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How Fashion Influences A Teenager's Life
By Keith Partridge
Fashion. That's a word usually used by chicks. I use the word "style". Style is important to teenagers because if you don't have the right bell bottoms, or the right pattern on you polyester shirt, you could be made fun of by the kids in school. I'm lucky to have a groovy Mom that knows how important style is. She always makes sure that us kids have pants with just the right flair, and that our haircuts are so groovy that all the kids want them. I'm the lucky one in the family, because I'm the oldest. My brother Danny, got my hand me downs. He's a little chunky, so the shirts I passed down fit him kind of tightly. There was this brown zipper down shirt that looked really great on me, but it made him look like a sausage. He wore it all the time too. I guess that because I'm the man of the family, and the lead rock and roll star, that it's even more important for me to look great. Some of the kids at school are not so hip on fashion. They wear straight leg jeans, and solid colored shirts. I feel sort of sorry for them, and I do my best to set a good example. I try to wear a lot of horizontal stripes. I have a lot of shirts with that pattern. Also, nature patterns are good. For example, trees, flowers, and fairies make good prints for polyester button down shirts. Sweater vests just add to the groove. The chicks at school dig the pattern-under-the-sweater vest look; especially if the sweater vest also has a pattern. As teen agers, we are just beginning to explore our lives as individuals. Parents have to let their kids express themselves. Us kids are lucky to have a Mom that is fashion wise. It's just as important for parents to dress with style so that the kids can have a good example to go by. Mom wears these groovy midi dresses with tie-scarf waists. She's a really good role model for my sister Laurie, who wears mini skirts. Mini skirts are great for most chicks, but sisters should stick with midis.
The End
What is Happiness?
by Keith Partridge
I think that true happiness is when you feel completely content with the decisions you make. Take music for example. What would life be without music? It would be a tuneless world of talking. I don't think that I could stand that. There's nothing that makes me happier than my decision to play guitar and sing. It not only makes me happy, but by the looks on the chicks in the audience, I would say that they are pretty pleased by my decision too. Come to think of it, chicks make me happier than my music. What would like be like without them? That's obvious. There would be no life. Blondes, brunettes, redheads... yep, that's the true essence of happiness. I guess another part of happiness is honesty. Man, did I ever find that out the hard way! You see, I had this huge crush on a really groovy girl at school. Her name was Johanna. She was the most desirable female at San Pueblo Junior College. I thought for sure that with my good looks & rock and roll star status that I could land a date to the beach party with her. It was only two days away, but you don't just ask a girl like Johanna out. You have to build up to it slowly.
So I arranged to meet her at the Taco Stand and I finally asked her. She told me that she'd love to go with me, but that she was already going with Spider Martin (the Captain of the basketball team). So now I was stuck without a date. Laurie told me that Sally, one of her little high school friends, had a huge crush on me. I figured she was better than nothing, so I told Laurie to tell Sally that she would do.
The next day at school, Johanna came up to me and told me that Spider had to play in the All-star Game the night of the party. She was way better looking that Sally, so I let Johanna know, in my own cool way, that it would be really groovy if she still wanted to go with me. She hugged me and said yes! I hurried over to the High School to try to intercept Laurie's conversation with Sally. I was too late - she had already told her. I couldn't break Sally's heart - after all, she had a date with Keith Partridge. She must have been thrilled.
Now I was stuck with two dates on the same night. Danny came up with a plan. A good plan, too. He told me that all I had to do was to accidentally run into Sally, pretend to be sick, find someone to take her out the night of the beach party, and then I could go with Johanna! It couldn't be more simple. So, I found a friend willing to date a high school girl. It was Wally. It turned out that Wally knew Sally from school and really did like her! So, we scouted her out at the Taco Stand and set the plan into action. I have to say, I was a real natural at acting. I almost had myself convinced that I was sick. My fake coughs sounded really good.
Everything went just as planned. Until the night of the beach party, that is. I was just getting myself ready, when Laurie came to my door and told me that I had a visitor. It was Sally! She had brought me hot soup. So now, I had to act sick again - and I had just gotten my hair perfect! Sally hung around longer than I wanted, but I finally ditched her. On her way out the door, she told me to have fun with Johanna. Laurie is such a stool-pigeon. I hate getting caught. So now that I was in the clear, I started heading out the door. Just then, the phone rang. Mom picked it up. It was Johanna. She told Mom that she hoped she didn't hurt my feelings, but she couldn't go with me to the beach party because Spider sprained his wrist, and could go after all. I went from having two dates, to no date at all. The point is, that if I was honest in the first place, I would have gone on a date that night.
That's why I believe that honesty is the root of happiness.
