K is for Kissing

I am participating in the 2016 A-to-Z Blog Challenge. My theme is the music of my life.

There was a lot going on the summer before my sophomore year of high school. I would no longer be attending Madison High School but would be transferring to Marshall High School at the beginning of the following school year. This was my own choice and a goal I'd worked hard to achieve (with the determined help of my longsuffering mother).

I was also heavily involved in a local drama company called Kids on Stage. Through a contact of the drama company, I learned of an audition for a low budget movie. Part of the audition involved kissing the male lead. I was horrified. At fifteen I had never kissed anyone. My fantasy was to kiss some hot, long-haired rocker, not a pimply-faced teenager. It galled me to think that my first kiss would not be with Jon Bon Jovi or Stephen Pearcy (or even someone who looked like them). Instead, it would be with a kid I did not like at all. He barely spoke to me in between audition takes. I did not want to kiss him. But I was a compliant kid and the director was telling me to do it, so I did. Blech.

Afterwards, the director offered me the part on the spot. All of the kids at the drama company were so excited for me and so were my parents. Strangely, I wasn't nearly as excited about it as everyone else. Over the next few days, I became less and less enthusiastic about the idea until my hesitation grew into near panic.

My family couldn't understand my sudden resistance, and the owner of the drama company was very disappointed (she had been a made an executive director and was already working on the set by that time). I couldn't explain my trepidation to everyone, but it was one of several times in my life when I felt a strong premonition against something.

Later, I found out through V--the owner of the drama company--that the girl who took my place eventually moved in with the director. V said she had excused herself from the role of executive director because she also felt something wasn't right.

Instead of making a movie that summer, I went to Tennessee and began taking guitar lessons...and fell in wild, teenage love with my guitar instructor (who was ten years my senior). Within a few months he would be my first real kiss...a scandalous story for next time...

Do you remember your first kiss?

H is for Hometown Rivers and Huey Lewis

I am participating in the A-to-Z Blog  Challenge this month. My theme is...the music of my life.

In 1983, director Mark Rydell and a movie crew from Universal Pictures moved into Kingsport, Tennessee and the surrounding areas to film the movie, The River, starring Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek. This was a really big deal in a small town like ours, and to have actors, directors, and producers from a big-name film company like Universal made people feel like our town had been put on the map. I auditioned for the role of one of the children even though I was much older than what they were looking for (I was eleven and they were looking for a six-year-old, but I figured it was worth a shot).

Many people’s homes in our area were rented out by members of the crew. I remember trick-or-treating at the home where the director was living. He wasn’t candy-ready, so he gave us fifty-cents a piece. Locals helped coach baseball and showed the actors how the other half lived. We showed up to watch scenes with Mel Gibson being filmed, and Sissy Spacek kept her horses at the same barn as ours. I even got to sing a song for her while sitting in her white BMW with her husband and eighteen-month-old daughter looking on. She was a lovely person. It was a really exciting time.

The River came out in 1984, and a lot of other interesting things were happening for me during that time. I was cast in a small-town production of Annie—nothing too exciting…I played an orphan—and this little foray into theater solidified a desire in me to act and sing (a passion of mine for many years thereafter). My stepmother gave birth to the first of two younger sisters, and Mom, her new husband, and I made plans to move to Washington, DC.

I turned twelve in 1984, and all sorts of wonderful movies were in the theaters like Ghostbusters, Footloose, and Sixteen Candles. The billboard charts were full of classic—80s songs like Huey Lewis and the News, Madonna, Pat Benatar, Night Ranger, and Eurythmics. Actually, there were too many good songs to mention them all. This was one of my favorite times of my life, and one of my favorite times for music.

What were some of your favorite 80s tunes?

E is for Endings

I am participating in an A-to-Z Blog challenge this month. My theme is ... The Music of My Life.

When I was nine years old, my mom and stepdad divorced. It was a terrible time, although I tried not to show it. My mom wasn't in great emotional shape, and I felt like I was the only thing holding her together. Everything was changing for us. We thought we would have to move in with my grandparents who lived a few doors down for us, so our little Chihuahua, Putt, had to be given away. The only man I ever remembered living with as a father was now living with someone else. My mom had to go back to work, and there was a lot of confusion and sadness all around.

I overheard a lot of things through adult conversations. Most of the things, I later found out, were true, crushing my view of love, marriage, and stability. But I didn't have time to deal with that right then. I was too worried about my mom.

My grandmother was my rock. She picked me up from school every day, helped me with my homework, and fed me dinner. My grandparents, Carol and Big Whit, lived only a few doors down from us, so they were my second (and sometimes first) home.

Endings are always hard, but they are especially hard for kids...and especially when they encompass the end of people. I only saw my stepfather a few times after that. Perhaps visitations were too hard for him; perhaps they were too hard for his new, pregnant wife. Whatever the case, the sleight left an indelible mark on me that never really went away. Like the tune of a song, the grief of loss haunts the mind, heart, and soul...

In 1981, music was more important to me than ever. Here were some of the songs playing on my radio...