A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey
A.L.
“Skip” Mahaffey is one of the country’s most identifiable
country
music radio personalities. He has been honored three times by
the Country Music Association as Radio Personality of the Year
and was similarly recognized by Billboard Magazine. Well known
for his many charitable efforts, Mahaffey is the father of three
and lives with his wife of 28 years in Tampa, Fl.
http://www.skipshow.com
Books-and-Authors.net: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part
of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: I grew up
in Orange County California. First in Seal Beach then we moved to
Huntington Beach. We moved a lot, but we stayed in the area. By the time
I was 20 I could count 26 different places we lived. My step-dad had a
bad habit of drinking his paycheck and my mom had a bad habit of not
paying the rent. I spent the lion's share of 4th grade living in the
back of a station wagon.
Reading was pretty important. It was cheap entertainment and escapism.
My brothers read a lot and I got their hand-me-down books. My brother
Scott read the Hardy Boys, Mark Twain and Surfer magazine. Stan read way
over my head but he did introduce us all to National Lampoon Magazine at
an early age. Sonny was big into the pulp fiction of the time, Creepy
Magazine etc. He also read sports and history books, especially books on
the American Civil War. We all read MAD Magazine (required reading for
every self-respecting juvenile delinquent).
Writing for me was something I discovered accidentally. In grade school,
we were asked to write a story about being sent to the principal. Having
never experienced that particular right of passage (that would change) I
threw my entire imagination into it. I was amazed when our teacher chose
to read it out loud in class, saying it was one of the best she had ever
read. By the time I got to high school, I was making money the old
fashioned way, writing essays for cheer leaders for $20 a piece!
Writing took a back seat when my radio career began but I spent the
better part of 25 years writing copy etc. Occasionally, I'd take on a
weekly column and I would always have some story rattling around in my
brain.
My earliest influences were not the typical run of the mill. I was
heavily influenced by television and music. Bugs Bunny, Groucho Marx and
The Beatles still influence me. Sarcasm does not run in my family, it
gallops! They had such a wonderful gift with words. My literary life
changed when I read "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Gold Bug" for
the first time. Poe's ability to paint pictures still fascinates me. How
he can tap in to such deep dark places in the mind is such a gift. One
of the greatest birthday presents I ever received was "The Complete
Works of Edgar Alan Poe" when I was in seventh grade. I still have it on
a bookshelf.
Books-and-Authors.net: Why did you write Adventures With My Father: Childhood
Recollections of Divorce Dysfunction and the Summer of Love? Adventures
With My Father: Childhood Recollections of Divorce Dysfunction and the
Summer of Love reads like a Biography of your father, a journey and a
soul-searching coming of age true story. Did I miss anything?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: Yes and no.
Yes, it is biographical in a sense that this was a written account of
his life as I knew it and how it involved my brother and me. But the
real reason it was written was as a birthday present for my brother
Sonny.
Throughout our adult lives, whenever we'd get together, eventually the
conversation would default to the surreal events we had with my father.
In fact the title* Adventures With My Father *was the package heading of
how we commonly referred to our childhood. On Christmas Eve 2007, we
were on the phone laughing over the* Adventures With My Father* when he
said "I wish you would write these down for me...you remember so much
more than I do. I keep trying to tell these stories to Michael (my
nephew) but I always leave stuff out."
That night I sat at the computer and wrote the first thirty-six pages of
the book. My goal was to have it finished by late September in time for
his 50th birthday (BTW: I was off, it would have been his 51st).
It did indeed become sort of a journey. As I would complete chapters, I
would send them to Sonny. It became very cathartic for both of us. We
would have long discussions a depth of which we had never shared before.
He would find things that were off or remember things I had omitted. I
found the process of our communicating so important that I included many
of the emails we exchanged in the manuscript. There were so many more
that I could have used but an unfortunate turn of events caused me to
lose dozens of them. After it was all said and done, I think we both
feel a little better about ourselves. At least our kids know why we're
so strange!
Books-and-Authors.net: Tell us a little about your father. At the end of the
book you discuss personal gifts from your father that you had finally
come to terms with such as the "ability to laugh". Explain.
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: He was an
average guy with great gifts that were never realized. Understand, I was
well into my thirties before I figured that out!. He had a great passion
for fishing, he was an amazing pilot, he loved music and he was always
searching for something...new. I don't know how else to describe a guy
who took up surfing in his forties. I think all he wanted for us was to
see the world he saw. Sadly, everything about him was a slave to alcohol
and it skewed everything, especially his judgment and better sense. In
addition to flying and seeing the world and the joy of a quiet lake and
a prime fishing spot, the world he wanted us to experience also included
seedy bars and liquor stores. Back then if you were an alcoholic, it was
essentially a death sentence, it certainly was for him.
I must say that when I wrote the final chapter of *Adventures With My
Father: Childhood Recollections of Divorce, Dysfunction and the Summer
of Love*, I wasn't intending for it to be such an outpouring of my
emotional break-down. I simply wanted to put a nice bow at the end that
would wrap things nicely. I had kept that event from everyone, including
my family because it was so intensely personal. But as I began walking
through that sequence of events in my mind, I knew I had to leave it all
on the page. I owed him that. I know from only my experience that
there's a time in every child's life when they have to reconcile with
their parents. Mine took over forty years. In the years that passed
between his passing and that moment in December, I had time to step back
and see him for everything he was, good and bad. I recognized habits and
idiosyncrasies that both my brother and I possessed that came from him.
I noticed little things like the way my brother stood and hand gestures
and I know there are things Sonny saw me do that reminded him of my
father.
But that "ability to laugh" may not be what you'd think it would be.
