Thomas Earl Petty

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

An American Badass

Thomas Earl Petty came into my teenage life with his first album, featuring American Girl. I was a bit more of a hard rocker at the time, generally preferring the soothing tones of Aerosmith, Rush, Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, Triumph, ZZ Topp, Van Halen and just about any loud-guitar-oriented music I could get my ears on. I could go on and on, but that is not the point of this story.

I headed off to my first year of college at Indiana University – Bloomington, late summer 1982. A departing gift was a mix-tape cassette provided from one of my head-knocking buddies. On that tape was the TP&HBs song Something Big, from the Hard Promises record. This being 1982, unless you were intimately familiar with the TB&HBs catalog, you likely never heard Something Big as it is one of the more obscure tracks they ever recorded. Anyway, when I played that mix tape, people tended to remark about Something Big. Especially the line – And he was not looking for romance, just someone he could trust.

You don’t see it coming. It doesn’t rhyme. It doesn’t really fit, but poetically it sure does. And it tells a huge part of Speedball’s story. Just blew people’s minds. Probably still does, for those paying attention.

My Bloomington experience lasted a year. I had no business being in school at that point in my life. Was straight up wasting my time and money. I had to grow up, see the world. Get out and do things – a lot like this.

In the spring of 1986, I found myself in Estes Park CO, on the eastern flank of Rocky Mountain National Park, working a summer job for a friend from Bloomington. Turns out Bob Dylan was out on the True Confessions tour with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers as his Band. They had dates scheduled July 26 & 27, at Red Rocks. My destiny was clear!

That summer, the lovely and talented Lisa B. was my fling. Lisa was a recent Oklahoma Sooner graduate on her way to American University Law School. I was on my way to an uncertain [but promising?] future. I do not know how I got past her affiliation with the loathsome Sooners, yet somehow, I persevered. Inner strength, probably. Her spectacular rack, more likely. I’m weak that way.

We rolled down from Estes Park in my 1977 Volkswagen Microbus, and mobile living quarters, affectionately known as Helen Wheels, from the so-titled Wings song – loaded down with weed and fresh psilocybin.

Believe me, I have tried to find the set list for the show we saw. That was before the interwebs and before self-important people started recording their every move [kind of like what I am doing with this blog?]. I have found some stuff on the interwebs purporting to be a “typical set” from that tour, but that’s all bullshit. As it went down, Dylan would do a set with the Heartbreakers as his backing Band. Dylan would go off and the Heartbreakers would do a Heartbreakers set. Rinse and repeat. Bob Dylan and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at Red Rocks Amphitheater. It does not get any better than that, my friends.

Truly incredible stuff. I’m pretty damn sure the Heartbreakers included Something Big, but I no longer have those brain cells to confirm that. And the ESBN supercomputers are useless with this query.

After the show, Lisa and I drifted down to the parking lot and waited in the embracing love and comfort of Helen Wheels for the traffic to clear out in front of us. While we were waiting, a car not more than 20 meters from us caught fire! No one was around so I have no idea how it happened, and this was after the show! The fire started under the hood (ESBN supercomputers predict that is likely where the engine was located) and quickly engulfed the entire car. The authorities show up a little later and extinguish the conflagration. The kind of epic drama you definitely want to see while enjoying the magic of psilocybin – best night ever of my young life!

I told you all that so I could tell you this…

My current love machine is a 2013 Infiniti JX35, affectionately named Pearl. She was pre-owned and gently operated by one prior owner. She also came equipped with SiriusXM. I never thought I would pay for “radio” but after my three-month free trial, I signed up as a paying customer. One the channels I often listen to is, any guesses? Channel 31 Tom Petty Radio.

Among the features of Tom Petty Radio is a segment they call The Last DJ. If you are not hip to it, you should be. This is the opportunity for a Tom Petty fan to introduce five meaningful or favorite Petty songs, tell a little of their life story about what the song means to them and tell us a little about their lives. Remarkable, poignant, moving stuff! Most of The Last DJ segments are built around a unifying theme.

Without further ado, this is my The Last DJ list, for the reasons explained below. Yes, there is a unifying theme – Tom and I seem to have fantastically similar experiences with women. Some good, some bad, some “now she’s just a line in my face” but all memorable.

And he was not looking for romance, just someone he could trust. No shit, Tom. I know the feeling. I dedicate this first song to the Lovely and Talented Lisa B.

Next up, Tom was burned by some of the women he crossed paths with. Like all of us. Yet as the saying goes, it is probably better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all – There was a moment when I really loved her, then one day the feeling just died – Sarah W., this is for you.

Tom also enjoyed the occasional hook-up. This song is for all the Magnolias he and I have known – And I wondered aloud just what I’d done right as I lay there with her by my side – Kristie, I wish you would get back to me she’s probably forgotten me, but I remember her.

She was a part of my heart, now she’s just a line in my faceThis one is still quite raw.

Finally, I dedicate this to Keli who came into my life at exactly the right time – There’s something good waiting down this road, I’m picking up whatever is mine.

It’s been a damn good run

Peace Out

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