In the beginning...

I had a visit from a DJ buddy from LA this last week- spent a couple of days at my house between Christmas and New Years- and we took a road trip up to Winslow where I grew up. We've become really good friends in the last 16 years since we met and he wanted to see if a visit to the place of my primary years could help him figure me out. Had a great chat on the drive up and back but I'm not sure he knows me any better than before. If you know pop culture or at least classic rock music, you know that Winslow, Arizona was immortalized in the Eagles song "Take it Easy." I'm not sure the song writer ever actually stood here or anywhere else in Winslow but the town has declared this corner to be the place and provided a photo opportunity. This is just a brick wall- a remnant of a building that used to be there. An artist has painted the windows and the signage and everything. If you look at the window on the left, there is an eagle perched, two windows over are two lovers embracing, the lower window reflects the flat bed Ford (remember the lyric, "it's a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me.) Just click on the photo to study a larger version of it.

This picture is where the Whipple's store used to be. The Burlington-Northern-Santa Fe railroad has an office on the left and Family Dollar is on the right but the two used to be the nicest department store in northern Arizona. Just out of the shot on the left- in the corner of the mall- was the corporate office for Whipple's. It's vacant now.

I'm standing on the spot that sparked my imagination and ignited my passion for the entertainment business. My DJ career started right here. It was a big retail promotion that my dad put on that was the biggest thing Northern Arizona had ever seen and probably hasn't been matched since. There was a 45' flatbed trailer parked on that spot for a stage and I got to introduce an appearance by Arizona TV legends, Wallace and Ladmo. There were about 1500 people there and I cracked a little joke and they laughed and when I told them to cheer, they cheered.

That moment changed my life.

The only thing that could have made that trip better would be if the Root Beer Stand had been open. I had a major hankerin' for a Taco Tangle.