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I was a weird kid.
I actually looked forward to that day, sometime in the third week of August, when my mom took us all shopping for school supplies. It wasn't about new clothes for us Peterson kids; we went to a parochial school and had uniforms, usually ones that had been handed down from an older sibling. No, it was all about the supplies: the thick reams of notebook paper (college rule!), the sawdust smell of brand-new No. 2 pencils, the virgin pink erasers and a big new denim 3-ring binder with plastic pockets to keep those twelve new Bic pens in.
I would immediately want to play First Day of School, and sometimes even convinced Debbi and our younger brother Dave to play it with me. Usually, though, they had enough sense to want to squeeze every last moment from their summer outside and I would spend that afternoon organizing my binder, wondering who my teacher would be and if she would assign the time-honored First Day of School Essay:
What I Did On My Summer Vacation
For you, dear Banglers, I will write one for the summer of 2004, telling you about one of my favorite adventures...
Back in March of 2003, we Bangles were invited to come up from London and speak to a group of students at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. At the time I knew almost nothing about the school, other than it was the one that Paul McCartney helped found in the building that had been his old grammar school, but I was really looking forward to going up to Liverpool. To do something.
We were late, of course, our driver getting very lost on the way in, but when we did arrive we were swept into a whirlwind of introductions, hospitality and warm welcomes. Our host and Founding Principal of LIPA, the charming and affable Mark Featherstone-Witty, gave us a crash course on LIPA's beginnings and its accomplishments. He seemed like a proud uncle and after I learned more about the astonishing efforts it had taken to make the school a reality, I understood why. LIPA is more than a "Fame" school for dancers and musicians, we learned. The goal is to prepare students in every aspect of the performing experience, from lighting and sound technology to management and business classes. My favorable first impressions were solidified while we sat with Mark on stage, telling our history and exchanging stories with a theatre full of curious, bright, talented students in the Paul McCartney Auditorium. This was truly a special place.
Bangles in Wonderland
My dear friend (and honorary Bangle) Amanda flew with me from Los Angeles to Manchester and we took a cab into Liverpool.
The Liver Building from Albert Dock
Our driver got a bit lost getting us to our hotel on Albert Dock (this getting-lost-in-Liverpool thing seems to be a tradition) but finally dropped us off with a cheery, "Don't pick up the accent, love!" He needn't have bothered. Being students of Beatleology from years back, we have the Liverpudlian accent down...
Amanda and I had the day to explore a bit, which we did despite being seriously jet-lagged. I don't know whether it was sleep deprivation or our American point of view which made some of the traffic signs seem so damned funny to us...
In Liverpool, right-of-way is given to four-legged striped mammals with spinal deformities...
Prepare to adjust your values...
Graduation Day dawned lovely and warm and all us Companion candidates (there were eight, plus Amanda) climbed into cabs together. Michael had taken a ferry over from Dublin, where she'd been spending a few days, and looked refreshed as she rode with us to the Philharmonic Hall. This was an opportunity to get to know some of the other Companions, and they proved to be a varied and accomplished lot. Despite years of experience in business and entertainment, the idea of donning caps and gowns and addressing parents and students had us all a little shaken up. As Sir Paul would comment to us later, "Of all the things we all do-this is the hard stuff..."
Now, I have to say that the anticipation of simply meeting Paul McCartney was adding to our excitement as we arrived at the Hall and were escorted into the Green Room before the ceremonies began.
Micki practices mind control as Vicki attempts to tear off her own head
Michael and I were fitted with our gowns and were busy wrestling with the golden cords and tassels that hang from the caps, when I noticed a very familiar face among the new ones. Sir Paul moved around the room with the ease of someone who is aware that even if he doesn't know everybody there, he can be sure that everyone knows him. And for someone who went from local punk to Lead Patron, and whose band from forty years ago still contributes mightily to his hometown economy, he wears this awareness with grace and graciousness. His wife Heather, a slim, cool blonde in a classy cream suit, and his older-auntie-with-a-sweet-face (I never caught her name) were with him. "I've know Paul all my life," Auntie said, leaning into me after Paul had introduced us. "Sometimes he was a very good boy, and sometimes very, very bad." "I was always good," corrected Paul.
