Memoir #1 ~Kick Axe 1986~
"Please allow me to introduce myself..."
I was born into this world as the love child of two hippie teenagers who hitch-hiked to the Woodstock Festival. I was given up for adoption and grew up in northern Indiana near the border of Michigan. As a small child you could always find me with a radio in one hand and a Barbie doll in the other...I was born fascinated with both music and the beauty industry! Soon the little radio gave way to a big stereo, tons of albums and a guitar and the Barbies succumbed to a drawer full of nail polish and make-up. Although I tried for years to play guitar I finally gave it up, deciding it might be more fun to spend time with people who already knew how to play--and I could grow my nails long again!
Never very starstruck, I always thought of musicians as nothing more than just regular people like me--perhaps a little more exciting to talk to maybe. I liked hanging around talking to them because they were usually either eccentric, flamboyant show-offs or quirky, sensitive deep thinkers. I was not easily intimidated by either personality type and both have a way of making a girl feel like she's the only one in the room. People like that gravitated to me naturally and I to them as well. This innocent and genuine confidence that I displayed around people in the spotlight led me like the pied piper to some of the strangest places...
March 16, 1986
When I was 15 years old, I attended a small rock show--Autograph & Kick Axe--with a friend named Rusty Cobb who now lives in Atlanta and works in Butch Walker's Ruby Red recording studio. After the show, my dad was late picking us up so I walked up to Kick Axe's tour bus and knocked on the door. I just wanted to say "Hi" and tell them they should be the headliner because they're way better and cooler than Autograph! I have no idea why I thought they would care about what I had to say! Sure enough, they opened the door and let me on the bus. Maybe it was luck of the draw that Canadians just happen to be so darn nice and easy to talk to? There was nothing wild, indecent, vulgar or illegal going on, just people drinkin' and talkin' and some people in the back room doing an interview for a high school newspaper (okay, and maybe a little weed smokin' too). I sat there innocently chatting about music with assorted band members and with a really haggard looking woman who might have been their management. "Oh, my dad's here, gotta go! You guys are so cool! Thanks for talkin' to me! Bye!" I jumped off the bus as quickly as I had gotten on, so excited to tell about everything! To my suprise, with the exception of Rusty, I was greeted with jealous stares and whispering. What was the big deal?? (Jeez, it was just Kick Axe. Who? Exactly.)
That's the day I started to learn that I was a natural at being a rock muse. It's all about being comfortable with yourself and real with others. I was brave enough to step up to the plate, be assertive and be the one who dares! And so my adventures began...
I was born into this world as the love child of two hippie teenagers who hitch-hiked to the Woodstock Festival. I was given up for adoption and grew up in northern Indiana near the border of Michigan. As a small child you could always find me with a radio in one hand and a Barbie doll in the other...I was born fascinated with both music and the beauty industry! Soon the little radio gave way to a big stereo, tons of albums and a guitar and the Barbies succumbed to a drawer full of nail polish and make-up. Although I tried for years to play guitar I finally gave it up, deciding it might be more fun to spend time with people who already knew how to play--and I could grow my nails long again!
Never very starstruck, I always thought of musicians as nothing more than just regular people like me--perhaps a little more exciting to talk to maybe. I liked hanging around talking to them because they were usually either eccentric, flamboyant show-offs or quirky, sensitive deep thinkers. I was not easily intimidated by either personality type and both have a way of making a girl feel like she's the only one in the room. People like that gravitated to me naturally and I to them as well. This innocent and genuine confidence that I displayed around people in the spotlight led me like the pied piper to some of the strangest places...
March 16, 1986
When I was 15 years old, I attended a small rock show--Autograph & Kick Axe--with a friend named Rusty Cobb who now lives in Atlanta and works in Butch Walker's Ruby Red recording studio. After the show, my dad was late picking us up so I walked up to Kick Axe's tour bus and knocked on the door. I just wanted to say "Hi" and tell them they should be the headliner because they're way better and cooler than Autograph! I have no idea why I thought they would care about what I had to say! Sure enough, they opened the door and let me on the bus. Maybe it was luck of the draw that Canadians just happen to be so darn nice and easy to talk to? There was nothing wild, indecent, vulgar or illegal going on, just people drinkin' and talkin' and some people in the back room doing an interview for a high school newspaper (okay, and maybe a little weed smokin' too). I sat there innocently chatting about music with assorted band members and with a really haggard looking woman who might have been their management. "Oh, my dad's here, gotta go! You guys are so cool! Thanks for talkin' to me! Bye!" I jumped off the bus as quickly as I had gotten on, so excited to tell about everything! To my suprise, with the exception of Rusty, I was greeted with jealous stares and whispering. What was the big deal?? (Jeez, it was just Kick Axe. Who? Exactly.)
That's the day I started to learn that I was a natural at being a rock muse. It's all about being comfortable with yourself and real with others. I was brave enough to step up to the plate, be assertive and be the one who dares! And so my adventures began...
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