Posh Hermit

Between the ages of 12 and 14 I was so in love with this man! I had this picture on my bedroom wall along with about a million others. I went to Wembly to see him and screamed and cried and tore my hair. My favourite fantasy was that I would take off and go backpacking in America where I would stumble upon his ranch and he would be leaning on a gate and take one look at me and instantly love me as much as I loved him. I find it hard now to believe that person was me, although the memories are still quite vivid and memories of past emotions feel very strange.

He was directly responsible for my friendship with my oldest friend Bev. We may never have spoken except that she had a picture of him on her bag and I asked her where she had gotten it.

A couple of years ago Bev's husband Marc went out to buy tickets for a Peter Gabriel concert and came back with tickets for Bev and I to see David Cassidy at the Hammersmith Apollo. We were somewhat bemused that he thought that we would particularly want to go, but it was an interesting night out. There were those women who seemed not to have moved on, they had brought along their memorabilia pennants, scarves, teddies etc and stood at the front waving them at him and reaching out still desperate to be touched by him - very sad. Then there were those who came with their husbands/partners, and these appeared to fall into two categories, those who had come with their wives and were patiently suffering and those who seemed to be really into the music (very strange, had they liked his music as teenagers? They would never have been able to admit it at the time!). Bizarrely there was also quite a large contingent of quite young gay men, most of whom would not have been born in the early seventies, how on earth did they come to be fans? Perhaps through their mother's record collections?

It was fun to observe the audience and to be nostalgic and remember the passions of our youth. Also fun to hear the songs again and to see how time had treated the man we had thought we would love forever (sadly time does not do the pretty boys any favours!). Perhaps the most disturbing part of the evening was when we arrived at Hammersmith station and paused to determine which of the two exits we should take. There was a homeless person there who looked at us and pointed to one of the exits, "David Cassidy concert's that way", he said. We were a little dismayed that it was so obvious that that was our destination!

A shared pubescent passion for David is a strong bond between women of a certain age and we are still suspicious of those who preferred Donny, although it has to be said that in middle age (especially as he has now grown into those teeth) Donny is now the better looking.

In case anyone cares (or is confused), the link is that they played David Cassidy singing Daydreamer over the credits of Life on Mars last night. Although it did not as J suggested bring a tear to my eye (it probably bought a tear to his for different reasons), it has left me with an earworm

I'm away to make some urgent calls

Labels: David Cassidy

Posted by Posh Hermit on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at Wednesday, February 21, 2007 | Permalink