Les Talent

Les calls us from the after life?
“Yeah right” is the usual response. Well, a few months before Les died I recorded him on my cell phone playing the Bass line to I Want To Get Away (Lenny Kravitz) at the now defunked Cruzin’ 66/Fast Eddies location. That riff made a great ringtone and that was that. Les got a kick out of it and would call me when I was in his room hanging out just to hear it. Don’t get me wrong, he hated the song but, would belt out his famous and sarcastic “Haaaaa” when he heard it go off. Everyone who knows Les knows that particular laugh.

A couple months later our phone was de-activated due to non-payment. Stephs kids ran up a $2000 bill so, you get the idea. We have never had another cellphone or any cellular service since. After all, who really needs one? We are not on the road allot so, not us. We also realized we were capable of planning ahead and actually communicating without a cellphone so, no cellphones needed here. We decided we would rather use the money we save each year to go on a cruise.

I kept the phone charged and used it as an alarm clock. (Still do to this day.) One of our cats wakes us up every morning and her “wake up” meow is what I recorded for the alarm tone. (Just in case she forgets to wake us in person.)

About a year after Les passed, at 2:18 am on a Saturday morning, we were awakened by a call from Les. Incoming call, new voice message, missed call the works. That is about the time Les may need a ride after a gig. Our phone service had been suspended for well over a year. We tried to check the voice message but, no service available. Our old number has long been re-assigned. We kind of blew the event off since we were just lucid.

A few days later it happened again. About the same time. I picked it up and said “hello”. Nothing there. Another new voice message was indicated. I closed the phone and went back to sleep. A few minutes later Les called again! I yelled some choice words because I needed some sleep and getting more than 3 hours in a row is rare for me. The ringtone riff stopped playing.

The next day I went through the phone with a fine tooth comb. I did not know why it was doing this. At that point in time I suspected nothing more than a glitch or a dying phone freaking out. I also suspected there may be some alarm, notification or alert inadvertently assigned to Les’ ringtone. I found nothing.

That same day I was watching Montel. Sylvia Brown (the very famous psychic) was on the show. There was a lady in the audience who said about a year after her father died her phone would ring and there would be no-one there. Usually around the same time of day. Sylvia said that was a very common occurrence. People who have passed on letting you know they made it (or something like that). I instantly got chills down my spine upon realizing what may be happening. I told Steph about what Sylvia said, skeptical, Steph did her own research. She confirmed what Sylvia said. This phenomenom is actually very common.

Well, we waited for Les to call and wake us again. I guess I should not have yelled at him because another six weeks passed and he never called. Steph and I talked about the occurrence frequently and began to realize it may actually have really been Les calling. He did live with us for two years and many of his things are still here. I have never removed two rings he wore at gigs from my fingers either. Additionally, Marmal is buried under his bedroom window where she would always wait his arrival. There are many emotional ties to Les here.

One night as Steph and I discussed Les, Steph looked up to the ceiling and said “I’m sorry we got mad at you for calling Les”. I looked up and re-iterated the fact. Adding “I won’t yell at you anymore, wake us up whenever you want. You know I always enjoy hearing you play but, keep it to a minimum will ya!” Steph and I both looked at each other in silence for a few seconds as we both got a simultaneous feeling that we were actually heard.

The night after that one, Les called again. He continues to do so to this day. Sometimes a week or two in between and sometimes 4 or 5 nights in a row. Always after midnight and always before 5am. He even called us this morning 11/15/2008. We have exhausted every possibility of phone glitches or whatever. Even Sprint said that it cannot happen, period. There is no way that phone can receive a call or message and there are no settings outside of our cats meowing alarm at 6am.

There is no way I will ever delete Les’ riff tone from my phone. Although he wakes us, we feel honored that he takes the time to let us know he is still out there and that he cares. I am even buying a couple new batteries for the phone (a Motorola Razor) for the inevitable point in time when the original battery begins to fail. We hope Les continues to call us up until we personally meet him in the afterworld. Then, it will be payback time.

Update: Well it’s July 2009 and we have not had a call from Les for about three months now.  I guess we got boring. I hesitate to stir things up.

The calls tapered off to one every week or two and never more than once a week.  Really is amazing to me still. I sure don’t miss getting calls in the wee hours.

The fact that our cell phone was ringing the ringtone I set for Les, at the time span when he usually called me, out of the HUNDREDS of tones on the phone, with this phenomenom quite common, still leads me to believe it was Les.

This intrigued me enough to visit a haunted prison in Moundsville WV. WOW! See my site to check out the pics! James Conzett.com There is one obvious shot that is just quite odd. There is another that someone pointed out to me that is quite disturbing. There is something going on in that prison for sure.

August 2009 update:
Well, I thought the calls had stopped. He called twice last week (08/20 + 21). Maybe he wants the password to his blog here?

Speaking of blogs, if anyone has access to the Lest Talent myspace stuff please delete it. His family is still very upset that it is still there.

February 2010 update:
No, he did not stop calling! New years day, just after midnight. Also a couple times here and there. We pretty much take it in stride now, we just yell “Hi Les” and continue on with whatever. My son heard it happen one night, freaked him right the hell out. We will keep the phone charged for you Les, you are the only reason we even keep it on. Who needs cell service anyhow when your friends from beyond needn’t dial!