Listening to Dad. . .

. . . play his accordion on Sunday afternoons was not my only exposure to or involvement in music. As kids, in the 60s, we always possessed, and I don't know how many (because they were cheap and inexpensive) that we went through, a small, portable 'record player' (we did not call them 'turntables' although the turntable is an essential component of the contraption). And through the magic of our 'record player', I entered a world that held every bit, if not more, intrigue, excitement, mystery, joy, sadness, exuberance, melancholy, pleasure, challenge, rhythm, lyric, engagement than any other child's literary or sports-induced fantasy. I felt like, paraphrasing Van Dyke Parks' song title "Movies is Magic", Music was magic.

I had records that you wouldn't believe; vinyl records, or maybe they were plastic since they all, at least the initial 45rpm and 78rpm-the little ones, contained children's music and the pop songs of the day. Some of the 78s were even different colors; which reminds me of my days in radio (many years after this) when I experienced a promotional 45 of the Brothers Johnson's Strawberry Letter 23 which was red AND strawberry scented. Some of the titles I remember are, Tom Terrific (the theme from the cartoon television show; one of many others: Huckleberry Hound for example), Puff the Magic Dragon (yes, Peter, Paul and Mary and it WAS in the top 40), Waytt Earp (with the Legend of Jesse James on the flip side; not sure who the performers were though), The Bear Went Over the Mountain (little memory remains of this one except that it was performed by a chorus and was one of my least favorites), until finally one day. . .



What I call 'selective memory' (not the textbook definition), "episodic memory impaired in normal aging" has left me with few definitive details of how, when, why and by whom my first Beatles 45rpm record was purchased. But I clearly remember that I owned "She Loves You" on the Swan record label (due to episodic memory impairment I don't remember the flip-side**) AND "I Want To Hold Your Hand", flip side of which was "I Saw Her Standing There".

At that stage in my musical development, I didn't evaluate music or entertainment for its sophistication, its level of technique or virtuosity or any of that stuff; and still don't, for the most part. But something about the entire Beatles' AURA got me hooked. I instantly became. . . one of the Beatles.

**I'll save you the trouble, flip-side of She Loves You was I'll Get You, which thanks to the web, I listened to again and do, fondly, remember.



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ANOTHER SHOT
by Ray Jozwiak