to waste tons of time with all the games - but it is also a wonderful way of finding lost or even forgotten friends. In just the past week I have been able to reunite with some wonderful people:+ A woman friend from seminary who used to watch our daughters found me via Facebook and we've been catching-up on all the changes in our respective lives since 1983.
+ A friend from Tucson - an incredibly bright and progressive university professor (and spouse of another musician friend) from our Arizona days - just sent me a note from their new home in Cleveland (where I spent almost 13 years in ministry.)
But the Facebook friend with whom I am having the most fun is a man who currently hosts a GREAT show every weekday @ 3 pm from the NPR station in Sharon, CT. (Go to Robin Hood Radio @ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Weekday-Tune-Fest-with-Hal-Lefferts-on-wwwrobinhoodradiocom/294854921386?ref=mf and enjoy the fun.) It is like FM radio from the golden days: eclectic, adventurous, satisfying, fun and always creative and a little edgy.
I first "heard" my old friend when he was playing in a band - The Bushmen - and we were in eighth grade. I walked into the afternoon Jr. High dance and there - blasting from the PA - was my all-time favorite song: "Liar, Liar" by The Castaways! In that moment it was almost identical to the way I felt upon hearing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan: my life has meaning!
Now you have to understand that there is almost NOTHING redemptive about "Liar, Liar" - there no socially relevant lyrics,nor insights into the human psyche - just straight ahead garage band fury with a Farfisa organ and a twangy guitar lick fighting with a falsetto voice singing: Liar, liar, pants on fire, your nose is longer than a telephone wire..." And they accomplish this miracle on teen-age angst in 1:49 seconds!
Later we played together in a high school band - Creepin' Jesus - specializing in Rolling Stones and Yardbirds tunes with a whole lotta other great songs, too. I first heard, "Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues" and "Titanic" from my man and had the chance to do the Airplane's "Today" and Brewer and Shipley's "One Toke Over the Line" over the course of time. After high school we played a little "wooden music" for a while when I was back in the area and did a few gigs as "Dave and Chuck" - a loving tribute to the real soul men, Sam and Dave - with a kazoo back-up for "Hold On, I'm Comin." Lots and lots of fun... and then life moved on.
And now after almost 40 years - through the social networking genius of Facebook - we get to chat on line, I make song requests on the radio show and enjoy reading about his family and adventures. When I posted my memory of "Liar, Liar," he wrote back: "Some folks call them oldies... I think they're more like fine wine and call them 'vintage rock'n'roll." I think that is true because we started out a LOT like Boones Farm (which I recall drinking back in those days) and are moving towards something closer to a Shyrah or Grenache.
Today is a Sabbath day for me - no work at church - and reconnecting with old friends is one of the blessings for which I return thanks today.
Come tomorrow, will I be older, than today...?
ReplyDeleteso sweet, yes?
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