Because I was driving, I cut myself off from the weed and beer. I went out to the car and retrieved my acoustic guitar and sat out on the patio just noodling around. I looked into the house and saw Pete and his target exchanging soft kisses. I smiled and hoped this would turn into something for him. He was the only one in the band who hadn't been attached at least some point during its existence. I started playing Cat Stevens' "Moon Shadow" as I gazed at that bright white orb. I followed that with Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game" because it and the Stevens song kinda remind me of each other.

Pete and his girl of the moment, Lynn, joined me. "Hey Melody, could you please play, "Over the Hills and Far Away?" I granted his wish and he began singing it to her while I backed him. She, like him, was semi high, so she loved his gesture. He then asked me if I wanted to do "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" with him. I said I would have to take the harmony part and he the lead. He assented to that and so we did it, our voices and the sound of my guitar reverberating around the patio. A few more people came out to hear what we were doing. We transitioned to "Your Move" with Pete lamenting that he didn't have his bass with him at that moment during an instrumental bit in the tune. Darrell wanted me to do "that song about scotch and beer you did last year." I had tucked my slide into my bikini top, so I pulled it out and did it as best I could vocally before segueing into "Boom Boom." Darrell passed out more beers and someone had made a pitcher of margaritas and was lining some up on the counter. I suggested we do "La Grange" and so he sang the lead on it while I accompanied him. I downshifted into the Eagles' "Tequila Sunrise" and went from that into "Take it Easy," which is practically the national anthem, so to speak of California. Someone knew it and sang it, but out of tune. We all got a good laugh out of that.

I just suddenly went into Joni's "Both Sides Now"  and then Bread's "If." Someone asked if I knew any Beach Boys. I didn't, at least to play, but I did do Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A" since Brian Wilson's boys were so influenced by him. I pulled the slide out again and began doing "Freebird." Pete sang the lead vocal so I didn't have to. "God, I miss Joe when I play this," I observed. "Who's Joe?' someone asked. "The other guitarist in our band," I instructed. "This song normally has three guitar parts in it." Pete and I then insinuated ourselves into "Tush," with Pete singing and then me doing the slide guitar solo. That was it. It was now well after midnight and I thought that the neighbors needed a break. Pete got Lynn's phone number and we went home.

"Look's like you scored, babe," I said to Pete. "Yeah, it seems so," he acknowledged with a big grin. "Thanks for helping," he expressed gratefully. "I'm glad I was able to, sweety." Pete spent the night with me and, yes, we had sex, because he was still too high to drive home without risking being sussed by The Bill.

Saturday, I went up to North Hollywood to hang out at the Sugar Shack. I got dressed to kill in a black leather bustier and a matching mini skirt, black thigh high stockings and stilettos. I saw a pre-Runaways Joan Jett there. She was still just Joan Larkin back then. The club itself catered mainly to kids in their mid to high teens and it was where Joan met Cherie Currie. Cherie wasn't there that night. I walked up to Joan and introduced myself. She was pretty blase and appeared to be slightly drunk until, in the course of our small talk, I told her I played guitar. Her eyes lit up (and she has totally amazing peepers!) and we started talking about gear and what glitter rock rock artists we liked. I took her to my car, where I showed her how to play a couple of Bowie songs on the aforementioned Epi acoustic. I gave her my number and told her to call me if she ever wanted to sit in with my band or jam sometime.  I totally wanted to sleep with her, but I guess she wasn't that interested since she never phoned.

When I left the Sugar Shack, I went to Tower Records on Sunset and bought a bunch of albums before setting the controls for home. I whiled away all day Sunday learning songs off of those records. Then Monday, I roamed various colleges in my county attempting to arrange gigs. Tuesday, I did it in L.A. County and then Wednesday I went all the way down to San Diego State and UC San Diego for the same  purpose. I left press kits at all of them and hoped for the best.