It's not like he showed me what was funny and said "hey, laugh at that."
That life, those events that my brother and I experienced at times were
so bizarre, so surreal. I'm not even sure I came close to painting the
pictures as we really saw them. What that life taught me was that there
are two things you can do when faced with such absurd circumstances; let
them eat you alive and destroy you or shake your head, learn the lesson,
laugh at it and move on.
Books-and-Authors.net: What do you think your father would say after reading
your book?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: Wow, good
question. I should consult my brother on this! He probably would have
laughed, shook his head and moved on!
Books-and-Authors.net: Why was your grandmother called "Satan"?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: She was one
of the last great Southern matriarchal ladies of Louisiana and plain and
simple, the woman did NOT like me. There was just something in our
collective DNA that just said "Argue with each other...about
EVERYTHING!" She'd say black, I'd say white. On more than one occasion
she told me "You are JUST like your mother...WORSE!" I was pretty proud
of that.
In fairness, in her later years we had a lovely relationship. I would
call her and we would talk about nothing. She was an amazing
bullshitter.
Books-and-Authors.net: Tell us a little about your mother.
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: Funny
thing, when I told people that I grew up with I was writing this book,
they all immediately thought is was going to be about Mom. My mom was
one of the greatest characters God ever created. She was fiercely
protective and loyal to her children and her dogs. She had a mouth that
wouldn't melt butter but she had a vocabulary that would make a sailor
blush. You never ever had to wonder what Janie had on her mind, she was
more than willing to let you know exactly what she thought. She was loud
and opinionated. She had a great sense of fair-play and she embraced
just about everybody who walked through her door. The was a rule in my
mother's house, "once you've been here for ten minutes, you are no
longer a guest...make yourself at home." She loved music, she had a
beautiful singing voice and I loved to make her laugh. When my mother
laughed, it shook the windows of the neighbors house.
She was not a stupid person. Let me give you an example of how smart my
mom was: The only time my brothers and I would all get along without any
incidents of violence at all was when we were watching football. We
loved football, still do. Every Sunday after church, we'd sit down in
front of the TV for the only game we'd see that day (this being long
before the NFL Network). As they were lining up for the opening
kick-off, Mom would step in front of the TV, shut it off and say;
"Nobody watches football until the house is clean!" I still vacuum at
halftime.
She had a bad habit of picking bad husbands. But I have my siblings
because of those decisions and I am grateful for that. She wasn't
perfect, far from it. She was given some pretty bad cards and dealt with
them the best she could. On several occasions in *Adventures With My
Father: Childhood Recollections of Divorce, Dysfunction and the Summer
of Love*, I speak of her near paranoia when it came to my brother and me
visiting my father. We came to realize that it wasn't my father taking
us she was afraid of but her own insecurities of her children leaving
her. We were dumbfounded that this woman would have any insecurities.
Does that make sense? She made me crazy, she made me driven to succeed.
To this day I am seeking her approval.
Books-and-Authors.net: What do you hope readers will say after reading
*Adventures With My Father: Childhood Recollections of Divorce
Dysfunction and the Summer of Love *?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: "Wow, so
it's not just me?"
Books-and-Authors.net: What do you hope to achieve with *Adventures With My
Father: Childhood Recollections of Divorce Dysfunction and the Summer of
Love *?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: I want
people to see that nobody, no family is perfect. I want more than
anything for people to be proud of the fact they survived childhood and
to look back and laugh. That's how my family dealt with everything, we
learned to laugh. I want my family to be proud of me.
Books-and-Authors.net: What was the last book you read?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: It's been a
busy summer for me. *Why We Suck* by Dr. Denis Leary. *Between the Bridge
and the River* by Craig Ferguson. Recently I've read Steve Martin's *Born
Standing Up, Before You Leap* by Kermit the Frog (a gift from my daughter)
*Clapton *Eric Clapton's biography, *Behind the Mask*, the biography of KISS
(never was a fan but I am amazed at the genius of Gene Simmons) and I just
started reading *American on Purpose* by Craig Ferguson. I love biographies.
That man is a very gifted writer. I think funny people are tremendously
intelligent and I'm always searching for their "secret!"
Books-and-Authors.net: What's next?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: Right now?
Depends on what you mean. Lunch and Home Depot immediately. Otherwise,
priority number one is getting back into radio. It's a passion and I miss it
terribly. As far as writing projects go, there are a few things I have in my
head. I have almost thirty years of radio interviews in my life with some
amazing people. There are dozens of moments in those years that made me
think "this would be great in a book someday." I also encountered an
interesting phenomenon after I was recently fired. It was a high profile and
highly publicized firing and in the weeks that passed afterward, I received
some of the most poignant and wonderful words of support and encouragement
from of all places, FaceBook. These were simple thoughts, prayers,
extraordinary words from ordinary people that I think really apply to
everyone in times like these.
I've been asked if there was a sequel to* Adventures With My Father:
Childhood Recollections of Divorce Dysfunction and the Summer of Love*
in the works. Not exactly. There was a period in my life where I spent a
lot of time as a bass player with a youth choir from a Baptist Church.
Imagine 50+ hormonal teen-agers on a bus every summer traveling the
country singing the Gospel wherever we could. There's a lot of
interesting stories there, but I imagine I'd be asking a lot of
forgiveness later!
I also have an idea for a pretty cool series of children's books
Books-and-Authors.net: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they
enhance your writing?
A.L. "Skip" Mahaffey: Mostly,
observing life from the saddle of a bicycle. If you're having a bad day
or a case of writer's block, put yourself on the bike trail, plug in the
headphones to your iPod and check out. It really gives the mind a chance
to open up and think.
