Relatively Speaking

40 years ago today. Wow. The Beatles landed in America. I was not quite 5 years old. They had a profound effect on my life. I'm not sure it was a positive effect, but effect it they did. Allow me to tell the story briefly. I didn't pay much attention to the Beatles until well after they had stopped recording as a group. I was awash with sixties bubble-gum thanks to my older sister Becky. The Monkees topped the list. So, in 1977 I was a college freshman at the University of Missouri Columbia. I discovered a long lost childhood friend, Chris, who also attended so we got together one night to go see "Let It Be" the movie. I was totally blown away. I simply said to myself, "I want to do that." I was a young and stupid guitar player. I had no concept of real life. I certainly didn't catch the not so subtle fact that by the time the Beatles filmed Let It Be, they were already filthy rich and could afford to buy time at a world class studio, turn the cameras and the microphones on and see what happens. They didn't actually rehearse in the normal sense of the word. So, I quit school of course! Hitchhiked home to tell my dad the good news. He wasn't impressed. Before you know it, I was out of the house living with friends and out of money. Depression set in. I got a job as a side cook at a local pub making about $100.00 a week. I figured I be there about a year or so, just long enough to save for the rock n roll equipment that I needed. I was there 10 years. At the end of that 10 years though, I was married with a two year old daughter named Emily, and had given up on Rock N Roll. I learned some classical guitar (that's when my dad started talking to me again). And, today I'm saving my pennies to buy an Ivory Stratocaster and a small amp. Why? To have some fun. To play some rock n roll. I've finally grown up.