As a new member of the 1972 Everett High School Chorale (the 20 best voices in the school choir), I had to perform solo at the annual spring concert. I sang, "Teddy Bear" with my best Elvis impersonation. I had lead, rhythm, and base guitar, percussion, piano, and vocal backup. We got a standing ovation. That was my first real performance.

My best performance was while on tour with the young persons' performing arts company, "Suitcase Theater." We went to England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands in the summer of '73, doing at least one show in each town we visited. In Burton Upon Trent, England, one show was at an all-girl's school. I sang a couple songs while one of the kids accompanied me on acoustic guitar. Then the curtains closed while the troupe got ready for our showpiece, "Ballad for Americans. It was sort of a pop-rock style operetta giving an historical account of America, from her colonial days to the present. I sang the lead, accompanied by the rest of the cast and some intrumentation. When the curtains opened, I was center stage, and the audience actually started screaming. I was a skinny, long-haired American teenager, singing for an auditorium full of screaming chicks - British chicks, that is. Quite a thrill. I even got stuck signing my autograph for an hour after the show. Kinda silly, now that I think about it, but a fond memory just the same. Maybe I should have stuck with my music as a serious pursuit.

ScottyG