Words and Music

As a kid growing up in Port Wentworth, Georgia ... a mill town with a unique smell, a viaduct and an abandoned factory in the woods ... we mostly played outside. One day an-honest-to-God Encyclopedia Salesman showed up at our front door on Clifton Drive. Other than the Bible, there were no books in our house and my Dad must have felt bad about it so he bought the complete set of World Book and my life changed. Choosing to stay inside, I read the complete set repeatedly. Starting with "A" and going through "Z", I'd sit in the Den and read the short descriptions and explanations about ... everything. There were also a lot of pictures including some of partially clad women. I found it hard to not like the Encyclopedia! My Dad would walk in and see me sitting there engrossed in the "N" Book and ask me what I was reading. "Nudity," I'd tell him. Shaking his head he told me he'd be back later. And he left. To this day I'm not certain where he went but he went there a lot. There was also a television in the Den that picked up WTOC, WSAV and WJCL. There was another station but it was fuzzy so we never watched it unless we put tin foil on the rabbit ears which we never did because my Mom thought it tacky and we were better than that. When I wasn't reading World Book I was watching music on television. I loved it all ... from The Andy Williams Show, Lawrence Welk, Hee-Haw, Hootenany and Ed Sullivan. I'd grab a broom, pretend it was a guitar and sing along to everything. Dad would walk in, ask me what I was doing, shake his head and tell me he'd be back in a little while. Then he left while I kept doing wicked solos on the broom. Words and music remain foundations of my life. (I suppose nudity is too.) Books and records were everywhere. Now it's digital but it's still constant. Throughout my life the music has played while I've read or wrote. They are entwined in my DNA. Right now I'm sitting in The Mermaid Lounge listening to Organic X streaming live on the computer (thank you Son!) as I write, surf the World Wide Web (today's Encyclopedia) and read about whatever is popping in my head. "Youtube" is minimized on the screen in case I need to see Andy Williams belt out "Born Free" or those really cute girls on the Lawrence Welk show. "You always have noise," Sarah tells me when I complain about the girls having the television blasting through the house. "It's not noise," I reply. "It's music." Then I grab her and we dance in the kitchen as I sing her the words.