Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll

by Ann Wilson

Our father, John Bushrod Wilson Jr., was born at the naval shipyard hospital in Bremerton, Washington,

Our parents decided we would settle in Bellevue, Washington, in a neighborhood called Lake Hills.

We’d listen to the radio in our room, waiting for the new rock ’n’ roll hits, as DJs Pat O’Day and Lan Roberts counted down the hits.

We were booked for a two-week gig at the Town Crier in Richland, Washington.

I told Manny we were “channeling Led Zeppelin,” who had stolen it from Joan Baez’s “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You,” who had taken it from the bluesmen, who had taken it from Old Stinky Rag Jackson, who had taken it from drummers in Kenya, who had taken it from gypsies, who had learned it from Adam. And Adam got it from Lilith. She got it from the horses. That shut him up.

I left my high school reunion as I had left high school most days, wishing the car would move faster so the bad memory might fade quicker. Only this time, I was telling a limo driver to speed it up.

I can relate to this.