The end
My Christmas Vacation
by Keith Partridge
This wasn't one of my favorite Christmases. We had a gig to play on Christmas Eve. We sang "Walking In A Winter Wonderland" as an encore. I think the crowd liked it when me and Mom strolled arm in arm on stage. A couple of girls giggled a little at that. On the way home, the darn bus broke down. I can fix anything that goes wrong with it, but this was pretty tough. Oil was coming from everywhere. What made it worse, was that we broke down in this dusty old ghost town 12 miles from any town! It was really hard concentrating on fixing the bus, when all I wanted to do was wash my hair!
Lucky for us, there was one old guy who lived all alone in the town (which seemed a little creepy to me). His name was Charlie. I couldn't even begin to imagine where or how he went shopping. He had no wheels, just a mule. It had a girl's name. I think it was Ella. He told stories to the kids while I fixed the bus. He made them hot cocoa, too. It would have been nice of him to bring some out to me and Reuben. Reuben complained the whole time (as usual) about his chapped lips. He wasn't really any help, but I'm glad it was him out there with me instead of Chris and Tracy.
So, I finally fixed the bus. It wasn't a cracked engine block like I thought. It was really close to midnight, and I was pretty bummed that we hadn't even decorated the tree at home. Mom broke the news to the kids that we would be celebrating Christmas a day late. Poor kids. We said good-bye to Charlie, and started heading home. We all felt bad for the old guy spending Christmas alone with no family.
Just then Reuben came up with a great idea (yes, Reuben! I couldn't believe it either!!). We made a quick stop at an all night convenient store, picked up a couple of cheapo gifts, and went back to Charlie's pad. When we got there, we got out of the bus, stood outside, and sang "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" to him. We made him cry, too. It felt good. We finally got home. It did end up okay, after all. We got the tree decorated, Tracy did her "thing" with the mistletoe, and we got our presents. I got a whole box of picks (I'm a hack) from Danny, but he'll probably come up with a way to make me pay for them. Okay, I guess maybe it was my favorite Christmas.
Maybe I'll write a song about it sometime.
The End
Lessons I've Learned
by Keith Partridge
I have done a lot of things that have taught me lessons. Here is the biggest lesson that I have had to learn so far:
One Saturday I had a date planned with this really groovy girl named Barbara. I was going to take her for a drive through the mountains. I was going to show her a really great time. Just me, Barbara, the Bus, and the mountains. It was going to be outa sight! But, earlier in the week I had a talk with the Coach about my responsibilities in the family. So when I overheard Reuben asking Mom to take publicity pictures that day, I felt obligated to step in (you see, Mom had promised the kids that she would take them to the beach). Being the man of the house, of course I volunteered to break my date with Barbara, and take the kids to the beach myself. Mom was really thankful. She told me I was being mature, too. Reuben was really shocked. He even made me tell him my middle name, because he thought I was a Keith imposter! The kids were looking forward to a day at the beach, but I figured that what they really needed was a little educational fun. So, instead of the beach, we went to a classical concert in the park. Tracy complained, but I know she liked dressing up and carrying her little white wicker purse (I gave it to her for her birthday). Chris was bummed because there wasn't a drum solo. I didn't pay much attention to Danny's comments. He always complains anyway. I told them that they would like it if they just give it a try. When they asked if I liked it, I couldn't hide my expression, so I told them that at least I was giving it a try! For the record, that was a really good hair day for me!
As the man of the house, it's my responsibility to look out for the Partridge girls. One night Laurie had a date with Freddy (even though it was the first time meeting him, I felt like I had known him before). He came to pick her up, and told me he planned to take her to see Love Story at the drive-in. That plan seemed a little racy to me, so I convinced him to take her to a good Western at a walk-in theatre. Honest, I thought she would thank me in the long run!
That same week, I was walking through the park, and I spotted Laurie on the pay phone. She hung up fast and started crying. I'm glad Chris didn't see that, he's never seen Laurie cry before! I knew that it was my job as man of the house to help her. After all, I am sort of an expert on chicks. So, she tells me that "a friend" just got dumped by her boyfriend (a friend...yeah, right). She was ready to give up on boys. I advised her to play the field, but I think that when I said "she should go out with a bunch of different guys", she took me literally. She thanked me, and ran off stating that "her friend" had to make a date with the football team! I hope Lester Braddock isn't on the team.
The toughest thing I've ever had to do, though, was tell Danny the facts of life. Man! He really grilled me! When I was done explaining, he asked me why people go through all that trouble if they don't want to have babies. My reply was "I can't explain it, you have to be there". Looking back, I guess that sort of spilled the beans that I had been there. I Hope he doesn't tell Mom.
As I helped Mom carry in groceries one day, we overheard the kids laughing about me. It turns out that they were giving me a hard time to get me back for the Freddy thing and the classical concert in the park. I ran off and headed for the garage to be by myself.
After the kids apologized, I realized that I did learn a lesson. I learned that you have to assume responsibilities gradually.
The End
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