Quotes. And more quotes by Chris K.

In today’s fan post, Chris K. has compiled an amazing collection of quotes. She writes:

“For me, Daron’s Guitar Chronicles has been like taking an unbelievable journey with an All Access Backstage Pass. From the first chapter, I was hooked. The story drew me in and has never let go. I found myself talking about the book frequently, usually quoting from the current chapter. I started jotting down quotes, some unforgettable, others emotional or angst ridden. I thought it might be interesting to see how a collection of a single quote from each chapter would “tell the story”. The hardest part was limiting myself to just 1 quote per chapter! Do you have a favorite DGC quote from Book 1?”

If you do have a fave quote, please post it in the comments!

Book 1
Part 1
Summer 1986

Ch. 1 (I Love Rock and Roll): “I pulled my shirt off and accepted the net. When I held it up I could make out arm holes. It was some kind of string vest, and when it was drawn tight it made me look like I’d played cat’s cradle in a tornado.” – Daron

Ch. 2 (Invisible Touch): “The club was called “The Cage”, and I felt like a circus animal up there, dressed in orange and florescent pink, getting ready to play a gig with a band with the fucked-up-edly spelled name of Tygerz Claw. (I think the theory was that if it worked for Def Leppard, and Led Zeppelin before them, it could work for these guys, but I didn’t ask.) – Daron

Ch. 3 (Another Lost Classic): “You call this working? Daron, I…oh, Christ, I have to say this. You look like a five-dollar whore. I hope you know that. It’s breaking my heart here, seeing you like this.” – Remo

Ch. 4 (Always Something There to Remind Me): “And what would I have said to her, or to Digger – hey, I’m broke and whoring myself out to poodle-hair bands? Yeah, right. Oh, and by the way, I’m living a life of sin and perversion, too. Jeezus.” – Daron

Ch. 5 (Promises, Promises): “For a couple of years sneaking out was our secret; after Claire would mudpack her face or whatever and get in bed with earplugs on (because he snored, she said), Digger would get me out of my PJs and into jeans and we’d walk down to the main road where Remo or some other friend would pick us up, or we would walk all the way to the town center, past the shoe store, to Maddie’s. Yeah, when I was eleven, I thought my dad was the coolest.” – Daron

Ch. 6 (Jet Airliner): “Bart and I had a hell of a time pulling up to the terminal because of the weird clusterfuck of road and driveway at TF Green airport, but I hadn’t even begun to realize the hassles that awaited a nineteen year old with overlong hair and no driver’s license or passport trying to travel.” – Daron

Ch. 7 (I Love LA): “At the terminal Carl pshawed my idea of taking a cab into LA and told me I was riding with him into town. He drove a white convertible VW bug and lovingly strapped the Strat into the back seat.” – Daron

Ch. 8 (Look at Little Sister): “Her ability to state the obvious and to hold a conversation without any real content amazed me.” – Daron

Ch. 9 (More Than A Feeling): “When we arrived at the airport hotel I was still crusted with sweat and shaking with the aftereffects of an adrenalin high like no other – playing in the clubs was one thing, and this was similar, and yet, so much more.” – Daron

Ch. 10 (I Ran): “And right up until the moment that I came I kept telling myself I hadn’t done anything to deserve this, I hadn’t asked her for it and I hadn’t agreed to it. But my body said otherwise, need overtook reason, and I came so hard my foot cramped.” – Daron

Ch. 11 (I Fought The Law (and The Law Won)): “I’m a member of the traveling stage crew for that band they’ve got playing on campus. They didn’t give me one of those stupid campus passes. “This”, I held up the laminate, trying to keep my voice down but only partly succeeding, “is good enough for any professional arena in the States, but some buttheaded student bully…”Cool down, kiddo, I told myself, “wouldn’t let me back in the hall once I’d left. I was trying to bet back in some other door when the campus cop stopped me.” – Daron

Ch. 12 (Message in a Bottle): “I wanted to fall over and cry. I wanted him to reach over and hug me and tell me everything was okay. But I said, “Yeah, just stressed out is all.” – Daron

Ch. 13 (Old Man Down the Road): “The only thing he liked about me going into music was that he didn’t have to pay for it. He never lifted a goddamn finger, not even when Claire refused to take me to lessons, even to the fucking audition…! Fuck him.” Shit, I was crying. “Fuck him.” – Daron

Ch. 14 (Heart of Glass): “At the time he and I were still pretty chummy, and eventually I asked him if everything was okay. He didn’t answer. What I really wanted to ask was what he’d thought of my song, of course. But if the answer was going to be worse than the smoldering silence, I didn’t want to hear it.” – Daron

Ch. 15 (One Thing Leads to Another): “If my father wasn’t such a shit Remo and I wouldn’t be friends and I’d probably be a shoe salesman right now,” I laughed, and Matthew laughed with me.” – Daron

Ch. 16 (It’s Only A Northern Song): “I see your point,” I said, although I wasn’t sure that I did. I shut my mouth and let him touch me wherever he wanted. I was sure about that; I do some of my best talking without words.” – Daron

Ch. 17 (Owner of a Lonely Heart): “I was sure Carynne could tell me all the rock stars who’d ever died from broken necks and concussions when their bus slammed on the brakes or into something else.” – Daron

