Cars & Music

 

Two constants in my life have been cars and music. Above is the very first LP I ever bought. It was released in 1961; I think I bought it in '62. I was only 13!

I had bought some 45s before buying this LP; 45s were what we bought. Most LPs had one hit, maybe two, and a bunch of filler at that time. If you wanted the hits you bought 45s. 

My friend Bud (that's what he was called then; he's now Burt) had a bigger collection of 45s than I did. I remember hanging in his bedroom listening to, and singing along to, so many records. Dion was one of our favorites.

I owe my love of music to my mom. When I was a baby she used to play the piano and sing to me. We had her Baldwin upright for decades!

 

My sister Sandy and I both took piano lessons after we moved to Coventry from Mrs. Covell (sp?), who lived on Seagraves Road. I was really never that good, always a hesitant player. But I tried. 

Mom had a selection of 78s. Two of our favorites were Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, narrated by Eleanor Roosevelt, and South Pacific with the original Broadway cast.

Mom always had the car radio on, often playing popular music. My dad liked opera (go figure); I have a memory of being in his Ford Cab-Over-Engine (COE) tow truck with him singing along to some tenor. 

Radio, AM exclusively in those years, was a constant companion. I had the use of dad's big, heavy AM/FM/shortwave portable radio. Its tone was good and it was a powerful receiver. It could usually pick up NYC or Boston stations (we were about equidistant between the two), and on good nights I'd get the skip from Chicago and Wheeling West Virginia. 

I was like just about every kid in the world when the Beatles visited our little black and white TV via the Ed Sullivan Show. My friend Peter Hoffman's big brother was the first person I knew who had a copy of Meet The Beatles!

We (Bud and I?) must have been at Peter's house; I distinctly remember Bill holding up the LP like he had the winning Irish Sweepstake ticket!

In the '60s in Central Connecticut, there were two stations kids listened to, WPOP and WDRC. Although my Aunt Rose worked for WPOP, I was a DRC guy.

In the mornings mom would listen to Bob Steele on WTIC AM. Our ears would perk up when it snowed because Steele was the source for school closings.

To give you an idea of my time frame, I'm from the class of '67. Music was changing. I bought more LPs. There were no "underground" FM stations that I was aware of in Central Connecticut. AM was still king.

When I turned 16 and got my license, summer nights were for drinking beer and music. We'd crank up the volume and sing our lungs out! 

"Now I'm sittin' here
Sippin' at my ice cold beer
Lazin' on a sunny afternoon" Sitting in Linda's big Oldsmobile.

Or

"And don't worry 'bout tomorrow, ay-ay-ay

Shah-la, la-la-la-la live for today (live for today)"

And so many more. 

The first band I ever saw live was The Animals at the Bushnell Memorial Hall, Hartford, CT.

For a while I was an unofficial roadie for my friend Bernie. Sometimes I'd just schlep his bass and amp, other times stuff for the band he was playing in, Tommy Dae & the High Tensions, a local(ish) band. That got me into gigs for free, mostly dances. Once they played a Battle of the Bands at the West Hartford Armory. The headliner was The McCoys, a couple of years after their hit "Hang On Sloopy." I got to hang out with the bands upstairs in the game room.

In '68 music changed. Psychedelia happened. Marijuana suddenly appeared in my circles, mostly thanks to the proximity of UCONN. I bought my first dime bag from a guy on Fitzgerald Blvd., Coventry, just up the street from our house. I think he was a literature major; he was into J.R.R. Tolkien.

Burt was going to college in Boston, and his musical world was expanding; the big groups played Boston and he saw some of them. Over the Thanksgiving holiday Burt came home. A bunch of us - Burt, his brother Barry, Tony Hansen, my brother Doug, Danny Dorval, and me - went to the Hansen's cottage on Lake Bungee, to smoke a little and listen to some LPs. Burt brought Big Brother & The Holding Company, their first album.

It seemed like overnight we went from singing along to pop, to The Doors, The Ultimate Spinach - drug music!

It seemed like every day there was a new group. It really was an exciting time.

Tony Hansen (no relation to Burt), another close friend, turned me on to so many groups. The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, and a whole slew of emerging groups.

During this time period Ronnie Anderson came into my life. Ron was like the big brother I never had. He rented a room in our big Victorian. Ron was cool, and to me worldly. He was also musical; damn the boy was good. He'd sit at mom's piano and just play! By ear! And he could sing. The years we hung around together were great. He loved the Young Rascals, the Byrds, and more. 

All things must come to an end, and my time in Coventry ended in March 1969. It was reborn in the beginning of July of that year when I took Interstate 91 north. I had my few meager possessions including my milk crate full of LPs.

Over the next 50 years my music collection grew to almost 2,000 LPs, and 400+ CDs. I moved a number of times boxing and unboxing those records, those memories. But when we sold our last house, and downsized, they all had to go. I still have my list of records, and I look at it sometimes, remembering when I got that one, or who turned me onto that artist. 

Some songs trigger memories, some I can still sing along with. Songs make me think of old friends, some gone, good and bad times.

If I had to live my life over again there are many things I'd change, but music and cars would still be my soul.