Last night as I watched a re-run of My Name Is Earl I heard a familiar song: Tuesday’s Gone by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Funny how a few lines of a song can take you back to another time. Suddenly, I was reminded of my teenage years and my good friends back then. Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of our favorite groups. We loved music and partying. We had a rock band named High Voltage.
High Voltage was Dean R on keyboards and vocals, Merle O on bass, Bob C on drums, and me on guitar and vocals. We were often joined by Jim M on guitar and Kim M on a very entertaining guitar and vocals with his “on the fly” wild and crazy adlib songs. We can’t forget comical Brian “Barney” L, either. Those were fun times, playing loud music and dreaming of being rock stars.
Not long after those rock and roll days I moved away from that small town, put my rock star dream on hold, went to college, and eventually moved a few states away for work. And the years turned into decades. I lost touch with the friends of my youth. Over the years there have been many times that I wondered what became of them or where they were. But I never really tried to find out. Life just got too busy with work and family and all.
Nowadays it’s pretty easy to hop online and figure out where someone is. Recently I located a few of my old music buddies and contacted them. It was really cool to hear Bob’s voice on the phone after all these years. He surprisingly sounded the same! It was great to email Dean and see some pictures of him on the internet. He surprisingly looked the same!
But last night as I heard the song Tuesday’s Gone, I felt a sadness. Not only is Tuesday gone, but so is Wednesday, Thursday and half of Friday. Life is short. Many of the people who pass into your life, pass out of it before you’ve had a chance to really make any lasting impression. Or you move on too soon to experience their full impact...
Here's to you High Voltage!
High Voltage was Dean R on keyboards and vocals, Merle O on bass, Bob C on drums, and me on guitar and vocals. We were often joined by Jim M on guitar and Kim M on a very entertaining guitar and vocals with his “on the fly” wild and crazy adlib songs. We can’t forget comical Brian “Barney” L, either. Those were fun times, playing loud music and dreaming of being rock stars.
Not long after those rock and roll days I moved away from that small town, put my rock star dream on hold, went to college, and eventually moved a few states away for work. And the years turned into decades. I lost touch with the friends of my youth. Over the years there have been many times that I wondered what became of them or where they were. But I never really tried to find out. Life just got too busy with work and family and all.
Nowadays it’s pretty easy to hop online and figure out where someone is. Recently I located a few of my old music buddies and contacted them. It was really cool to hear Bob’s voice on the phone after all these years. He surprisingly sounded the same! It was great to email Dean and see some pictures of him on the internet. He surprisingly looked the same!
But last night as I heard the song Tuesday’s Gone, I felt a sadness. Not only is Tuesday gone, but so is Wednesday, Thursday and half of Friday. Life is short. Many of the people who pass into your life, pass out of it before you’ve had a chance to really make any lasting impression. Or you move on too soon to experience their full impact...
Here's to you High Voltage!