How did I get old?

I wonder how many parents who are now in their 80s and 90s can tell you about taking their kids to concerts back in the 60s and 70s, and seeing acts like the Monkees, the Beatles, Hendrix, and the Doors, etc. That might make an interesting project for some filmmaker.

It always makes me smile when I remember Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees road tour in 67. Even more humorous are the stories of Jimi's guitar sound being drowned out by fans yelling "Davey Davey".

I always wondered how they could get such a full sound out of just a guitar, piano and tambourine.

(copied from my FB page)

Davey Jones died today at age 66. I have a little bit of a long distance connection with him. My niece Jenny, who was born with Cystic Fibrosis, had a "Make a Wish" wish to meet him after seeing their show in syndication. Her mom explained he wasn't exactly 20 years old anymore, but it didn't matter. Mr. Jones went out of his way to meet Jenny (who was so stupified she could barely speak) and keep in touch with her beyond their initial meeting. She died when she was 12. I urge people to support CF research because it's one disease they think they are on the brink of curing.

Mr. Jones was a superstar, and not because of his considerable talent, both on the stage and on the horse, but because he had a kind heart. I won't forget it and am shocked at his too early death.

Not to wear out why I love the music scene in Portland/Vancouver but I was at Artichoke Music one summer and this guy named Don Campeau took the stage and was clearly a pro. It turns out he had been in the Lettermen from 1982 to 1984. I ended up backing him on bass on a couple of occasions so he was over at the house rehearsing and telling me great stories of his show business buddies over the years including some about a friend of his named John Stewart, who had been in an earlier lineup of the Lettermen. Among many other things, John Stewart wrote "Daydream Believer."

As he was leaving the Kingston Trio.

I was at the Monkees show at the Hollywood Bowl in 1967. It was the first time I was allowed to drive the family's '55 Chevy Bel-Air on a date. By then Hendrix had been replaced as the opening act by Ike & Tina Turner. Of course, at that point in time, no one knew who Hendrix was, and I was sitting so far back in the Bowl anyway that I could barely see the people on stage. That started a string of misfortune over the next three years in which I missed chances to see Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and the Doors. But back in 1996, I did meet the mother of John Densmore, the Doors' drummer, and she told me how she and her husband sat in a box seat at the Doors' famous/infamous concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968. And what was so funny is that she described that concert as if it had been an elementary school music recital.