David X. Sheehan
Bio
I write my memories, family, school, jobs, fatherhood, friendship, serious and silly. I read Vocal authors and am humbled by most. I'm 76, in Thomaston, Maine. I seek to spread my brand of sincere love for all who will receive.
Stories (72)
Filter by community
My Melodic Milestone Playlist
And Arnie said, “kids the hits just keep on coming”. During the summers of 1958 & 1959, music was the magic and the non-periodic element that was the building block of all our lives. No longer were we drinking milk and toasting the 34th President of the United States (“I Like Ike” Dwight David Eisenhower) with Big Brother Bob Emery. No sir, we were no longer small fry, we had moved to AM radio and to https://youtu.be/anZYqaFdoIw the Arnie (Woo-Woo) Ginsburg Show and the latest hits on his WMEX “Night Train Show” (I can still hear a train whistle in the background). If I had been old enough to drive, I would have driven any distance to get to Adventure Car Hop on Route 1 in Saugus for a big juicy “Ginsburger”. “La Bamba”-Ritchie Valens https://youtu.be/Jp6j5HJ-Cok and https://youtu.be/Uyl7GP_VMJY ”Tequila” by The Champs and Bobby Darrin “Splish Splash”’d the nights away and all the Everly brothers had to do was “Dream Dream Dream”, “I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine any time night or day.” https://youtu.be/JnpbzmjcxQM This same year (1958) David Seville introduced us (before Alvin, Simon and Theodore) to his friend https://youtu.be/xwGwl-ktuNA “The Witch Doctor” (ooh eeh ooh ah aah, ting tang walla walla bing bang) and Sheb Wooley, yup he would later drive cattle in “Rawhide” https://youtu.be/PeUvQkaCSIY sing of a one eyed, one horned “Flyin’ Purple People Eater”. Almost a teen, and observing my contemporaries, we were about to embark on a path leading to the possibility of actually having to speak to girls; Oh, the humanity! Peggy Lee sings fever and everyone in the room felt the temperature rise. https://youtu.be/REryc1TpeY8 Ricky Nelson sings Poor Little Fool https://youtu.be/R12H8QWnwvE and I felt badly, and because I was Catholic, a little guilty too. The Skyliners did “Since I don’t Have You” https://youtu.be/JKbAPnqo_QM and the Capri’s “There’s A Moon Out Tonight” https://youtu.be/JrsNYIno8Ns and The Elegants did “Little Star”, https://youtu.be/hqOn4W9yK0o all I knew then, was I had to be home before the moon or stars even thought about appearing or my flipside would have had some hurt attached to it. Deep inside, Connie was singing “Stupid Cupid”, “quit picking on me”. https://youtu.be/7EQX70weW8o 1959 brought more mixed feelings as we couldn’t help but move to “What’d I Say” by Ray Charles. https://youtu.be/HAjeSS3kktA The Flamingo’s “I Only Have Eyes for You” had me using my eyes to view girls for the first time. https://youtu.be/nrzusdilnKQ Dion and the Belmont’s sang “A Teenager in Love” https://youtu.be/2pwgswchPDo and Phil Phillips’ “Sea of Love” caused some more stirring questions within, https://youtu.be/lrkNRcyvtF4 but just as I thought I might be on to something “Along Came Jones” and the Coasters, with “Charlie Brown” and everyone’s botanical fear https://youtu.be/yE90wyqILOA “Poison Ivy”. ”Sleep Walk” by Santo & Johnny and Bobby Darrin’s “Dream Lover” https://youtu.be/aSZQrM54qUI only brought the negatives of Ricky Nelson’s “It’s Late” and “Never Be Anyone Else for Me” more into focus. A few pre-teen parties and The Fleetwood’s “Mr. Blue” and “Come Softly to Me” https://youtu.be/ABxtkaeC18Q began making some sense to me. Going to sleep with things (non-sports related on my mind) was new. I liked the idea of The Clover’s “Love Potion #9” and I got the feeling that behind Brenda Lee’s “Sweet Nothin’s” https://youtu.be/Vs2h18M6ky8 were sweeter somethin’s. I remember learning and dancing the “Shag” to Freddie “Boom Boom” Cannon’s “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” https://youtu.be/1XVStjH1frs at a Mary Mahoney house party and having, for the first time, a good time with girls. If I betrayed the boy’s code it was too late; the ice was broken, forever. Everly Brothers (‘Til) I Kissed You” and “Let It Be Me” and one for mama by Sarah Vaughn called “Broken Hearted Melody” led 1959. https://youtu.be/vLgvFzVKK5o Dave Baby Cortez’ “Happy Organ” and Johnny Horton’s” Battle of New Orleans” https://youtu.be/1s51IVwqcKo along with Connie’s “Lipstick On Your Collar” kept our feet moving, while hearts were moved by “Lavender Blue” and Sammy Turner’s and Frankie Avalon’s “Venus” (Venus, Goddess of love that you are, surely the things I ask, can’t be too great a task). https://youtu.be/jbP_DFiKqfo The hormones lifted off with “Lonely Boy”, Paul Anka, as he sang “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” https://youtu.be/9DAAYwO_7j4 and others like The Mystics as they sang “Hushabye” (Hushabye hushabye guardian angels up above, take care of the one I love). https://youtu.be/BNcpkmrYWTU Looking back, to a home where Benny Goodman Ella Fitzgerald and Glenn Miller reigned supreme (before there even were Supremes) the changes were very subtle, but like the one-foot-tall maple trees that Chris and I planted in front of our house when we moved to 361 Spring Street, West Bridgewater, MA. in 1957, we were growing fast, all of us. We were content for that moment to be under the protection of parents who loved and wanted us to be happy. There would be plenty of time for songs and girls and love.
