The Only Thing I Have Ever Wanted

The first memories I have are being on stage. Certainly my first great memories are from being on stage. I remember being 3 and walking out on the stage of the 1986 Given’s Dance Studio Spring Recital (my mother’s dance studio) with a chrome plastic guitar and sunglasses to fake the epic solo from the pop version of “Somewhere Out There”. They weren’t even sure I would do it, and I didn’t during the dress rehearsal. But there I was on that stage, smiling and with this crazy intense grin like the solo was actually based on me playing, and my focus. The crowd went crazy... and I was changed. Never the same. It’s all I have ever wanted. Even when I was a child and occasionally wanted to be a policeman, or an astronaut, it was that during the day, but always a rock star at night. No matter what other “side projects” I had in mind, music was my everything. 

That memory happened 33 years ago this May, and I’m so grateful for it... I’m sure I’m totally screwed up by it, but what an awesome thing to screw you up!