And now... a blast from the past!

Remember Gary Lewis and the Playboys? Probably not unless you are old, like me, and was stuck with an AM radio in your car in the mid 60's. There was very little choice in those days... Dad's old music (which I have come to appreciate) of the 30's and 40's or what passed for popular music in those days. I often tuned to WMBM (a Black station) to listen to R&B when I could take no more.

I only bring up Gary Lewis because the nearby junior college has been advertising a tour stop for the band.

I only barely remember them and the band isn't one I think of when I recall those days. This was before tape players, before 8-tracks, before most of you existed. A friend once bought the latest in sound technology for his car: a 45 RPM record player. He also had a reverb unit which created an echo effect in the car. All to listen to Elvis. Obviously a rich kid.

But let's get back to Gary Lewis and the Playboys. I don't recall them because I was listening to surf music at that point. And Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary along with other folk music "heavies" like Joan Baez. And then I went into the Navy where I wandered into the world of psychedelic music and blues.

Even when I did hear of them at times, I dismissed them as a wannabe band of privileged children of stars... Gary Lewis is Jerry Lewis' son.... along with Nancy Sinatra and "Dino, Desi and Billy". Imagine my surprise when I learned they won 8 Golden Singles and 4 Golden Albums. All without my buying a single one.

There's just no accounting for the taste of the American public. Or underestimating it either.