About Me
My name is Nancy and I was born on December 9, 1974 in Stratford, New Jersey. However, I spent most of my life in Texas (from 1983-2000); I grew up in Beaumont, then got my undergrad and master's in English at Texas A&M in College Station. After that, I taught composition and literature in Houston for two years at Kingwood College. At that point, the only exception to my time as a Texan was a brief stint in Saudi Arabia where my father currently works (I stayed there six months in 1989 - and yes, it sucked). However, having parents overseas afforded me the opportunity to travel quite a lot. I've been all over the world with my family, from Madrid to Morocco to Macau to Melbourne. (My three favorite places: The Amalfi Coast, southeast Australia, and Hawaii).
On my own, I've also traveled to Colombia, South America and Moldova over near Romania. In case you're wondering how I wound up in those places, I went through two volunteer programs to teach advanced English. The representatives of these programs were going to churches as well as other charity organizations to recruit and after I heard them speak at my church back in Texas, I signed up. I stayed in Colombia for six weeks in 2000 and four weeks in 2001, then went to Moldova in the summer of 2002. Colombia wasn't as scary as you might think - I was only in Bogota overnight after I first arrived and the night before I left. The rest of the time was spent in a small but prosperous beach community where it was safe and everyone was really friendly (OK, there was one uprising while I was there, but all they did was cut off the electricity of the town until demands were met. No violence). It was up in the part of Colombia in the Caribbean, not too far from Panama, so it was absolutely beautiful. Moldova was a very personally rewarding experience, although due to the limited funds of my hosts I had to get used to eating a lot of borscht and bread. And you know what? I actually began to like it! Didn't like the lack of hot water or toilets too much... using a hole in the ground in a shed really makes you appreciate porcelain. However, I really felt like I was doing something meaningful. I felt that way in Colombia, too, but even more so where conditions were harsher.
In the fall of 2002, I decided it was time to leave Texas and get my PhD in something I've always found fascinating, Renaissance-era British Literature. I wound up in West Lafayette, Indiana at Purdue University, where I'm pursuing that PhD in seventeenth century literature with a secondary area of gender studies. To pay for my tuition and get enough money to fund my Frey fanhood, I also teach writing, tutor, and edit other people's work. Exciting life, eh? But I do have my hobbies, and this is one of them.
I only got into Frey hard-core pretty recently - as in the summer of 2005. How did I get into him so late? Thank Stevie Nicks.
Let me give you some background before I explain how I got from Stevie to Glenn. Because of my late birthdate, I missed the Eagles' heyday. Due to diligent parents who were very careful to screen what hit my ears, I wasn't even allowed to purchase rock music until I hit 10. At that time (c. 1985) Glenn was all over the radio. I had no idea he used to have this band called the Eagles; I just thought of him as the guy who sang "Smuggler's Blues," "The Heat Is On," and "You Belong to the City." However, although I thought these were cool songs, I was still a bit young to appreciate Glenn.
The D.J.'s on B95 in Beaumont loved Glenn."True Love" got heavy airplay in the late 80s as I finished middle school, but at that time, I was more interested in spending my allowance on books. Why? Because I am a nerd. It wasn't until my first year of college that I finally was able to sublimate my nerdiness and become at least quasi-normal, and by then, I had once again missed Glenn's boat.
As you may know, 1994 was a big year for the Eagles, and it was also when I figured out who they were. I saw Hell Freezes Over on MTV (back when MTV was still tolerable). "Wow," I thought when I saw it advertised, "Both Glenn Frey and Don Henley were in the Eagles? Bet that was a good group!" I tuned in and realized I'd heard a lot of these songs before. I bought the cassette, then enjoyed it so much I bought the Greatest Hits CDs. At the time, I was a freshman math major. I was taking an advanced math course - Calculus III - that was kicking my butt, and the only fond memory I have from it is playing "Take It To the Limit" as I did just that in math equations (if you are a masochist, you can see how my fellow nerd explains limits in math while referring to the Eagles at the bottom of his webpage here).
As the Eagles lay dormant in the late nineties, I got turned on to Fleetwood Mac by a friend right around the time of the Dance (1997). I was completely hooked, and still am to this day. I even have a website for Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, BuckinghamNicks.net, that I started back in 2000. Obviously, I adore Stevie Nicks. I went to her shows whenever I could. In the summer of 2005, when she came to Chicago with Don Henley, I was there. As Don sang all those Eagles hits, I remembered how much I'd liked that group. I started listening to them again. I got the Very Best and it found a permanent home in my car CD-changer. When I went to Phoenix to see Stevie do her yearly benefit, Don Henley was there as well, and I even got to meet him and get my picture taken with him. (Note: When I say "meet," I am defining that as talking to him for approximately 30 seconds after getting my picture snapped and before being hustled away. Luckily before I talked to him I had over a minute with my girl Stevie. Now if Stevie and Glenn were ever in a room together I think I would spontaneously combust.) Click to see the photo and read a bit more.
However, as I listened to those Eagles songs, it wasn't the ones sung by Don Henley that were my favorites. The voice that really appealed to me was Glenn Frey's. This held true for every album in the Eagles' catalog which I had started buying. After I went to share my positive experience at the Stevie/Don concerts with other fans on the message board of the The Fast Lane, I hung around, and my appreciation for Glenn kept growing and growing. I started to purchase his solo catalog. I wanted to find out as much as possible. That was when I learned that Glenn Frey did not have an active website dedicated just to him. I found this a grave omission, one I could and would rectify.
Thus the inception of GlennFreyOnline.com. Hope you enjoy it!
Now, I have told you the story of my meeting Don Henley, but I also got to meet Mr. Glenn Frey himself both in 2006 and 2007. Click to read more about 2006 and here to read more about 2007.