Oops was locally famous. At least in rock and roll circles. At the age of 13 or 14 he played in a band that was among the best in Fort Worth. When rock and roll shows came to town, local bands opened the show, then lesser known national bands and then the headliner. Oops had opened for The Rolling Stones, The Loving Spoonful, The Byrds and Jimi Hendrix just to drop some names. His first band dissolved and a year or so later he returned in a band that kicked every other band's ass in Fort Worth. They had Oops on guitar and he could make his instrument cry or growl or talk. They had THE LEAD SINGER and a great side guitarist, bassist and drummer. They all sang harmony. They were amazing. I thought of Oops as a Firebird or a Rickenbacker. LEAD SINGER made me drop my jaw in awe. His voice was charismatic. I tried to see them play as often as possible. They almost made the big time, they had signed a recording contract and then poof they just disappeared. But before that...
The summer of 1967, The Summer of Love, I was 14. School was finally out and my family went on vacation. I will cover these vacations in my next book. "See America But Only Where They Offer S&H Green Stamps". Anyway, on the third or fourth day of our lovely family vacation I started feeling bad, nothing specific just achy and tired and CRANKY. We were gone two weeks and by the time we got home something was wrong with me. I was OK in the morning but in the afternoon and night I ran very high fevers. Mother thought I must be dying from something on the list. I thought I might be dying because I felt awful. Off to the doctor, blood work and a shot of course, just for good measure. I was limited to bed rest until the "test results come in". That sounded ominous. I wondered what 14 year old girls die from. A few days later mother came in to my room and woke me up. She had been crying, my heart beat rather fast. Oh God, what could this be...."You have mononucleosis", my mother cried. Big fat tears. "The Kissing Disease, we don't have to tell anyone". "I thought I was DYING mom, mono? big deal". "But the neighbors, what will they think?", she sobbed.
I was very, very sick. I lost weight I could not afford to lose, (I miss being called too thin), I ran fever for three weeks and I was confined to bed until my fever broke. On the up side I got the TV in my room and all my meals served to me. It was summer, why couldn't I have mono during school? That would have been awesome. My mother bought me Sgt. Pepper but I couldn't listen to it until I could get out of bed. I memorized the lyrics before I heard the music. That was a unique experience to finally hear what it actually sounded like. Finally, I was out of bed and summer was slipping away.
I had a friend from school whose parents were jazz musicians. They had gotten her tickets to the Mardi Gras of Music or some such name presented by the local A.M. radio station. Oops's band with THE LEAD SINGER were going to play. Oh yeah and the Boxtops, The Doors and a few other famous bands. When we got there things were already in progress. Multiple stages were set up in a huge building, maybe two buildings at the Will Rogers Complex. We asked a couple of official looking people which stage Oops's band would be taking. They pointed to an empty stage with no one around it. We went and sat on that stage for a bit then people started loading the stage with equipment. We got off the stage and stood directly center stage, knees against the stage. Amps, guitar, Vox organ? That was weird, LEAD SINGER's band didn't have an organ. Soon we were stuck up against the stage by the number of people pressing in from behind. Jim Morrison walked out on stage with Krieger, Manzarek, Densmore and Lit Our Fire. My friend and I were eye to crotch with Mr. Morrison in his brown leather pants and white, open pirate shirt. Jim liked performing. Jim liked Jim. Jim liked his microphone stand. Soon Jim had presented us with that diagram I had so dreaded when I was nine. Not naked flesh but lets just say leather leaves little to the imagination. Whoa, Jim, I still blush.
We missed seeing Oops's band but we walked away so much wiser.
Now I was meeting Oops in the flesh. I had no less than 9,000 questions to ask this man. We sang all afternoon and into the evening. Then he said he had to leave and get his wife and little boy home. This relaxed me a little. Music and relationships do not mix well. Jeff and I had both dated people that just could not understand our relationship. Music is intimate, it looks like it is sex without touching sometimes. Boyfriends and girlfriends do not like that. I was comfortable knowing Oops was married and his wife obviously didn't have this insecurity. I hadn't seen her all day. Oops asked for my phone number as he wanted to sing with me again. Now, on a very, very small scale this was like Paul McCartney asking me to hum along. Sure, my number is......
Oops.
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