The Police

In 1981, right before school started that year, my mom was still teaching 7th grade math. I went with her to school one day, basically to screw around while she worked on getting her room ready for the first day of school. I remember roaming the halls, completely unfamiliar with South Corinth and all of its buildings. I somehow found myself in the teachers lounge, and there was a magazine on a table in there. I can't for the life of me remember what magazine it was, but I do remember that The Police were on the cover. At that time, I had no idea who they were, that they were a band, or anything. But over the next few years, that would obviously change.

Fast forward to 1983. Their album Synchronicity is released:


Despite having never really been a fan of theirs (up to this point) they had a few good songs on the radio and videos on MTV, and I really started to like them. I got Synchronicity for Christmas that year, and I can remember playing it over and over again in my room. It's funny at how music or specific songs can trigger specific memories. I remember right after Christmas, a bunch of us got together over at Ashley Atkins' house, out in her little dance studio. There was a stereo out there, and I brought Synchronicity and we all hung out and listened to it out there. When I hear the song "Wrapped Around Your Finger," I immediately think of sitting in my room at home and working on my science project.

Anyway, you are all probably wondering where in the hell all of this is coming from. If you watched the Grammy's this year, you'll know that The Police played together for the first time in a really long time. And they've now gone public with their plans to launch a US tour beginning in May or June. My good friend Jay Hale, who lives here in Atlanta and is actually Ginger Horton's step-brother, called me today to tell me about the tour announcement. We've committed to going to wherever we need to go to see one of their shows, so I can't wait. I was in my car out and about in Atlanta, and he and I talked for almost 45 minutes about The Police, their old videos and songs, and stuff like that. Not that any of you really and truly care (I don't blame you), but I thought I'd share. Synchronicity completely takes me back to our 7th grade year at South. In my opinion, that was probably one of my favorite years in terms of our grade school days.

For my birthday that year, my dad gave me a camera. My first one. I'm not sure if any of you remember or not, but for several years, I took that camera everywhere and took random pictures of friends and stuff at school. Obviously, this was back before the days of digital cameras that will fit in your shirt pocket. This was a huge camera, but I lugged it around anyway. I'm so glad, too, because I have some hilarious pictures from back in the day. Here are a few from our 7th grade year:

This one was taken towards the end of our 7th grade year, on "Field Day." Remember? We all got to wear shorts, and we played different kinds of games and contests all day long. In this picture, you can see Heath, Weston, and Bobby walking away from the camera. I remember Bobby was humming or singing some song, and they were doing some kind of "cool" walk. Seems like it was some kind of wrestling walk. If you look closely, you can see that Weston had not only a bandana around his neck, but also some white pieces of hair tied into his hair....the beginning stages of his punk rock phase. Beyond them, you can see Ashley Atkins, Stacey Carson, and Kristye Sweat being harrassed by Terry Harmon. I think that's Bill Payne in the group under the soccer goal, and Todd Rob on the far left in the red shirt.


This one was taken in our Art Class that year, just before we got out for Christmas holidays. This was the second of two photos taken, and everyone obviously did their best to be funny in this one. In this picture, from the bottom left, you'll see Stephen Brooks, Jana Jones, Ashley Atkins, Beth Coleman, Merrell McQueen, Mrs. Guin's little girl (that Brett grabbed and scared the hell out of), Brett Butler, Angel Castille, (now back to the left) Stephanie Knight, Alesha Hussey, John Grayson, Sarah Lyle, Valerie Sargent, Judy Whitehurst, Jennifer Pace, David Stuart, Tess Gurley, and Chris McLaurin. Then you obviously have Mr. Davis and Mrs. Guin in the back.


This was a picture taken in Mrs. Landsdale's homeroom class. From the left, you have Rhonda Sheffield, Jeanne Caffereta, Whitney Wortman, Jeffrey Droke, Kathy Hale, Jeremy ?, Billy Moore, Lane Dunn, Joe Gilmore, Jeff McGee, Starr Weeks, Scott Caldwell, Dennis Riddles, Renardi Boyd, Kristina ? (am I wrong???), Michael Thomas aka "Sack," Brett, Jake, Tony Skinner, Ashley Atkins, (who is behind Ashley?), Ginger Horton, Merrell McQueen. This was obviously taken in April of 1984 because the bulletin board has "April Showers" on it...


This one was taken out in front of the 7th grade building before school started one morning. I had totally forgotten about Weston's "Nuke Culture Club" stage. He HATED Boy George, so he had a couple t-shirts made to display his opinions of Boy George. Hilarious. In this picture, you have from left: Jay McKinney, Weston, Shawn Glidewell, Ashley, Heath, Kristye, Stephanie Norris, Angel Wilburn, Christy Lancaster, and Kathy Hale. Man, talk about a blast from the past...


That's it for now. I gotta hit the sack. More to follow....ISN'T THIS FUN????