When I was 15, after school I frequently walked with a few of my buddies to Bud’s Pool Hall to smoke cigarettes, shoot a few games of pool, play the pinball machines, and see what kind of trouble we could get into. On this particular day, as we neared the pool hall, we walked past a storefront with a sign in the window that said, “HELP WANTED FOR NEW PIZZA SHOP. Apply within.” One of my buddies said to me, “JayDog, let’s go apply for a job!” I said, “Sounds good to me, Jose!” The rest of my buddies kept on walking to the pool hall while Jose and I went into the pizza place to try our best to land our first job.
Once inside the front door, I noticed the place was still under construction, but the bar was almost complete, so we walked up to the bar and sat down. A man in the back had seen us come in and quickly came over to the bar and said, “Hey there boys, my name is Anthony Minero and I am the owner of the pizza place. How can I help you today?” The dude seemed so nice and friendly, so I replied right back, “We are here to apply for a job.” For the next 25 minutes, we talked with the owner about working for him. I asked a lot of questions and carried most of the conversation, while my buddy just sat there listening. The owner took down both of our names and numbers and said he would call us if we got the job.
The next day Mr. Minero called me and told me I had the job! I was ecstatic. Long story short, I loved that job, especially because as a fringe benefit, I could eat and drink as much as I wanted! Wow. Had I died and gone to the big Pizza Pie in the Sky? I loved pizza. I loved beer, too, but beer was off-limits because I was only 15, or at least I thought so at first. It wasn’t but a few days into the job that I became enlightened to the fact that beer was off-limits to me, but only in the public’s eye. As long as the customers could not see me, I could drink beer in the backroom. I worked my ass off at that pizza place. With fringe bennies like free beer and pizza, hot waitresses to flirt with, and a party atmosphere every night, my high school days were some of the best years of my life! I was having a blast partying every night and making money! I loved the concept of making every day a party, which is partly why I am telling you this story.
By working 40 hours a week while attending high school, in 1970 (at the age of 17), I had saved enough “dinero” to buy my first car. That car was no ordinary car. No way. My first set of wheels was a 1969 light blue VW Beetle with Empi wheels and black racing stripes down both sides of the car. I bought that bug from my brother-in-law who had bought it brand new for $2,000 at Don Sharp Motors in Oceanside, California. Now he offered to sell it to me for $1,100 and I was on that deal like cheese on a pizza. I tell you this story because that chain of events started my lifelong love of VW Bugs and Buses that eventually lead to me purchasing a VW Bus, I called the Magic Bus.
Flash forward to 1985. I am in San Diego, working in a health food store and still living the hippie life. At that time, I was living in a hippie house out by San Diego State University. Perhaps I should be clear on this. I wasn’t living in the house. Instead I was living in a tent in the backyard. Because I had a roof over my head (a tent), I sold my VW Bus and replaced it with a 1971 dark blue VW Bug. After a few years of living in the tent I decided to go back to living in a VW Bus. Only problem, I owned a bug not a bus. So I sold my bug and bought a really nice 1970 VW Bus in Vista, California for a great price. I moved all my stuff from the tent to my new VW Bus (which took all of about 10 minutes), and I was “On the Road Again,” as Canned Heat once said.
I like to give special names to my bugs, buses, and friends. This bus, I called “The Magic Bus.” I drove it for years and lived in it off and on until the mid-1990s when I went more corporate in my business and sold the Magic Bus to a friend who lived at one of the hippie houses I lived in. Flash forward to 2020. It had been a few decades since I owned a VW Bus, or lived in one, and I was missing the Magic Bus. Out of the blue, a buddy of mine from high school reached out on Facebook to say hi. We reconnected and reminisced for a few messages, then talked on the phone one day. I discovered that he had retired as a very successful architect and as a hobby he opened a shop that built old-school hot rods like 1969 SS 396 Chevelles, big block GTOs, souped up Model A’s, and other Muscle Cars from back in the day.
During the conversation, my buddy Rick mentioned that he had an old 1974 VW Bus body he was going to fully restore and drop an electric Tesla motor into for a customer of his, but the deal fell through. So I said, “Hey, why don’t you build it for me?” I had been looking for a new “Magic Bus” for the past four years without any luck at all. And now, God was tossing this unbelievable opportunity right in my lap—and the whole deal had come out of the blue. Well, maybe not out of the blue. I had been prayin’ to the Big Kahuna upstairs about what to do for a VW Bus and it appears my prayer was answered—and then some! Not just a gasoline powered VW Bus but a fully rebuilt and customized Tesla powered bus that would soon become my new MAGIC BUS!
As I write this now, my new Magic Bus is being custom built. That bus will be dropped, chopped, and equipped with a Tesla motor. It will be sportin’ Steeelie wheels with a peace sign in the center knockout, low-profile tires, tucked and pleated upholstery, air conditioning, killer teal and black paint, my logo/emblem on the doors, and a stereo system that will do high-volume justice to all my songs. I am so excited about this project and my new bus that I wrote a song about it, appropriately titled, “Magic Bus.” I love that song and I know you will too! It has lots of cool sound effects, voice overs, and a great guitar riff that will bring you back for more. It is a mixture of catchy lyrics, a fun story, a really cool interlude, and a killer chorus line. I wrote this story while fantasizing about driving my new Magic Bus up and down the Beach Road in North Palm Beach and Juno Beach where I live and where my offices are. The lyrics are below:
Peace and love
The G.O.P.
MAGIC BUS
By The G.O.P.
I’m cruisin’ in style
Every tropical mile
Far out falls short of this feelin’
Wind in my hair
Hardly a care
Peace and love is what I am dealin’
Oh yeah…
Girl by my side
She’s a sexy ass ride
I knew her before she was born
The love of my life
I call her my wife
She’s my best friend and the star of my porn
Oh yeah…
CHORUS
Magic Bus Magic Bus
Love my little Magic Bus
Magic Bus Magic Bus
Pause (only instrumental)
Magic Bus Magic Bus
Love my little Magic Bus
Magic Bus Magic Bus
Pause (only instrumental)
Windows are chopped
Body’s been dropped
The inside is chilled like iced tea
New shoes and socks
This ride really rocks
Custom made for the G.O.P.
Oh yeah…
Cruisin’ the street
Beatin’ the heat
Ocean air blows my stress away
Hangin’ real loose
Like a little papoose
Peace is my word for the day
Oh yeah…
CHORUS
Magic Bus Magic Bus
Love my little Magic Bus
Magic Bus Magic Bus
Pause (only instrumental)
Magic Bus Magic Bus
Love my little Magic Bus
Magic Bus Magic Bus
Pause (only instrumental)
Feelin so free
Just bein’ me
My bus always keeps me so chill
I’m Naughty and nice
I Love paradise
Hangin’ loose is my favorite thrill
Oh yeah…
