Birthday memories - Oct 18, 1977

Gene,
Just turned 47 today. I was remembering most of the birthdays I could remember. Some were good some not so good. Tuesday Oct.18, 1977 was the day I was given Street Survivors as a birthday gift from my parents. My Dad never could understand why I listened to Skynyrd. I told him that day if he would just listen to the music it wasn’t all about drugs, sex, and the devil. I told him their music was for people like him and me. So we listened in my room. He had a beer in his hand, and I had a bottle of Pepsi. After side one was finished, I looked at my Dad and he got up without saying a word. I asked him where he was going and he answered “To get another damn beer so I can listen to side two”. To this day he says the cover of Haggard’s “Honky Tonk Night Time Man” was the best he’s ever heard. Two days later my heroes were gone. My grief didn’t match yours after you found out you had lost a friend but it was pretty hard for a 17 year old to take that Thursday evening, Oct. 20.

The man was born to write music and wasn’t meant to be on this earth very long. His gift is our gift and we were damn lucky to be affected by his life.

Sincerely,

Jim Lalumondier
Lenexa, KS