David Payne:
CLASS OF 1971
Mitchell High SchoolClass of 1971
Colorado springs, CO
University of Southern ColoradoClass of 1976
Pueblo, CO
Southern Colorado State CollegeClass of 1976
Pueblo, CO
Dallas Middle SchoolClass of 1968
Dallas, PA
Dallas Elementary SchoolClass of 1965
Dallas, PA
David's Story
Life
Born in NH; when I was six, we moved to Dallas PA where I attended Dallas Elementary & Junior High schools. In 1968, after ninth grade, we moved to Colorado Springs. High school there (Mitchell HS) went pretty well - I discovered theater, music performance, and unusual people (finally - my own kind!). My senior year, though, went sour when my father died (cancer; age 57).
After a year of introspection, exploring life and my place in the world, I spent four years at Univ. of Southern Colorado, in Pueblo (now CSU/Pueblo). Graduated with a B.S. in Theater Arts, music minor. After graduation, I attempted a career in music with some friends; like most homegrown bands, it eventually fell apart. Thereafter, I almost literally stumbled into a career in theater, at the Colo. Springs Fine Arts Center; when that ended (limited contract), I moved to Brooklyn, to the apartment of my (younger) older sister.
Over the next decade, I went from tech theater free-lance to a day job in a theater lighting shop; the mid-80s also witnessed a 2-3 year return to music making. In 1980 I moved in with a woman I knew from the business; split from her after four years; reunited; split again; and reunited once again, but now under the shadow of her discovering she had cancer. Sixteen months later, we'd been married... and I'd been widowed (we didn't even make it to the first anniversary). The memorial I held for her in September 1988 in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, marked the last time I played guitar in public.
Shortly before she died, we'd moved to New Rochelle NY. I picked up the pieces and moved along... As it happened, that same lighting shop employed someone who became the next girlfriend - and in 1991, Wife 2.0. Career-wise, in 1990 I defected from that lighting shop to their bigger, sexier, smarter competition
1993 was an emotional roller-coaster year: we moved to Pennsylvania (the "scenic" Poconos); the lighting shop moved most operations to NJ, but I stayed in NYC playing Adult In Charge for the remaining NY facility; my first son was born; the aforeme...Expand for more
ntioned sister and my stepfather-in-law both were diagnosed with cancer (both died the next year).
1995 brought my second son to the world; 1996, my mother's demise (natural causes) and, as a result, my first and (to date) last return to Colo. Springs; 1997 brought my "pseudo-daughter" to us (a wonderful exchange student from Budapest) for five months. My wife started working again, as a free-lance stagehand... And, in 1999, I quit the entertainment lighting industry completely. Reasons: burnout; company was sold and new management stunk; wife's growing career; a better home life for my boys. I played stay-at-home dad and worked part-time. Found a full-time gig selling software for two years...
Shortly after I was laid off in 2003, Wife 2.0 decided she had other life plans (with whom she now lives on Long Island); the boys stayed with me, in the same house. For the next two years I REALLY WAS a single parent (not just imitating one) and trying to work part-time.
In August 2005, the boys moved to Mommie Dearest's. They go to school and have their friends out there, and see me most weekends.
In late 2007, I moved from the Poconos to the Lehigh Valley area of PA, where I am now. There have been a couple of employer changes along the way, but essentially I'm a cube farmer (inside sales rep).
Other factoids:
MUSIC PREFERENCES: eclectic, eccentric tastes. Rock, jazz, classical, "new acoustic"... all over the map.
TV: I'm cable-impaired now; I watch anything I care to via the Internet or vodcast.
SPORTS: irrelevant to me. I'm not equipped with that strand of DNA.
POLITICS: Liberal, but not knee-jerk; prefer to think for myself.
BEVERAGES: coffee (black); beer (craft-brew, NOT mainstream); margaritas; vodka (Svedka or Finlandia).
SMOKE: no, just smolder.
BEASTS: currently without. Over the years, the pet tally is 11 cats, 2 dogs, 2 birds, 1 fish. (max: 1 dog, SIX cats).
Well, that was a challenge -- trying to compress a half-century into a few sentences... And I left out a few juicy parts -- you'll have to write to hear them, though...
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