The day...

I think it was when I was 15...funny...Nich's 15...It was the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote...we were studying the transcendentalist in English class...

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” 

 

 

 

It was one of those moments when your sitting there in your chair and all the sudden after reading that its like you were looking down on yourself like "Oh shit! It's true! Everybody I see around me! Not me mother fuckers!"

Bill Schwartz was in my class. He was a senior. Fucked up and needed the credit to graduate. Smart guy. Just didn't give a fuck when he was a junior apparently lol. We hit it off. Turned out he lived a five minute walk through the woods to the next street over from my house.

They announced male cheerleader tryouts while we were in English one day.

Bill jokingly said we should try out.

I agreed.

We did.

We both made it lol.

Soon I was introduced to ganja.

And partying.

Mom hated bill lol.

Go figure.

Soon I had lots of black friends and was finding tons of good music to listen to.

Rock, soul, punk, new age, reggae, Motown, fifties, blues, art rock, Floyd...everything.

I was like "I wanna do my shit different."

"Had to listen had no choice" Peter Gabriel comes to mind.

The rest is as they say...history.

Next year I was on the Cheerleading team again.

We built crazy pyramids and all kinds of stuff.

I had gymnastics when I was in grade school.

Could do a good cartwheel and a round off and stand on my hands for a long time.

Had a Great sense of balance.

We partied our asses off.

Cheerleader parties were the shit!

No sex lol.

Just drinkin and dancin'.

Everybody got a long and liked each other.

All friends, nobody dated.

This is my senior year.

The jocks had become freaks and the freaks were playing football.

Everybody partied with everybody.

Crazy.

Not like that when I started this school when I was a sophomore.

They closed Westport High school the summer before my senior year.

Half kids came to eastern.

Half to Ballard.

Herbert Crook came to our school.

He led the seventh region in scoring in basketball all four years he was in school.

Battled Winston Bennett a soon to be U of K standout from male High School twice.

We were in the same district.

Unbelievable games.

People with no affliation with either school were coming to the games just because of the quality of competition between these two.

It's true.

Herbert got a full scholarship to Uof L.

Started on the 86 NCAA championship team.

It was a pleasure to watch him play.

That year we made it to regional finals at Louisville Gardens for a chance at the sweet 16 state finals in Lexington.

Moore High School led by another U of L recruit Manual Forest beat us.

We had beat them earlier in the year I think.

Cheered in front of thousands of people that night.

We were all really hoping to go to state.

 

Oh well...

 

of course... 

 

that night

 

there was a party. 

 

Peace.