Ch. 18 (Moody Blues): “A purple diagonal stripe crossed his face, enveloping one eye and his lips. He shook his chest at me and winked before he turned back around. My heart caught in my throat.” – Daron

Ch. 19 (The Logical Song): “ I had been out last night, but even if I hadn’t been afraid of getting fag-bashed I didn’t have the stamina to spend another night alone in a crowd, pretending to be someone for the sake of sex, always under the shadow of rejection and disappointment.” – Daron

Ch. 20 (You Gotta Look Sharp): “The next thing I remember was stepping onto the stage into lights and waves of sound and energy. The lights swirled and it was impossible to make out any faces in the crowd; the audience existed as a wall of approving noise.” – Daron

Ch. 21 (That’s What Friends Are For): “He gasped with maniacal glee. “Wonder what the Connecticut penalty for corrupting a minor is?” “I think you’re too late”, Remo cut in. “We beat you to it” – Martin and Remo

Ch. 22 (I Know What Boys Like): “He started to answer but I stopped him. “You promised. You made me a promise you wouldn’t say a word about…” Us? “….it to any living soul. That includes me.” – Daron

Ch. 23 (The Cure): “Anxiety is my normal state,” I said, which came out sounding serious rather than like a joke.” – Daron

Ch. 24 (All the Young Dudes): “As we went into the auditorium, Bart went and sat in the front row of seats. “Come here.” I sat next to him. “Why?” “Because it’s probably one of the only chances we’ll ever get to sit here. Unless we win some radio station contest.” He cracked a too-sober grin. “Remember this.” – Bart

Ch. 25 (No Time Left for You): “I let my head fall back on the couch, my hands fall to my sides, like some puppet whose strings have been cut. “Oh, man.” – Daron

Ch. 26 (Suddenly, Last Summer): “ I opened the Ovations case and set myself up in front of the entrance to the ATM machines, across from the Copa and the ice cream parlor. The clock on the bank said it was two o’clock, and if I had any plan in mind it was to just play for an hour, then get some frozen lemonade for myself and go on home.” – Daron

Book 1

Part 2

Winter 1986 – Spring 1987

Ch. 27 (Life in a Northern Town): “It’s what I’ve decided,” I said. “And we’re starting a new band. And we’re going to call it…” I flailed for something that was at the tip of my tongue. “…Moondog Three”. – Daron

Ch. 28 (Don’t Do Me Like That): “He came up behind me, circling my waist with his hands. He could kiss me on the top of my head if he wanted, he was that much taller. He leaned over to breathe in my ear. “I promise I’ll cook you a fantastic breakfast.” – Roger Devon

Ch. 29 (Tell the Moon-dog): “The clerk gave me shit about not having a driver’s license, and I told him it’d be pretty stupid for them to give a license to someone who couldn’t drive.” – Daron

Ch. 30 (Tell the March Hare): “It’s the principle of the thing. I don’t want to meet my next band member through the ads any more than I want to meet my future wife through the personals.” – Daron

Ch. 31 (You Got Another Thing Coming): “Well, that doesn’t matter now, “Bart sing-songed. He looked from Roger to me. “I’m going to have to quit.” – Bart

Ch. 32 (Goody Two Shoes): “The official story is obvious. I’m throwing away a brilliant career in the symphony to start a rock band with my best friend.” – Bart

Ch. 33 (Welcome to the Machine): “I don’t know, that’s just the way the world works. The Police didn’t find Andy Summers with a general audition. That’s just the way it is. Someone knows someone who knows someone, and things either fit together or they don’t.” – Daron

Ch. 34 (Let’s Dance): “Then someone jumped out of the crowd, dancing, an orphan vampire child, dressed in layer upon layer of ancient clothing straight from the rummage bins at the Salvation Army and his eyes were ringed with heavy black liner.” – Daron

Ch. 35 (Electric Light Orchestra): “Jeezuschrist you make that look easy,” Ziggy said to me, his lips hanging open a little in silent wow. The words in my mouth were “same to you,” but I couldn’t quite say them. I settled on: “I guess.” – Daron

Ch. 36 (Everybody Wants to Rule the World): “The thought that the last person who’d touched my cock in a loving way was Matthew seemed suddenly unbearable, and I choked back the urge to cry. I beat my fist into the pillow and beat myself off, and if the pillow was wet with tears later, I didn’t notice.” – Daron

Ch. 37 (Unguarded Minute): “Ziggy came to life, howling and leaping off the low stage, then climbing back up like a four-legged spider, and never missed a note.” – Daron

Ch. 38 (Sweet Hitch Hiker): “What?” I didn’t feel like I was all there. Part of me was still on stage, frozen in a moment in time. The other part was wondering where he was now. My mouth went on. “I can’t drive.” – Daron

Ch. 39 (You’re All I’ve Got Tonight): “I wanted to cut myself, I wanted to play until my fingers bled, I wanted to do anything but sit there and hate myself. I couldn’t stop my brain from going off. I kept thinking about castration, flagellation, being burned alive, as if the saints had all the fun” – Daron

Ch. 40 (Bring Me Some Water): “I scrambled to copy down the number he gave, as if they were the words of a magic spell that would disappear with the dawn.” – Daron