Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

If you really want to appreciate your childhood city, move away for a while. You’ll either stay away or eventually yearn to come back.

I or my family family have maintained an address in Somerville since 1919. I did however pack my bags a few times and move away. I thought I was relocating permanently. I found out a geographical solution was not the answer. Lol.

The first time I split was a short lived move to St Croix in the Virgin Islands in 1971. A friend lived there and painted a picture of umbrella drinks, beaches and bikinis. I borrowed money from my parents and flew down. That lasted two months. There was no work for a recent high school grad with no skills on St Croix.

Then came my first college Spring break in Fort Lauderdale in 1973. Need I say more? I was in paradise! The second I felt that blast of warm Florida air when I stepped off that plane I knew I was in heaven. I was the star of a real life movie entitled, “Jimmys Unbelievably Cool Adventure.” The best part was that the trip was free. A college buddy was supposed to take his girlfriend but they had a fight. Her loss was my gain. The smell of Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil always reminds me of that great trip.

The next move was at age 27, around 1980 when a breakup sent me to live downstairs from my sister in Canoga Park, California. I had a blast. I got a job in a “head shop” that sold drug paraphernalia. Rock stars used to come in all the time buying … stuff. My time working there was three months of pure decadence.

Long story short, I took a grueling five-day Greyhound bus ride back to Boston. Five days on a bus! I was thrown off that bus in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for partying too much with some of my travel mates. I was never so happy to get back to Somerville. I also got back with the person that broke up with me … briefly. I remember her uncle in the kitchen of her house saying, “What the hell is he doing back?” Nice to be home.

I went back to California in 1982 for a few months. On that trip I actually met an agent who had bought Sammy Davis Jr’s former house. I remember standing in Sammy’s old shoe room. It was a big room just for his shoes. So cool.

I played in bands around Boston for a few years. Fast forward to 1986. My then girlfriend and I packed a U-Haul and headed to St Petersburg, Florida. No jobs, no plan, no place to live, and not a lot of money. I became a bus boy at a fish restaurant while rehearsing in a sweltering empty store with a band. I remember entertaining the waitresses at that fish restaurant by singing a busboy song I wrote to the tune of To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before. It went like this: “To all the tables that I’ve bussed before, to all the food I picked up off the floor. I know that it was rude, eating other people’s food from the tables that I’ve bussed before.” I stayed there a year and it was 12 months of more unprecedented decadence and fun. Me and my travel partner split up about two months after we got there. It was a crazy fun filled adventure in the zany 80’s.

Back home again to Somerville. It was always great coming home. I’d go down Davis Square and all my drinking buddies were still there in the same seats talking the same smack! Home sweet home. Working for radio stations, I got to travel a lot. The best trip was when they sent us to broadcast in London for a week. Visiting The Hard Rock Vault, I got to play guitars once owned by Jimi Hendrix, and Richie Valens. I also got to try on one of John Lennon’s jackets. That was a great trip.

Crazy vacations to Orlando, Santo Domingo, Aruba and Bermuda and a couple of Las Vegas nightmares are also memorable. I’ve managed to get in trouble in several different countries and many cities here in the good old U S of A. But now, as I’ve calmed down a bit, I can’t think of anyplace I still want to visit. Maybe Graceland. I’ve been everyplace I want to go. Lots of my Somerville and Boston friends have places in Florida. They have a blast golfing and sailing, etc. I’ll just stay home thanks.

As my oldest son and his girlfriend prepare to visit Poland today as part of his European trip, I wish him safe travels. I’ll be happy with a key chain.

We will be traveling down Rhode Island way next week for a family birthday. After that I’ll come home to my recliner, my clicker, and my comfortable city.