Comments
***** 09/15/14 Update *****
What a great 45th reunion weekend ! The Friday night "Pub Crawl" was crowded and noisy (as usual) but it was great to see and TRY to visit with former classmates ! The Saturday afternoon Bingham reunion was SO much fun in a great venue with perfect weather and it provided more of an opportunity to actually visit and try to catch up with the different and diverse lives we've lead since the 60's ! The Saturday night event rocked with my favorite local band (The Platinum Express) several of whom I have jammed with around town and it was fun to TRY and act like teenagers again dancing to music mostly from that 60's era ! (Thank you Paul !) There just never seems to be enough time to visit with everyone but even the brief conversations and snippets of where we've been and what we've done are so interesting and so enjoyable. Thanks to all who contributed to making these events possible and such a success !
***** 09/05/09 Update *****
What a "huge success" the 40 year class reunion was ! A huge THANK YOU to all the reunion committee members, all others who also contributed their time and effort, and all those who made donations to keep the cost of attending the reunion more affordable ! It was GREAT to see ALL who attended - it was DEFINITELY a "memory maker" ! I hope we DO follow through with the more frequent "casual get togethers in KC" to "keep the Southwest spirit alive" ! It was fun to SPARK that spirit in August - THANKS AGAIN to ALL those who made it possible !
Since I felt pretty fortunate to have graduated in '69 ( I dropped out the first semester of my senior year - I met who would become my first wife who convinced me to go back and graduate with my class so I had to play "catch up" the second semester ! I had to take 6 solids at Southwest and 4 solids at Westport night school because I needed all 10 credits to graduate ! I made it - THANKS Rae ! ) I decided not to pursue college. I drew a VERY high number in the military draft lottery ( remember that ? ) so I decided to get married since I wasn't likely to be drafted for an "all expense paid tour of Vietnam" ! Other than a VERY brief stay in Omaha Nebraska ( about a year or so in the early 70's ) and a few years in the Dallas / Ft Worth Texas area ( '82 to '88 ) I have lived in the greater Kansas City area - it has just always felt like home to me.
I have spent most of my adult life in the credit and finance business mostly doing automotive loans for car dealerships as a Finance Manager or as a residential Loan Officer for home mortgages. I married in 1970, divorced in 1975, re-married in 1976, divorced again in 1987, I was a single parent which is MUCH different than being "single" raising my daughter through 1996 when she graduated from high school and left for college, and I met my current wife in 1998. We married in 2004 and I think there's something to that saying that "the third time is the charm" - not that I regret my two previous marriages at all !
In addition to spending time with family and friends my love and appreciation of music has only gotten deeper with age ! I play piano / keyboard and have a regular "jam" group ( we get together nearly every week at one of our houses ) consisting of a drummer, a bass guitar player, a rhythm guitar player, a lead guitar player who provides most of the vocals, me on the keyboard, and some vocals and harmonies provided by the drummer's significant other ! I also really enjoy attending "open jams" whenever possible and there are SO many open jams here in Kansas City anymore that they are available almost any night of the week ! For those of you who may not be familiar with "open jams" it's kind of like karaoke with EITHER instruments AND/OR vocals - you can sing, play an instrument, or BOTH usually with a "host band" so that you have a full band sound for each song ! It's an opportunity to alternate musicians on keyboard, drums, guitar, bass, brass, etc AND/OR singers for the vocals - whatever YOUR interest or talent may be ! It's a LOT of fun, I've played with some really GREAT talents ( and some not as talented too - but it's ALL fun ! ), and I've made some great friends in the process ! If there are any other "recreational musicians" out there that are interested in "jamming" let me know ! I'd really enjoy playing music with other classmate muscians who share my love of creating live music ! ( August 2015 update - I've now discovered that a guy by the name of "Lee Sellars" that I've been jammig with for quite some time now is actually "Steve Sellars" from our class ! Now using his middle name "Lee" I didn't put it together until just recently ! I guess we've both changed a bit these last 40 some odd years but jamming with him NOW has a lot more meaning - two of us "Class of '69 Southwest Indians" playing live music together ! It really can be a small world sometimes ! )
BTW - Did anyone else know about the Facebook group "Southwest High (KC) Musicians" ? I found them on Facebook and decided to join the group in 2014 shortly before our 45 year reunion - I thought it sounded like something worth checking out ! The Southwest class of '74 had their Sunday 40 year reunion event at B B's Lawnside Bar B Q in south Kansas City and invited ALL Southwest High School alumni to participate in an open jam ! Great food, I met a lot of new people ( former '74 alumni ), and had a blast jamming with the other musicians ! Hopefully there will be more similar events in the future and an ever increasing number of members in the "Southwest High (KC) Musicians" group !
