“Positive thinking doesn’t ignore reality; it focuses on the possibilities within it.” ~ Unknown
memories
Let’s go back to 2012, when the tornado happened, and we had to get all of Aunt Janet’s stuff out of the destroyed house. Mamaw had died just seven months prior, and most of her things were still in the house, too. So, two lives had to be moved, and we had to do it quickly. Many totes were involved, and they all went to Hero and Shero’s basement. Fast forward to 2019, when Hero and Shero moved to Lexington, and all those totes in their basement came to live in my garage. We’re having a yard sale soon, and after five years, the garage is finally getting a much-needed makeover, and that means Shero is finally going through the contents of the totes. She comes across this throwback picture from 1986. It was a lifetime ago, filled with hope, dreams, more energy than the law should allow, and utterly full of piss and vinegar. It looks like Sam Gillespie was hugging me, but he probably wanted to strangle me, God rest his soul. Sam and Thom Thompson, the bass player, were both in their mid-thirties, so a decade older than me, though not necessarily wiser, at least in Sam’s case, but we had a good time. Both Sam and Thom bowed out before we signed with Arista. In fact, they bowed out a few months after we did this show at Douglas Corner. They never wanted to make music their career. Thom was a very gifted artist, and Sam was, well, Sam was walking his own path through life. The more we booked gigs in Nashville, the less interested they became in the journey, and who could blame them? The music business is a lot of energy with often little return. It was good to play with them, though. I learned a lot, and we really did have some great adventures in the 18 months we were together. A punk band that took a hillbilly turn.
youth
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