Since joining Facebook and finding long-lost friends, I've realized how many of my old friends actually pursued and are still pursuing their dreams of rock and roll stardom...and doing a great job and having a blast doing it! People who I thought were in a band because it was the cool thing to do or the best way to get laid were, unbeknownst to me, doing it truly because they loved it!!
I loved singing when I was in high school and after but I succumbed to the practicality of life and instead of picking up and scouring the Village Voice for bands in need of a lead singer, I picked up the Star Ledger and scoured the classified ads for companies in need of a sales rep with expertise in staffing. Whoa! Now that's exciting, huh? But as a 21 year old living on my own and in dire need of making the rent, it was as exciting as I could get.
Now, years later, the thought of singing in front of a crowd sends me running for the Zanex! I had to read a scripture passage for my brother's wedding recently and thought for sure I would throw up as I walked to the alter! How impressed was I that I not only DIDN'T throw up, I didn't trip, lose my place, or stutter once! Of course, I think I was in a bit of a fugue state so my memories might be a bit vague.
Sometimes I try singing a bit louder than usual in church and in my imagination people are awed at my suppressed talent.
So here's to my wonderful old friends who didn't give up and didn't suppress one damn thing and to show for it have, if NOTHING else, a fantastic scrapbook of old memories and new memories waiting to be made. So here's to you, Melanie, Vinnie, Mike, Steve, and others. Please keep it going so I can continue to live out my personal dreams of stardom vicariously through you all!
~Eileen Cassidy Bishop
