SIX

I had a fake ID, and used it.

When I was 16 a friend of mine and I got fake IDs. I actually used her cousin’s drivers license which was still valid and looked enough like me that I never got questioned about it…not even once.

ID in hand, we took the train to Chicago. We were spending the night at a hotel on Lakeshore Blvd (she was 18 or 19) and we went down to the lounge / bar at the hotel after a day of shopping and goofing around. I didn’t drink, but we sat in there and listened to Dizzy Gillespie and his band play for hours.

After the band finished they came over to our table and sat down with us – talking, asking questions, most likely doubting we were old enough to be there. We ended up hanging out with one of the band members for quite a while just talking. At one point he played the most beautiful song for us – I wish I could remember it now. I wish I could remember his name. I do know that we heard the song released a year or so later. That made me feel great, privileged to have been one of the first to hear that song.