Welcome ToBirdEllis.com

OK...Here's a bit about me.

                                                                                         
    I grew up on #3 Mill Hill at 36 Walnut St, adjacent to "Flopeye". I lived there until age 10 and then we moved to "Beckhamville" in 1960. Hot Dog, we're in 'high cotton' now. My dad bought a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, half basement, "Gold Medallion" (Duke Power Co. sponsored all electric) brick house, with hardwood floors, on 1.3 acres of land, and borrowed 12k. Hard to believe my folks bought that piece of property for the price of a used Camry. Of course, since  JP Stevens (The Mills) closed and Duke Power left, that piece of property should be worth at least 14k by now!
    I was always the guy that had to know what made things tick, so I was good at tearing things apart to see if I could put them back together again. At a success rate of about 80%, my friend Ernie always pulled me out the fire on the other 20%. We tore up, built, and repaired all kinds of stuff, electronic gimmicks, small engines etc. I thought he was a 'genius' because there were no cherry pickings left when the project finally got to him!  I got in  touch with him as a result of this website after 34 yrs.
     Then came the guitar. Christmas '66 I got a Silvertone guitar and matching amplifier, Sears & Roebuck special. Knowing what I know now, I should have made a bonfire out of them, but being a natural at music , I didn't. Six weeks later, I was in a real band, all black members except me, playing in a large club in Rock Hill, SC. They didn't care, and neither did I. We were all having a large time. I was never treated better anywhere, by anyone. The person that hired me was named Halley, he worked for Ansel and Bobby. We played all the Motown and James Brown hits. We worked 2 more jobs and Halley was killed in a car wreck. Broke my heart. The band split and I joined with Charles, Cathy, and Jimmy, and continued playing gigs locally. Later that year, Cathy and me were chosen senior superlatives by "The Catawban" yearbook as "Most Talented 1968". After graduation it became one more band, one more town, one more gig, until I gave up
playing for money, in '92, for good, in '94.
More Later, Exit...stage left !

 
me.

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