Adam Hernandez sizzles on guitar

 It all started with the lunch lady!

 I had the privilege of teaching a great guy, Adam Hernandez.  He was a high school student of mine. Witty. Intelligent. A good athlete. He basically had a lot going for him.

One of the best things he had going was his musical talent. 

Adam can play guitar.

Adam can play guitar really good!

The first time I saw Adam play was at the senior assembly Adam and another senior, Josh, decided to reproduce the Adam Sandler Saturday Night Live skit, “The Lunch Lady."  Sandler had done the skit with Chris Farley. Farley dressed as the lunch lady and danced around while Sandler played and sang
“The Lunch lady Song.”

SO, Adam Hernandez and Josh did the same. Josh is a big guy. A high school lineman who was willing to get silly on stage . He donned a wig, a dress and  an apron to reenact the SNL skit.

They were great! The hit of the assembly.

Adam eventually made his way to Nashville where he scored some session work playing guitar. He has toured with  a diverse group of musicians including Alan Jackson.

For the past decade or so, Adam has been the lead guitarist and music director for country singer Lauren Alaina. With Alaina, he has traveled the world. From the Grand Ole Opry to Europe and beyond making that guitar of his talk. He has played in front of huge  crowds of people.

Adam has even been featured as a spotlight artist at the Grand Ole Opry museum shows. He played guitar for the CMT televised Christmas show. 

A while back, Alaina played in Tulsa. Adam gave my wife and I tickets to the show.

 We were seated in the second tier. Good seats. Good sound.

Adam was sizzling in front of the home crowd.

During the show, I suddenly felt something hit me in the chest. I looked in my lap and it was one of Adam’s picks! In the dark I know he couldn’t see me, and I doubt that usually a pick would sail that far, but it was pretty cool to get the pick from Adam’s playing. 

One of my favorite things is this… Often when Adam comes to town, he will call my great friend Larry Vandiiver and we three will meet for a beer. We get to hear Adam’s adventures and hear about his career.

I don’t know about other teachers, but I always thought of my students as my kids. My interest in them didn’t stop when they left the door. I wanted to see that their life was going well and hoped for the best for them.

Adam is getting to do what he loves. 

He makes that guitar sing in front of thousands!

Rock on, Adam!

Susan Herndon sings

 Our Friend Susan Herndon. 

 

I taught at one high school and my wife taught at another. It was the start of another year when I received a call from my wife, Ashley while I was getting my classroom ready.

“I think we hired Aphrodite,” she relayed over the cell. “She’s our new French teacher.”

Ashley and “Aphrodite “ hit it off right away.  Ash told me later that during a break , Susan, the news Aphrodite, came to her and asked “Where can a person take a shit around here?”

Ash said, “I think we will get along well.”

 They did. They became friends and in turn I became friends with Susan as well. 

The thing about Susan was , she was also an aspiring musician. 

Susan had been in France, working on two things…. Her French and her guitar. 

She lived for a while in a Buddhist monastery where she practiced nonstop. She stayed in the monastery where the well known Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Naht Hahn lived. 

Susan also took guitar lessons from Oklahoma hall of famer Tommy Cook. 

So, while teaching, Susan would also play local gigs at restaurants and clubs, 

She did a lot of covers  and we would often go to hang out with her during and after the gigs. Susan had a pretty loyal following. There were obviously many men that followed her because , after all, she is Aphrodite. 

Susan eventually added another person to our friend circle. She and Deedee would write together. DeeDee was there and became a very good friend of ours too. 

It was pretty cool to be around a group of people who were drawn together for creative reasons.

Ashley is a heck of a writer and poet, too. She was a top literature masters student at TU, scoring a Phi Betta Cappa. She and Susan would collaborate too.

Susan would put on happenings where she played some of her music and others read poetry, etc. Susan and Ashley sang a song together that had been penned by Ash and put to music by Susan.  Susan also played us an instrumental she had written inspired by Ashley’s China set that had once belonged to her grandmother.. It was called “Grandma’s China.’  It was a sweet gesture. 

My favorite story of their friendship took place in our back yard.  I wasn’t there at the time. 

Susan has produced several CD’s of her music over her career. For this particular CD, she had a vision for the cover. 

She came to our house with a waterproof camera. She wanted to have some pictures taken underwater. So, Ashley and Susan spent some time drinking wine, before shedding their clothes and jumping into the  pool in the back yard. 

Ashley took several shots, one of which ended up as her cover photo.

But while they swam, lounged and drank, my mother drove to our house.

Mom walked into the back yard to find two naked women tipsy by the pool.

I’m sure my mom was a bit shocked.

Susan left teaching to follow her music dream full time. She has created at least nine Cd’s of her original music and is working on a tenth . She has played the Woody Guthrie festival several times.  She became part of several different musical gatherings, including one of all women. 

Susan eventually left Tulsa and moved to Texas where she continues to play, write and record.

Her music is on Spotify and I imagine other streaming services. 

Most recently, we got to see Susan again when she played at the Tulsa Church Studio “Tunes at Noon.” Ashley was glad to get some talking time with her when she came.

You have to admire someone who gave up the security of a teaching job to pursue their art.

Susan is well worth a listen.