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was only able to catch
Tommy
perform live once. But it was truly a memorable experience. By
far the best live show that I have ever been to up to, and
since that time. The gig was in Seattle in 1988 on Halloween
night. I always regret not personally thanking Tommy for the
wonderful influence his music, his drive, and his "In
Your Face" attitude has had in my life. So Tommy, if you
do read this.......THANK YOU!
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'I'm Not Your Man'
was the best song that was ever written and put to music. At
the time, I was going through this awful relationship and
needed to end it. But I wanted to have it end in a very
"impressive" or honorable way......You know, like
Richard Gere in 'Officer and a Gentleman.' So, I sat down
wrote all the lyrics to 'I'm Not Your Man' on a napkin and
promptly walked it over to the soon to be 'ex'. She had no
idea what was about to hit her!
About a week after the 'Break
up Poem' was delivered I saw her. I asked if she had a chance
to read what I gave her, which she did and told me that she
didn't think it was very nice. My reply was, "That's just
the way I'm feeling", which was not a
lie........."Seven days a week with you is more than I
can handle."
In the spring of 1988, I was in
the Army and stationed in Egypt. Nobody, at the time, knew who
Tommy Conwell was. Ahhhh, but that was all to change in very
short order!
There were many nights of just sitting around
drinking, playing cards and being stupid. Without fail at
sometime during the course of the evening, (usually very early
on in the festivities), I would throw in "Walkin' on the
Water" into my well traveled and well played tape on the
deck and hit the button. I don't think that I have ever played
one cassette tape as much as that one.
Half way through our
tour of duty my then girlfriend (now my wife) sent me the 'Rumble'
CD. WOW!!!!! By the time the unit was redeployed
stateside, anybody and everybody was well aware as to who
Tommy Conwell was.
My
return to the States was special. I can still remember sitting
in a mess hall in Fort Dix, New Jersey on our way back to
Seattle. The first song I heard on the radio was 'If We Never
Meet Again.'
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