There are times in all of our lives where we experience firsts...we take our first steps, we have the first day of school, our first date, first kiss, first job, first child, first home..everything moves along nicely...and then life happens.
I’ve always loved music
That’s why I had to play drums as a kid
When I heard the drum section of my local high school I was inspired...I just knew I
was going to be a drummer
But being low income I couldn’t possibly
realistically expect to get an actual drum set....but I loved the thought that a one in a million possibility existed so I swooned over musical catalogs especially slingerland drums.
And I also gleaned every Montgomey Wards, and Sears catalog, that came to our home especially the Christmas issues...looking, dreaming, praying, wishing for drum sets that would never be.
I used to “beat” ( my elders term) on errthang tables, cars, paper, the covers and pages of books, walls, curtains, barrels, chairs, my school desk until people screamed “stop beating on stuff!!!!!!!”
And trust me a set of drum sticks was like Excalibur to me....omg.
When I realized my gifts were not musically inclined, and actually my body was not conducive
to being a musician nevertheless a drummer
with coordination and reflexes being key attributes to being able to really play, I viewed people who were gifted all the more of a rare air...why couldn't that be me too sort of dynamic.
Which is why I miss Prince so much.
Prince wasn’t a rapper he was a real musician, he was so innovative ....other musicians from all genres recognized him....and now he’s gone.
Now in this stage of my life it seems
the process of the world becoming “tomorrow”
is particularly painful to my “yesterday’s”
Like I said I miss Prince so much.
Somehow knowing Prince was out there making that amazing unique music that no one else could was stabilizing, he was legit, he was black, he was universal, he was singular, he was ours and his genius was still possible.
Life does take a toll.
It’s sad.
But then I have to stop and think and remember
Maybe all is not lost..despite everything not seeming
familiar and always changing.
At least we still have Trump
Want to review or comment on this short story?
Need a FREE Reader Membership?
Reviewed by Kimberly Pipkins
2/19/2018
I believe a lot of us can relate to finding a love early in life and then realize that it was not our true destiny to become the one thing we loved to do the most. As we get older we are granted yet another love or loves if you will that become our ultimate purpose. Prince was an amazingly talented artist who started with a love to make music and yet ended with his music being a powerful force that touch people's lives in an extraordinary and profound way.
Great story, Tony.
Very interesting. On several sides. Longing to do something that we don't have a gift for, happens to a lot of people. In my case it was my parents, first having me learn piano (I didn't) and then buying inexpensive piano accordion for my brother and I that we failed playing miserably.
But, my nephew plays the drums in his own band. Has since high school.
I would agree with you, finding rap to be so forced and unimaginative compared to the beautiful music that Prince created. But there is hope. John Legend and a few others are still creating beautiful music combining rock 'n' roll and rhythm and blues.
I'm not sure what you meant by that last line. But Mr. Trump is on his way out by blowing his trumpet too loudly and not in tune.
Film Stars! Dancing! Popcorn!
At last, a life story with everything but the movie stuff edited out.This amusing memoir chronicles film critic Betty Jo Tucker's love affair with film from the 1930s through the beginning of the new millennium
