Zero to Sixty, Chapter 4. I Remember That

If  you're old enough, you know him instantly.

There is an advantage to being around a while. I am old enough to remember when particular and significant things happened.

My wife and I were watching Meet the Press recently. At the beginning, they roll a collage of changing faces of historical persons in black and white. I recognized everyone. Someone who was 20 probably wouldn’t know anyone. On the show, Tom Brokaw spoke, as a guest. Boy, he looks old, but I remember his youthful face delivering the news. Heck, I remember Walter Cronkite in the 1960s with his pencil mustache, and trademark “And that’s the way it is…” Walter who?

There are painful memories, certainly, including assassinations —the Kennedys, Martin Luther King and others in the 1960s, Harvey Milk and George Moscone in 1978—right at the same time as Jonestown. John Lennon’s sudden murder in New York in 1980.

More pain—the Vietnam War, and its protest movement. The Draft. The 1968 Democratic Convention. Nixon’s  election as president and crushing McGovern in ’72. Watergate ending it. Chernobyl. Biafra. 9-11.

There have been many good and or interesting things too. People still talk about the Beatles. I saw them play on the Ed Sullivan Show and got my first Beatles album for my 11^th birthday. I took a walk down Haight Street in 1967 with my dad and it changed my life (not his—he was an elderly 40 at the time). I have nearly 50 years of musical memories starting in 1964 with the aforementioned Fab Four and running through the 70s and 80s. The 90s — not so much. Today, I listen with experienced ears, and some of it I like, while some of it bounces off.

I remember when if you left the house, you were off the grid. No one had cell phones. There were phone booths everywhere, and for a dime, you could call someone else—at their house or job—but you were out of touch. Some may look back at that time nostalgically.

I remember when you waited until the news came on or even to the next day’s newspaper to find out what happened. The 2012 election was the first time that I didn’t even see a newspaper the next day. I had the facts online before Election Day had even ended in California.

Is it important for people to know about these events, to give them historical perspective? Or is it just one way that younger people are different—in not having that experience? Only time will tell what is truly relevant to today’s young people and what will fill their memories when their odometers hit 120,000.

The Back Pages Bring the 1960s to Life

The Back Pages at Maltby's on March 22, 2013, blue-lit

I grew up listening to the radio in the 1960s. It was AM on a tinny little receiver until the last couple of years of the decade, but I ate it up. I listened in the morning and after school and especially at night in my room.

I remember hearing the first Beatle songs on the radio--songs like I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You. I also had records, including Meet the Beatles as an 11th birthday present and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band when my mother brought it home in mid 1967.

But the most important thing was the variety and the familiarity, yet surprise when new songs appeared. That's what you get when you go listen to The Back Pages. This long established San Francisco Bay Area band can knock out a series of Beatles, Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Yardbards, Van Morrison, and more. And they do a great job of keeping the sound pretty close to the original.

Just tonight I heard them for the second time. Slightly different from the last show, they were lacking their keyboard player and featured a substitute guitarist. Lucky for them, and the audience, it was the highly skilled Bill Zupko filling in. Bill, who plays Beatles and other favorites with Ticket to Ride, knows how to break down a song and learn the parts perfectly, so I heard George Harrison leads played the way George played them.

Getting to hear a variety of this "classical" music is a treat for me, but also means that younger people can get a sense of the excitement of the sound. I never heard these songs done live myself, but with the energy and careful reproduction the band obviously has worked to create, it's a worthwhile experience.

It was made all the better by taking place in Maltby's, a nice restaurant and tavern in Los Altos, California. My lamb sandwich went well with the brown ales available on tap from the friendly bartender. During the evening, small groups jumped onto the small dance floor and shook themselves about to the beat.

There are lots of tribute bands out there, but when you have to reproduce a reasonably close version of songs by a variety of artists, it takes special skill. I've seen several good local groups, but The Back Pages may be the best of the bunch--and they're great guys, too.

The Back Pages play Maltby's again tomorrow night--and are regulars, so you can catch them again soon--if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area.