Back To School

Special Notice! I am now going to incorporate my "My Life In Music Blog" on MySpace into this blog. I decided to start with my 24th(!)entry. I may re-post some of the earlier ones with added photos, video and maybe even some mp3's! If you would like to view the first 23, please go to my site on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/63111343

At some point in the mid-70's I went to college. This made mom very happy, and since I was more or less roaming around between bands with nothing really sticking, I figured why not? Aside from making mom happy, (and for me to find some sort of path through life), it was also profitable. As long as I met the required course credits, Social Security would send tax-free dough my way! Every month!

I was not quite ready to leave the nest yet, either. While the usual flare-ups between mom, myself, and my girlfriend still occurred, I enjoyed living at home for free, spending time with my girlfriend and pals whenever I felt like it. The best of both worlds, it seemed.

The school was Charlotte’s community college; Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC). It was basically a vocational school, and while I knew mom would have preferred that I went to a real college, it seemed like a decent compromise. It had a good commercial arts program and I was somewhat talented in art, thanks to art-genes I inherited from dad, who was a very talented and...unique... painter in his younger days. I also did well in art throughout school, so commercial art seemed a natural way to go.

I lasted one semester in that program. The money was nice (no need to work!), but none of the classes inspired me one bit. Photography in particular was very difficult and the art classes were dull. It was also a bit unsettling to have Vietnam vets as classmates. Not that there’s anything wrong with that...

After I bailed out, I had to quickly come up with another course of action. I was very happy to learn that I could take any classes the school offered, but since I was no longer in a set program, I really had to load up to get the required credits to keep myself rolling in the free money that the gov’t so graciously offered. (Actually, my deceased father should get the props for working so damn hard and paying all those Social Security taxes!)

I went with music courses, and since they had less...weight...credit-wise, I had to take almost all of them, plus one or two heavy courses such as Political Science and Business Math. It was a good decision. The political science teacher was very smart and entertaining, regardless of the omnipresent bit of spittle that would alternately trade places between his lower and upper lip when he really got going. Business math was a bust, but “Understanding Foreign Film” was a life changer. It was in that class that I discovered the magic of Federico Fellini! I also discovered that most Vietnam vets get very angry at art films. Not a pleasant movie going experience, setting next to a burned out vet watching Resnais’ Last Year At Marienbad!

I loved all of the music courses. I learned so much, and it came at the perfect time for me. I wasn’t alone, either. It seemed that almost all of Charlotte’s young musicians were digging into the books and being inspired by CPCC’s wonderfully gifted teachers.

Piano - this was taught by the school’s music director, and I was stunned when he told me he had taught my family’s maid - Hazeline!

Guitar - taught by Danny B of EBENEZER! How weird is that? The class was a breeze.

Music History - Miss Pascal was the definition of homely music nerd. She had big teeth, thick glasses, not so pretty, but I have never had such an enthused and brilliant teacher! You could see her eyes radiate with love and excitement during her lectures. There was a girl in the class named Liz that I had a pretty big crush on. She was not my type at all, but she had that strange and forbidden geekiness about her that turned me on...

Music Theory - this was a tough course. We had to learn to sight-sing, and there are not many things on this earth that can put the fear of the lord in you as the anxiety one feels when called upon to come to the front of the class and sight- sing. Even the smart ones hated it. I enjoyed learning about harmony and counterpoint, though.

Recorder - Led by the effervescent yet geeky Miss Pascal, I truly loved this! I played tenor recorder and eventually ended up in The CPCC Recorder Consort. We actually performed a few shows at local churches and such. We played some difficult stuff ranging from early music, Bach and a couple of modern pieces. It didn’t hurt that Liz sat next to me, also on tenor recorder. Other members included some of the local heavy hitters in the rock and jazz scenes that I’ve mentioned many times in the course of this blog. Jimmy Duckworth and David Powell were members. Blows my mind that in some ways, I was now their equal!

I met many people during my 1 ½ or 2 years I spent there. Most were musicians, who like me, felt it was time to expand and improve our musical abilities. I fondly remember intense discussions about all types of music in the school’s cafeteria. (I also ran into ex-RODENTS bass player Billy S.! I had not seen him since 6th grade, and I was not very shocked to discover that he had spent some time in prison for car theft!). 2 guys that most of my lunch time was spent with were a guitarist named Clark P, and a keyboardist named Sammy B., and it was Clark that would eventually give me a call once we all decided it was time to get back to playing, but this time, to make a living!