:02 And as I'm looking over the dance floor
44:03 all of sudden I'm seeing in these people
44:05 you know, jumping up and down,
44:07 some like a monkey's and some like chickens
44:09 and some like ducks and--
44:11 and all of a sudden it struck me, that's living?
44:23 It's as if though my eyes were open.
44:27 I was disgusted.
44:32 And even more so to think that I was down there with them
44:39 playing the role, acting like I was happy
44:44 when in reality I knew there was something missing.
44:49 And then I thought to myself I saw evolution in reverse.
44:53 Here intelligent, nice looking young peoples
44:57 thinking that in order to be happy
45:00 you have to lower yourself to be an animal.
45:07 And then I looked up to the ceiling
45:10 and I said, "God, if you're there
45:14 do for me what you've done for my brothers.
45:18 I don't want to continue this way anymore."
45:21 But I didn't know what really what I was doing.
45:25 It is one thing to make that decision
45:27 it's another thing to know what you'll do next.
45:29 I went home and when I got home,
45:34 my miserable life came before me.
45:37 Friends, it's an awful thing to stand as if though
45:41 you're before that judge of all the all universe.
45:45 Someone you can't hide from,
45:48 someone who knows all that you have ever done.
45:51 And I had never felt
45:53 or experienced something like that before.
45:56 But as I began to think it seemed like
45:58 my whole life is coming before me.
46:00 All the measurable things, all the wicked things,
46:03 how hard I have become
46:04 and how deep I've got into drugs etcetera.
46:08 And I began to pray, it's all I can say.
46:13 I don't know I was praying at that time
46:15 but I began to talk to God
46:18 and I asked Him, "God, change me, help me."
46:22 And as I was praying all of a sudden
46:25 I felt something wet coming down my face
46:27 something warm and wet and I'd never--
46:30 I mean, it'd been years since I've ever cried.
46:33 Do you understand?
46:35 And as I feel something wet
46:37 I touched my face to find out what's going on.
46:39 And I looked its tears, I'm crying.
46:43 Then I realized it was
46:46 as if though I'd been dead all this time.
46:49 And for the first time I was feeling
46:54 and as I began to feel
46:57 there seemed to be peace that came over me,
47:00 such a sweet peace.
47:03 And then I realized that I'd all these habits
47:08 and I said, "Oh God, take them from me."
47:16 And when I stood up there was this sense that came over me
47:24 that it was all gone.
47:29 And as I looked back from that second
47:33 and I felt like it was like gone.
47:35 To this day I've never felt the desire
47:39 for marijuana, for drugs,
47:43 for alcohol or any of those things.
47:47 I was free instantly.
47:53 My friends, I needed that evidence
47:58 that there was a God in heaven that could hear
48:02 and not just hears but answer prayers.
48:06 What do you say? I needed that.
48:10 And then I went to look at myself in the mirror.
48:14 And as I looked at the mirror and saw myself there,
48:16 I couldn't believe it how far I'd fallen
48:20 from what I used to be as a boy.
48:25 I had saw my long hair, it was ashamed.
48:30 I remember my mother use to be ashamed
48:33 that I would dress like that, but I didn't care.
48:38 I remember I used to promise mother
48:39 that I would buy her a house and all that.
48:41 I forgot all about her.
48:44 I became so self-centered, so lost
48:47 in my quest to feel complete.
48:51 And finally, as I opened my heart to the Lord
48:57 it was the first time in my life that I felt complete.
49:06 I called the Comets and quit.
49:07 They didn't understand, why.
49:09 I didn't know how to explain it to them.
49:11 How do you tell somebody that, that God has changed your life
49:14 when they don't even know, what that means?
49:17 And so if you on the website Bill Haley & The Comets,
49:21 this is what they say about me.
49:24 "Lou Torres, Puerto Rico-born, musician who replaced Al Rappa
49:28 on bass guitar for a tour in late 1967 and 1968.
49:32 Prior to working with Haley,
49:34 Torres was member of a group called The Vampires.
49:38 Around his time with The Comets,
49:40 Torres found what? Religion.
49:45 Around his time with The Comets,
49:47 Torres found what? Religion."
49:50 They don't understand. They did not know.
49:53 All they heard was that I became what, religious.
49:57 Friends, I didn't become religious,
49:59 I became converted.
50:02 There is a difference, what do you say?
50:04 Amen.
50:05 There's a great difference.
50:08 "Well, assisted today in his 50's,
50:11 he is an Adventist minister, teaching theology in Austria.
50:16 At the time I was teaching
50:17 when they wrote this, in Austria.
50:20 He has also written several books,
50:22 lectures on the satellite TV network 3ABN.
50:26 After leaving The Comets, Torres and his wife
50:28 began performing religious classical music
50:31 and in 1974 were regular performers
50:33 on New York City TV programs."
50:38 That's what they have to say about me.
50:46 I was so glad that I could find a way to escape.
50:51 And I decided to get baptized.
50:53 Let me tell you something there's some people
50:54 who wait years and years and years to get baptized.
50:57 When you know you have cancer,
51:01 What did I say?
51:03 When you know you have cancer you don't want to what?
51:06 you don't want to wait.
