I remember so very well my twenty-ninth birthday. I was working at one of the, now long gone, premier restaurants in Fresno, California, called Bellanti’s, and they threw a party. For several years, I sang every Thursday through Saturday night from 9 PM until 1 PM, with the Dick Scudder Trio, earning $75 per night, plus tips. Not bad money in 1975, particularly when you consider some great musicians only make that much today. I still recall patrons complimenting me, “such a young woman knowing those old standards,” they would say.
Quicker than the blink of an eye, I was forty. To be honest, I cannot remember any party, but surely, I had one. By this time, I was living a reasonably good life in San Francisco, earning significantly more money performing on the Hotels and Country Clubs circuits throughout the region. Except for a new tune or two of the day, I was singing the same songs. In just a few months, I will turn seventy-three, and even writing it doesn’t sound like anything that should be applied to me. I don’t feel seventy-three, at least, not most of the time. Since I don’t have grandchildren, I don’t have to set any particular example, and while I try not to embarrass my nieces and nephews too much, I do get a kick out of saying things that often gets a “Oh no she didn’t” reaction.
I’m still singing those old songs, which now seem to have caught up with me. I’m still the same age from those old songs as I ever was. Why is it no one asks how I know ’em? Just like everyone else, looking back, I see a lifetime of experiences. Some good, some great, some bad, a few awful. The game of life; we all know it. The one thing about games is that to win; you have to play the fourth quarter. Now I will admit that I am a fair-weather fan of most sports. Through the years I have usually only paid attention to basketball in the fourth quarter, mainly to have something to discuss the next day at the water cooler. I have decided that rather than create a bucket list, I will enter into the fourth quarter of my life in search of truth. Not to find some spiritual epiphany, but to make some relevancy of those first three-quarters of my life…to win the game.
In March 2020, I released a new CD, Reflections. Thanks to social distancing, I had the time to concentrate, and this week, I self-published and released the second edition of my novel Of Noble Character. Both the eBook and paperback are available at Amazon Prime. Due to proprietary agreements with Amazon, I will not be selling either books from this website. For your convenience, a link has been added here to the paperback. From there you can obtain the eBook. Let me know after you’ve read. I’d love to create a discussion group.
Expect more music, and more stories, all right here at Carolyne Swayze Enterprises.
Please stay tuned…