The Pixie

1.  Paper Roses by Marie Osmond

2.  Top of the World by The Carpenters

3.  Superstar by The Carpenters

4.  Misty Blue by Dorothy Moore

5.  You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer

6.  You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone

7.  The Loco-Motion by Grand Funk Railroad

8.  Deep Purple by Donny & Marie Osmond

9.  Are You Lonesome Tonight by Elvis Presley

10.  These Boots Are Made For Walkin' by Nancy Sinatra

11.  The Sweetest Thing by Juice Newton

12.  Break It To Me Gently by Juice Newton

13.  Baby Doll by Barbara Fairchild

14.  Somethin' Stupid by Nancy Sinatra with her father Frank Sinatra

So get a load of that picture!!  The Alspaugh Family Band, circa 1973.  I can date it because I have the pixie haircut but my ears aren't fully exposed.  My mother really wanted me to try the pixie "do" and to bribe me she said I could start wearing makeup if I agreed to do it.  Now, we all know how mesmerizing the word "makeup" can be to a girl of 13.  Heck - even a girl in elementary school is dreaming of the day she can wear makeup!  Some of us girls get the bug early, some are later, but most girls I know get the bug!!!  And it is a very potent driving force. My mother was very shrewd on that one!

                                                

This is a picture of me on my 13th birthday, fresh from the beauty salon.  Check out that helmet!! I can imagine the beautician thinking to herself, "I've just got to cut around these ears and get them out in the open!"  I remember this day very clearly.  I had the haircut, which I wasn't very comfortable with, but hadn't received the makeup yet.  Just me and my bare face hanging out.  Ugh!  My friends who came for the party were supportive, just as friends should be in these circumstances, but I know they were being kind.  I secretly think my mother felt bad because she had originally told me I could only wear a little eye shadow and some blush.  She really wanted me to wear the deep red lipstick they wore when she was my age but I refused! This was, after all, the 70's!  Hello!!  It was minimalism with makeup!  Sheer pink lip gloss if any at all - the natural look.  And women who wore too much makeup were catering to the whims of men - and why should we do things to make men happy?  It was all about being a natural woman! (Cue Carole King)  I was caught in the throes of women's lib, the sexual revolution, and the ecology movement.  Boundaries were being challenged everywhere - including the lipstick boundary in the Alspaugh household!  So I went upstairs to play with my mother's makeup and I put on eye shadow, mascara (gasp!), blush - I just basically went all out and put on the whole shebang - in subdued tones, of course.  I gathered up my nerve and went marching down to the kitchen where my mother was.  She stopped fixing dinner, took a good long look, assessing the result, and declared that I knew what I was doing and could wear it all! Score!!  What else could she say?  I had my FACE hanging OUT because my HAIR was GONE! When I got the makeup going I liked the haircut more but the following years' school pictures chronicle the continual growing out of the pixie. Here is my 9th grade picture.  Note that the ears are now hidden, thank goodness!

                                                    

                                                      

And then my 10th grade photo - a true testament to the horrors of growing out an unwanted haircut!  I honestly think I did not let a pair of scissors near my head for years - this is true growing out, not even a trim!

                                                        

                                                       

And now, to the playlist of the week.  Although my brothers and I had been performing as guest artists" with my parents' band for ages, this is when we branched out on our own as a family band.  We had jobs that were booked specifically for us.  We played wedding receptions, local dances (not school!), and night clubs and bars.  Now, how does a band with multiple minors get jobs in bars and night clubs?  I'm not sure but it might have had something to do with the fact that the parentals were right there with us and were known to not be drinkers themselves.  It's not like we'd be able to sneak off and get a drink.  You're sharing a microphone with your dad and brother sometimes - someone's gonna know!  I was never, ever tempted, though.  I saw how strong my parents were and I was happy to enjoy a "grapefruit soda" (translation - Squirt) just like my Dad!  The playlist this week are some of the songs I remember performing.  I just shake my head at some of them.  Honestly, what does a girl of 13 or 14 know about love, romance, and heartache?  Well, maybe you'd know a little about heartache, but would you have the maturity to be able to transfer that emotion into song?  Not this girl, I can tell you!  I got tons of compliments, though, and I think it was because my tone was good and my pitch was good.  But, what I wouldn't give to be able to sing some of those songs again and be able to put the emotion into them that they deserve!  I just can't imagine how amused people were when this short, little teenage girl got up and belted out about how her boots were gonna walk all over the scoundrel that had done her wrong!! Seriously, folks, I know you're laughing just reading about it!  I did get rave reviews and requests for my Debby Boone offering.  You Light Up My Life was HUGE!  It was a big hit on the radio and it was a big hit for me.  I loved performing it.  It meant even more when I found someone to whom I could sing it!  My husband, though, when asked what songs I sang will instantly break out into his own rendition of You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer.  I'm thinking that, yet again, it was quite comical to see a young girl up there wiggling around as she sang about love and getting jiggy with it!  Deep Purple is a song I sang as a duet with my brother, Marvin, who sang the lead. People were always comparing us to Donny and Marie. After all, we were a singing brother and sister team, just like them!  Misty Blue is a bluesy song that my father insisted I sing.  I didn't feel comfortable singing it but he worked with me and worked with me on it.  I think I eventually did an acceptable performance but this is where the lack of maturity was a hindrance.  It's one of the songs I'd like to give another go around today.  I was also never ultra confident with the Are You Lonesome Tonight because, right in the middle of the song there was talking.  Talking!!!  How weird is that?  Well, today it doesn't seem weird but back then it was just . . .  weird.  When Nancy Sinatra sang a duet with her dad, Frank, my father immediately said, "We're going to do that!  You and I!"  And we did.  It is a very fun song to sing and remains a personal favorite.  The Juice Newton songs were actually after I left home and was married.  Whenever I made it back to PA for a visit my dad would sit me down and want to work on a new song that he thought would work well with my voice.  Juice was the craze at the time and her gutsy, clear songs were both fun and challenging.  We would usually find ourselves going with my parents to one of their jobs while we were there at which time my father would invite me up to the mike to share a song or two with the audience.  The Sweetest Thing was usually one of the songs and later, Break It To Me Gently, but I never felt as comfortable with the latter as I did with the former.  My husband enjoyed hearing me sing Juice Newton songs but they are strong and require strong vocal chords.  I find it hard to do them for too long nowadays.  Out of practice, I guess.

The photo of the band is great, though.  It brings back floods of memories.  The younger kids didn't play the jobs in the bars and night clubs, just in case you were wondering.  I guess that 13 was the cut off.  But they'd go with us to the receptions and some of the dances and shake tambourines and such.  As they grew older they performed at different functions.  Tina has a beautiful voice - she was the soprano.  Brenda provided the parents with the fiddler they had always dreamed of and at which I failed miserably.  They were the "guest artists" of the second half of the family.  I recognize these as truly unique experiences which most kids never had growing up.  I feel blessed.