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Appeared on December 21, 2011
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Winchester, VA - Apple Blossom Festival - 1962
Decaders who took Band in High School are likely to have participated in the Apple Blossom Festival in the Spring of your high school days. These photos were taken during my trip to Winchester with the Warwick High School Band in the spring of 1962.
The Apple Blossom Festival was a great experience for most of us (at the time) teenagers. The Warwick High School band would stay at the South End Fire Station in downtown Winchester (see picture, lower right). The fire station had a big empty room upstairs. They would drape a tall curtain from one end of the room to the other. We all had our sleeping bags, all 70 of us. Boys would be on one side of the curtain and Girls on the other. There were a handful of parent volunteers along with the band master, Mr. Lyle Smith, to monitor the room all night and make sure everyone stayed where they were supposed to be. Now, as a parent, I look back on those trips and wonder how Mr. Smith and those parent volunteers did it. What an awesome responsibility.
Those were great times and great experiences. I wish I could go back in time and thank those adults for putting up with us!!!
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Appeared December 9, 2011
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Dance Clubs, Bands, Music of the '60s and early '70s
The 1960s and early 1970s seemed now to be a magical time for music...so many really good dance songs. And there were so many really good local bands that performed regularly at colleges and local clubs such as Barry Darvell and the Encores, Bill Deal and the Rhondels, Jo Jo and the Wailing Frets, Ben Dale and the Co-ops, Terry and the Pirates, Jerry Leggett and the Flames, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Invaders, The Royale Seven, Black & White...I could go on and on.
Thought you might enjoy photos of some of my favorite "CNC Decader-era" clubs. I (your webmaster) had the privilege of performing in all of these clubs many times and can remember many great times.
The magic of those times seemed to diminish in the late '70s and only exists now in occasional musical reunions and of course in our memories. It's funny how you really don't know how special certain aspects of your life are until they are all but gone...I guess that is a tragedy of life. Reminds me of a quote from George Eliot: "The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone."
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Appeared December 6, 2011
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What? No "Pay at the Pump"?
How did we survive our younger years with no "Pay at the Pump"? And, oh wait: "I can't pump my own gas?" Well, it was my experience that, while the lack of those features made the "fill up" experience not quite as convenient, it did force us to get to know the service personnel at our local gas stations. I remember several good friendships I enjoyed at my neighborhood gas stations. And ultimately those service personnel would go out of their way to help with mechanical emergencies. I remember specifically an instance at the station that was located on the corner of 74th Street and Jefferson Avenue. I had a band by the name of the "Sheepherders". We played mostly college gigs throughout the state. I had purchased an old 50 passenger Trailways bus and had modified the interior to sleep 8 so we could travel more comfortably.
One day just before a trip, the clutch on the bus suddenly wouldn't engage fully and was obviously in need of adjustment. My friend at the service station (even though they were not "bus" mechanics) were able to adjust the clutch so we could proceed to our gig at UVA. I think he charged me $10 for the service. I'm sure you also had positive experiences in the "pre-computerization" service station era. In ways, automation has set us back a notch when considering "real customer service".
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