The One About Music … (Unedited Version)

Me, many years ago at someone else’s band practice.

All righty! Like I said here, let’s compare that edited version with this one! Word count be damned. Isn’t it great how we can blog nearly without limitations? So, let’s get the proverbial show on the road! 🙂 BTW, the photos are all mine. Except for one I found on Google They weren’t part of the writing exercise. 🙂

I have a lot to choose from here, but I went with the Alice Cooper concert.

The concert was at the Cap Center. I was 17, recently returned to living with my immediate family after living for a time with an aunt, uncle, and several cousins in Monroeville, PA. I was going to the concert, because while I was in Pittsburgh (Monroeville is a suburb of that city) I’d become a huge Alice Cooper fan.

Here’s a photo of my best friend in Monroeville at the time, Syd (on the left). That’s what she went by (a nickname, really). I also used a different name, informally at any rate. It was Syd who got me hooked on Alice Cooper. And other music. There are whole stories I could share about Monroeville, but not in a photo caption. I think some of it speaks for itself. As for the guy on the right, I wish I could recall his name. Paul? David? I wish I could remember. It’s kinda sad, because we were all very close.

I was going with my sister and her friend, both of them 13.

We were supposed to catch a bus, but either it never came or we missed it. Along with the three of us, a woman and her daughter (or a girl around our ages and her mom, depending on which point in my life I’m telling this story) were also waiting.

When it became clear the bus wasn’t coming, she (the mom) offered us a ride. Seemed harmless enough.

I may have wondered if the woman was an axe murderer. But maybe not.

However, I was on my guard. Because that’s how I am.

My worries about riding with strangers probably started after an incident that occurred when I hitched a ride with a strange man. I was hitchhiking in DC, trying to get from my orthodontist’s office to where I lived at the time, in Silver Spring, MD.

The guy just pulls his dick out and starts jerking off. While driving. In traffic. In a convertible with the top down. In DC.

I’m like, “Okay. Remain calm. Do not frown, smile, or make any other expression.”

I also told myself not to make ANY sudden moves. I just let him do his thing until he finished.

Then, after a possibly appropriate interval-not frantic at all, right?-I indicated that he could drop me off at the next corner.

And he did! Yay! He didn’t kill me. ( Part Two!)

Okay, back to Alice Cooper.

Our driver aimed the car toward the Capital Beltway, got on, and just kept going. And going.

I’m not sure (it’s only been 50 years or so since this happened, so forgive me if I’m vague on the details), but I seem to recall that the mother-daughter duo up front was arguing rather vociferously. (Note to self: call sister to confirm those details. She has a mind like a steel trap.)

[Note: The 13 minutes has long passed, but I’m finishing this story.]

So we end up driving into friggin’ Virginia. At that point, Mom had to admit it was time to turn around.

Off we went-me staring out the window, pissed off as all get out. I have no idea what my sister and her friend were up to. Maybe we spoke, at some point. Probably. They were four years younger than me, yet they were my best friends. Other than Bill.

Young Bill Reitwiesner.

The two up front seemed to keep up a non-stop conversation. A loud one.

I wondered if we’d ever make the concert or just drive forever. Or just …

Through some miracle, we finally did make it to the Cap Center. I recall leaping out of the car and racing to catch up with my sister and her friend, who were bouncing along ahead of me.

I wonder if I ever thanked the woman who managed to get us there so late?

Anyhow, turned out that all we missed was the opening act. I have no idea who was opening for Alice Cooper that night. We arrived just in time to see the band we’d come to see take the stage.

THE END

Okay, when I say there’s a lot to choose from musically, I mean a WHOLE lot.

So many stories. Better write them down before I forget.

PS: And here’s two photos in one that I completely forgot I had!

Yep. that’s my sister and me. Taken not long after I came back from my second period of residing in California.

And I could write a book about that, too. 🙂

PPS: While searching for early, less well-known, Alice Cooper music, I found this awesome video!

This explains everything … 🙂

Treat yourself to the album! 🙂 It’s like nothing else.

Originally published at http://randomandsundrythings.wordpress.com on September 9, 2022.