A Special Night Ruined

Tommy Byrd of Gainesville, GA posted a comment today as being another member of one of the garage bands of the sixties. The group he mentions, The Calientes, made real music and did really well. Tommy mentioned another band that brought back a special memory for me. The Bushmen (pictured here) were the best of the best. They were from Douglas, GA and actually began as The Revelons. They opened for the Rolling Stones and the Kingsmen and upstaged both groups, giving them more than they bargained for. In Fort Valley, where I went to high school, some great groups came into town for the dances that were held. When the Bushmen came to town, places like the Rocket Room and the American Legion building could not hold the crowds.

Which brings me back to my special memory of the Bushmen…

It was Homecoming my freshman year in high school. I was a tall skinny kid from the little town of Reynolds who had just transferred to the much larger Fort Valley High School. Looking back I was not a very confident 14 year old and was probably intimidated trying to find my niche in this seemingly very large school.

The time came for the big Homecoming dance. Surprisingly I had been chosen by the freshman class to escort the 9th grade representative, Angie Cleveland, on the Homecoming court. Angie was very good looking and I was way out of my league that night. The challenge was I was escorting her on the football field but I did not have a date with her.

In fact about two weeks before this big event, I did not have a date with anybody. It seemed all the girls were taken and I had been afraid to ask someone because I was afraid they would say no. I couldn’t stand the thought of being rejected.

About a week before Homecoming weekend, the news got around school that Ernest Greene and Patty Wilson had broken up. Earnest was the meanest son of a gun at our school. Nobody messed with Ernest Greene. Patty Wilson was one of the most gorgeous and most popular girls in our school. I’m not sure how it happened, but somebody told me if I asked Patty to the Homecoming dance she would go with me.

I asked her. And she said yes.

In a few short minutes I had gone from not having a date at the biggest event of the year to having the perfect date at the biggest event of the year. As you can imagine I was on cloud nine. My hormones were raging. I had a date with THE Patty Wilson and we would be dancing the night away with the fabulous Bushmen. It just couldn’t get any better.

By the time we got to the dance, it couldn’t get any worse.

We had been at the dance only a few minutes. The Bushmen had just started their famous Beach Boys set when someone tapped me on the shoulder. My friend yelled in my ear, “Earnest Greene is looking for you and he ain’t happy.”

I was now silently saying The Lord’s Prayer instead of singing along with The Bushmen. I knew just any minute that Earnest was going to come by and take my head off. I don’t think I ever told Patty that night what my friend said because I didn’t want her to think I was a wimp. Better yet, I didn’t want her know I was a wimp.

We got through the night. I never even saw Earnest. I carried Patty home and I think I kissed her goodnight. But if I did, it was really quick and I can promise I was looking both ways when I did it.

As I look back now, I realize I missed the fun at what could have been one of the highlights of my high school experience because I was afraid I was going to get whooped by Earnest Greene.

As it turned out, I never had another date with Patty Wilson. She and Earnest ended up getting married years later and had three beautiful children. Our youngest son and their youngest daughter ended up being friends and classmates in high school at a local private school many years later.

During our kid’s high school years, every time I saw Patty and Earnest (which was often) I always introduced myself as her homecoming date of 1968. I had the best looking date at the party with the best rock n roll band in the state performing.

Her future husband ruined the moment for me.

And he probably never even knew he ruined it.