(upbeat music)
- My name is Victor Paterson, US Army.
I served in the military from 1982 to 1984.
Started drumming at a young age, you know, as a kid,
watching my brother's practice.
Actually got my first drum set at 14.
I would play all day, you know,
just when I got at school until late at night,
just playing my first professional Vegas 16
was with Walter Hawkins.
He's the brother of Edwin Hawkins Oh, happy day.
Moms would have to even sign permission slips for me to play
at the club because I was too young.
A friend of mine, we had played in a local band
called Spectrum.
And Mike called and said, hey, Vick,
we are dissident drummers.
I said for what? he said for towel.
And I went, didn't think that I did very well,
but I got the call back.
I was actually working
as the electromechanical drafts person, at that point.
It was either take the gig or keep the job, right?
So I quit my job.
(Victor giggling)
You know, I mean,
I didn't want to do anything else.
Just wanted to play drums.
And that's when I was introduced to the cocaine, the liquor,
the woman, and it kind of took a turn, you know man,
caught up with me.
I ended up in the end, Sold my drums,
been lost and confused ever since basically,
you know, back and forth.
I had some clean time, but from that point on, it was like,
yeah, that addiction terrible thing.
That's why I'm so thankful for this program.
- My name is Kristin Grillo.
I'm a music therapist
here at the VA Palo Alto healthcare system.
We utilize music as the tool
or the roadmap to address the client's therapeutic needs.
So a music therapist isn't necessarily a music teacher,
for example,
but rather someone who will play music with their client
or talk about music or listen to music
and look at music,
in order to get to the root
of whatever that client is working on.
That can mean mantal health.
It can mean physical health,
music suits many, many ailments.
The military is very specific way of living
and it gets ingrained in you.
And when you're no longer in the military,
the structure completely shifts
and you're dealing with a whole host of things
that your average civilian doesn't necessarily understand.
- I didn't know, I would have all this available to me.
The housing dealing with my emotions,
my feelings, music is I've been waiting
on this for a while.
man.
I was telling Kristin, I'm so glad that this is open.
And now just being in here playing,
it's like, oh man, having,
it's kind of like, I wanna re-start my career.
You know what I mean?
(Victor laughing)
- Music is the universal language.
A veteran can come
in with whom I have very little in common.
I don't know his or her story.
They don't know my story,
but we can sit in a room together and sing
or play the guitar,
or even just listen to tunes and connect.
Sometimes it's really hard to come up with the words
to express your own thoughts and feelings,
but you can play a song for me.
And like, I get it,
you know, or I can play a song for you and you get it.
This is where I'm at right now.
- Just a little time,
I was in there, me and her, practicing.
I just left the space.
You know, I mean to playing. It took me somewhere else.
You know, just the mental part, the spiritual part.
I'm 60 something years old, man.
And this would be the first time that I'm actually able to
be independent.
I have my own place.
I'll have, you know, a life of my own.
You know what I mean? If I can just touch one,
to come to this program, man, it would be a blessing.
(upbeat music)