Not having modern cable tv was driving me nuts. There was just nothing on all the fucking time with so few channels available in the mid-1970's except for Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and Midnight Special and an occasional program on Channel 28 (PBS) unless there was an Angels or Dodgers game, which wasn't that often.. I wasn't inclined to watch All in the Family or Maude and such again. So unless someone was over who was actually interested, my tv did little more than gather dust.

Monday, I went to the beach wearing my yellow bikini. After I slathered sun screen on, I took leisurely walks up and down the waterline and checked out the guys and girls passing by. Some of them eyed me, too. I then laid out on my towel to tan my body. All of a sudden, someone said, "hey, aren't you Melody Kang?" I looked toward the person who uttered my name. I didn't know who it was. "Do I know you?" I wondered. "I go to your school," he countered. "Okay," I rejoindered in a non-committal manner. "You play a pretty bitchin' guitar." "Thanks." "Do you mind if we hang out?" "We" was him and his friend. "Yeah, I guess," I tentatively allowed. They picked up their towels and moved over next to me.

They introduced themselves. The guy who made the initial contact was named Sonny and his friend was called Brad. Sonny was pretty cute at just over six feet and at a proportionate weight with long dark brown hair just past his shoulders. Brad was okay, but not someone I would sleep with. "Are you here alone?" Sonny inquired. "Yeah." I asked them to tell me about themselves. They were both going to be juniors at my now former school, so they were two years younger than me and were avid body surfers, but not jocks, thank God. We made small talk for a while. Sonny revealed that he had gone to that Led Zep tribute show and thought that our anti-prom flier was pretty funny. That helped me loosen up somewhat. Brad went to get something to eat and drink and Sonny took the opportunity to tell me he thought I was cute. I thanked him for the compliment and then he asked if I wanted to go out sometime. "I guess," I said. But I added, "do you drive?" "Not yet. I have my learner's permit right now. What about you?" "I already graduated sweety and own my own car and house." "Oh," he reacted, his confidence drooping. "So how do you intend to take me out?" I interrogated. To be honest, I was kind of having him on a bit. "I guess I'll have to wait until I get my license," he said in that simplistic way teenage boys often do. I giggled. I was getting the impression that there wasn't a lot of there there, if you know what I mean.

"Have you ever had sex? And tell me the truth," I cross examined. "Not really." "Why not? You're not bad looking and you had the confidence to end up next to me. So how do you not have sex yet?" "I don't know," he shrugged, employing another vacant teenage boy response. "You're evading the question. How come a guy like you hasn't been able to ball a chick yet?" I riposted in a demanding manner. "Be honest," I encouraged. "Because I kind of lose my nerve once I get a girlfriend and want her to basically ask me to have sex with her." "Ah, just as I thought," I said. I explained to him that women want to be led and don't want to have to carry the guy on their backs. So the confidence to go after what you want in the beginning has to extend into the relationship itself where you continue to pursue your desires, though I added a lot of qualifications to that so as to not sound like I was advocating rape. "Woah, that's really heavy," he remarked as Brad returned.

I stuck around for another hour and then had to leave before I was afflicted with a bad sunburn. He asked for my phone number and we went to my car, where I wrote it on a page from a small spiral notebook I keep in my ride for a variety of reasons, but mostly in case I have good ideas while I'm driving or somewhere other than home. I did the weekly shopping on the way home and, when I finally got back, there was a message on my answering machine from a junior college we had never played at before. I called back and got us a booking for the first Tuesday of September at noon.

Later that night, Sonny called me. Way too anxious. I made a mental note to talk to him about that. He just wanted to know what I was doing and if I was going to the beach again soon (I said I didn't know because I usually decide to do that on spur of the moment) and just basically trying to freeform a conversation because he felt like he had to talk to me in order to play to my vanity. Guys suck at phone calls anyway. I think he was hoping that I would carry the conversation, but because I was basically a male inside I wasn't going to do that. Thus, what he was doing smacked of desperation, which women tend to view as unmanly. No wonder he wasn't getting laid.