Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n Roll

The battle cry of the 1960's and 1970's.  Yep, I know a little something about all of the above.  I learned about sex against my will at too early an age.  I learned about drugs by choice when I was quite a bit older than most first time users.  But today we are going to talk about Rock 'n Roll.


Being born in the middle of the twentieth century was the best time (in my most humble opinion) because that's when rock 'n roll was born. In the 1950's it was awesome to be able to listen to The Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Fleetwoods, Buddy Holly and on and on and on.  It was clear music was changing, and our parents were sure we were all going to Hell in a handbasket because of all that jumping around and shimmying and shaking going on.  Then the 1960's came and The Beatles, and the drug culture, and music changed again.  There was the British invasion with mega-groups like The Rolling Stones and The Hollies.  But the U. S. had great musicians too like Simon & Garfunkel and The Righteous Brothers.  What a great time to be a teenager.  The first 45 RPM record I ever purchased was The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens, but there were hundreds more afterward.


My mother, like most other parents of that era, was not overly fond of the music I chose.  I recall the time I bought the 45 RPM single from Sonny and Cher, I Got You Babe.   I wanted to learn all the words, but most especially I wanted to learn Cher's part.  My mom worked a swing shift at the M&M Candy Company.  She had worked from 11:00 PM until 8:00 AM on the day I bought the record.  She was sleeping when I got home from the record store, so I went quietly to my room, put my new record on my hi-fi turntable and played it over and over and over again.  After about the 15th run through of the song, my bedroom door flew open and my mother barged into the room and snatched the stylus off the record.  She turned to me in a rage and said "One more time and I'll get you babe!"  Then she stalked out of my room, slammed the door and went back to her room to sleep.  I had an altercation with my brother Glenn in much the same way.  I don't remember if he was sleeping or if he just didn't want the music to be as loud as I thought it needed to be, but we ended up in an ugly argument about it.  Neither one of us came out on the winning side of that one, but fortunately you grow up and you forgive even if you never forget.  (I love you Glenn.)


The first concert I ever attended was a Blood, Sweat and Tears concert in Atlanta with my sister Cathy and her husband George.  It must have been around 1974 or so.  The concert was at DeKalb Community College.  At that time in history, cigarette smokers (and there were a bunch of us, though I quit smoking almost 20 years ago) were allowed to smoke almost anywhere and everywhere.  So when the houselights went down and a thousand cigarette lighters were lit at the same time, I just assumed it was cigarette smokers.  Until I took a breath.  I said to my sister and brother-in-law, "What is that horrible smell?"  They looked at me like I had just arrived from the far side of the galaxy and George said, "Don't you know what marijuana is?"  I said of course I knew what it was but I'd never smelled it before, which at that time was true.  They thought I was kidding, but I wasn't.  I had only recently been discharged from the Navy and though I worked on a college campus for a year afterward, I did not associate with any of the students there.  I was a babe in the woods when it came to drugs in the early 1970's.  After Blood, Sweat and Tears, I took a friend of mine from New Jersey to see Elvis Presley while I lived in Atlanta because she was a huge fan (the screaming kind).


When I moved to Baltimore and started dating Bud, I got to go to many more concerts.  The first real date Bud and I had ended up back at my apartment.  We sat up all night long and played all my 45 RPM records.  Though he was younger than I, he liked "oldies" and we had similar taste in music.  The first concert Bud took me to see was Sha-Na-Na.  Over the years we have seen so many others it's impossible to remember them all.   Just a few that come immediately to mind are:  James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Crosby Stills & Nash, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, just Neil Young, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Rollings Stones, The Moody Blues, Bob Seger, The Allman Brothers Band, The Black Crowes, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Pink Floyd.  I know I've left out a bunch, but we've had many memorable nights filled with rock 'n roll.   Unfortunately, I never saw The Beatles, but I think they may be the only group I missed.


And now it's the 21st century, and music has changed more.  I swore I would never be like my mother -- I would always be up on the latest artists and the latest sounds.  Wrong!  I listen to classic rock.  I know few of today's artists and fewer of the songs that are played.  I know I don't like rap or hip hop, but I'm not even familiar with the other genres.  I have my comfort zone and I seldom stray outside the boundaries.  My favorite group is The Moody Blues.  A very close second is Pink Floyd.  We have XM/Sirius radio in our van and it is set to the classic rock station.  When I'm not in the van, Bud listens to the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band station or The Grateful Dead station.  They are both fine with me, but I want a little more variety.  I was never a Dead Head, but I have nothing against their sound.  Bud enjoyed going to their concerts, but I never went with him.  I just can't imagine listening to only one artist.


And so, in closing today, I got just one thing to say to youse, and that is ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BAImUIzyTU