(Memoirs) cont.

(Memoirs cont.)

(btw, I think it's funny . . . and something else . . . to be writing "memoirs" when . . . you are nothing . . . in the world's eyes . . . and haven't "accomplished" anything . . . in the world's eyes . . . so . . . I will carry on.)

Somewhere in those 1st three years of my life . . . my parents, Bonnie and Tom . . . got divorced.  I don't know the details, the why, but from what I've heard, it was started by my dad, Tom Sr.

As usual (as it turned out) I was on the cutting edge.  The cutting edge . . . of broken families, divorce . . . the "me" generation.

Next thing I remember, is I'm back in Salt Lake City, Utah.  A divorce happened, when I was three.  Then I recall visiting my dad, who, for some reason had moved back to SLC.  I was now four years old.  He lived on the "high aves"--the Mormon established foothills, right above downtown Salt Lake City.  I recall my (then single) mother taking me to visit my dad,.  He had a police dog named "Blitz"--a big, mean German Shepard that he'd brought back with him from his officer days in Palo Alto, who was chained on the porch.  When I was led up to the porch, Blitz, snarling, lunged at, and bit me.  My dad got him under control, and there was a quick, awkward meeting between me and my dad thereafter.  This gave me a fear of dogs for several years--not all dogs--just loose dogs that had a chip on their shoulder, the kind you use to run into who were loose running around the neighborhood looking for trouble.

One thing I also remember from that time, is that my favorite song--the first song I remember loving--was "Winchester Cathedral" by The New Vaudeville Band.  Somehow, I think my dad must have played it for me, and I took to it.  He was an artist, not a musician, but that was the first song I remember being infatuated with.  Funnily, I hate hearing whistling in songs ever since.  It drives me crazy, to hear whistling in ads, in pop songs. . . .  I don't think it's related to that (dog-biting_ traumatic moment, but it could be.)  At that time though, I was instantly hooked on a catchy melody, which "Winchester Cathedral" had . . . plus, the odd religious overtones struck me.  And the underlying dark narrative of the lyrics combined with the poppy melody. . . .   No big deal.  That's just the first song I remember hearing and liking and considering my "favorite song."

The next few years were . . . me, living the cutting edge of the broken family agenda/experience.  Single working mom, farmed out to (embarrassed Mormon grandparents) and a load of strange, mystical, musical, spiritual, tough-minded adventures to follow. . . .