Belleair Beach -- Wednesday

Belleair Beach – Day 4

Last night I gave in to temptation, but instead of watching commercial t.v., I tuned in to PBS, caught a few minutes of MacNeil or Lehrer, or whatever they now call it.  Heard the headline, "If you have a job that makes your body hurt…", thought, I'll have to stay for that, and then promptly forgot about it so I could go watch the sunset.

No, really.

But before that, I heard that at 8:00 they would be having a 60's music special.  Of course, this was because it was a pledge drive program.  Anyway, I have a remote with a mute button, and why not have a little oldies on a vacation that seems to be filled with ruminations and memories.

Okay, to start, it was hosted by Davey Jones and Peter Noone.  Yes, the very recently deceased Davey Jones.  So there was old, now deceased, Davey Jones swaying to "Cheer up sleepy Jeanne" i.e. "Daydream Believer".  That's just sad.

But Davey would have wanted me to get into the swing of things, so I did.

Paul Revere and the Raiders, old and still dressed funny.  I think their faux Paul Revere outfits cost a lot more than they did back when, and looked even less authentic, if that's possible.

Next were The Vogues, still singing beautifully – "Turn Around, Look at Me".  And I did.  They looked like a bunch of English faculty and one Mafioso.  But oh, they still sang sweetly.

Jefferson Starship really pissed me off.  Because the old guys looked authentic enough, but then there was this 23-year-old blond who was doing a Grace Slick impression.  Well, excuse me, but Grace Slick was the group.  And so they just dropped her name, I mean disappeared it, so this twinkie with the big voice could pretend to be Grace Slick.  I mean, you really couldn't say, "Sorry Grace Slick couldn't be here; she only works paying gigs, or she's in a nursing home or something."  For all I know (and I'm on vacation, with no WiFi and therefore no Wikipedia) she may no longer be with us.  Like Davey Jones.

At this point I noticed that a lot of the old guys look a lot like Robin Williams, who has looked old for quite some time.  But quite distinguished.

Then came one Byrd.  Well worn and singing quite nicely.  But the back up singers, the faux byrds if you will, were young black guys in grey suits, doing moves that led me to wonder if they had mistakenly dropped into the wrong portion of the program.  Turns out they were part of the generic back-up singers.  Low-budget PBS, also sad.

The next bit may have been the high point of authenticity:  The Kingsmen singing "Louie Louie".  Now these were all old guys, who probably did not look much younger when they were young guys.  Definitely looked like they lived the Louie Louie kind of lifestyle.  And maintained the old singing style – I do believe they were singing the dirty version, but, just as in the old days, who could tell???

And then, gods, I was transported into my romantically deranged teenaged mind, with Chad and Jeremy singing "Summer Song".  I sang along, and I may not have hit the notes true as they did, but I believe I sang with more feeling.  They gave the impression of a seminar in 60's folk music, slightly self-conscious but that's how you’re supposed to teach it.

Of course there were the performers I really could care less about, Percy Sledge, and then the "Philly Sound" groups – who in Rhode Island knew there was a Philly Sound?  Apparently that's what they are calling all that falsetto sound.  No offense, but I'll take "Up on the Roof".

Now I'm thinking this should have been the finale – Herman and the Real Hermits.  He let his hair grow long for the concert in an attempt to look cute, but he was still old Peter Noone.  But he did get the geezer audience going.  So you get to this crescendo, and even do an encore…

…but this is PBS, so it's not the end.  Another tedious break to beg for money, and then some other groups, so I'll just talk about the two that I gave a damn about:

Question Mark & the Mysterians, who only had one hit, albeit a great one.  I'm not sure if the lead singer was really Question Mark, but wasn't that the point?  And he definitely had the moves of an old guy who isn't ready to give it up yet.

The last one really ended the night on a note of confusion (What can I say, it's PBS.).  The song, I believe is actually "Kiss Her Goodbye" but if that were the case, nobody would ever have remembered it.  So over the years it became, I kid you not, and you old folk will know this, "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good-bye".  And I am very proud of my generation for coming up with it.  The thing that could have used an equally catchy name,  was the group.  Steam?????  Nah (na na na… etcetera).  I was sure it was the Box Tops, but no, they did "The Letter", another one of my faves.  Steam?  Never heard of them, although I could sing their hit forever.

Anyway, it was great fun, and for awhile took me away from the sad feelings and the anxieties that keep threatening to erupt, although no books were thrown out on my watch all day.


And in the spirit of the oldies, here are some old guys at the beach: