"White Hot"
--Red Rider

"I had you and my poetry to protect me, we were so much younger then..."

Which is quite apropos since it was poetry that really got me thinking about who I was and where I fit in, in the great wide world. One of the first good poems I wrote was "The Mindless Ooze"-- A farce of a free-verse poem that relied on imagery rather than rhyme. I used to get requests for this at just about every party my frat threw. This song reminds me of cruising the strip at Panama City Beach fresh out of high school, the summer I worked at the amusement park.

"Carry on Wayward Son"
--Kansas

"Carry on! You will always remember
Carry on! Nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you"

First time I heard this I was mesmerized. Not by just the lyrics, but the music as well. I had been building a record collection for 4 years when I first heard this, and I remember being a bit upset that my collection didn't contain anything that sounded really hard rock-ish. I bought "Left Overture" for this song alone, and it earned a place as one of my all-time favorites. I was living in Montgomery, Alabama at the time, and was a sophmore in high school.

I remember a movie date I had with a super attractive girl named Judy. We went to a movie that starred Henry Winkler, Sally Fields, and Harrison Ford, called "Heroes". This song played at the final scene and over the credits. Years later when I saw this movie on television, "Carry On Wayward Son" was replaced with something completely different... Someone had butchered a perfectly good memory.

"Can't Stand to See the Slaughter"
--Tower of Power

"I can't stand to see the slaughter
But still I eat the meat
I can't stand dishonest people
But still sometimes I cheat
I can't stand that air pollution
But still I drive a car
Mayber thems the reasons why
Things is like they are"

This album, "Ain't Nuthin Stoppin' Us Now", was a gift from Sharon Fowler-- a sorta house warming gift. We had just moved to Montgomery from Panama City, and Sharon's parents were friends with my parents. This didn't necessarily make Sharon and I friends, since we hung in different circles, but we were always friendly to each other.

First time I listened to this I thought, "What the hell kind of music is this!?" But it grew on me. The A Side of this LP didn't appeal to me too much then, and still doesn't, but the B Side... Oh, the B Side! What a rare and precious gem!

Years later, after first returning to Panama City, then migrating 80 miles north to Dothan, I got the news that Sharon had been dumped off at a hospital, by a so-called "friend". The only person she knew to call was my Mother, who then called her mother. Sharon was already dying of cancer, and it was very quick.

A year or two later, my "black sheep" sister called one evening crying about how lonely she felt. I remember thinking to myself, "aren't we all?"-- completely unsympathetic. But when she said, through her pain and tears, "I don't want to die like Sharon... all alone, with no one who loves me at my side...." That woke me up right quick. In that moment I understood what had been driving her all those years. And drives her still.

I love this album. And I love that Sharon gave it to me, though I'm still not fond of the A Side. Intellectually speaking, I know CD's don't come with A and B sides, but it's very difficult for me to get past that distinction... My hand holds the CD, but my mind thinks LP.