TEEN IDOLS

TEEN HEARTTHROBS!  Every generation has them.  In the late 1970s, teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy's syrupy sweet love songs, feathered hair and tight satin pants made millions of girls' hearts stand still...but not mine.  

Unlike my friends, I wasn't attracted to the typical teen idol.  I marched to the beat of a different drummer...

that drummer was tripping on acid.

My first crush at age nine was on an actor named Pete Duel. He wasn't a teen and he wasn't much of an idol.  It was impossible to find pictures of him in magazines like Tiger Beat. I'm not sure why I liked him...I didn't care much for his television series, Alias Smith and Jones. Maybe it was those cute dimples Pete Duel had when he smiled.  I spent hours on end squeezing my face and poking my cheeks with a pencil so Pete Duel and I could have matching dimples.  What little girl doesn't want to look like a thirty year old man?

One night shit got real. Pete Duel was drinking heavily and he shot and killed himself. That made him even more attractive to me.  I always had a thing for unavailable men.

Pete Duel...  R.I.P. you sexy thing!

I imagined my future life with Pete Duel. We'd have six boys and live out in the country on a farm.  It would be right on, man!  Never mind that Pete Duel was dead, (a minor detail).

After a while, having a lifeless corpse as a teen idol lost its luster.  At age 11, I fell head over heels in love with the sensitive, wire-rimmed granny glasses wearing, singer/songwriter, John Denver.  He was talented, cute and had blood flowing through his veins. (That's good enough for this Rocky Mountain mama.)

I bought all of his albums, went to his concert and tacked every picture I could find of this blond mop top beefcake on my bulletin board.  Luckily, I had a very small bulletin board since pictures of John Denver in TEEN magazines were as rare as the Sasquatch. I had to draw my own posters (and centerfolds)  for my walls and ceilings.

This outdoorsy, nature-loving poet made my heart go pitter pat.

One of the many portraits I drew of JD!  August 1976

This  portrait is FAR OUT!

FAVORITE SONGS:

Sunshine on my Shoulders

The Eagle and the Hawk

Looking for Space

Rocky Mountain High

Tight pants and unbuttoned shirts eventually won me over and drew me away from John Denver.  At age 14, my brief crush on sexy rock star Peter Frampton was over as soon as it began.

My teen idol phase had finally come to an end.....or had it???... 

This New Moon guy is such a FOX!  (uh...I mean wolf)