Wow – I have made a 180-degree turn from what I was going to write about today! However, this week, I discovered that the
radio station I listened to ALL THE TIME from when I was nine years old (or before) until I was I-don’t know-how-old signed off for the last time last week. WMEX, 1510 AM in Boston, began in 1934. When I listened, they played the current hits. I believe years later, they played oldies, which is the same music as the current hits I was listening to in 1960 (because in my opinion, it is the very best music). I listen to it still, but on Spotify!
And I listened to WMEX on my transistor radio. I received it for my 9th birthday. It was attached to my ear day and night. I remember exactly what it looked like, and a while back I tried to find one to buy. Today, with the news about WMEX, I just spent a while again searching for one to buy. I consulted Chat GPT and everything. I did find one on eBay, but it was a different color, and a bit expensive, so I am going to wait and keep searching. However, it is quite rare to find one for sale today. I loved that radio as much as the music that emanated from it.
And I loved WMEX!!!! All of us Baby Boomers in Beantown did! My transistor radio was glued to my ear day and night. Of course I knew very song by heart — and still do! I can name most of them from the first one or two notes!
And although I cannot remember why I just went into the kitchen, or what I had for breakfast this morning, I can remember the daily lineup of WMEX, Boston DJ’s! In NYC it was Cousin Brucie and Murray the K; in Chicago it was Dick Biondi; and then there was Wolfman Jack and Alan Freed. There was a guy in Phillie named Hy Lit. He apparently was a DJ, but he also had one of those weekly dance and music shows with live entertainment. I used to watch it every Saturday on Channel 56, one of those nonstandard UHF or whatever-they were-called channels. He even had dancers up there in cages. I believe one of them is now my Facebook friend, but I spent a while searching for one that I remember from maybe even being in a movie or TV show. I never found her because I now cannot remember her name.
But back to the DJ lineup for WMEX (it may not be totally correct, and they did sometimes change slots): First thing in the morning was Fenway. 10-noon was Mel Miller. Noon to 4 was Melvin X Melvin. 4 to 6 or something was Dan Donovan. Coming on a few years later was Larry Justice and the Halls of Justice. The very famous Arnie “WooWoo” Ginsberg was on in the evening. He had the Nighttrain Show, and his big sponsor was Adventure Car Hop (is the place to go…..). After WooWoo the music was done for the day. I remember Larry Glick, the hypnotist, was on sometime at night…. and Jerry Williams, a talk show…and Dick Summer, so handsome with an FM radio voice. Hs show was a medley of music, storytelling. and poetry. My best friend and I loved him, but I think he was on too late for us to listen to.
Now if you remember AM stations, you remember that you could not listen to the ones very far away unless you held the radio a certain way and stood in a certain place! For a while I tried to listen to WPTR in Albany, because the British DJ, Roger Scott, would answer the phone himself, talk to me, and play whatever I requested.
Larry Justice, (The Halls of Justice) at 86 years old, was still broadcasting as part owner and program director of WMEX (with an oldies format) until several months ago. He doesn’t live up there anymore, but broadcast remotely — and sounded exactly the same as he did in 1965!!!!!! I have a dear friend close to the family and the demise of the station was a mess, but that is not my story to tell. But it makes me sad. Hate to see the old classics go.
You all know how important music is to me. And especially the music I grew up with. For my birthday party, I made a playlist of my favorite songs, or songs that were somehow important to me from that era. I would say my favorite music is from around 1958 through around 1966. Love Motown. Love the British Invasion.
