Good times, great oldies...
Have you ever wondered at what point in your life will you reach your personal saturation point in terms of keeping up with new music?
My dad apparently reached his saturation point the second he graduated from college. He is a music snob in his own right, extremely unwilling to give anything released in the last 30 years a fighting chance. When I was in 8th grade, I asked him to name all the rappers he could. His response was "MC Hammer and Shaq." Recently, he called me up to ask about this group called the Dave Matthews Band. "Man, that guy can play the guitar," he said. He's almost proud to be completely behind the times. That's ok, papa.
Anyhoo, because the radio in our black Bronco 2 was cemented on the oldies station, my brother and I grew up listening to this genre 24/7. If it wasn't the oldies station, it was The Big Chill Soundtrack, Three Dog Night, The Grass Roots, Chicago, or Grand Funk Railroad. With my mom, it was Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and Aretha Franklin. This music is simply a family fixture.
My mom's extended family agrees. In fact, it's a family tradition that all the guys in the family sing "Mustang Sally" together at every granddaughter's wedding reception. Actually, we all got bombed at the rehearsal dinner the night before my cousin Casey's wedding a couple of years ago. My uncle drove us around and around the hotel parking lot just so we could finish singing "Five O'Clock World" at the top of our lungs. The first time Matt met all of my cousins was at a family reunion almost four years ago. We tried to get through a huge game of Trivial Pursuit, but the radio was cranked up and all of us kept bursting into song. Matt seemed a little skeptical. And nervous.
My parents and their friends would have parties and cookouts all year long just so they could get drunk and listen to the oldies. This triggered their idea to host an annual "50s & 60s party" at the KC Hall. They dressed up as hippies or nerds or greasers or car hops, decorated the joint, and even created lip sync acts for midnight performances. The first year, my mom and four of her friends performed "I Can't Get Next to You" by The Temptations. At eight years old and enrolled in dance class, I choreographed their moves. My dad, that first year, did "Old Time Rock 'N Roll" with both a guitar and a sax strapped around his neck. I think there is video of him "playing" the two instruments simultaneously. By the time I was old enough to attend the parties, they sadly died. Don McClean really predicted that one.
It wasn't long ago, during a visit to C-town, when my dad tried to convince my friends and I to stay in with him and not go uptown. He said, "Let's go inside, get weird, and do some tunes." In honor of Papa Cook, here are my top five oldies that will forever and ever remind me of my fabulous father:
1. "Beginnings" - Chicago
2. "Fire and Rain" - James Taylor
3. "Dance to the Music" - Sly and the Family Stone
4. "Never Been to Spain" - Three Dog Night
5. "Woodstock" - Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
My dad apparently reached his saturation point the second he graduated from college. He is a music snob in his own right, extremely unwilling to give anything released in the last 30 years a fighting chance. When I was in 8th grade, I asked him to name all the rappers he could. His response was "MC Hammer and Shaq." Recently, he called me up to ask about this group called the Dave Matthews Band. "Man, that guy can play the guitar," he said. He's almost proud to be completely behind the times. That's ok, papa.
Anyhoo, because the radio in our black Bronco 2 was cemented on the oldies station, my brother and I grew up listening to this genre 24/7. If it wasn't the oldies station, it was The Big Chill Soundtrack, Three Dog Night, The Grass Roots, Chicago, or Grand Funk Railroad. With my mom, it was Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and Aretha Franklin. This music is simply a family fixture.
My mom's extended family agrees. In fact, it's a family tradition that all the guys in the family sing "Mustang Sally" together at every granddaughter's wedding reception. Actually, we all got bombed at the rehearsal dinner the night before my cousin Casey's wedding a couple of years ago. My uncle drove us around and around the hotel parking lot just so we could finish singing "Five O'Clock World" at the top of our lungs. The first time Matt met all of my cousins was at a family reunion almost four years ago. We tried to get through a huge game of Trivial Pursuit, but the radio was cranked up and all of us kept bursting into song. Matt seemed a little skeptical. And nervous.
My parents and their friends would have parties and cookouts all year long just so they could get drunk and listen to the oldies. This triggered their idea to host an annual "50s & 60s party" at the KC Hall. They dressed up as hippies or nerds or greasers or car hops, decorated the joint, and even created lip sync acts for midnight performances. The first year, my mom and four of her friends performed "I Can't Get Next to You" by The Temptations. At eight years old and enrolled in dance class, I choreographed their moves. My dad, that first year, did "Old Time Rock 'N Roll" with both a guitar and a sax strapped around his neck. I think there is video of him "playing" the two instruments simultaneously. By the time I was old enough to attend the parties, they sadly died. Don McClean really predicted that one.
It wasn't long ago, during a visit to C-town, when my dad tried to convince my friends and I to stay in with him and not go uptown. He said, "Let's go inside, get weird, and do some tunes." In honor of Papa Cook, here are my top five oldies that will forever and ever remind me of my fabulous father:
1. "Beginnings" - Chicago
2. "Fire and Rain" - James Taylor
3. "Dance to the Music" - Sly and the Family Stone
4. "Never Been to Spain" - Three Dog Night
5. "Woodstock" - Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
posted by quank at 1:36 PM
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