This story is called Heaven or Hell
I've done some things I shouldn't have done, been places I shouldn't have been and seen and heard things I wish I never saw or heard. 99% of the time it was for a girl. This is a story about one of those times and how a concert almost caused me to go to jail.
I'm at the ice rink in Memphis in January '77, once again trying to master how to fall down safely. I can roller skate OK but put me on the ice and there is some mental block between brains and feet. After an hour of embarrassing myself I decide to go to the refreshment stand and sit for a bit. As I climb up on the stool I say to myself something like."Man I can't sit here too long or I'll stiffen up" The girl on the next stool says that it looks like I could use some help. I tell her that she is wrong, I don't need some help I need ALL the help. This gets a giggle and I introduce myself. She says her name is Pam and proceeds to give me a short course in thermodynamics, physics, geometry and Newton's laws as they pertain to ice skating. I had no idea. She offers to take me out and give me some tips and I'd be a fool not to take the opportunity to hold onto this Pretty Young Thing. After some time I actually make it twice around without having anything bad happen and decide to end on that high note.
Back at the refreshment stand I offer to buy her whatever she wants for her help and she gets a 7up, that's it. No burger, fries, milkshake, BLT just a 7up. We talk for a bit and I mention that I'm going swimming on Sunday (this was Saturday afternoon) and she looks at me like I'm a crazy person. "It's January! You can't go swimming in January!" "Sure I can, you can come watch if you want or even join in." After some back and forth she agrees to come watch and I get her address and phone.
Now I have no intention of swimming in the Mississippi in January but I do plan on swimming at the indoor pool at the Hilton where a friend has a part-time gig as a lifeguard. The Hilton used these guest passes so people staying at the hotel can invite a couple of guests to go swimming. So for a case of beer once in a while I get a handful of passes. A symbiotic relationship.
1 Pm Sunday rolls around and I go to pick up Pam and her mother opens the door not having a clue who I am. We make introductions and I tell her why I'm there and she yells "Pam, are you ready?" "I'm not going Mom!" "Did you tell this boy you would go with him today?" "Yes Mom but.." No buts, you keep leading these boys on and none of them will trust you now get ready and get downstairs!" A few minutes later Pam shows up with a little bag in hand and Mom shushes us out the door. This is going not as planned so I tell Pam we can go wherever she wants but she says her mother will expect her to tell about swimming so we might as well go there.
The attitude improves significantly when we walk into the Hilton. I show our pool passes and up we go to the indoor pool. We walk in and my friend gives me the head nod and we go to the dressing rooms. I'm waiting by the door when Pam comes out. Now I know why it was such a little bag. I have no idea what is holding that bikini bottom up and there is little doubt what is keeping the top on. There is no way anybody could actually swim in that suit. We end up having a pretty good time and when I bring her home Mom won't let me go without feeding me dinner and grilling me at the same time. Imagine 45 minutes of a conversation about yourself while you are sitting there that you have only a limited part in.
"So Pam did you have a good time?" Yes Mom it was fun we swam in the pool at the Hilton!" "So are you going out with him again?"
"I don't know Mom he hasn't asked" "Do you want to go out with Pam again?" " Yes ma'am I'd like that very much." "So its settled, you kids work out the details." Mom was sorta like a Mack truck in a housecoat. Once she got rolling you got in her way at your peril.
Of course, over the next few weeks it comes out that I like going to concerts and I'd love to take her to a show. Was there anybody she really wants to see? Out came the three worst possible words anybody who claims to be a rocker could hear: THE JACKSON 5. Now Pam and I had progressed from pool passes to getting pretty friendly up to a point and that certainly was a factor but still...me at a Jacksons concert? The show was already sold out and less than 2 weeks away. This would be a labor of love or lust in my case. I end up buying a pair of ticket for 3 times face value or about $45 for the pair and having to pay full ride at the Hilton since my buddy was away. So we get to the show and there is security everywhere since the Jackson's caused a riot at a store in Memphis during an autograph signing the day before. 8-10,000 showed up when 500-1,000 were expected. Inside it is just screaming teenage girls with a few bored looking older guys like me and some parents in the mix as far as you can see. I manage to make it through the show by thinking about the after party. We didn't spend the night since Mom might not have been to thrilled about that but she didn't say anything when I brought Pam home at almost 4 AM.
Everything is going well and good and I was going to meet her older brother who is a cop in some little town a few hours down the road later that month. We're sitting in the living room talking about cars and guns when he offers me a beer. "If you wear the uniform you can have a beer" Never asking my age. He asks me if I had been treating his baby sister right. I say that she can answer that better than I . So he yells into the kitchen, "Pammy, this boy been treating you right?" "Oh yes we're having lots of fun." I ask if she isn't a little old for you to be calling her your baby sister? "Naw she'll always be my baby sister - (yelling) Pammy, you're going to be 17 in what, 2 months?" "Yeah"
She told me she was 18, had a fake ID that said 22 and I never asked directly to see any ID, If the bottle I was holding didn't have the cap on it I might have crushed it in my bare hand. Now this is Tennessee where you can get married at 14 with parents permission, 16 without or you could be 25 and date a 14yo (I'm talking to you Elvis) but she had to be 18 to have sex without being married. I'm going to jail or I'm getting married I thought to myself over and over.
It was about a 40 minute drive from the base to her place or an hour from my place. We hardly ever saw each other on the weekdays since she had school but we did that Monday. I'm freaking out but she is taking it in stride. I almost manage to calm down when she says that her Mother knows all about it. I lost it, I'm going to jail if I stay and certainly if I go. Pam says she isn't getting married before finishing High School, Mom says she isn't getting married before finishing High School and as long as I treat Pam right and she doesn't get pregnant there is no reason for her brother to know. We ended it a week or so later and I thanked my lucky stars every night until I left in October even though the statute of limitation wouldn't run out for almost 7 more years.
Moral of the story?
The Jacksons were not worth the cost no matter what I thought at the time.
Same tour, different show
originally had more backing instrumentals… I think it turned out pretty good this way….
