On Aug 16th, 1977, my day began from THE ORANGE ROOM much like any other day. It was Summer and I had graduated from Limestone High School the previous May, and was about to begin classes at Illinois Central College the following week. I had one more week to party and hang out with my friends before I needed to buckle down and get serious again.
A good friend of mine named Jamie Parrott had moved to Florida after grade school so I hadn't seen him in years, but he happened to be visiting Peoria around that week and we were catching up. There was a new Rock Club on Farmington Road called Sergeant Peppers and all the local bands were playing there. It seems like I'd heard that a few of our friends had got in underage, so we decided to give it a try later that night. Before we headed out to try our luck, we stopped by our friend, Kyle Young's house to see if he'd like to come with us.
It was around dinner time and like many families of the day, the national news was on their TV set as we waited for Kyle to get ready. While I was looking at the screen, a picture of Elvis Presley came on with his name and dates below his picture. It read, 1935 - 1977. "Oh wow", everyone said at the same time and the sound was turned up. Elvis was dead!!! The King!!!! Now at the time, I wasn't a big Elvis fan. He was from my Mom's generation but SHE was a big fan!!! I watched all his movies and enjoyed many of his songs. I had watched the Comeback Special on TV in 68' and the rerun the following year. I watched the live broadcast from Hawaii in 1972, so maybe I was more of a fan that I even thought.... because I felt a pain in the bottom of my stomach when I learned this news!!!!
After some small talk, we got into one of our cars and drove to Peppers. Sure enough, the three of us got into the club. I had just turned 18. I must have had some money on me. We got ourselves a round of beers and sat at a table to the left of the stage, The band was SCREAMS and it was the first time I'd ever heard them. A girl and I danced to a song that was originally recorded by the Jets called I Play For You. On the band's break, the drummer came up to me and asked how I knew that song!! I explained that I had the 45 record from 1973. We also talked briefly about John Lennon's version of Ain't That A Shame from his Rock And Roll album and he confirmed a statement that I made. " John Lennon was cool". "Yes, very cool", was his response.
I don't remember much more of that night, but Elvis was dead and John Lennon only had three more years to live. I went to bed later in the ORANGE ROOM with a slight buzz and set my sights on the next chapter of my life.
Another Tale Of Loss From The Orange Room.
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