Sunday, November 30, 2008

First Blog Attempt

Well here it is, my first attempt at a blog. It is really my wife's idea. She says I am a good writer and that I have a great deal to say. I think what she is really saying is I talk too much and she is tired of listening to me. We both share a love of good music with most of my interest being in rock and roll from the 1960's and 70's. That is what this blog will concentrate on most of the time. Well...here goes nothing.

My interest in music started at a very early age. I am the youngest of 4 children with all my siblings being much older than me. You might say I was an "accident". Actually, there is no maybe about it, I was an accident. Anyway, my nearest sibling is 11 years older than me and the oldest is 17 years older than me. If you do the math here my oldest brother was a senior in high school when I was born. This meant that all 3 of them had a profound effect on me as I grew up. One of the effects was that they had vinyl records which they played on a "record player". This was a monural, no stereo at that time, player that could spin 45, 33, and 78 RPM records. The time period being the late 1950's and early 1960's they had rock and roll records. I can remember how colorful the records where. They weren't all black vinyl, they came in different colors. The artists at the time included Dion and The Belmonts, Connie Francis, Frankie Avalon, Elvis of course, Paul Anka, The Penguins, Little Anthony, Chuck Berry, (maybe the first guitar God) and so forth. They also had records which these days we call cross over country. There were artists like The Browns, Ferlin Husky, Conway Twitty, Eddy Arnold and others that went on to shape county music in the sixties. My sister especially would play the records for me until I was old enough to play them myself.This started at about the age of 3. I loved playing the records and would listen for hours.

I also recall watching American Bandstand with my Sis and
dancing along with the kids on TV. We did all the early and middle 1960's dances. I have great memories of all this. I even remember vividly February 9, 1964 when rock and roll changed forever. That was the night the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. I can see it like it was yesterday. The suits and skinny ties they wore with their "Beatle Boots", the floppy haircuts, which were a cause for concern for my Mom. "Just look at that hair"! And the screaming girls in the audience. That is the night that rock and roll changed for ever. Good bye doo wap groups, so long country cross over singers, see ya Frankie and Paul. Rock and roll became the land of the guitar group.

That's it for now. If you have any memories, thoughts, or comments you would like to share please post them. See ya next time.