My first walk on the wild side My Brother is ten years older than I, he went to high school with Lou Reed. Although they were not friends and did not hang out, they did know one another, and there was one time at least that they did hang out, I recall, because I was there. I must have been around six years old. My brother had recently gotten his drivers permit and was at the stage where you find excuses to run family errands and the like just for a chance to get behind the wheel. It just so happened that I needed a haircut. Perfect. I dont recall much from that day, but what I do remember has been constructed in my mind, perhaps for obvious reasons, to play out very much like an episode of Happy Days. It was 1963 after all... It was a genuine Hey pop, can I borrow the keys? kind of moment and before I Knew it, we were going for haircuts. I remember going to the barber shop after stopping to pick up a couple of friends on the way. I remember that there were magazines at the barber shop that the older boys were allowed to see, but I was not... There were other magazines for me. Boys Life Highlights... I remember another carload of teen-agers showing up, many of us got haircuts. Some of the guys smoked cigarettes; my brother did not. After my haircut we hung around for a bit, and then we got into the car and headed off. But we did not go home, not right away. Not when there was trouble to be had and we were out on the loose. Thats right, we went to Wetsons. I waited in the car while my brother and one of his friends went inside and then returned, bearing white paper bags laden with cheese-burgers. And fries... I ate my burger, that part I remember distinctly, I was giddy. For it was during that ride, eating that burger that it struck me. This was my first real Dont tell Mom experience. It was reckless, we were living on the edge... The next stop was another forbidden extravaganza; Veebrocks. An old fashioned, genuine, pull no punches Soda Fountain right there in downtown Freeport. I got to sit at the counter, we had milkshakes... Somewhere on the trip home I heard those immortal words, which would make my complicity in this crime official; Dont tell Mom ... I remember there was some discussion on to how the crime might be kept secret. I was told I needed to eat my supper so that no one would suspect that my appetite had been spoiled. This was a pretty big crime back in the suburbs of 1963. Of course it didnt work like that at my house. My brother was pretty honest about how we had spent the afternoon. Mom and dad took it in stride. I do remember mom saying I hope you didnt spoil his appetite! He had. I made sure to eat my supper anyway, to prove I could do it, that I had the right stuff, in light of future transgressions. Later in life I learned that Lou Reed was one of the boys who had gotten haircuts that day, in the barbershop on Merrick Road, In Lynbrook. Over the years my Uncle Richard would tell this story many times he thought it quite humorous. I think of it now in the wake of Lous passing, for just yesterday I went to town for my first haircut in almost nine months...
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 19:34:32 +0000