At times it really does feel like "Only A Moment Ago" that I was
visiting with my best friend Bunny (short for Belinda) and we were looking
through her Tiger Beat and Fave Magazines looking at Bobby Sherman when we
spotted a new face. There was a question about an actor who appeared on an
episode of "Ironside". The magazine said his name was David Cassidy and he was
doing a pilot for a TV Series called "The Family Way." Both Bunny and I went "Ooooohhhh,
he's CUUUUTE!!" LOL!! The year was 1970 and that summer I moved with my family
to a small town in the desert called Trona.
Of course we all know now that the series was changed to the name of "The
Partridge Family" and both Bunny and I loved the single "I Think I Love You,"
which was already a hit by the time the show aired in September. I can still
remember watching the pilot and my mom was popping in and out watching it too as
she was doing the dishes from dinner. I'll never forget how she laughed so hard
when Danny went into the men's bathroom after Rueben and he looked over the
bathroom stall at the young boy, with THAT look! LOL! We were both in stitches.
Also in September I started going to my new school and I was in the 6th grade.
The first day I was being circled by other kids who were saying, "Half Mexican,
Half NIGGER" over and over. I finally said, "What if I was half BLACK? What
would be wrong with that? Black is beautiful baby!" The other kids mouths
dropped open and they didn't say anything for a while. My mom was also surprised
I couldn't wear this cute little psychedelic dress she bought me that had those
"hippie words" of "Love, Peace and Joy" on them! Mind you, I thought it was the
"grooviest" thing in the world to be a hippie! I even had some very cool patches
for my bell-bottomed blue jeans that said "Hippie's just another word for LOVE."
My father was a Methodist Minister who was the first Mexican-American to be
allowed to be a minister in the Methodist Church. He was very active politically
and in the 1960's we'd marched in the streets for civil rights and against the
Vietnam War. At his last Easter Sunrise Service in Fontana, CA where we'd lived
for 5 years, my dad had a popular DJ from a local radio station come out
to play song like the Beatles "Let It Be." He told his congregation that the
young people of today had something to say and that we should listen to them. I
used to hang out with the "Big Kids" who were the teens in the 60's and I loved
all the rock music. My dad had a popular teen center down town where he got many
kids off of drugs and it's where I learned to play pool and ping-pong. My mom
was a Speech Therapist and after we moved to Trona she got a job in Ridgecrest,
which was 25 miles away and the closest town to Trona. Some of you may know of
"China Lake" which is a Military Base next to Ridgecrest.
Like millions of other young girls across the country, after the PF aired, I
"fell in love" with David Cassidy and didn't dare miss an episode of the coolest
family on TV! I loved the psychedelic bus, how ultra hip Laurie was into all the
social causes of the day, and their liberal mom and how she told off the
"Morality Watchdogs" in the episode "My son, The Feminist." I also thought it
was very cool when I read in the teen mags how David had dated a black girl
while in High School and that he was a Democrat who was voting for McGovern.
They also stated that just like my other favorite singer, John Lennon, David was
for women's rights. The following year, I loved how David also posed nude for Rolling Stone like John & Yoko had for their "Two Virgins" album cover. David
was TOTALLY MY KIND OF GROOVY DUDE MAN! Unlike the very conservative Donny
Osmond who said he'd only marry a good Mormon who would stay at home with
the kids and be a traditional house wife. I thought Donny was cute but for me,
he just couldn't compare to David! I also thought it was very sexy that David
was an "older man." LOL!!!
In 1971 my parents divorced. It was a very BIG deal for a minister to get a divorce back then! My brother and I were given the choice of parent we wanted to go live. We both stayed with my dad. Even though I didn't really like Trona as it was a very racist small town where I never made any friends, I was very much "Daddy's little girl" and we were very, very close. I was born only 2 days after my dad's 50th Birthday and we remained close until he passed away at the age of 80. At the time, it was somewhat comforting to read about how David's parents also divorced when he was very young.
I can remember that one day my dad came home after shopping in
Ridgecrest. We only had one small grocery store in Trona so many people would
shop there. It was a HUGE deal when they got a McDonalds - the whole town went
over there! LOL! Anyway, my dad told me The Partridge Family was had been over
in Ridgecrest and that they had stopped traffic as they had done an impromptu
concert performance! They had filmed some of the bus driving scenes there too. I
wanted to go to Ridgecrest RIGHT AWAY to see them but he said it was sure it was
too late now.
After my parents divorce, my mom had moved to Ridgecrest. One time when she came
to visit us she mentioned that she was tutoring a student named Terry Cashman.
She said he helped write some songs with his partner Tommy West for The
Partridge Family. They'd also worked closely with the singer Jim Croce. Of
course I asked her if she could have Terry get an autograph from David Cassidy.
She said she'd ask him. The next time she came over, she said that she asked Terry Cashman for David's autograph and
he told her that couldn't do that because if he asked everyone that wanted one,
that's all he'd ever do. I was disappointed but I could understand that, as
David was very popular at the time! Instead, Terry wrote out the words to the
song he'd written that was on the PF's first L.P. titled "Only A Moment Ago."
At the time, it wasn't one of my favorite songs on the L.P. as it was less "pop"
than many of the others. However, over time it's really grown on me and it's now
one of my very favorite PF tunes. The words are also a lot more meaningful as
time has gone by and boyfriends as well as friends have come and gone, etc. So
this is now a very treasured "keep sake" of mine. I've scanned it here for you
and hope that you'll also enjoy it here on the C'mon Get Happy Web Site, where
we all share our Precious Partridge Moments!
When asked by Cat about the Partridge Family and working on the music for the show, Terry replied, " The truth is we never met David. We just submitted our songs to Wes Farrell who produced the records. Thank David for us. My favorite of the 6 or 7 he recorded is 'She'd Rather Have The Rain.'"
Only a Moment Ago" appears on Family Album.