Excerpt from a Life

In August 22, 1974, Mango, my sister, Rlynne, and I had a dream come true. We were able to attend a concert of our favorite teen idol, Tony DeFranco. The following is a epic account of a 70's teen idol experience.

"Mango and I spent the afternoon getting ready for the concert. Grandpa took us at 6:30...They opened the doors and everybody hurried in. We each got two (booklets)-The Secret of Tony DeFranco and the DeFranco's. We went to portal 14. There were two girls there. I asked them if they were fans...These guys came and told us to go to the bar or something. We went and sat down on these benches. Darla and Pam (the 2 girls) sat with us. They made a tiger for them...The lucky ducks got the first row. Our seats were in the 7th...The warm up act lasted 3/4's of an hour. Then there was a half an hour intermission.
This girl "Nancy" was talking to (us). She is one of those "followers". She kissed Tony. Learned or taught? from them some jazz steps. Had dinner with them. She also played tennis with Vince Van Patten. Met Andy and David (Williams), Jan Michael Vincent, Sonny and Cher, Raquel Welch, Michael Brandon, John Wayne, Simon Turner. But after you think about it, could it be the truth? She also said she was in Paris, Russia. Lives in California. I wonder.
Finally on they came. Hoo boyyy. They sang Abracadabra.... Mango and I were going crrrazy!
Tony said "You are just a great audience. Do you know? Do you want to hear more? No? Hit it!" Was that cute. At the end of "Sweet Sweet Loretta" they all threw their hats. Everybody screamed including me. Tony looked sorta sadly disgusted or in disbelief at all the screaming and grabbing for them.
Their dancing was terrific...They played "Save the Last Dance for Me".
"Hold Me" Oh yah, wouldn't I just love too...Boy they are all cute, wonderful. and so human. You know what I mean. Just like REAL people. Not snobby stuck-ups.
Oh yeah, Pam got asked up to the stage. Tony kissed her.Wow, was she lucky!! But it seemed as if it was Tony's job or duty to kiss her. Believe it or not I feel sorry for him. But of course, he's the luckiest guy around.
The last song was "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat" They all said God Bless, Bye and blew kisses.
After it was finished everybody ran. We followed "Nancy" because I guess we thought she could lead us to them. But she didn't want us to. It was raining.I had to stop to put on my jacket so we lost "Nancy". Just as well. I doubt if she could help.
Everybody was at the stage door. We shouted "We want Tony!!" Keeping on and on. This lady came and told us they were gone. "Oh yeah, sure." We kept on. More people came.Soon somebody started to scream and we all thought Tony was coming but he wasn't so the chanting went on. Some girls and 1 guy inside were laughing at us. But kept on. Of course, it was still raining and everybody was getting soused. The manager or president or something came out. We kept on. He was getting mad. He told us they were gone. About 10 minutes ago. Somebody called him a liar and that made him even more mad...Finally Mango, Rlynne and I left to go and phone. We met Pam and Darla. Teased Pam. Boy was she happy. Played a trick on these other girls. Pretended we saw Tony and started screaming. Hahahaha...
I saw Mr. DeFranco. I whispered to Rlynne that it was their father...So everybody crowded around him. He asked if we liked his kid's performance. Oh yeah. Sure. Great....We all shook his hand and got his autograph. I think he was really happy about being so popular."