...and I quote...

"That Tommy Shaw knows his shiz!"
says ever delicate B.


While playing the "Should I File it or Toss it???" game with a pile of old stuff I came across my receipt for my first guitar: an Ovation Celebrity MS 257. The receipt was dated May 20th, 2000. I also found the journal entry from the day I knew that I had to hold my own guitar in my hands...

Let's go for a ride...

"May 16th, 2000

STYX!!!

I saw STYX!!! I saw Tommy Shaw! Row 15 Sec. FAA. I stood on my chair for the opening song,
'Brave New World' and for 'Blue Collar Man' then a man with a flashlight yelled at me and told me to get down, I didn't want him to take me away, so I did...

Tommy played 'Crystal Ball' on his green 12 string Taylor. While singing along, I had an overwhelming feeling that I NEED my own guitar. Thank you, Mr. Shaw!"

I spent the next three days digging and researching to find my PERFECT guitar and found it on May 20 at Wagstaff Music (it was here in Murray-then it was torn down to build Borders, etc.)

Fast forward 9 years and 10 days to the night of my last STYX show, Tommy walks out with his green Taylor and talks about 'Crystal Ball' being his first song for STYX and how glad he was that it was the title track of his first record with the band. And then, he began to play...

I had that same feeling as I did way back then when he sang. This time, I knew that I had got to learn the song and make it mine.

I took my music (TAB) to B, who looked it over with wide eyes and said, "It's gonna be hard Seester!" I told him I gave myself a year to learn to play it "fluently". He told me he'd give me until the end of Summer. Last Saturday was our first attempt at the song (fingerpicking) and we got through THREE MEASURES!!! THREE!!!

It was then that B said what he said about Tommy. I second.

j