Arlene Who? I m sure you asked yourself this when you picked

up this book, yet this non-celebrity status is my best creden-

tial. Like many of you, I ve been known as the lady of the

house, someone s wife--or Leo s, or David s, or Sherrie s, or

Jeffrey s mother--or the organ player. Like many of you, I

don t have a special clause in my contract that calls for limo

service, or a ride-along chiropractor, or a tag-along masseuse

or mystic--or any of the pampering that comes with star sta-

tus. For forty-five years, I ve done it all myself. And, many

times, it seemed I was doing it all at once. Wife. Mother. Band

Manager. Band Member. With these demanding jobs, I

bounced around more than a Mexican jumping bean. Today,

they call it the "Super Woman Syndrome"--back then, they

called it crazy.

Once upon a time, my whole life was house and kids. Per-

haps if I d hung around the garage sales and the junior base-

ball leagues--talked to young mothers like myself--I would

have accepted the isolation that motherhood brings, but here s

where my story differs. Each time the kids and I visited

Grandma, I d hear my younger sisters talk about their life in

the band. While I was boasting about Sherrie s new tooth, or

Davy s potty training--Nancy, Patti, and Suzi giggled over late

nights, lusty men, and wild applause.