That Boy Could Sing! Part One...

I was cleaning my trusty steed tonight, and tucked into a crevice were these CDs. I forgot I had them. They are Campfires '92 and More Campfires '94 from Camp Metigoshe. I remember I had the tapes, but a friend of mine put them on CD for me. As I type this, I am listening to them right now. The summer of '93 when I was a counselor there along with Bram and quite a few others, we did this musical that our director wrote. During that summer, we went into a recording studio in Minot, and recorded these songs we were all singing that summer. You know, the classics! But, then we recorded these songs from the musical we were doing every week. There was a song called "Blessed to be a Blessing." I remember when we first learned it, Bram would take the high harmonies, and would just soar above everyone else. Well, I just heard that song for the first time in a long time, and wouldn't you know it, there's Bram's voice signing that high harmony! It's beautiful to actually hear his voice singing away like that.

Bram was so gifted when it came to singing. Our senior year in high school, we formed this acapella group - Me, Bram, Chris, and Frank. We actually did quite well. Although when I tried to name the group "Northern Lights," Bram was very vocal about his disdain for the name. I can't say it was a great name, but it was a name. We tried to sing songs by Glad, Accapella, Take 6 (that was unsuccessful, but we tried), and then whatever else Chris wanted us to try. I remember we sang for our church, we sang in Bismarck at some high school for a competition, and then I remember we sang at our own high school talent show. It was very cool, but then to sing with some talented guys made it seem easy.

Bram definitely had that gift of being able to hear that harmony without needing some kind of help. He could always find that middle pitch well, and then he would sing it flawless. When he and I would write music, he would always find that harmony from me, and because we both had voices that sounded alike, we would blend really well together. I miss that energy he had when it came to writing lyrics and then sitting down to actually chord things out. We wrote maybe six or seven songs together, and they were alright. One in particular, I can sing most of...our worship band a few years ago, warmed up with those chords from that song Bram and I wrote. I think it was called, "Love," and it was very, very influenced by a band called Lightning Seeds, which Bram and I were obsessed with. We played "Love" twice in public. Once at Kim Cook's sweet 16 party, and the other was at our high school talent show. I wish I had a recording of that song. I still remember singing that song for that talent show, and when we heard the applause, I looked down and saw Amber Peterson wiping the tears away. That was the power of Bram's voice...able to make the girls swoon. Well, at least, a few girls that I remember.

Anyway, I miss those days. They were all so unexpected...nothing happened out of routine or because we were bored (Que the Pet Shop Boys singing "Being Boring" here). We had fun, mostly got along, and had lots of memories made then. I remember being with our girlfriends at the time, at his house, pretending to watch movies. Course, we did not watch movies much with them. I just remember hoping and praying to God that Bram's Mom would not come down stairs and ruin the moment, er, uh, movie night! I remember sleeping on Bram's bed and he would literally take every damn cover on that bed, wrap himself into a cocoon of blankets, and leave me out in the cold. I eventually began to search out my own bedding at his house. I remember playing Nintendo with him...he was very competitive when it came to any game, especially Mario Bros. Those were good times. We both had moments of teenage jealousy or moments of frustration (mostly it was me who got frustrated about Bram, since he would always insist on just being himself...it would rarely, but at times, piss me off...because I wanted to be that way. He just did it better, and he would get away with it well. I then would slink off and not call him for a day or two. God I was so uptight then!). It was Bram who taught me how to sing, how to be sensitive, how to have somewhat of a care for what I wore, and he taught me how to smell good. He just gave me some kind of self-confidence, and reassurance that I am unique and individual. Giving me all that helped me get through some weird, bad times in high school. Hell, it all helped me get through high school.

Yeah, I am feeling nostalgic right now. I guess we all do at times. I just remember being around him were some of the best times of my life. It was then too, that we both vowed that if we were not married by the time we were thirty, we were going to move to Minneapolis, turn gay (how that's done by choice is beyond me, but we were willing to learn), own two cats, live in a big studio apartment, and eat rice and chicken three times a week. He was going to be an artist and I was going to write books. I remember that plan. What the hell were we thinking? I remember that he and I were convinced that we would not find anyone who would want to remotely put up with either of us, so we figured we would for each other. That was our way of looking at the possibilities of marital bliss... What did we know... 30 seemed like an eternity away. Now I wish I was 17 all over again now that I have reached 30 plus 3. More later...