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The other day I realized — out of the blue — that it was fifty years ago this past July when I visited Europe for the first time. The realization gave me pause, perhaps because — despite the passage of so many years — my seventeen year old self suddenly felt very present.

I considered writing about it. I even looked for, but couldn’t find, my photos of the Blue Saints tour, when we spent five weeks traveling and performing in five European countries. But other things came up and I forgot about it.

But then I saw that the movie, “The Exorcist,” premiered fifty years ago today, and more memories came flooding back…

The twenty-five members of the jazz band I was in ranged in age from sixteen to twenty-one or so. I was one of only five girls with the band: two instrumentalists, two singers, and someone in charge of wardrobe.

So, we’re driving first through Belgium, then France, Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark. And at a certain point I notice that Jack Sanford, one of my fellow saxophonists, instead of gazing at the passing scenery has his nose stuck in a book. For hours on end!

I finally ask him what he’s reading that is so gripping and it’s something called “The Exorcist.”

Fast forward to our return to California, when I get hold of a copy of the book and start reading it. Of course, I couldn’t put it down and read into the wee hours of the night. At which point I couldn’t close my eyes to sleep because I was so freaked out.

I finally got to sleep around dawn, waking up later in the morning determined that no matter what I wouldn’t read the book past 3:00 in the afternoon. If I hadn’t finished it by then, too bad, it would have to wait until the next day. Needless to say I was finished by 3:00.

When the movie came out, there was absolutely No. Way. I was going to subject myself to an audio/visual, live action representation of what I had read in that book.

Fifty years later, I’m grateful to say that I don’t actually remember the book in my own mind. Reading the article about the movie I can relate to some of the references, but only in an extremely vague and neutral way.

* By the way, the photos are from a band trip to Washington D.C., I believe the same year as our trip to Europe. In the second photo I’m avoiding the camera while sitting next to Grant Geissman, who went on to have an exceptional career — starting with the Stan Kenton Big Band, then recording with Chuck Mangione (in fact, Grant is the guitarist on the famous “Feels So Good” solo; listen below); and he just went on from there. It’s fun to be able to say “I knew him when!”