Time for a photo op. Mark Featherstone-Witty conducted this and placed Michael and me on either side of Paul where we were photographed in our Silly Hats.
The Graduation ceremonies began with a procession into the lovely auditorium at the Philharmonic Hall. Paul commented before we went in that this was where he and George (uh, Harrison, folks...) used to come for Speech Day. Amanda, being an ex-British schoolgirl, later explained to me that Speech Day was a special day in the term when prizes were handed out to students. Paul was lamenting that they always kept the boys from the Liverpool Institute on one side and the students from the girls' school on the other. "But they had to, you know," he said. "If they'd mixed us up, there'd be trouble."
The Liverpool Cathedral, where McCartney's "Oratorio" debuted in 1991.
Paul says the new DVD of the performance looks and sounds amazing...
Several things struck me as Michael and I sat on the wide stage, with the graduating class seated behind us and the families and guests in the audience. One was that I was sitting in a chair next to Paul McCartney. Another was the panicky thought that although we knew we were expected to say a brief something after being ceremonially gowned and presented to the Lead Patron (Paul), neither Michael nor I had actually come prepared with remarks. My instinct in this sort of situation is to just wing it, which sometimes works, but just as often is disastrous. Another thought came (and Michael and I exchanged looks as we simultaneously pondered this) while listening to the vast lists of achievements and accomplishments being read as our fellow Companions were presented and gowned. The thought went something like this: What are WE doing here?!
The other thing that struck me during the graduation was that we were getting a very clear view into the LIPA experience. The students were profoundly involved with many aspects of the ceremony, from the fanfares and music which they composed and performed, to the short films shown throughout the event. This was a talented class. There was also a palpable sense of identity here. It's a small enough school so that these kids really got to know one another; they'd helped and encouraged each other to reach this important day, and now they were ready to celebrate it.
...with Dominik Schirmer, composer and pianist, LIPA grad
When our turn came, Michael and I stood while our friend Mark Featherstone-Witty read an impossibly complimentary speech about the Bangles' contributions to LIPA and musical mankind in general. We were helped into our caps and gowns (Hey, Mom! Look at me! I graduated!), took another photo with Sir Paul and walked to the podium. I sincerely felt honored and grateful and tried to express this on behalf of the whole band. I said that Susanna and Debbi wished they could be there, and that Debbi was extremely pregnant and awaiting the birth of my new niece. Micki said that if we'd had a school like LIPA to prepare us, we probably would not have made so many mistakes along the way. I told the students that they weren't finished, that their lessons would continue daily and that opportunities can arise in the strangest ways. They should follow their hearts, be passionate and do good work. Not the most original advice, perhaps, but very sincerely given.
...with my pal Ben Faulkner and LIPA grad and singer/songwriter Sarah Randall
...with LIPA songwriter Jez
After the ceremony was a reception and then a dinner hosted by Mark for all the companions: Michael and I (plus non-Companion companion Amanda), Arlene Phillips, Jon Webster, Terry Marshall, Tim Firth, Ken Campbell, and Willy Russell. Good food, nice wines and wonderful conversations with these very interesting people. Amanda and Mark spoke at length about recruiting international students to LIPA.
For anyone interested in finding out more about the school, its curriculum and requirements, go to http://www.lipa.ac.uk/standard/index.htm.
Amanda and I took a train down to London the next day, just to soak up a little more of the fresh English summertime before heading back to California (where a hotter, drier summer awaited us). We were still reeling from the previous day's events (or maybe it was just the jet lag) and we did something I'd never done before - fall asleep under a tree in a public park. Absolutely divine. I dreamt it was the 16th century and I was in a band with Paul McCartney...
(Thanks to Amanda Hills who took many of these photos)
Stay cool, y'all.
Until next time... all my lovin',
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