Myrtle Beach and the Band Nerds Mayhem

Sorry about my pissy attitude yesterday. I appreciate the comments, encouragement and advice. I'll take some time to digest them all. But back to the fun Mojo.

I started playing the flute in sixth grade. In junior high school, I was pretty serious about it. I took private lessons. There was 1st-3rd chair and most of my 7th-8th grade years, I was 1st chair flutist. That meant I got to play the solo part during concerts. My Dad was all about me playing the flute. He loved when I practiced in front of his recliner after work. Even when I screwed up, he still enjoyed it. I think it gave my Mom a headache, she'd always call it my tooty-flutey.

I became friends with a girl named Liza in junior high band. Liza played the saxophone. We decided to sign up for band our freshman year together. People would always tease us about being with a bunch of "band nerds". We found out we had to do marching band if we wanted to play in the highest level of the high school band, symphonic band. Liza and I decided that 1st chair didn't mean as much anymore. We settled for concert band, the second level HS band. In concert band, we just had to do evening performances, no marching band bullshit. Concert band wasn't that bad. I had to wear a cummerbund and bow tie but I survived. My Dad thought I looked wonderful!


****I just came back to edit because I spelled it "cumberbun", I knew it didn't look right. It looks like cinnabun or honeybun. But it's really "cummer"bund. Add a T and we have a cake.******

The real reason Liza and I even signed up for HS band was because every spring, the band would go to Myrtle Beach to compete, without our parents! We had to be sophomores though. Liza and I stuck it out for almost two years for that trip. We sold oranges and grapefruit to make money to go. We were called the "band babes".

Liza was a beautiful girl, I called her an "exotic". She wasn't scared to be the first to wear a plaid skirt with giant safety pins and combat boots. She followed her own drummer. I'll always remember Liza and her red lipstick, she always had her lipstick on. The reeds for her sax were always stained red. She always looked glamorous. She confided in me that she wanted to be a supermodel after high school. I believed in her too. She was very tall, had beautiful facial structure and she was my "exotic".




Usually in high school, girls are very jealous of each other. Liza and I weren't like that. She had her little nickname for me too, "My cute, little Mojoeeeee" (but insert my real name) We were opposites. She was tall, I was small. She was pale, I was tan. I liked lip gloss, she liked red lipstain. She had dark hair, I had every color of hair. I had junk in the truck, she had a little butt. We attracted completely different types of guys. We made a good team.



Our spring break at Myrtle Beach finally came after almost two years. We were so excited. The only problem was, we had to share a room with one of the biggest dorks in band. Her name was Jessie. We just planned to spend as much time out of the room as possible.

The entire bus ride down to SC, we listened to U2 Achtung Baby. We loved So Cruel and Wild Horses. We arrived very early in the morning and got unpacked. Later that day the entire band went to downtown to the boardwalk. Our band instructor, Mr.Taylor knew we were trouble. He watched us like a hawk. When we were talking to some sailors, he comes flapping over yelling "They are only 16, back off sailors!"

Liza was pissed and smoked a cigarette before we went back to the hotel. When we got to our room, Jessie started spazing out that Liza smelled like cigarettes and she had asthma. We went up to the jacuzzi to shut her up. For some reason, we decided to talk off our swim suits. About two minutes later, we see Mr. Taylor walking toward us. We dunk underwater and put our suits back on real quick and exit the hot tub. I wasn't paying attention to Liza until we got back in the elevator. In her rush, she'd put her suit on inside out! All the padding in the breast cups was hanging out for the world to see. It was some funny shit.

We saw some of the finest sufer dudes that night. We called down to them from our balcony to quietly come up to room 356. Jessie had went down the hall to practice her trumpet in her friends room. As soon as the hot surfer boys got into our room there was a knock at the door. It was Mr.Taylor with his fucking walkie talkie, like he was on Miami Vice or something. "One of the chaperones saw you calling to the boys. You are not to have any boys this room! You two better knock it off or we'll send you home at your parents' expense." Mr. Taylor was such a cock blocker!

We decided to be mischievous and play a prank on some of the band boys. We went down to the front desk and pretended we lost our card key. They gave us a card to the boys room. Liza and I bought some ketchup, a box of pads and tampons. We headed to the boys room and started decorating. We hung tampons from all the light fixtures, stuck pads on the walls and spread them with ketchup. We filled the sinks and bathtub with water, ketcup and tampons. We stripped the beds and tied the sheets to the balcony. We unscrewed the mouth piece to the telephone and hid the microphone part. We knew that when they came back, they'll call and tell Mr.Taylor. We went through their bags and found tighty whitey's with skid marks and made a path on the floor. And then the door opened, the boys caught us in action.

Liza was strong. She ran out of the room and got free. The boys had a hold of me though. She came and rescued me but we had gotten too loud. A chaperone comes running down the hall into the pad/tampon party room. The chaperone turned pale, he was in shock.

"This is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen! You girls are in big trouble! I'm calling Mr.Taylor! Look at all these sanitary napkins strewn about!"

I couldn't control myself. What idiot calls them sanitary napkins? "Ummmm, you mean pads and tampons that are covered in blood?" He looked like he was going to pass out.

I really pissed him off and he went running to the phone. He calls to Mr.Taylor's room. He's so angry, he is spitting and frothing at the mouth.

"I have the two trouble makers up here and you wouldn't believe what they have done."

Too bad Mr.Taylor couldn't hear him because we removed the microphone. Idiot chaperone keeps calling Mr.Taylor back because he keeps getting hung up on. I couldn't stop laughing. I think Liza peed in her pants.

We almost got sent home. For the rest of the trip, we were confined to our room. We didn't join band our junior year because they told us we weren't allow to go on the trip again. We had fun though, I've never laughed so hard.


The saddest part of this story is that I recently learned Liza had died in 2004. Her family didn't discuss why, it was probably suicide or an OD. She had made it into modeling too, below is a picture of her at a photo shoot. Her dream had come true. I am sad my partner in crime is gone forever. Wild Horses is for Liza, because she was like black beauty. Dark, strong and "exotic". I will always think of her when I wear red lipstick.