Adsactly Music - The Night we Saved the Late Great Barry White's Life

In the 1970’s, Barry White was one of the biggest music icons as much as he is one of the biggest music legends today. His bass-baritone voice captivated fans worldwide and his music is regularly played throughout the world today. In those days it was harder to reach the international music fans as an American artist because there wasn't the internet and social media. There were only his sultry R&B songs fused with soul and he is one of the few artists whose music has lasted, spanning across five decades.

In 1977, Barry White had the number one R&B single “It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me” and a year later I was born. I still laugh when I reminisce about my father telling me that because of Barry White many babies were made in the 1970s, and how I was one of those babies. My memory of Barry White seems more surreal every passing year, even though I once told the story on the second episode of “Music Talks.”

A Close Estimate of Time

I'm really glad there were other exact events that happened continuously leading up to my ”Iron Man moment” as he took the nuke through the portal in Avengers. I left a recording session with platinum recording artist Down AKA Kilo from Oxnard, California, and headed back to San Fernando Valley. I had just featured on his first album called “ My 40 Ounce” on a song called “ Hoes.” To me, the song “Hoes” is still a West Coast Hip Hop Classic to this day if you're reading this, Down. I met my brother from another mother Al and crashed at his house from studio exhaustion. I was there to help Al's mother move from Long Beach, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.

The following day we drove to Long Beach, California and loaded his Nissan Sentra for the first of 3 trips without the U-Haul truck they rented. By the time we got done loading the car, packing more stuff and hanging out with Al’s family, it was almost midnight. The time was ideal for Al because he enjoyed driving late night from California to Las Vegas on the I-15 Highway. It was also Valentine's Day 1998 because I remember Al’s younger brother Art joke about how we were each other's valentine driving to Las Vegas together eloping late at night.

We drove as quickly as possible to get outside county lines and on the highway. Growing up in Los Angeles California in the 1980s and 1990s and running into police with a car full of stuff after midnight, may not have been favorable for any person of color (still not advisable). When we got outside of county lines, we stopped to get gas and fill up on snacks. On road trips to Las Vegas, I normally grab a box of Garcia Vega cigarillos, an assortment of chocolate bars and the sweetest sodas. I had my first apartment in Las Vegas, Nevada when I was 17 years old so I was looking forward to returning and seeing some old friends that trip.

The Fastest Furious

Al and I were way past the halfway point on our drive to Las Vegas, Nevada on the I-15 Highway early morning after Valentine's Day night around 2 a.m. We both had been packing furniture that day so there was a bit of fatigue and we had Red Bulls to help us help keep each other awake. There were hardly any cars on the highway and we had been following a Peterbilt truck for a long stretch a few car lengths behind. We were grateful for the company and we didn't want to risk Al falling asleep behind the wheel if we were the only car on the highway.

As Al and I conversed about our friends and all the cute girls we were dating I noticed him looking into the rear view mirror a number of times. I asked Al, “ Do you see something? is everything okay? Is it the highway patrol?” Al said the car that had been slowly gaining on us seems to be drunk or something but he couldn't see clearly because it was dark. I then looked into the passenger side mirror and saw the bronze Jaguar XJ8 he was referring to. The Jaguar was swerving between the two lanes and was closely approaching. I told Al to be ready to maneuver in case the Jaguar came close to our side.

Our Nissan Sentra was in the fast lane and in front of us was our Peterbilt truck friend. In the United States, the fast lane is the left lane so when the Jaguar approached and passed us it did so in the right slow lane. The Jaguar was so close as it passed us it left very little room for error on a speeding highway but it did allow me to see that the driver has fallen asleep behind the wheel. At this point, the Jaguar was swaying on the speeding highway past a Sentra and now on the side of a Peterbilt truck. Halfway through the truck’s container, the Jaguar drifts off road halfway into the sand kicking up dust, traveling about 80 miles per hour.

Al gave me that look and said, “ They're going to die aren't they?” I responded by saying, “ Unfortunately yes, unless we do something this second.” Without hesitation, Al put everything his Nissan Sentra had left with all the weight holding us down. At first, it felt like a BMX bicycle trying to catch a Ducati motorcycle but Al didn't give up. At some point, the Sentra gave us it's reserved power and we caught the Jaguar despite being weighed down. The Peterbilt truck saw what was going on and let us cut him off. I told Al we are going to have to wake him up and to keep honking the horn as I try to flag him down.

If you've never stuck half of your body out of a moving vehicle at 75 miles per hour, please don't ever try it. I suppose we were out of choices but I was holding on for dear life. As we came up side by side with the Jaguar, Al started honking his horn and the Peterbilt Truck followed pulling his massive horn. I was repeatedly screaming at the top of my lungs, “You gotta wake up!!! Wake up!!!” Al is yelling for me to get back in the car as we were approaching another car in the fast lane. Then in one brilliant moment, it seems as if the universe rearranged itself for us and the driver of the Jaguar woke up and took control of his vehicle. He quickly pulls his vehicle fully back on the right-hand slow lane. We are still moving over 75 miles per hour so I gave him the “are you okay?” hand gesture and the driver responded with a thumbs up.

I quickly returned back into the car so Al can cut the Jaguar off to avoid the slower car in the fast lane. The Jaguar and the Peterbilt truck slows down but we were able to maintain our speed, leaving everyone behind.

As Al was excitedly saying how crazy that was, the song “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” was playing in my mind. I said to Al, “ Bro, that's Barry White.” Al started laughing and said no way that could be Barry White. My hands were shaking as I lit a Garcia Vega cigarillo from hanging out of a moving car over 75 miles per hour.

Halfway through my cigarillo, I saw Al nervously look into the rearview mirror again and drastically slow down. This time we were in the slow lane and we saw the same Jaguar once again swiftly approaching. This time it looked like the driver was in full control and drove up even with our car in the left fast lane. He drove even with us for a few seconds so Al rolled down his window. The driver then rolled down his window, turned on his car light and in a very familiar bass-baritone voice yelled out, “Thank you, guys.” He sped off with the horse power of a Jaguar looking awake and refreshed. As he drove off, I saw the writing on the rear license plate spell out "BWHITE."

Al turned to me with a look of shock with a bit of awe and said, “Yo! That’s Barry White!”

Authored by:

@stewsak

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