As I sit here thinking about writing my life story, I can only ask, “What am I thinking? Who the hell would live through all this shit?” Well, I did and I am still kicking.

Hello, Baltimore! My name is Skip Peacock, aka Tia Chambers. This September 5, 2009 was the 25^th anniversary of my doing female impersonation/drag, and this is my story, “Love on the Rocks—Oh, What a Surprise!”
My parents, Ernest E. Peacock, Sr. and Betty Lee Peacock moved my family to Baltimore when I was five years old. We moved to 33 Clifford Road in Rosedale, Maryland. Now, we were a modern family, or so I thought until we moved to Rosedale.

At age five, I knew that I liked boys and I also knew that it was my duty as a democrat, a Lutheran and mostly as a Peacock, that I “goddamn better like girls.” All I can say is that at least I was smart enough to know that I was “supposed to like girls.” Well, I liked boys. Just keep in mind, I was five.

My first day of school was at Elmwood Elementary School and I was enrolled in Kindergarten under the guidance of Mrs. Loveless. I got up early and dressed in khaki pants and a short sleeve button-down blue shirt with a collar. I won’t go into the story of my mom cussing me out because I burnt the ironing board up trying to iron my pants. (Sorry, Betty.)

My mom took me into school and was surprised when I said, “See ya!” and went right into class. Apparently, my oldest brother, James Price aka Jimmy, cried the entire first day of school. Not me! I wasn’t going to stand in front of seventeen good looking and boys and let 9 of those girls see me weak. Hell, No!

Well, Mrs. Loveless had us all sit down and then, one by one, stand up and calmly introduce ourselves. Well, this sounded simple. A cute black boy stood up and said, “Hi, my name is George.” A white girl in a blue dress stood up. “Hello. I am Susan.” Well, then came my turn. I spread my feet apart and yelled out, “Morning ya’ll. My name is Ernest Eugene Peacock, Jr.” As soon as I was done, all 26 younginz’ busted out laughing. As I stood there being laughed at, I pissed my pants, which made all 25 laugh even harder.

I turned around and ran out of school all the way down the power lines until I got home. My mom was smoking a Marlboro light, slurping her coffee. As she looked at my wet khaki pants, she loudly proclaimed, “Holy Shit! What did you do this time?”

I told her that the name Ernest Eugene Peacock, Jr. was not a suitable name for a young man in kindergarten. After several hours of my mother and myself thinking of names as we watched Mrs. Chancellor fall down the steps drunk during The Young and the Restless, we came up with “Skip”, as my grandfather, Gus DiPortiers was the “Skipper of the Red Eye Yacht Club.” Well, Ernest and Betty now had a new son—Skippy. The next morning off to Elmwood I went, where I stood up and said, “Hi, my name is Skip.”

This is the first story in “Love on the Rocks” and I hope to tell many more as I chronicle my life story over the next several weeks. Here’s just a sampling of stories to cum…oh, I mean come:

1.      How kissing George Washington in kindergarten began my love life and my family drama;

2.      The significance of sitting in hallway during math class;

3.      Me cutting my ass when Mrs. Jones pushed me onto a broken chair;

4.      My mother flashing a 6^th grade teacher, Mr. Tool;

5.      And, of course, my introduction to sex—with Kevin.

As this is the first printing of my life story, I must say thank you to Don Davis and his deceased lover Vernon for the title and printing of the original Tia Chamber’s “Love on the Rocks” poster at Grand Central. It appears that after playing on the computer and putting my drag publicity photo on a 1940 book cover, my poster began its life. Don had the poster blown up and kept it on display in Grand Central for many years. As a matter of fact, Don said that hundreds of copies were distributed. (P.S. Don, can I get a cut of that money? Just kidding. However, if Gay Life gets this life story published, can I buy the poster? And, Don, I will not cancel my check like you know who did when you sold the picture years ago.) What a chapter that is… Stay tuned!