Cuba to open its Doors to ‘Morrison’ man

MAX SULLIVAN News Editor msullivan.roundupnews@gmail.com

soldiers in the 20-year-long Vietnam War.

“We have better relations with Vietnam than we have with Cuba,” Fernandez said. “That is due to the strong Cuban-American lobbyists, who have been dictating the policy of Washington toward, Cuba. When Watergate happened the robbers were Cubans.”

Fernandez is excited about Cuba beginning to open up to the world, and believes music can play a significant role in connecting people. He thinks the two music worlds can collaborate to spawn a new genre of music.

“Just like the Spaniards when they came and crossed AfroCuban with Spaniard-European and created salsa, and the flip side of salsa is Latin Jazz,“ Fernandez said. “We could create rock-AfroCuban.”

Fernandez grew up in Los Angeles, distanced from his Cuban roots and other Cuban immigrants who largely reside in Florida. He is the youngest child of well-educated dentists, who attended USC and UCLA respectively.

“What I’m hoping is to sit down [in Cuba] and share experiences and say what was your experience,” Fernandez said. “Oh, well this was my experience, and somehow connect, and start a new experience.”

His father was politically involved in the anti-Castro movement, which opened his son’s eyes to political science. The philosophies of Jim Morrison led Fernandez to question authority, especially that of his own abusive father.

Fernandez began drinking when he was 14 or 15 years old. The problem grew with binge drinking while partying in the music scene.

He said he was emotionally stunted as a teenager, and unable to cope with life’s problems until he found sobriety in his 40s.

“On the outside, it looked like I had the perfect life,” Fernandez said. “I was a college professor, an international rock star, and I was dating playboy centerfold bunnies and it was all good. On the inside I was completely empty and spiritually bankrupt.”

Internally, Fernandez held a secret. Alcohol was killing him and he knew it, but he would not tell a doctor because he knew they would tell him to stop drinking.

“For over a year I would have these strange bowel movements and it was just pure blood that would come out,” Fernandez said. “I knew I was dying.”

His music career was taking off in 2011, but he had reached rock bottom by the time he dreamed his own death in France and visited the grave of Jim Morrison, who died in a Paris bathtub at 27.

“Alcohol leads to death, jail or mental institutions,” Fernandez said. “And none of them sounded good to me. For me it was death.”

When Fernandez returned stateside he attempted to quit drinking but relapsed backstage at shows a couple times. Then he turned to MusiCares, an organization that helps musicians during hard times.

“The problem was that when I realized ‘hey, I really want to stop,’ I couldn’t,” Fernandez said.

The vocalist did not envision a long future while in the depths of severe alcohol abuse.

“A while back Tony was saying we [Peace Frog] probably have a good ten years left,” said Peace Frog drummer Bobby Breton.

“Now that he is healed, we have many more years left. That is the beauty about sobering up.”

In recovery, Fernandez had to apologize to those around him including his bandmates for his behavior. Once becoming sober and having more clarity on life, the hardest person to forgive, was himself. At one point in life Fernandez was okay with digging his own grave, but it was not the end. He is now approaching five years sober, and got married 1 ½ years ago. Fernandez now looks toward the future. He dreamed this death, but it sparked a new beginning, an opportunity Morrison never had.

Morrison inspired Fernandez to question the status quo and stand up to his own father. Now Fernandez hopes to inspire students to face their addictions, and realize their potential to achieve a bright future.

Fernandez preference was beer, but he notices when attending 12 step meetings that the younger generation is hooked on prescription pills, especially opiates.

”I want students to know that there is help and that silence equals death,” Fernandez said. “You can’t do it by yourself. I couldn’t do it by myself.”