This first batch comes from 1977, when I’d just wrapped up my first semester as a flute major at Mars Hill College. I was 19 years old.

Captain’s Log: Stardate 121.377

I’m at home, in bed, with a cold Mountain Dew. This is the life! I took my theory test today and just came on home. Unless I was carless [sic] in what I was doing, I think I did OK, I can recall only two places where she may count me wrong. Anyway I came home, unloaded the car and went to Joey’s ballgame. They played well and won 80-64, it was great.

I’m really not out of school yet. Thursday I’ll have to take some critiques to George, pay a bill at the bookstore, and get the rest of my clothes. We’re going to do our cantata tomorrow night for the Presbyterian Church in Marshall. Lord willing it will bless us and the congregation and lift up the name of God as much as it did last Sunday. Jobie’s gonna come record the ceremony if it’s all right with everyone . . . Well it’s been a long day.

Joey = Joey Plemmons, first cousin. George = Dr. George Peery, political science professor at Mars Hill College; how I came to call him George instead of Dr. Peery, I don’t know. Jobie = Jobie Sprinkle, friend from high school and Whitewater Band days, as well as a career engineer in radio (mostly public radio). . . . Recently I heard a friend of mine say that her Christian faith grows stronger as she grows older. As I read back through these journals, I see that the opposite seems to be the case with me.

Captain’s Log: Stardate 121.477

Well I don’t write much on a day like today but I sure love to live them like this. I stayed in bed till noon, wrote some critiques, went to Marshall, watched Mark’s ball game, and went to church. The Youth Group sang over at the Marshall Presbyterian this evening. We didn’t sound [as] good as we did last Sunday, but there are several possible reasons why: 1) different accoustics [sic], 2) it was very hot, 3) we had just finished eating 4) nearly all of us had a cold. The main reason I guess was that we did as well as the good Lord wanted us to, and the people seemed to enjoy it. Tomorrow I have a lot so do so I’ll get some sleep . . . . Peace

Mark = Mark Plemmons (I’m assuming), first cousin and Joey’s baby brother.

Captain’s Log: Stardate 121.577

I love being at home! It’s not that I sleep all the time, just that there’s no pressure on the old mind. I went up to school tonight, or rather today, to pay a bill and hand in some papers. Tonight, Tom and I went to Asheville to Christmas shop a bit. I’m almost done!

I got a card from Joey Brady today. He’s in Florida and doing fine. I also got one from John Johnson. He’ll be up for a couple of days on the 28th. George and Betty will be home on the 23rd.

I saw some nice recorders in Dunham’s tonight. The tenors I’m interested in were especially nice. One was a dark wood and 65.00 and a light colored one, which was just beautiful, was 114.00 It would be nice if Mom and Dad got that one for me, but I guess they had already spent too much on me before I even asked for the recorder. I think I’ll do some reading. . . . . Live Long and Prosper Brothers and Sisters

Tom = Tom DuVall, high school friend. Joey Brady was a high school friend and basketball teammate from Hot Springs, NC. John Johnson was a friend met during a summer working on Glory Ridge; he’s now the minister at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Graham, NC. George and Betty Waters were a young married couple; they are no longer married, but both are friends on Facebook. Dunham’s Music was the go-to music store in Asheville, which is where my lovely old Guild lived before coming to live with me, Christmas 1975.

Captain’s Log: Stardate 121.677

Well, there goes another easy vacation day, yet, I’ve still got lots more. There’s really not much to say about these days. I’m really looking forward to Christmas, I think this’ll be a good one; maybe it’ll even be white.

I saw Harrell Wood at the ballgame tonight. It’s good to see an old friend like him. I saw Leesa too, but I didn’t get to talk to her much. Tomorrow Jobie and I are going in to “A”ville to run around a bit so I guess I’ll catch some z’s . . . .

Harrell Wood graduated from Madison High School in 1976, a year before I did. He was at UNC-Chapel Hill, I think, maybe studying to be a pharmacist.

Captain’s Log: Compiled Stardate 121.777-121.877

Yesterday, Jobie and I went into Asheville and spent the day shopping. I finished my Christmas shopping and also bought a book of songs for the Youth Group. It’s really good!

Last night I just stayed home and really did nothing at all.

Today the Youth Group sang our cantata for the last time at the Marshall Methodist Church. There was quite a crowd and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We did well and really got a blessing!

Tonight we had a Christmas party for the Group and just had a super time. Ernie bought gifts for all of us and we ate sandwiches and such. Then we spent the next hour or two singing. We spoofed half of our cantata by switching parts with the girls but then finished it right. . . .

I have no memory of the songbook bought for the Youth Group, the performance at the Marshall Methodist, or the Christmas party. That’s kind of sad, I think.

Captain’s Log: Stardate 121.977

Another vacation day gone by and I’ve loved it! I got up this morning and went to Asheville with Joey. Apart from that I’ve just laid around the house and run a couple of errands.

