Hello World,
Yippee! Hooray! Woohoo! Today is the first day of summer, my absolute favorite time of the year…I think it’s in my DNA to love summer more than any other season because my family hails from the sunny isle of Jamaica 🙂
So since this is the first day of summer, I would like to post something that reminds me of the summer days of my high school years…It’s funny… During high school, I vacillated between believing my life was over when a guy dumped me or never returned my affection in the first place and being excited about being thrust into the “real world” upon graduation…And now when I look back, I wonder two things: why did take my “relationships” so seriously and why was I in such a hurry…life was pretty good even with my parents’ strict rules(being a preacher’s kid was challenging)…Oh the folly of youth…
One of their rules was that I could not go to parties, and I especially couldn’t go clubbing…which was unfortunate because (as I was told) we had some slammin’ clubs that my fellow teenagers used to frequent such as Sharon’s Showcase, Charles Disco, MBK, 559 and Club XS, where “Atlanta Jams” was taped!!! “Atlanta Jams” was the show you wanted to be on if your were a teenager in the A in the ’90s! Basically, it just featured teenagers from high schools all over the A getting their party on and just cheesin’ hopin’ they would see themselves on a future broadcast of the show…
Well, to my utter despair, I never got to visit nearly all of those clubs I mentioned in high school because of my parents’ rules, but ONE TIME, I did visit Club XS and was on “Atlanta Jams!!!” During the summer of 1991 (the summer between my junior and senior year), I was a part of a summer program in which high school students lived on the Emory University campus for a month…Of course, I took advantage of the opportunity to break all of my parents’ rules…lol…We convinced our resident advisers, who were Emory University students, to take us to Club XS…I relished dancing with my friends and hoped the cameras wouldn’t catch me…Wouldn’t want any of the church folk somehow seeing me on the show and telling my parents…
Long story short. I did end up on TV, and as I watched the show the later, I hoped my mother (who was in the living room where our only television was located) didn’t happen to see me…She didn’t…And guess what? I did not die Mom & Dad…Lol…Real talk…I’m glad I didn’t get into clubbin’ as a teenager…I’ve seen some people who got into that very early back in the day…And they look like they have really lived…if you know what I mean…Anywho, here’s a video of “Atlanta Jams.” This show so reminds me of summer – the season that I love…it’s summer love…
Any thoughts? (I think that’s Ryan Cameron from V-103 on the stage wearing the black and white polka dots…)
Hey, loved reading your story, it was so much fun, thanks for sharing! Do you remember what channel/or where “Atlanta Jams” aired? It’d be so cool if we could track the footage down.