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Music For Our Times
Summer in the North Country brings a great opportunity to enjoy local music. Rock bands at the Naked Turtle and many of the downtown night spots blast their way into the early morning hours.
Then you have the Concerts on the Bluff, and many hamlets have bands playing in the park during the week or on weekends. As noted earlier, on Saturday, August 2nd it's the annual Whitey & Flo's Campout in Riverview, just west of Redford. It's a weekend of free camping and classic country music. Visitors from the Albany area and neighboring states such as Vermont and New Hampshire come back each year for this event.
Then you can step the music up a notch with good old classic rock at Square Dashnaw's Steak Bake in Standish. The steamed clams will be ready and hundreds of music lovers will gather for this longtime North Country event. Last year was my first visit and my return has been on the calendar for a year. You can bet I won't be the only guy with a ponytail at this event.
Also taking place on August 2nd is the Stowaways Return Reunion. Last year's 40-Year Reunion was such a hit, we just had to have more. This year's event is at Tabu Night Club, located in downtown Plattsburgh. For music lovers my age, Tabu is located in the area of Fishman's and Woolworth's downtown. Or, maybe right in the spot where Kresge's used to be.
Make no mistake about it -- we love music. There is not a one of us who doesn't have a favorite song or several favorite songs. Sometimes all it takes is a song on the car radio to bring back happy memories or remind us of a former love.
The first 45rpm record I ever owned was a gift from Santa Claus to go with my new stereophonic record player. It was "Be Bop Baby" by Ricky Nelson. It was 1957 and I was nine years old.
Then my Dad took me to the Record Center downtown and I purchased "Good Golly, Miss Molly" by Little Richard. From that point on I was hooked on rock & roll and dreamed of playing in a rock band. That dream never came true, except for one night of pretend music when Rod Hershey and the Almonds took to the stage at an OLVA high school dance. I was the pretend drummer while Rod Dame sang a song for real.
Some time ago Rolling Stone magazine listed the "40 Songs That Changed the World." The songs were listed chronologically with the first one from 1954 - "That's All Right" by Elvis Presley and the last one from 2001 - "Fell in Love With a Girl" by The White Stripes.
In between were some of my all-time favorites, such as "Maybelline" by Chuck Berry (1955), "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" by Bob Dylan (1963), "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles (1963), "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan (1965), "Respect" by Aretha Franklin (1967), "Imagine" by John Lennon (1971) and "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen (1975).
The Rolling Stone's list covers music of all kinds that "changed the world," so songs like "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson (1982), "Like A Virgin" by Madonna (1984) and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana (1991) are on the list. You won't find those in my CD or album collection.
Odds are you and I will see each other at a musical event this summer. We will smile at each other, give a wave and our toes will be tapping.
Comments
Last Wednesday evening we were treated to a free concert in Lake Placid's mid-park. Performing was Ryan Shupe and The Rubberband who are a professional folk-country group. They had big hit " Dream Big" which has been featured on American Idol a few times. After the concert we took in a movie at the Palace Theatre on Main Street. We had a great time in Placid, and our (13 month old) granddaughter loved the village beach.
Foxy, I think I remember The Stowaways, was that the group that played at Brodi's in the late 60's?
(Foxy's note: Yes, indeed, I believe they did make some appearances at Brodi's, Norm!)
Posted by: Norm | July 19, 2008 8:44 PM
As a fellow musician and friend to a lot of the people you speak of in this blog It sure does remind me once again of the amazing talent in the North Country. I too have participated in a host of the summer "Parties" over the years and I have to agree Foxy, The food is a close second of the things I miss the most. However the musical ability of most all of our friends is truly amazing. For those that remember I spoke with Dennis Booth recently. He called me on my birthday July 2nd. He is still going strong and still.............Playing music! Have a great weekend and try not to eat too much!
Posted by: vonrader | July 19, 2008 10:16 AM