I was saddened to hear bout Will Owsley taking his life friday night. Owsley made one of the best power pop albums of the late 90s with his S/T album, done for Giant Records but Irving Azloff closed the label down and Warner Brothers who had first dibs on Giant artists didn't promote it. A lost classic from start to finish it had such great songs as I'm Alright, Oh No The Radio and my favorite, Good Old Days to which I heard played over the radio at Hardee's a few years ago. His next album The Hard Way wasn't as good as his first, it was a bit darker. Owsley was Amy Grant's guitarist for the past 16 years and Will did work with Shana Twain in the 90s. Both albums are fairly easy to find but I do recommend his 1999 Giant album.
I have a problem with my car blowing tires while driving and today was no exception. In the past three years I have to replace 6 tires in 3 years because of blowouts or nails on the road or just simply shitty tire. There's nothing more annoying than driving and all of a sudden getting that vibation that you're driving on a rim and once again this tire just split along the side. Thankfully it was on the passenger side of the car and I didn't have to deal with the speeders on Highway 30 but I am getting a bit tired of this shit. So, come Monday guess I have to get some replacements. I hate driving on those damn doughnut tires that come with the car and you can't drive more than 55.
My friend Chris Dutcher plants a very unflattering picture why he didn't want to join The Townedgers (He couldn't get along with Jack Orbitson). We met at Waldenbooks in 75 at Lindale and struck up a friendship till he moved to Nashville in the late 90s. He didn't like none of my high school GFs, he called Janice B an uppity stuck up Miss Prim And Proper; a honor's student, high school cheerleader who sole purpose was to make my life miserable as she could and a few other choice names. He did meet Clarise around 1996 and called her a golddigging harlot that cared more about getting her sons a step dad. That was kind of overdoing that I thought. So I thought I respond to this in the most civil way possible.
He may be right about Janice, we didn't see eye to eye and basically it was over in 1980 while me and Dutcher were driving down the road and she was with some new guy. There is some documented evidence that she did like me the first year she knew me but it seemed that like things were never meant to be. I had chances, she had chances and perhaps when working at Applegate's and having her being a Cook and me a Dishwasher was fate punishing me all over again. I hated high school for the fact that I had to deal with her in that context. And trying to show support for her being a cheerleader that one icy night on the way to Maquoketa, driving 75 miles an hour on icy 64, I damn near met my maker while the car slipped and slide and did a couple 360s but we didn't go into the ditch. But then again Janice never knew that and if she did she wouldn't cared anyway. It's funny how Janice told me in 1977 after she stood me up on a slow dance that "she was the only social life that I'll ever have" and I telling her BS, or are you planning to open up your own record store. I didn't make the best judgements back then and there and perhaps we could have been going steady in HS. But then again, I wasn't that interested and never should have let my guard down and let her into my heart after Jeanette, my original love interest, moved on to other guys. Teenage love never lasts anyway. After all, Janice moved out of state and got married and ended up getting what she wanted in life. If I had to do it all over again, I would have just said no and meant it. And quit Applegate's Landing when she became a cook and I got to be a fucking dishwasher.
In life over 95 percent of high school sweethearts in love fade away and split apart and sometimes you might get a chance to reunite and try again but it's never the same. Been there done that never again. I feel sorry for one of my friend's son who got dumped by his GF and the poor kid is thinking the world is going to end. And I felt that way too. Have a good cry and talk it out with your parents who are beind you. They're not your enemies. But do not dwell on what could have been. It will fuck you up more than you know and I know this. I been down that road before.
And tomorrow will be a new day and new ways to meet somebody special for you. Took me over 30 years to find that special person. A broken heart hurts like hell but you will learn from your mistakes and be a bit more careful who you give your heart to. Take the time to get to know them. A high school schoolboy crush is a fleeting moment but a good loving woman is forever and they are extremely hard to find. Good luck Austin and trust your parents. They'll be there for you, long after Miss Prim And Proper have moved on to the next guy (and the next, and the next..)
I know. I lived your life before.
Side Note: Dutcher still lives in around Nashville. He writes from time to time.
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