John mellencamp kids1/3/2024 ![]() I was happy growing up in and around Seymour. My first guitar belonged to my brother Joe, who lost interest. I'd also spend more time watching people and viewing life. Because I had a hard time reading, I learned to listen. I'm dyslexic and have a panic disorder and anxiety. He was hard on me but not harder than most dads of that era. My father was one of five regional vice presidents at Robbins Electrical, an industrial and commercial company. We'd play doubles and invariably a fight would break out over a missed shot. There were stables and an asphalt tennis court. The house was 2½ stories and had a porch on two sides. My two brothers and I worked hard and fast so we'd have time for ourselves. ![]() I spent my teenage years as cheap labor for my father, fixing up the place. Their grandmother stayed, so the house was dilapidated when my father bought it. The Rapps were a wealthy family who moved out years earlier. It was about 6 miles north in a small town called Rockford, home of the nation's first train robbery in 1866. When I was 12, we moved to the Rapp house. When I was little, I'd paint on top of her work. My dad created a studio space for her in the basement, too. She loved to paint and did so each day, in between dealing with us. She was very pretty, and had been a runner-up in the Miss Indiana pageant in '46. There was a TV, and the windows were at ceiling level. I was the middle kid, so I got the middle bunk. My father, Richard, fixed up a section for us with wood paneling and ugly linoleum on the concrete floor. My two brothers and I lived in the basement. It was nothing special-just a small one-story home they built for vets returning from World War II. The first place we lived was on Fifth Street. I finally met the surgeon who operated on me in 2014. My parents only told me it was an operation. When I looked in the mirror at home, there it was. In class, the kid behind me asked about the big scar across my neck. My parents never talked about my operation or spina bifida. ![]() After, he told my parents, "You can take him home, but he'll likely die." The hospital's neurological surgeon operated on me successfully. This way, if I died, there would be some sort of lineage. My parents renamed me John, after my great-great grandfather. In 1951, most babies with the defect didn't have much of a chance. It's a birth defect where the spinal cord has a hole in it. He thought it would be cool.īut immediately after I was born, the doctor saw I had spina bifida. He was a college football star and a handsome guy. My dad's older brother, Joe, picked it out. His solo art exhibit at New York's ACA Galleries opens April 26. John Mellencamp, 66, is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who has recorded 23 albums, including his latest, "Sad Clowns & Hillbillies" (Republic). View a slideshow of some of the works on display at the ACA Gallery HERE
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