51:08 I went to the pastor and I said "Look, I want to get baptized."
51:10 He said, "You haven't taken Bible studies."
51:12 I said, "I don't need Bible studies.
51:15 I'm convinced, I believe God has changed my life
51:21 and I know whom I believe."
51:22 He said "Well, you got to take Bible studies."
51:25 I said, "Give me some."
51:26 I looked at them and when I looked that stack
51:28 I thought it will take me to millennium to finish them off.
51:31 I thought I'll never get baptized.
51:34 And I said, "Look, please, I want to baptized.
51:37 I want to have all my sins washed away.
51:40 I want to start the new life with God."
51:44 He said, "Will you give me a word
51:45 that you'll stick with it?"
51:48 I said, "You got more than my word,
51:50 I have quit the band, I left everything behind."
51:53 You know what I did with my equipment?
51:55 I sold it for $20, all of it.
52:00 You know what I did with my tuxedos?
52:03 I gave them to the poor.
52:06 You know what I did with all my rings?
52:08 I threw them in the garbage.
52:10 Now you may think that's crazy.
52:13 But friends, I was so thankful
52:17 that I could be delivered from all of the encumbrances
52:21 that the world brings upon me
52:24 that I was willing to give up everything.
52:27 But my fear came if I become a Christian I'll never any fun.
52:32 And what will I do?
52:34 I thought I'll end up working
52:35 in a dungy factory for the rest of my life.
52:38 Something that I thought it was very humiliating.
52:43 But finding completeness was more important to me
52:49 than the humiliation that would come
52:50 from working in the factory.
52:52 So you know what I did?
52:53 I went and worked in the factory.
52:58 Didn't think it was so bad after all.
53:00 And from that I was then became honest.
53:06 I had four girls all that I have been lying too.
53:10 I was smart enough to have them in different state
53:12 do you understand?
53:15 I went to all of them told them
53:17 that I'd been a rotten liar all this time.
53:22 But now I'd become a Christian
53:23 and I wanted to follow the Lord.
53:25 They didn't understand,
53:27 they had no idea what was going on, but I did.
53:32 I wanted to follow our Lord so much
53:34 that it didn't matter to me
53:35 what I had to sacrifice as hard it would be.
53:39 And so left everything, left all my friends
53:42 worked in a factory became honest and I got drafted.
53:47 And the Lord did for me
53:49 something that I'd never dreamed of.
53:51 I thought I would end up the rest of my life
53:53 in dungy factory until the Lord would come the second time.
53:56 That was okay with me. I didn't mind.
53:58 It didn't matter to me.
54:00 It was hard dropping from all the money I was making
54:02 to a $150 a week but it was all right
54:07 I was now complete.
54:09 And that's what mattered, you understand.
54:11 Oh friends, listen,
54:13 perhaps some of you have been in a quest
54:16 trying to find completeness in this and that,
54:18 find completeness in a bottle.
54:21 But if they only knew where they trying to find God.
54:24 There are people who're trying to find
54:25 completeness in woman or man,
54:28 my friends, God has reserved the spot
54:30 for Himself in your heart
54:32 that nothing can satisfy, what did I say?
54:38 God has reserved the spot in your heart
54:41 that nothing will ever satisfy.
54:44 So I went to the Pastor, asked him to baptize me.
54:48 Thank the Lord he baptized me, April 13th, 1968.
54:54 When I came up under the water,
54:57 it was like taking a dump load off garbage of my shoulders.
55:03 It was so great to at last find peace,
55:07 peace within and have my sins washed away.
55:11 What do you say?
55:14 I committed myself to the Lord
55:17 and the Lord had other plans for me.
55:20 Even in the military I ended performing in choirs.
55:26 I married a beautiful young lady, Carol
55:28 and she was a concert violinist
55:32 and we began to join our instruments together,
55:36 guitar and violin and began to perform
55:40 rather than singing rocker on the clock,
55:42 we began to sing Rock of Ages.
55:47 We brought joy to people, singing that which uplifts
55:51 and which strengthens the lives of people.
55:55 Now friends, listen,
55:58 the old man, Solomon
56:03 thought he could find completeness in things,
56:06 but finally he says, "That all was" what?
56:10 All was what? "Vanity."
56:13 Now friends, listen,
56:14 you'll only find completeness in the Lord.
56:17 What do you say? Amen.
56:19 Only in Christ, can you find completeness.
56:22 I wonder is there someone here today
56:25 who would like to open up there hearts to the Lord
56:27 and say, "Oh Lord, I want to find that completeness.
56:32 I want to find that fullness in You."
56:34 Is there someone here
56:35 who would like to lift their hand up to heaven?
56:37 Amen.
56:39 Listen, let's pray together shall we?
56:41 Our Father in heaven, how grateful we are that You
56:46 and Your mercy though you watch us
56:48 and see what we do in our lives,
56:51 though it pains You to see what we do,
56:54 yet in Your mercy You trace us
56:59 and You have never allowed anything to fill that spot
57:03 that You've reserved for yourself.
57:06 And we now know that the only thing
57:09 that you can do is to open our hearts to You.
57:11 Lord Jesus, make us complete, we pray in Jesus name, amen.


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Revised 2014-12-17