Tonight Carolina had the Liberty Bowl won and the blew it; that’s all you can say about what they did. I got back into my late night exercise bit tonight.

I forgot to log that I saw Penny Moss Meadows yesterday at WMMH. She’s letting her hair grow and it was kind of unkept but she looked good. There was something about her different that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Tomorrow night we’ll be taking our gifts to Tweed and his family. We’ll probably drop by after the Owen ballgame. Wednesday I think we’re gonna go up and play some basketball at the Salvation Army or somewhere. . . . God rest ye merry gentlemen

Penny Moss was a good friend from high school days. We’re still friends. The Tweeds were Mike — possibly my best friend in those days, although a good bit older — and his wife Bobbie, as well as their sons Brian and Scott.

Captain’s Log Stardate 8112.15 [a Tuesday]

Today was the day of the signing! However, we had a long, hard ride back home, so I’ll get sleep first and give details tomorrow.

I didn’t give details the next day, so I’ll add just a few here. I signed a production deal with Nashville entrepreneur Earl Richards, and I think I signed a publishing deal at the same time. Earl would go on to produce two unreleased albums of my songs and ultimately cheat me — intentionally or not — out of early progress in Nashville.

Jump forward to six years later. I was living in Nashville — writing songs (or not), playing with the Cody band, enjoying great friendships, etc. The post below is from Tuesday, December 15, 1987. My previous entry had been on my 29th birthday, November 25, ’87, so I hadn’t let too much time pass. So, as Christmas that year approached, here’s what I was thinking . . .

Captain’s Log Tuesday, December 15, 1987

I’ve been since November 23, 1987 without cigarettes and I’m doing OK with it. My time at home over Thanksgiving was good and I came back to see one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. It was U2 on 11/28/87 down in Murfreesboro. It was so good my reaction was like it always is in the face of something like that. I wanted to quit making music. I don’t feel that bad about it right now but I am concerned about my writing which has been non-existant [sic]. I blame it on this little place I live in but I can’t prove that to be the only answer. I come up with bits of lyric well enough but musically there is often slim pickin’s. The band has a gig in two nights and I’m hoping that will pick my spirits up. I rarely write from Thanksgiving through New Year’s but at the same time I rarely go from August to year’s end with only one song done. I’d best be praying it comes back or I’ll be needing a career change. Enough about that now, please! I testified at the trial for the bank robbery get-away I was witness to in July of ’86. I spent a couple of days last week at the courthouse, finally being called in to tell what I saw. There was only on[e] defendant that I saw in the courtroom. There were three men involved in July ’86. I could not identify any of them then or now. Anyway I did my bit during which I got to hear the defense attny say, “Objection, your Honor, prosecution is leading the witness!” to which the judge said, “Objection sustained.” I got a call today from Susan Mooreland at the Witness and Victim Service saying the jury had returned a guilty verdict, my help was appreciated and that I should have a nice Christmas. I’m not sure how I feel about that whole statement taken together at one time. As long as the man was truly guilty I guess I can let him go up the river or wherever and have my nice Christmas in good conscience. I read this book Mark and Becky gave me for my birthday. It is called This Present Darkness and it deals with the spirit world which it sees as all around us, all the time. Though the writing was not outstanding the book really sets a Christian to thinking about angels and demons and, more importantly, the power of prayer. I haven’t become a prayer warrior, unfortunately, but I’m a little more aware of my need to be. Hopefully I will learn to pray someday and will really be able to touch my Maker, my God. I have my problems with not realizing how worthy of my praise God is. I have my problems with not realizing how unworthy of God’s light and love I am. I guess I live on grace! Thanks you Father for grace!

Christmas is very soon and I’m in a bad mood for it. I plan on getting out of town here a bit early this year to try to slow down and see the coming of Christ, feel it as real in my life.

The “little place” was a one-room + bath space that I lived in on West End Avenue, where I had room for my bed and space to walk alongside it to the toilet/shower. But it was free, located on the first floor of Cathi King’s apartment/condo building near the intersection of West End and White Bridge Road. . . . As for the scene in the courtroom, in July 1986, I had walked from my place on 16th Avenue to check my mail at the Post Office in Hillsborough Village, which I think was on Acklen Avenue. As I was either going in or coming out of the PO, a vehicle caught my attention as it pulled in to the little parking lot across 20th Ave S from the PO lot. Three men burst out of the vehicle and jumped into another vehicle and sped away. I thought it odd and remembered it when that evening–or sometime soon after–Noel Hudson told me that a nearby branch of Commerce Union Bank had been robbed. (Noel worked for Commerce Union at the time, not at the branch that was robbed but the big corporate office downtown in Nashville.)

More from my old Writing Life blog:

* A follow-up on a post from Wednesday, December 4, 2006