In just two years, a would-be Messiah used lyrics from the most popular Rock and Roll band and verses from the most read book to create an infamous cult. This “family” remained run-of-the-mill until…
August 16, 1969.
Exactly one week after the hideously bizarre Tate-LaBianca murders. 200 members of the Los Angeles Police Department including the SWAT team storm the ranch where the Manson Family is living and arrest everyone there…
Two days later, all 24 detainees are simply released. Why would the LAPD apprehend every guilty party in the most notorious murders the city has ever experienced and then just let them go?
Whether you know this story really well, or not very well at all, the Smiths will take you right back there with them. When Tex Watson’s boots hit the ground as he drops onto the Sharon Tate compound you will feel and hear your boots drop right beside him.
When Charles Manson delivers his “Helter Skelter” sermon on a cold New Year’s Eve in 1968, to his Family who is huddled around the devilishly dancing flames of their bonfire in Death Valley trying to keep warm, you might feel a little chill run up your own spine.
The overall feel of the book is one of Tim and Deb telling “insider secrets.” That’s a cool feeling. They’re not real insiders, but metaphorically they – and anyone who grew up in that era – are. They have immersed themselves in the action and aren’t afraid to play with it – no matter how serious the subject. Their impish anti-establishment flavor is appropriate – if not expected – for the era about which they write.
Their use of limericks as a transition technique works brilliantly. That, combined with their irreverent Hunter S. Thompson style, brings an attitude to this time capsule in history like none before. It’s engaging and entertaining and somehow manages to milk the story with just the right combination of tragedy and comedy. With the Manson murders, that’s a fine line to walk and Tim and Deb somehow manage to knowledgeably negotiate this perilous path perfectly.
We have a rather unique back story, most of which is set in upstate New York. We met on the first day of high school, brought together by the merger of two neighboring school districts. We ended up dating for all four years of high school, then went to different colleges and, as fate would have it, we ended up not seeing each other again for literally 40 years.
Tim's mom passed away in late 2012 and Deb heard about it through the grapevine in Virginia Beach where she was teaching. She sent him a sympathy card, he wrote back, one thing led to another and Tim went down to Virginia Beach in June of 2013 to pick Deb up after her school year ended and brought her back to New York.
The thing Deb remembers most from that courtship period when she was in Virginia, but longing to be back in New York, was that every day at school when she went to her mailbox, there was an envelope from Tim. And each one contained an original letter Deb had written to him 40 years ago. He had saved everyone. His go-to line regarding that part of the story is to say, "Yeah, it took me a long time to play those cards!" Sometimes the best things in life are worth waiting for.
So how did we get into this writing gig? Well, as fate would have it, we happen to live right next door to the newspaper office in our town. After hearing some of our stories, the publisher of the paper Chris Carosa suggested we write something for the paper. So we started by telling the personal story of our relationship and we haven't stopped writing since.
Currently our weekly feature called "Life With the (Word)Smiths" comprises the entire back page of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel where we write about an eclectic variety of topics including music, sports, travel and human interest.
