Music has always been an integral part of my life. From earliest days until now, music courses through every dimension of my daily existence. My first musical memories include things like playing the bells in Sunday school, learning to play the piano and listening to all kinds of music on my dad’s little transistor radio. My sister and I would attentively listen to the radio trying to catch the words of the songs of the times that we liked. I remember my sister would come home from school and watch “American bandstand” every afternoon. We came to know lots of different kinds of music, pop, jazz, calypso, opera, classical, you name it, we heard it. When we got a record player, we would play the records over and over until we successfully memorized all the words to our favorite songs. We were big R&B fans. For those who don’t know me, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. During the late 50s and early 60s there was a theatre in downtown Brooklyn, The Fox theatre, where the latest Rock & Roll and R&B stars would come and perform. Infamous DJ Murray Kaufman, affectionately known as “Murray the K” became the Iconic emcee of those shows during the late 50s and early 60s. We would beg my mother to let us go to a show and to my surprise, she finally gave us permission. I was madly in love with Little Anthony and the Imperials and he was slated to perform. In addition to him being there, the line up included performers like: The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, The Marvelettes, and the Righteous Brothers. Wow, what a concert that was.
As much as I loved concerts, once I became an adult and on my own, there was very little money for concerts. Just because I couldn’t attend a lot of concerts doesn’t mean that my love for music faded in any way. I’ve already told you about the Valentine’s Day concert with Peabo Bryson….just in case you’ve forgotten: https://ladyjduchess.com/index.php/2018/02/28/a-special-valentines-day/ Well later on that same year that I saw Peabo, I found out that Stevie Wonder was going to be performing in Baton Rouge. I was living in Metairie, LA at the time. Baton Rouge was approximately an hour from where I lived. I had seen Stevie only once before and that was at the Fox theatre when we both were young teenagers. I was always fascinated with him. I felt and still feel that he is a musical genius. I used to daydream about being able to spend a day with him in the studio just watching him create. He is beyond talented. He was/is my idol (musically speaking). I was determined to get to that concert. Again, I got my girlfriend (the same one that went with me to see Peabo), to agree to go to the concert. She was down with the idea and even offered to drive. After getting the tickets I immediately went into “gotta get a new outfit” mode. I wanted something cute but comfortable. After multiple tries, I came up with a black bodysuit with a jumpsuit over top of that. The jumpsuit was unusual in that it was almost like overalls, with those types of straps but at the waist it had a closure that went underneath the bib part. Additionally, it had long straps that wrapped around the body of the jumpsuit approximately 2-½ times and culminated with a tie in the front. I was so excited about the concert, and now with my outfit complete I began to anticipate just how much fun it would be. During those times (and actually even now) I wore a lot of bracelets (silver bangles were the “in thing” (1981). I had a whole arm of bangles accompanied by silver necklaces, earrings – the works!!! I was R E A D Y! We arrived at the concert, found our seats, settled in to see the opening performance by Gil Scott Heron (a notable jazz poet). I was enjoying the ambiance. Everything was going great. Finally it was time for Stevie and my stomach started rumbling……I thought, oh no, please not now!!!! I thought maybe I could make it to the bathroom and back in time. I catapulted out of my seat, ran to the back and out the door, around the corner to the bathroom which thank God there was no line. By this time, I had broken out in a sweat. Remember that cute, comfortable outfit I had on? Did I mention that it wasn’t easy to get out of? Did I mention that the body suit I had on didn’t have snaps in the crotch? This means I would have to pretty much undress just to go to the bathroom (what was I thinking??). Meanwhile, by this time my stomach was violently cursing at me. It felt as if there was an active volcano inside of me ready to explode at any moment. I started trying desperately to get out of that jumpsuit except my bracelets got caught up in the bodysuit sleeve. The more I tried, the more entangled they became. I tried the other side with no success. By this time I’m almost in tears. I could hear Stevie singing “Hotter Than July” but I couldn’t see him!!!! I could hear the crowds screaming and where was I? I finally got out of my clothes, just in time I might add, but did I get to see the concert? – NO!!! I spent the entire time in the bathroom. So much for Wonder love!!!!!.
2 Responses
an active volcano inside of me ready to explode… oh my, sounds like a TV commercial. Funny story…
Oh my. I know you were very disappointed.