By David X. Sheehan3 years ago in Beat
Took A Walk Today
Took a walk today, it’s been a while... I couldn’t even talk, for just under a mile.. Now, as I ponder what I may say today, I can hear The Eagles saying they’re runnin’ down the road tryin’ to loosen their load. Well, for the first time out on a warm day, seems I have added a load that needs to be not only loosened, but lessened. It’s easy when you’re my age to hibernate and put on a few (thousand) pounds.
By David X. Sheehan3 years ago in Humans
A Snow Day
Waiting for the power to be restored this Wednesday March 15, 2023, I thought back to those days at 361 Spring Street West Bridgewater, MA. specifically, the days when the snow was well over a foot and a half deep, and the nor’easter lasted longer than 24 hours. My brother, Chris, and I would impatiently look out of the windows, watching the snow rising up slowly like those first few feet into the water at Brant Rock on a wicked hot summer afternoon. At first your toes, then ankles, and mid shin and lots of shivering, at least for me. I could never take the cold water, still can’t, but Mama and Chris and even Papa could eventually take the polar bear plunge. The only plunging for me, were my 8- or 9-year-old testicles which fled upward to the safety of my stomach, and huddled together for warmth, while my brain screamed maniacally at me to abandoned the foot and a half of water I was standing in, RAPIDEMENT. I got tons of blanket time, and tried to make a slight sea breeze be enough to cool me off, as my various body parts began returning to their straight and occasionally upright positions.
By David X. Sheehan3 years ago in Families
Here Come the Sun
The times of the late 1950’s to the end of the 1960’s interwoven with my friends and family input my memory files with treasures that some may never know, they were mixed in a giant melting-pot called school. In 1965, June 17th to be exact, I graduated from West Bridgewater High School.
By David X. Sheehan4 years ago in Humans
I'll Be Seeing You
My parents (Mama and Papa) were opposites that attracted, something that doesn’t always work for everyone. Married in post WWII Portland, Maine in 1946, they had a boy (me) in 1947 and another boy (Chris) in 1948. Papa took an electronics job with Stromberg-Carlson and proceeded over the next 5 years or so to do the job, with hundreds of others, of building local telephone offices throughout the Southwest and South. During this period, Chris and I had time to have Diphtheria while in Jefferson City, Missouri and Chris to have his tonsils removed in Hobbs, New Mexico as well as a couple of operations to correct his eyes. The four of us lived in 37 states for short durations until I was old enough to go to school. A month of first grade in Oneonta, Alabama and two months in Tampa, Florida, before Mrs. Nelson’s class, in 1953, at Sunset Avenue School, in West Bridgewater, MA. the place my heart will always call home.
By David X. Sheehan4 years ago in Families
Boyhood Bathroom Blues
Today has begun with the weirdest weather since my move to Florida. I get up early most days and always look out the window to try and get a quick view of what to expect and decide which tee shirt goes best with my cut-off jeans. I looked out this morning and could not see a thing. Visibility zero with the thickest fog I’ve ever seen. I could hear traffic 10 to 12 feet from our front porch but could not see headlights or those super bright school bus flashers.
By David X. Sheehan4 years ago in Confessions
Wayback or Now
I was recently asked, if I could go back into the past, would I change anything? At first, I thought that was an easy question and figured I could produce some clever twisting of words or a memory or two that could have gone in a different direction. However, what seemed like a simple straight forward request has dominated my thoughts for over a week. Sure, it would have been easier to have made myself 6 foot 4 inches and to not have flat feet, oh baby, to jam in a rebound against an East Bridgewater Viking or Bridgewater-Raynham Trojan; to be numbered among the greats at Westies High; or maybe to have had the clothes and toys and cars and things that many others had; or to have been ballsy enough to tell girls what I really thought of them; maybe to have gone to college and become the English teacher/basketball coach I thought would be so fulfilling.
By David X. Sheehan4 years ago in Motivation
Rest In Peace, Sweet Camelot
THE HURRICANE "In the 1940’s many US distilleries were used to manufacture necessities for war time, and domestic liquor was scarce. However, Rum coming up the Mississippi river from the Caribbean islands was plentiful. In order to buy a case of Bourbon, for example, there was strong incentive to purchase large quantities of rum. With General manager George Oechsner Jr at the helm, the folks in the bar experimented with recipes, and eventually everyone agreed that passion fruit was a hit! A glass shaped like a hurricane lamp was the perfect vessel and the Hurricane drink became New Orleans favorite libation."
By David X. Sheehan4 years ago in Fiction
