But alas, our wilderness express jumped the tracks. In early December I went ice skating at the huge city park ice rink with my neighbor, Nick. We were given a ride to the park by our parents and were to ride home with another neighbors parents , but the flight plan we filed with the parents was aborted once we got to the rink.

The ice rink at Comstock Park was huge – bigger than two football fields – and it had a warming house where you could go to keep from freezing and also rent ice skates . I found out that night that it was also where boys and girls would go to make out. This was an eye popping revelation for a 12 year old and something that I had a keen interest in and had to learn more about. Things such as under what premise did you convince these girls to go behind the hot house with you? And once there, how exactly did you initiate the kissing? These were deep, troublesome questions for a twelve year old that would all be answered soon enough, but not tonight.

Around 7:30 that evening, some of Nick’s friends were getting ready to go to a teen dance at the Lansing Civic Center. I had heard my older sisters talking to their friends on the phone about these dances and I knew they were the pinnacle of cool. One of Nick’s friends asked him if he wanted to ride along with then and he said, “No, I can’t go cause I gotta get this kid (meaning me) home.” His buddies all started razzing him and say that he should just bring the kid along. Nick turned to me and said, “What do you think, do you wanna go to the civic center dance?” I knew that it was for kids 16 and older and since I looked all of about 9 years old, I was skeptical as to whether I would be able to weasel my way in, but I decided to take a chance. So off we went for my first real taste of teen cool. Not just the dance itself, but the sneaking in, being where I was forbidden to be and hanging with kids far older than myself was a huge rush.

The Civic Center lights were turned way down low except for the spot lights that were directed on the huge mirrored ball suspended in the air and spinning slowly in the center of the auditorium. In the center of the room there were close to 200 people dancing to the sounds of 1962 rock n’ roll. Songs like The Duke of Earl by Gene Dixon, The Peppermint Twist, Pt. 1 by Joey Dee and Up On The Roof by the Drifters echoed through the cavernous room while everyone tried out the latest dance moves they had seen on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand TV show. Circling them was a procession of non-dancers walking slowly around the perimeter, trying to see and be seen all the while looking as cool as possible. Beyond the slow walkers, leaning against the wall were the stationary wall leaner’s, those who were either too cool to be bothered with dancing or walking around to be seen or those so completely hopeless and un-cool that keeping out of sight was their best chance at getting home without getting their ass kicked by some greaser. I remember one of my sisters seeing me and her jaw hanging open in bewilderment and wondering out loud what the hell I was doing there. She was nice enough not to rat me out when I got home.

When I did get home it was a hell of a lot later than the parents were expecting and I made up some flimsy tale that only a kid with at least three older hell-raising siblings could get by with. This was the biggest benefit of having older brothers and sisters who had weakened the resolve and sapped the energy of the parental units leaving me to charge almost unchallenged through their wake.

The next week as I was sitting around with my brothers and our friends from next door, we talked about the usual – hunting, fishing and the like – and then we reminisced about how much fun and excitement we experienced at the dance. It became apparent that if we wished to be really cool we would have to forego some of our dreams of being full time wilderness dwellers.

As we all sat there in the classic thinkers pose, head bowed with furled brow resting on fist, the dilemma was voiced so eloquently by Nick when he said with the utmost sincerety, “I don’t know whether to be an outdoorsman or a cool guy.” Now many people who would raise such a question would be quickly reminded by their mates that both those choices may not be equally accessible or, more bluntly, “stick with the outdoorsman schtick because you got no hope of being a cool guy, dude.” But for all of us it really was a choice we had to make, and on that day we chose the quest for cool.

Hearing this song for the first time was a watershed event in my life, as my childhood abruptly ended and awareness was born all in the span of 6 minutes and 2 seconds. This rare version, performed at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965 with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band backing him up, caused an uproar with the folk music crowd as Dylan went electric for the first time.

Two Italian kids from Brooklyn hit it out of the park with this one! Santo and Johnny Farina had the #1 hit in the US in September of 1959. In 1965 they released an album of Beatles covers; “And I Love Her” hit #1 in Mexico and held the spot for 21 weeks. In 1973, Santo & Johnny recorded the theme to the movie The Godfather, which went to #1 in Italy and stayed at that spot for 21 weeks!

Take some infectious percussion (1 teaspoon powdered sugar), add a crisp, tart horn section (Juice from 1 lime), blend in soulful vocals (4 mint leaves and 1 sprig of mint), pad the bottom with some bass (2 ounces Havana Club white Rum) and feel the whole thing make your feet start to bubble (2 ounces club soda) – Now that’s Cuba! (Now that’s a Mojito)

Cuba aqui venimos!

Route 66 was an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Todd Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buzz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Todd was shown traveling on his own. Todd met Lincoln Case, played by Glenn Corbett, late in the third season, and traveled with him until the end of the fourth and final season.

The series is remembered for its iconic Corvette convertible and its instrumental theme song (composed and performed by Nelson Riddle), which became a major pop hit.
But for me it will forever recall my dream of driving from town to town in a nice new Corvette, wupin’ some ass, lovin’ the ladies, and never, ever working.

Buzz and Todd somewhere on Route 66

There are many myths surrounding this band, some saying they began playing in 1959 and “invented” the surf music sound. Others tell of the group turning down a million dollar offer to leave their Pacific Island home and record another album. These rumors are without truth. The fact is the Blue Stingrays were a late 1990s rock band that played surf rock, incorporating some country and western elements, with an overall Hawaiian atmosphere. The band was composed of the members of The Heartbreakers, Tom Petty’s backup band, who took a short break from their work with Petty to record one album, Surf-N-Burn. While some of the legends might give them a more mysterious aura, the simple truth is that they are one of the best surf bands ever.

As I recall, the first time I saw Boogie Bob perform was in the late 60′s around the time that the Woolies (Bob and Jeff Baldori, Zacko Groendal and Bee Metros) had a nationwide hit with “Who Do You Love”. They absolutely tore up a set filled with R&B classics, Chuck Berry tunes, boogie woogie and even some washboard skiffle. It was infectious, hypnotic music performed with great joy and with reverence. Since then he has performed all over the US with some of the greatest blues and rock legends including Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Luther Allison and John Lee Hooker. He has backed up Chuck Berry hundreds of times as well as recorded with him and played for President Clinton at the White House. Boogie Bob wrote and performed the rock/musical “I’m Almost Famous” and recently made a documentary film entitled “Boogie Stomp!” with boogie woogie/stride piano great, Bob Seeley and performed their lighting-paced piano duet in various European cities, including a 4th of July performance in Moscow in 2008!
If you get the chance to see him live, DO IT! If you aren’t that lucky, go to this link —> and BUY IT!