"THE FREEBIRD FAIL"

I have often heard people refer to a certain skill or quirk they have as a "super power." You know, like: "Oh, finding great parking spots is my secret super power!" Funny things like that. Well, in all seriousness, I have discovered that I too have a super power and, like a lot of comic book characters, I'm am really not so sure I want mine.

Strange and unbelievable as it may seem, I have the remarkable and uncanny ability to remember every stupid thing I have ever done in my entire life. And very little else. Not nice accomplishments. Just every little embarrassing failure. From childhood to yesterday, the only memories that stick in my brain are the idiotic ones.

Here's a sad but interesting example: Sometime in the 1980s my girlfriend and I were driving down the highway. As we passed by this church I saw a sign advertising a Christian rock concert being held there that night. So later we go back to see this concert. Turns out the band is none other than "VISION," a band that Billy Powell, world-renowned pianist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with for a short time. Amazing, right? What incredible serendipity!

After the concert, we were allowed to approach the band members to ask questions and get autographs, etc. So here I am, meeting a straight-up rock-and-roll LEGEND from the "One More From the Road" "Play it pretty for Atlanta" certified triple platinum Double-Live Lynyrd Skynyrd album, and as he is scratching out his John Hancock, my nervous dumbass says, "So...uh...I guess...I guess you're pretty glad you weren't on the plane that night..."

WHAT....THE ACTUAL....F-F-F-....

See, being an ignorant moron I just assumed everyone that was on the Freebird had been killed, so if Billy was sittin' here then....

IDIOT!!!! BUT WHY WOULD YOU EVEN....??!!

Luckily...LUCKILY....by the grace of God Almighty and because brother Billy was trying really, REALLY hard at the time to be a good Christian man, he just handed me the autograph and said in his deep, polite, calm Southern voice, "Nah, man. I was on the plane."

And as horrific, excruciating flashes of falling from the sky, friends and band mates screaming in terror, a devastating impact, injury and death, the helpless loneliness of a nighttime swamp after the crash....all swirled around the back of Billy's mind, he simply turned to the next person in line and forgot about me forever.

But I remember him. I don't recall anything else about that concert but for 40 years I have gone over and over that absolutely UNFORGIVABLY stupid thing I said. That's my super power. Don't remember the year, what church or where, who all was there, what songs were played or anything. But I remember the feeling deep in my soul after that brief exchange, the harsh realization: He was on the plane. HE WAS ON THE PLANE! That memory has stayed with me forever.

Anyway, Billy was a cool Christian dude and I think he got back with Skynyrd when they reunited. I kept his autograph all these years, and this story is what it always reminds me of. A great musician who tolerated a dumb kid and didn't murder him when he should have. God's forgiveness when we sure as hell don't deserve it. According to the internet Billy died young - just 56 - in 2009.

RIP Billy....and sorry for me being a dumbass....