music........

The first album i remember feeling delight in was a vinyl copy of Peter & the Wolf.  One of my Dad's milk route customers gave him a box of records to take home.......their was a lightness and refinement to the music.....it made me want to skip and twirl.  Feel my hair move, feel my skirt lift and spin.......a wonderful feeling for a little girl.

In high school Carole King released her album Tapestry......I was mad about her music, their was something about her story telling that really resonated with me, I performed a solo on stage at my new high school, her song, "You've Got a Friend.".  I remember the outfit so clearly, a pair of navy blue cordoroy bell bottoms, a white long sleeved turtleneck sweater with a red and blue sweater vest.  It was fitted and stopped at the waist.  I felt very good wearing it......but it didn't alleviate all those panicky butterflies rustling inside my rib cage.  So scared.....but I did it anyway.  I was 15......in a big new high school.  I felt so honored to have been chosen to perform.....they rarely picked underclassmen to sing in the Swing Show.....a variety show often done by high schools at the time.

Miraculously I lived through it, but it felt so surreal.  I had no parents in the audience.....no one in my family cheering me on.......a sliver of my heart felt chipped without any of them there, but the other part of me was relieved, for if I stank I didn't want them to know.......all those feelings when you're a teen ager.  It felt so important but it stamped a strong memory of being alone surrounded by people........a feeling I think many teens feel.

When I moved to the West Coast in May of 1974....by move I mean a greyhound bus ticket and a suitcase, I had six boxes being shipped out......a lot of part time jobs helped me afford the move.  Again, very scared........not long after living there I got to go to a concert at the Santa Barbara Ampitheater.....a young new talent named Melissa Manchester performed prior to the opening act.  To this day I have no memory of the main performer, but she hit me hard.  She had this energy, this vitality........a smile that lit up the sky.......she was a performer, a singer, a talented writer.......loved her.......oh and she had this crazy electric hair........a mass of thick curly poufy hair that flew with her as she performed........it led me to buy my first album.  Simply titled Melissa by Miss Manchester......I must have listened to it a jillion times. 

I never had much money, especially for things like music albums.....it was a rare occurence for me, all the music I have now is primarily yard sale/thrift store music, but I've gotten a lot of favorites this way......a couple of weeks ago I started thinking back to those earlier days in the seventies and remembered Mellissa's music.  I did some searching and found her album now on CD......and got it to celebrate my upcoming birthday.  Silly maybe, do I care, nah........I have a present to celebrate with, these songs that sent her up the ladder of success with her talent and that voice! 

Enough reminiscing, the dishwasher is doing it's job, the kitties are talking and playing in the next room.......and I'm not so bad. Feel like the flu like always....every day is a flu day with varying degrees of intensity ......changes throughout each day.  Stiff neck.....swollen glands.......but feel decent overall.  A day to lie low as always and be ok with my life at Sparrow Cottage.....Rio & Mia say Hi Y'all!, after all they are southern kitties!!!!!!!  Peace Out.