Old Music

I was just listening to and watching some music from my youth which still excites me. I typed in John Stewart on YouTube and found the guy I was looking for, not the tv talk show host/comedian. This John Stewart was a member of the Kingston Trio way back when folk music was getting rolling.
When I was 10 or 11 years old my older brother had some Kingston Trio records (331/3). We had no record player but every once in a while he would borrow one from a friend. When he played those songs something stirred inside me . The guitars, the harmonies, the stories just lifted me up. I was excited to the core of my being. I'll never forget that feeling, sitting on the floor of our living room in Schenectady, NY.
It was in the summer before my junior year of high school. I was working as a busboy in a snack bar at a rest stop along the NYS Thruway. I was working with all girls, mostly college kids. One night the boyfriend of one of them came along with an old guitar. We were sitting at the picnic table out back taking a break. I remember, he took a plastic spoon and broke it in half to use as a pick to play the guitar. He sang those same songs that had stirred me so right from the beginning.
It was that night that I decided that I would learn to play the guitar. I made a deal with the guy that night, trading my older brother's bongo drums for that old guitar. When I told my brother about the deal I had made he admonished me, "Ok, you can trade my bongo drums for the guitar but just promise me that you won't let the guitar sit around like I've done with my bongo drums." The rest is history. I ended up quitting my summer job because it got in the way of my learning to play that unforgettable guitar. My fingers bled from holding down those metal strings, but it was totally worth it.
That fall I made my first appearance singing in my high school's hootenany. Teaching myself to play the guitar is the best thing I've ever done in my life. (that's a slight exageration but it's right up there.)
To be continued...