Amanda Grant Smith, Penn Valley PA 1979

Amanda Grant Smith writes: One of the great tragedies of my life is my woeful lack of musical talent. I LOVE music, and my inability to make it frustrates me to this day. I marveled at how my brother could hear a song once and then play it on any instrument. My heart leaped when my boyfriend Billie would play Van Halen's "Eruption" on my answering machine. And I dated a steady stream of long-haired, guitar-playing guys-- in part to annoy my parents, but mostly because I wanted to live the dream vicariously through them since it was the only chance I had. November, 1979 was the closest I ever came. My brother had kept KISS' Dynasty album at the front of his record collection for much of the year. When I broke my arm at play practice (an accident which got me demoted from being one of the Von Trapp kids to being a "guest at the party.") I did my best to cheer myself up by emulating Gene Simmons and made a disastrous mess in the process. If only I had a pair of those spectacular boots I swear I would have looked just like him...