I GREW UP IN TONAWANDA, NEW YORK JUST OUTSIDE BUFFALO, WANTING WHAT OTHER KIDS WANTED: TO HAVE FUN AND ENJOY LIFE.  THEN I WALKED OUT OF THE BUFFALO MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM IN 1972 WITH MY SISTER AND I JUST KNEW IT COULD ONLY BE MUSIC THAT WOULD BRING ME EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED.  ELVIS PRESLEY HAD  JUST PERFORMED AND I FELT REALLY ALIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME.  THE HYPER-ACTIVE KID MY PARENTS WERE RAISING JUST GOT A BOOST OF ENERGY.  ELVIS PRESLEY HAD LEFT THE BUILDING AND I WAS BUZZING FROM HEAD TO TOE.  THE ENERGY HE LEFT ME WITH WAS EXTRAORDINARY AND I HAD NOWHERE TO RELEASE IT... HEY, I WAS NINE YEARS OLD. 

I HAVE SPECIFIC MEMORIES OF WHERE THESE FOUR AREAS: MUSIC, BOOKS, TELEVISION & MOVIES, CHANGED MY WORLD.  IT WAS THE FOUNDATION THAT HOLDS WHO I AM TODAY.  

MOM ALWAYS HAD MUSIC PLAYING FROM TIME TO TIME.  HER INFLUENCE CAME FROM THE 1930'S AND MUSIC WAS COMING OFF THE SWING ERA AT THAT TIME SO I HEARD A LOT OF BILLY HOLIDAY, ELLA FITZGERALD AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG.  I USED TO HEAR ALL THE STORIES ABOUT ME SINGING AND IMITATING JUDY GARLAND AT A VERY YOUNG AGE.  I WOULD WATCH HER PERFORM ON TV AND I WOULD HANDLE MY IMAGINARY MICROPHONE EXACTLY AS SHE DID.  ALL OF THIS WAS TOLD TO ME AND I HAVE NO MEMORY OF IT BUT SINCE I STILL STOP MYSELF WHEN I SEE HER PERFORMING I HAVE TO BELIEVE IT TO BE TRUE.  THE TURNING POINT WAS WHEN ELVIS PRESLEY DIED AND I JUST DIVED INTO HIS MUSIC NEVER SEEMING TO GET ENOUGH.  I READ ALL THE ARTICLES ON HIM PICKED UP MAGAZINES THAT WOULD DO A WHOLE ISSUE ABOUT HIM.  I BEGAN READING NOVELS AT ABOUT THIS TIME AND SO OF COURSE I NEEDED TO READ ALL THE BOOKS ON ELVIS THAT I COULD.  SOME BOOKS DID NOT SHOW ELVIS IN A VERY GOOD LIGHT AND I REMEMBER THEM MAKING ME VERY ANGRY,  BECAUSE I JUST FELT HIM TO HAVE A GOOD HEART AND BE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE.  WHEN I MET LISA MARIE YEARS LATER AT A SIGNING AFTER A SHOW SHE DID IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, I ASKED HER TO SIGN A SECOND ITEM AND ONE OF HER GUYS TOLD HER SHE COULD ONLY SIGN ONE ITEM FOR EACH PERSON. I TOLD HER I HAD COME ALL THE WAY FROM BUFFALO AND SHE JUST GRABBED THE OTHER ITEM, (WHICH I BELIEVE WAS THE T-SHIRT I HAD BOUGHT) SIGNED IT, HANDED IT BACK TO ME AND SMILED.  AT THAT POINT I KNEW MY FEELINGS OF HOW ELVIS HAD BEEN A GOOD PERSON WERE TRUE AND HE HAD PASSED THAT ON TO HIS DAUGHTER.   

AFTER MY FIRST TRIP TO THE LIBRARY, WHICH IS NOW SUCH A VAGUE MEMORY, I COULD NOT WAIT UNTIL I COULD MAKE THE TRIP ALONE AND PICK OUT THE BOOKS I WANTED.  I WOULD STOP AT THE LIBRARY ON MY WAY HOME FROM SCHOOL EVERY DAY TO PICK UP MY STACK OF BOOKS TO READ THAT NIGHT AFTER EVERYONE WAS ASLEEP.  I REMEMBER TIMES WHEN I HAD SO MANY BOOKS I COULD BARELY CARRY THEM ALL THE WAY HOME.  I LOVED TO LIVE IN THE BOOK AS I WAS READING.  SOME BOOKS WERE SHORT STORIES OTHERS WERE NON FICTION LEARNING BOOKS.  I THINK THROUGHOUT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL I LEARNED MORE OUT OF MY BOOKS THAN I EVER LEARNED IN SCHOOL. 

DECEMBER 16, 1975 HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON MY LIFE, ALTHOUGH AT THE TIME I DID NOT EVEN HAVE A CLUE.  "ONE DAY AT A TIME" BEGAN ITS NINE YEAR RUN ON THIS DATE, SO EVERY THURSDAY MY WHOLE DAY WOULD BE CONSUMED WITH WAITING FOR THE SHOW TO HIT THE AIRWAVES.  WHEN VALERIE BERTINELLI WALKED ONTO THE SCREEN I KNEW EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE. THE SHOW ENDED UP HAVING AN IMPACT ON THE WAY SINGLE WOMEN WERE VIEWED.  IT OPENED THE MINDS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND MADE A STATEMENT THAT WOMEN HAD A ROLE IN A MANS WORLD AND SHE COULD DO IT WITHOUT LOOSING HER FEMININITY OR STRUGGLING TO BE A MOM AND TAKE CARE OF HER CHILDREN.  THE BEST PART OF THIS SHOW WAS THEY DID IT WITH MINIMAL SARCASM SPOUTED OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF THE CHARACTERS TO EACH OTHER.   IT WAS LIBERATING TO WATCH.

"THE WIZARD OF OZ" WAS THE FIRST MOVIE I CAN REMEMBER WATCHING OVER & OVER AGAIN.  MY MEMORY OF WATCHING THIS MOVIE (ALTHOUGH FOGGY AS TO WHETHER I WATCHED IT EVERY HALLOWEEN OR THANKSGIVING IS UP FOR DEBATE), WAS A YEARLY EVENT.  WHEN WE WOULD GO TO SOMEONE ELSE'S HOUSE FOR A HALLOWEEN PARTY OR THANKSGIVING DINNER I WOULD BE THE ONE SITTING ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF THE TELEVISION FROM START TO FINISH.  MAYBE IT WAS MY FASCINATION FOR JUDY GARLAND, I AM NOT SURE, BUT I LOVED THE STORY AND FOR MY MOM IT WAS AN HOUR AND FORTY-ONE MINUTES OF HER NOT HAVING TO CHASE HER HYPER-ACTIVE DAUGHTER ALL OVER THE PLACE.  BET SHE WISHED VCR/DVD PLAYERS EXISTED BACK IN 1967.