Cruisin' to the Tunes!

Throughout the 1980s I was known as 'the deejay priest.' Almost every weekend I deejayed at least one high school dance, wedding reception or parish/community event. I started out modest with a decent personal sound system in 1982 and, with the channel of communication it opened with youth and the personal joy it brought me, my hobby unfolded into a budding professional business. Known first as 'Sound Station' and changing the name three years later to 'Cruisin' to the Tunes!' my reputation as the deejay priest grew by leaps and bounds. The evolution of my deejaying years took me through large music collections in five different formats - first vinyl singles, then vinyl albums, then on to cassettes, music videos and, with the birth of compact discs, on to CDs. I had a professional sound system, full light show and live video with two large monitors on either side of the stage.

I became something of a peculiarity if not an oddity and as interest grew I started receiving phone calls from newspapers throughout southwestern Michigan interested in writing a feature. Many of these features became syndicated. I will never know how far my story spread.

Music has always been special to me, a mystical door to innermost and transcendant feelings. A song by itself not only could elicit a memory and its accompanying mood, but also could actually propel me back in time to the moment itself.

Music has always been special to me, a mystical door to innermost and transcendant feelings. A song by itself not only could elicit a memory and its accompanying mood, but also could actually propel me back in time to the moment itself. Even today as I work within the prison, I have playing in the background collections of music carefully put together to carry my spirit again and again through my personal story.

In 1990 one of the most amazing gigs of my lifetime came to an end, but that's another story for another time.

What one special song has been forever etched into your memory of a defining moment in life? Does relistening to the song elicit the original feelings? Does hearing the song propel you back to the actual moment?

© Copyright 2006 gentlefootprint. All Rights Reserved.