Sunday, May 12, 2013

My mom the rockstar

Conventional has never been the tone of my household. That's just not how we operated.

And a lot of that stems from my mom being a loving hippie who enjoys some excellent rock 'n' roll music and  cheesy horror films. I want to share with everyone a little background about my mom so you can get a feel for who I am and where my love of music came from.

My mom has always been a bigger rockstar than me. She still has a scar on her hand from when a guy was crowd surfing during a mosh pit at Danzig and slammed her hand into a rail when she was doing the Danzig "forbidden action" and trying to take a picture of him. But that's not all.

My favorite rockstar story about my mom is when Marilyn Manson came to the House of Blues during the Rape of the World Tour. The crowd was insane! They were even moshing in between bands when there was no music playing. Of course as soon as Marilyn Manson came on the crowd exploded and me and all of my friends, including my mom got separated from each other not even 20 seconds into the show. It was just me and my girlfriend for the next 80 or 85 minutes. We had agreed beforehand if we got split up to just meet each other back at the merchandise booth after the show.

So sure enough, Manson played his encore and everyone exited the venue. One by one I got all my friends back and I finally ran into my mom. I should mention she had just turned 60 years old just a couple months prior to this show.

I saw her and she looked a bit abused. She was missing an earring, her watch was broken, her hair and makeup were all messed up. I panicked a bit and said "are you okay?" And with much enthusiasm she screamed "I CAUGHT A DRUMSTICK!"

So there I was the whole night trying to avoid mosh pits for me and my girlfriend and my mom caught a Ginger Fish drum stick. So yea, she is a bigger rockstar than I'll ever be and I absolutely love her for it.

She's given me great gifts over the years such as shelter, food on the table and an unwavering love. However, there were so many subtle things that made me who I am today. She had me listen to her 45 records of doo-wop which made me appreciate what real music sounds like. I love doo-wop to this day, especially the Platters. She taught me that hurting others was never the correct action and that everyone should be treated equally. Without her guidance I would not be the person I am today.

There were many days that the only reason I woke up during my darkest times, was because I didn't want to abandon her after all she had done for me.

Lastly, she gave me a really kickass name. I like the name Grant and she gave me my middle name, Vincent, after Vincent Price. So yea, I was named after a vampire! How did you think I would turn out?

It's all these things and more that mean the world to me and make me who I am. It doesn't take mother's day to make me realize that as I see a little bit of her ways in me everyday. Thank you so much for that, mom.

I love you,
Your Son Grant