David Brown:  

I moved to Sterling Virginia from Hunstville Alabama in January 1973. I attended 6th through 8th grade at Sterling Middle School. I then entered High School in the Fall of 1975 at Broad Run in Ashburn. I was part of the "bus migration" daily to the Annex School half a day. I then attended Park View High in Sterling from Fall 1976 to May of 1978. I moved to Austin Texas in May 1978 where I finished out my last year of High School at Round Rock High in 1978-1979. Due to the different requirements in Texas, I had to take a freshman Health Class in the fall of 1979 which is why I am listed with the 1980 graduating class of Round Rock. I was kind of pissed off about that one LOL! I left the great city of Austin in July 1992 and headed to where my sisters lived in Nashville Tennessee. It was a great adventure living in Austin's Sister Music City of Nashville. I continued enjoying the music scene as I did in Austin. I cannot say enough how blessed I was looking back on those years in Austin. It started the day I was waiting in line for registration at Round Rock. The guy waiting in line with me was Chris Williams. I clearly remember him asking me if I was into music. I answered I was definitely into hard rock. He answered that he and his brother were musicians. He educated me I needed to go down to Auditorium Shores on Thursday for a free concert. He said this cat named Stevie Ray Vaughn was going to be playing and that I needed to check him out. I did, and the rest was history as they say. Especially when I also discovered the Phenomenal Eric Johnson. Between finding Stevie and Eric, I literally lived in the clubs and heard Stevie Ray Vaughn along with the maestro Eric Johnson hundreds of times from 1978 to 1983 until the rest of the world finally tuned into Stevie, after his appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival where he was "discovered" and then played on David Bowie's "Let's Dance" Album. Eric took a bit longer until his "Tones" album in 1986. I knew then real time as it was happening that I was in the midst of something magical with the music scene of Austin Tx. It is so true that it is called the "live music capital of the world" as there were more going on during a Monday night than anywhere in this world on a saturday night. Rock and roll along with countless party girls. Who could ever ask for more while on this planet! Nashville had it's magical moments also like the night it so happened I met Johnny Cash. Now that is something to remember. Also hangin' at Tillie and Lucy's Pub for 5 years while Tracy Adkins was the house band every weekend. Later to be known just as Trace. Oh the stories that could be told but not on this public site! I left Nashville in September 2002 and headed to a small rural town in Virginia called Richlands. My live in girlfriend of 8 years in Nashville was from Richlands. She was an exotic dancer (ya, always loved the party girls!) and the small town life turned out to not be for her so she went back to Nashville eventually settling down, getting a Psychology Degree and becoming a great mother with 2 kids. The pictures below show me and Shelia when still in Nashville. She was about 30 at this point and I was already hitting 40. This was about a year or two before we headed up here to Richlands. The pictures were taken during Shelia's stay for 8 months at a correctional facility for a probation violation of a party charge. She was a party girl and the party was the driving force behind her working in the club. It worked for us as she didn't hang with customers, she just took their money and ran home every night. This provided ample time for me as I didn't hang at those clubs, choosing to use the time to stay at home and practice the guitar for endless hours. I stayed in Richlands as I found, at my age, the small town life was for me and could easily leave the wild life behind. I worked 15 years with ATT Mobility and worked my way up the ladder becoming a Manager and then an Area Manager. I recently left that career and started a new career as the Office Manager in Bluefield Virginia (about 45 miles from Richlands) with a small CPA Accounting firm where I am working towards passing the IRS Enrolled Agent Examination process to use my 5 years of experience at the Austin IRS Service Center to qualify for preparing taxes as part of managing the Office and the staff. I enjoy the small town life. I never married and never had children as that goal went out the window after Shelia went back to Nashville. I continue my love of music playing the 65 year old Piano I inherited after my Parents "broke on through to the other side".. I also continue to play the blues on the electric guitar. I have quite a collection of guitars and still have my prized 1979 Ibanez Musician Series that was owned by John L. Hooker. It is worth a pretty penny just on the mint condition alone but being owned by John L. Hooker makes it worth a small fortune. I also continue to keep vinyl alive with vintage and modern systems in every room in the house. Analog sources are used via turntables, cassette decks and reel to reel machines. Yes I do have digital also but it does not compare to analog. I have greyed, put on weight and eye sight still needs glasses but my ears are still golden and allow the total enjoyment of the music. My love of music never waned those years in Austin and my music "war" stories I lived are equal from my years in Nashville. I have lived a life of music and consider myself blessed when I look back on it all. The pics I have posted were of me and Dad shortly before he passed on to the other side. He was in his 90's and healthy as an ox but literally died of a broken heart as he simply could not g...Expand for more