Here is a partial list of some of my favorite pop songs from the era: (in no particular order)
Deep Purple – Nino Tempo and April Stevens
Only in America – Jay and the Americans
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do – Neil Sedaka
Runaway – Del Shannon
Come a Little Bit Closer – Jay and the Americans
The Twist – Chubby Checker
Happy-Go-Lucky-Me – Paul Evans
Take Good Care of My Baby – Bobby Vee
Bristol Stomp – The Dovells
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor – Lonnie Donegan
Hey Baby – Bruce Channel
It’s My Party – Leslie Gore
I Like It – Gerry and the Pacemakers
You Really Got Me – The Kinks
The Lion Sleeps Tonight – The Tokens
Cara Mia – Jay ad the Americans
You’re the One – The Vogues
Louie Louie – The Kingsmen
I’m Into Something Good – Herman’s Hermits
Laugh, Laugh – Beau Brummels
How Do You Do It? – Gerry and the Pacemakers
Stagger Lee – Lloyd Price
Good Golly Miss Molly – Little Richard
I Only Want to Be With You – Dusty Springfield
It’s All Over Now – Stones
Brown Sugar – Stones
Norman – Sue Thompson
Whole Lotta Lovin’ – Fats Domino
Let Me In – The Sensations
The Wah Watusi – The Orlons
Down at Papa Joe’s – The Dixiebelles
My Pledge of Love – Joe Jeffrey
Such a Night – Elvis Presley (and Jay Reincke)
Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
Higher and Higher – Jackie Wilson
Mack the Knife – Bobby Darin
Rubber Ball – Bobby Vee
Little Town Flirt – Del Shannon
Navy Blue – Diane Renay
Respect – Aretha Franklin
Rock Around the CLock – Bill Haley and the Comments
Sweet Soul Music – Arthur Conley (which I think was the theme song of the Hy Lit Show)
Take a Letter Maria – RB Greaves
I Go Crazy – Paul Davis
Who Do You Love? – Bo Diddley (because my name is in it three times)
AND SO MANY MORE….AND ALSO MANY FROM LATER ON!!!!
A couple of weeks ago, my blog post wasn’t sent for some reason. I tried to send it out myself and I did share it on social media, so some of you may have gotten it. But if not, I am reprinting it here. It was the third and final installment of my “Looking Back” autobiography: California and Beyond.
California and Beyond –
So at the beginning of April 1993, my ex-husband, my four-year-old son, my recently turned six-year-old daughter and I arrived in Petaluma, California. It is the southernmost town in Sonoma County, just north of Marin County, and about 40 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Population around 70,000. Beautiful old downtown.
We rented a nice house (that we could not afford to buy later on) for a year, and my daughter finished up the school year in kindergarten. My son had been in preschool in Massachusetts. The cutoff for entering kindergarten was turning five by December 1. He would turn five in August, so he was eligible for kindergarten. However, in Massachusetts, the fancy preschool they attended recommended holding the boys with summer birthdays back a year because they were too immature for kindergarten. I think the cutoff there was September 1. Since my son was very small for his age, I looked around for a preschool. Finally, someone at a preschool asked why he wasn’t going into kindergarten and suggested he should. So he did the following September, when my daughter was in first grade.
When we moved to Petaluma, the West side was considered the fancy side with old Victorian homes and downtown and great schools. The East side was less expensive and more suburban. After a year in the rental on the East side, we ended up buying a nice home in a nice neighborhood on the East side at the end of a cul de sac, walking distance from a new school, being talked about as the best elementary in town. The kids did well there, and it was a good school. My son lagged a little in first grade, but definitely more than caught up. I volunteered in their classrooms every year and founded and ran the school talent show.
It was easy to make friends and acquaintances during those years, and I felt at home in California. There were other parents at the school and parents at activities for the kids. I joined a women’s gym and became a real gym rat, going every day including holidays. Eventually, the kids did a host of activities. First there were swimming lessons and gymnastics. When he was five, my son decided he wanted to play electric guitar. He had a little half size guitar and he was pretty darn good at it. He had a great teacher, who later became his school band teacher in junior high. He took guitar lessons until he was 16, and drum lessons for years until that time too. He played guitar in the school jazz band and percussion in the symphonic band. I cried when he quit band at 16 or so when he moved in with his dad. He also got pretty far in karate, and was a Boy Scout for several years.
My daughter took some drama lessons at the local theater. If you know Amy’s frozen foods brand, Amy was in her class. Then my daughter started dance class, which she had done in Massachusetts. The big deal was when we went to see a Christmas ice show at the nearby rink, begun and owned by Charles (Sparky) Schulz of Peanuts fame. It was also an Olympic year, and my daughter wanted to skate. So she did. After two series of group lessons, the coach took her on as a private student, She got to the top competition level, competed through high school and a little beyond, and then ended up skating with Disney on Ice for twelve years or so, where she met her husband. She skated many parts, but primarily she was Mickey Mouse.
