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The story behind the picture….
I was always interested in tape recorders. When I was seven years old, my Uncle Bill owned a consumer level tape machine. Enter my life long relationship with hearing instant replay.
Growing up, it was just my sister and I, mom and dad. Around tenth grade, with my sister grown and out of the house, I started getting tight with a guy I knew from Junior High School named Glen Larko. Glen was as into Dylan as I was. He began writing song lyrics and since I was in a band at the time he showed them to me. Glen and I wrote a dozen songs together in about six months. Some of the titles were "You know him too", "You Can't Catch A Street Car In The Rain", "Sand" and "Bedpan". I made demos of them up in my room on a tape recorder I bought from this other guy named Larry Hoff.
Larry and I hooked up one night walking home from a basketball game at Calhoun High School. Larry had an off beat playful attitude about things. He was cool, a real beatnik in the making and very sharp. All three of us soon became close friends. It was Glen's style to only use our last names when addressing or referring to us. Many nights we stayed up late and roamed around the streets until early morning. "Hoff"! "Johnson"!
Glen's mother had died of cancer. His dad was a merchant seaman and was always away for long periods of time. Glen had the freedom to do whatever he wanted to. He lived with his grandmother, the only real family he had. No doubt this added to the intensity he felt being a restless sixteen-year-old, and very bright. He was also extremely lonely. He would call all the best looking and most popular girls from school on the phone to start up friendships with them. After a while most of them wondered what he wanted and backed off.
One Friday night after I got home from a night out with my parents visiting relatives, I felt edgy and wanted to go out by myself somewhere. This particular night I hadn't made plans to stay over at a friend's house so in a quick decision, I decided to sneak out. After saying goodnight to my folks, I stuffed some cloths into a pair of my pants and I made a dummy. I put the dummy in my bed. I left a book by the bed as if I had fallen asleep reading and left the lamp on. I then put the chain across to lock the door to my room. I was counting on my dad looking in, seeing me asleep, and going back down stairs. I'd sneak back in later, I thought undiscovered.
I got out of the house by my upstairs window. I climbed down the roof and walked across the schoolyard that was directly in back of our house. When I got to Merrick road I stuck out my thumb and proceeded to hitch hike. It must have been near midnight. A car finally pulled over and stopped to pick me up. As soon as I got in, I discovered the man driving was smothered in cologne. He was around thirty something and by himself. He seemed quiet at first, but then he asked me what I was doing out so late. The next thing I remember is the guy asking me if my door was locked as he leaned over and reached across my lap to check it. As he moved back to his side of the car he slowly dragged his hand across my lap and gave me the craziest look you can imagine. I wasn't sure about what had just occurred. I knew something a little out of the ordinary was going on and I sensed becoming prepared. We turned left from Merrick Road on to Merrick Avenue going north. I couldn't get over the smell of the guy's perfume in the car. I started to look around the interior of the car. It was posh. The guy was driving an expensive automobile. I suddenly had the thought this could go on and on, him grabbing at me with that red face of his and those strange sleepy eyes he had. As we drove past the Library on Merrick Avenue, right in front of the Catholic Church I noticed three people walking south on our side of the street. Without blinking I rolled down the electric window and turned my head to the 'cologne man' and said "hey….. there's my father, pull over a minute". I opened the passenger side door before the car had come to a full stop and stepped out. As I spun around I saw the cologne man's car pull away, the door slamming shut from the acceleration. It was all a kind of beautiful street ballet. I walked across Merrick Avenue and decided to call Glen.
I ran over to the Charcoal Chef, a main hang out located on Sunrise Highway and called him. I knew he would still be up. I told him about the 'cologne man'. He told me it was all right to drop by. That night at Glen's house, we started talking. He told me everything about his life. I never knew him to be so honest and real. I felt for him and his circumstances. He wasn't complaining. Just telling. I listened and learned. I felt I had found a real friend. We drank Colt 45 Malt Liqueur. Glen's favorite.
When I got home later that night, I had to sneak back in by going up a ladder to the roof right above my parent's bedroom. When I got up there around four in the morning, the lights flew on and my Dad and Mom came upstairs. I was busted.
Continued...click here
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