INTRODUCTION
Easily enough, Rich is a fellow that I have always seen at numerous punk shows not only as a fellow fan, but as a performer also. When he started talking about starting a blog but wasn't necessarily ready, I offered him a spot for whatever he wanted to write on Thwart...! until he gets in a spot to establish his own... So, that's that and read on. Thanks. -Shawn A
9-9-15 5:33 pm
I'm Richard. Rich, to my friends.
In 1991 I served some time in prison for assaulting a nazi skinhead. Due to a mixup involving a less-than-intelligent police officer, a mix-up in paperwork, and an intractable bureaucracy , i served my time under the name Richard Wood. I was born Richard W-----. All my mail had to be addressed to Richard Wood 247-039. My laminated inmate badge said Wood Richard: 247-039.
I'm only telling you this in order to explain why some people know me as Rich W-----, others as Richard Wood. Around 1994, i started performing, writing, and recording under the name Richard Wood. It seemed the thing to do.
Now that that's out of the way, I can tell you the thing that'll make you hate me, Ok? I cheated on my last girlfriend. Not just once...that could be counted as an anomaly and written off as a "heat of the moment" kind of thing. No... After spending 7 years together, i had an affair. I slowly, over time, fell in love with another woman...and she with me (unless she actually didn't, but we'll probably get into that later.) and we had an actual affair over the course of many months. Those of you who wish to stop reading now and find something else to do may certainly do so. For those of you who are continuing on with me, I imagine i will be explaining many of the circumstances involved in leading to this situation. I'm not going to try to justify it in any way. It was definitely a shitty thing to do. There are countless ways in which i could have handled things differently long before the possibility of falling for someone else even arose. But i didn't.
I'm not going to be naming any of the other players involved, but if you already know me, you probably have at least some inkling. Still... I hope to preserve their anonymity as best I can.