The Fiftieth Anniversary Party

[I wrote this piece almost a year ago, but for some reason, never posted it. Wow. I guess life happened.]

We had a great time! You should have been there! Really.

As has been well-documented on this site, my first WBBL/WLEE Richmond rock show debuted on February 11, 1968. Fifty years later, on Sunday, February 11, my church allowed me the conceit of a celebration of that occasion. As I told the crowd in the fellowship hall after worship, “These 50 year things only come along every…well, so often.” So thanks for coming.

We had lasagna as the main course for the luncheon, and then I took the microphone and presented a program noting “Fifty Years of Popular Music,” playing excerpts of songs from the early 1940s into the early ’90s. I began though with the intro to the “Celebration Rock” show that featured the music of the Doobie Brothers. It started with their 1971 hit “Listen to the Music,” because listening to the “message” of the music was about what we were going to do for the next hour.

Then, we rewound to a 78 rpm recording of Harry James and his very young vocalist Frank Sinatra. About 45 seconds of scratchy audio faded away, and I talked about how the music of the church’s oldest generation was influenced by WW2. Talk about “meaning” in the music: “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else But Me)” was about couples separated by the war pleading to remain faithful. “That’s Sabotage” reflected the fears of the war years within a romantic relationship: “Some big town jerk did his dirty work and changed your mind about me. That’s sabotage!” Miller also had an instrumental hit with the old song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.” And there was the popular song “The White Cliffs of Dover,” with the vision of Jimmy “home to sleep in his own little room again.” I didn’t play all those songs, but referenced them before moving on to the end of  the big band era.

The bridge between the war years and 1950s’ rock and roll? A singer named Johnny Ray. I played an excerpt of his biggest hit “Cry,” and you could hear the emotion in his voice, just a hint at what audiences had actually seen when he performed: tears streaming down his face, jostled hair, even the singer tearing his shirt as he belted the song, punching the air with each note. He was no romantic big band baritone. More a foreshadowing of Elvis’ gyrations, a rhythm and blues vocal delivery, and (pardon me) Alice Cooper’s theatrics…except no heads bitten off bats.

Ryan DeLap was my “engineer/DJ” for the party

 

Then on to Bill Haley and the Comets rockin’ ’round the clock, Paul Anka representing the 1950s teen idols, and a leap into 1968 when my show first hit the air. Viet Nam, racial tensions, drugs, and assassinations… I played an excerpt from the first “Showcase” interview I had recorded, the legendary R&B/soul composer-performer Curtis Mayfield. After his description of the Impressions’ songs coming out of their African-American church backgrounds, I segued into his song “People Get Ready.”

We played Elvis’ “In the Ghetto,” and noted how all these years later it still fits Chicago’s streets, sadly. After the turmoil of the late 1960s, the early ’70s brought the Jesus movement. Jesus songs made the top 40. I played a verse of “Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man from Galilee,” with a segue into the bold intro to “Jesus Christ, Superstar.”

We had to play some Carole King. “You’ve Got a Friend.” Not only was she a pioneer among women singer-songwriters in the 1960s, her albums were grist for the Celebration Rock mill for over 20 years, with thoughtful lyrics, hit tunes, and those “message songs” that inspired my own brief “meditations.” At the opposite end of the pop music scale (from Jesus to Carole King) came disco, and the 70s and early 80s had a driving dance beat, but not much content to comment on.

Then we played a Billy Joel song called “I’ve Loved These Days,” which I connected to Lent. You know, giving up stuff that holds us back from our true, good selves. I know I would be better off without some of these guilty pleasures and vices, but I have to admit, (confess !), I’ve loved these days. I talked about how I tied popular music to the holy days and holidays of the calendar.

At this point in the decades-long journey of my radio program, I was nurtured by the story-tellers of pop music. We played “Sunset Grill” by Don Henley, and some Genesis, U2, and Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Of course, when the whole party was over, folks came up and wondered why I left out this band or that one, or their favorite singer or group. Well, because we couldn’t spend the rest of the week in the church fellowship hall eating cookies and listening to music! Aside from what was missing, the smiles were broad as people reminisced about the music of their lives. And most of the people in our church learned for the first time what my radio ministry had been about.

Cool.