March 31 – Monday – Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells A Story

I done wore out “Maggie May” on this one. A friend claims to recall many make-out sessions to “Every Picture Tells A Story,” but I didn’t clarify if he meant the song or the album, which would make all the difference as to whether I would be impressed or not. This album has a few good songs including the two mentioned, “Mandolin Wind,” if you like a mandolin, and Rod’s version of Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe.” However, I’ve only worked out to two Rod Stewart albums so far, and already have had to exercise to “Amazing Grace,” twice, and not even peppy renditions.

And here’s my Rod Stewart concert story. We were 15 when we hitchhiked to Miami Beach. Don’t be too shocked, I was already in Miami at the time. My friend, the one with whom I went to the Fillmore East to see Lee Michaels, moved to Florida. That summer I went to visit her. We shared in the fortune and misfortune of being pretty much unsupervised, so there was no one to drive us to the Rod Stewart concert and no one to tell us not to hitchhike. I remember enjoying the concert and that Rod was wearing a halter top, I think. The opening act was Deep Purple. But mostly I remember the other nights with my friend’s friends, Carlos and Stuey, Ellen and Betty. Carlos had a Volkswagen Beetle that needed to be pushed to get it started. He would drive and we would all push the car, running faster and faster as Carlos got it in gear and going, then one by one we would jump into the moving car. Ellen believed she should always sit up front and to ensure that she would take her position carefully and stop pushing first, if she did push at all, and claim her seat, making it more difficult for the rest of us to cram into the back of a VW bug as it was picking up speed. But we did it, night after night, sometimes till dawn. I remember seeing the sun rise over the ocean, then getting thrown in. My friend and I were, and still are November babies, so that summer we were closer to 16 than 15-years-old, but still 15 nonetheless. Funny how neither of us had children. We probably knew that we would tie ropes around them and keep them within eyeshot at all times.