How often are you transported, whole, back to your early teens? To those years of insecurity, of finding out you were different from the kids you played with and the powers that be, of not knowing whether you were cool or not?
We moved to Broadalbin when I was in 6th grade and I found out all about different. I had been fine in Fonda...they were used to me and my quirkiness. That didn't fly up north. I consoled myself by lying on the dining room floor...cold, bare, empty, hardwood...after the dishes were done of course...and wearing out Dad's Kingston Trio albums. They had a little record player that sat on the floor there and I could play them all I wanted if I was quiet. My favorite was, and is, From the Hungry i. (We still have the one with the grooves worn almost beyond redemption.)
Everyone else was listening to the Beatles. I didn't. (Until later when we got the band going but never with any great pleasure.) Did you know that the Beatles once opened for the Kingston Trio? Yep, I found that out last night.
See, Becky inherited my love for their music and wore out MY cassette tapes when she was about the same age as I was during the dining room years. They played locally during the years we were showing cows every summer, but due to one fair or another I couldn't take her.
Fast Forward a few years....
Tickets went on sale for a show at the Universal Preservation Hall a couple of months ago and she got seats for the three of us. We searched out maps and parking and off we went in a snaky, slithering rain, with much trepidation.
I had watched videos online and liked what I heard, but had no idea what to expect from this extension of the original band. The founding members all left us long ago.
What can I say but, wow! Becky was one of the youngest people there, by at least a few decades, but they rocked that place and the crowd was downright dynamic. They played the best-known KT classics with a polish and fidelity to the past that was at once exciting, and yet comforting to this old fan. It was great to remember those dining room years from where I am now and realize that weird really isn't all that bad.
They played songs I had never heard before, having moved on to country and rock once our band got going and we needed to please others, so I missed some albums. They closed with one written, I believe, by John Stewart, about America's first moon walk that literally gave me cold chills. (BTW, for historical reference, along with my brother and friends, I belonged to two rock and roll/country bands, Hereafter and Stone Free. We always joked to the audience that we would probably be here after they walked out, and that although we didn't play stone free, we were certainly dirt cheap.)
The show was great rollicking fun. We laughed, sang along, clapped, and laughed some more. Even Ralph sang and amazingly well too. He is not exactly a music guy. At the end of the show the band mingled in the lobby, shaking hands and sharing memories with anyone brave enough to walk up to them. I am a sniveling coward at heart as it happens, but that didn't stop me one bit....nice guys and very approachable.
Among my favorite aspects was Buddy Woodward playing the conga drum. Such flash! What panache! However, it was all fun, from fan favorites to new territory.
Before we were home last night, having traversed the dreaded route down 29 in rain-lashed darkness, lit mostly by ill-placed reflections glaring from the watery road, Becky had found some of my new favorites, and placed them on my "3C Walking" playlist. (You know, threecollie...who is a walking fool.)
Thanks Beck for getting the tickets and coaxing us out there, Ralph for driving under such nasty conditions (at least it wasn't blinding snow like that one High Kings Concert at the Egg), Dad for giving me so much music in my kidhood, and the band for a great evening's entertainment.
Hope they play here again and soon.
Back in the band days upstairs at Sherman's Amusement Park Loved that Framus guitar and I believe that is the drum set Mike is sellin if you are interested. It's a good un. |
Okay Marianne!!! " I belonged to two rock and roll/country bands . . ."
ReplyDeleteYou've got some "splain" to do! Woooeeeee!!
The old tunes are still the best for us old folks!
ReplyDeleteSo... you rocking the stage back in the day! I always wanted to learn to play guitar and can play a few chords is all. In the mid 60's (I know, dating myself here!) someone gave me a 4 string Harmony tenor guitar that I had no idea how to play. My parents couldn't afford music lessons and we lived way out in the country so I had nobody to teach me. I have always gravitated to those who are musically talented. And I'm not one of them! It seems that back in those days, the hey day of rock and roll and even blues and country rock defined our generation.
Cathy, I could tell you stories. Many, many stories. LOL. My next younger brother and I and a series of friends and significant others started playing "music" (I use the term loosely) crowded into my bedroom when I was a quite young teen. To give you an idea, we got our original instruments out of my folks' antique shop. Some of them even played. We were genuinely terrible. Worse than terrible. Willing to practice though, and we did endlessly. At one time there were five of us, all employed full time in the day time and we practiced every night, long past midnight. This morphed into garage bands, and then actually getting paid to play some bars, clubs, school dances etc. I had and have very little musical talent, but I was willing to work hard and be a token blond for the cause. My brother is very talented and still plays very, very well. It was a great adventure. Various arthritic joints, particularly thumbs, have me all thumbs on the guitar so I just don't any more. However, I sing in the kitchen with great enthusiasm, if not with any skill.
ReplyDeleteShirley, You are surely right about the music of our day. Kids still listen to many of the artists of the times when we were growing up. In fact my son nearly got a speeding ticket singing along to Kansas on a trip north when he was in college. Just got caught up in the song, which we were all singing along with. I have zero talent, but have always had lots of enthusiasm, and that makes up for a lot. My tastes have changed and I don't play any more because my hands don't work like they did, but I still listen...and sing...badly...pretty much every day. Celtic music mostly.