So she was on the road starting in 2008. My son was living with his dad in the house we bought in Petaluma. I was in another house a few blocks away in Petaluma. What was I doing? Well, I was single now, so I needed to earn a living. But going back a bit, I did about five years of freelance editing at the telecom company where my husband worked from around 1997 to 2001. I also did freelancing editing at home part time. In about 2003 I went back to school for a teaching credential. A couple of friends suggested it, and I needed to do something. My days in tech writing were done. I got a secondary school credential in English. At around the same time, I started a Master’s Degree program (by distance) in Humanities with a focus in Music, since I always loved music and wanted a music degree. I didn’t have enough background for a real music degree, so I settled for this one. I took one course at a time, and it took seven years, but I did it. I had a mediocre thesis about women in music, but I hear it is in the archives at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library. Visiting there is on my bucket list. I took some scattered music courses in California and even attempted to learn jazz piano. I learned a lot of theory, but could never play.
I met a man in a music class who wrote poetry and played piano. I told him I used to write poetry, and he said he always wrote poems to enter into the county fair. I hadn’t written a poem since I was a kid. I wrote one and entered it. I was sure surprised that it won best of show in poetry. (He was not happy. He won nothing.)
After I got my teaching credential I got a job teaching 7th grade English in Petaluma, west side. That was in 2004. I noticed that my students made the same mistakes I had encountered when I was an editor, so I decided to write a book with those mistakes in it. A small, friendly book. My first book was born. I joined the local writers group and the local publishing group. I self-published the book, and it did pretty well. A friend told me she dreamed I wrote another book and even gave me the title. That was my second book. I didn’t plan to, but I continued to write until I had a dozen grammar books, a novel, a memoir, and a self-publishing guide. I am fortunate to have done well for a self-published author, mostly through sales of my big workbook. My first book was published in 2010. After seven years of teaching full time, I went to 60 percent (I never liked teaching very much), and in 2015, after eleven total years I resigned. I kept writing books until around 2020.
Meanwhile, my son went to college, my daughter finished college on tour and married in 2014. She and her husband continued to tour with Disney on Ice. She eventually became a performance director. They wanted to get off the road and ideally get jobs at corporate headquarters, which is in Florida. So in 2017 or 2018 they bought a house near corporate headquarters. Well they bought a house to be built. Then they went on tour. I closed on the house since they were in Europe. They planned to move their stuff from my house (her husband is from Canada, and had moved all his things to my house in California) to their house in Florida in May 2019. The plan was for me to move with them to Florida, leaving my son in California. Yes, I felt bad, but in a pinch, she is the one who answers the phone if I call!
I had put my house on the market in February, and it had not sold by May. As planned we moved the stuff in May, and I was living on a mattress with just a few clothing items and my dog in my Petaluma house. When the house had not sold by September, I moved to Florida. I stayed in my daughter’s house; they were still on tour and the plan was for me to babysit the brand new house. I also started looking around to buy a condo or townhouse for myself.
Then in March 2020: Covid. They were touring in Europe, and I was asking if they were cutting the tour short. Nope. Then one day with about a day’s notice, my daughter said they were coming home. Nearly everyone at their company was laid off. All shows were shut down.
I will now just sum up the highlights. Enough already!!!
My house sold in December 2019, after I reduced the price several times.
We did what everyone else did during Covid. Washed all our groceries!
The kids worked a couple of jobs during Covid to keep earning some money.
I bought a villa ten minutes from them in June 2020. It is nice, but there isn’t much to do around here. However, it is worth it being so close to them.
My daughter eventually got a job at corporate headquarters for Disney on Ice (and other shows) in personnel. She had a business degree and recently received her MBA.
Maybe a year later, my son-in-law also got a job at corporate headquarters in the Music Department and he is busy creating.
In December 2022, my granddaughter was born. She will be four in a couple of months.
My son is still happy in California, sharing a townhouse with a couple of roommates. I would like to visit at least twice a year, and I did for a while. He has been here a couple of time, but doesn’t like the heat – or flying.
No complaints, but I have never felt at home in Florida.
I am busy though. I read a lot, see my granddaughter a couple of times a week, go to lunch with friends on occasion, belong to my San Francisco Publishing group still (meets on Zoom), belong to a few political groups, do a lot of social media for my book business, write my blog, and now write music. I am very proud of the two published songs I wrote with Norman Bergen. I am now trying to learn to play keyboard better and learn how to orchestrate using software.
Looking forward….
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