What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I have always had this thing for technical stuff. Since I was young I remember getting into lots of trouble. Once I disassembled my grandmothers kitchen table. My first stereo was a turntable, a small mono amp a small reel to reel tape recorder that could also amplify, and a pair of non matching speakers. I was so proud going up to Korvettes and purchasing my first albums. Some of them were 3 for a dollar so you can imagine the quality of those albums. One album that I seem to remember for some reason was by the Fat Mattress. I can’t remember any songs on that album but back then it was all about how many albums I had, not necessarily what they were. Then there was Chicago Transit Authority which became Chicago but that is a different obsession of mine.

Anyway as I grew older I messed around with electrical stuff, with lighting, with sound, a lot of little things. I was fascinated with this sort of thing. I loved seeing all this stuff in action too which is a good thing because my sister was always performing somewhere.

Growing up the neighborhood girls all took classes at the recreation center. They took Jazz, Tap, Ballet ... a little bit of everything. As time went on they eventually became instructors at the same place they took all their lessons.

Well back in those days (late 60s, early 70s) we were always doing things as a neighborhood. When the Olympics came around we would form our own mini Olympics. It involved ping pong, pool, bicycle riding and running. As a matter of fact that is how I managed to chip my tooth. I was riding my bike along side the participants in a race and was paying more attention to the race then where I was going and kapow, right into the back of a parked car. I felt so stupid. Anyway one of the things we did for many years was put together a performance for the neighborhood.

One of our neighbors was always kind enough to volunteer their backyard so we could put on the recital of sorts. We would print up fliers and go around the neighborhood soliciting people to come see the performance. We would also put together sound and lights and even a curtain. Seats and refreshments and popcorn. We had a regular production going there. I will never forget some songs as they were just drilled into my head during that time. Two of those songs were One and Joy to the World by Three Dog Night.

Well the opening would come and we would play to a lot of people. We did not charge a lot and generally we found something interesting to donate the money to so that probably helped too. We would have multiple performances and always did pretty good. There were always these little problems that would occur but we would get through it. The girls did wonderful, the guys managed to keep everything going straight and run the concessions, etc. We had a fun time.

One year was most interesting. We actually got the news out there and they did a feature on us, you one of those feel good stories to offset how depressing the news is. That year we did pretty good and we chose this one organization that taught kids with learning disabilities to donate our proceeds to. They were very appreciative and they asked something of us. They wanted us to put on a performance for their kids in the schools auditorium. Wow, how special was that.

Well we had access to the lights, curtains, sound ... I was in heaven. We put together a nice little show and they loved it. In the end I think we all came away with one super memory and a warm feeling inside.

Well this pointless drivel has went on long enough. I hope everyone is either having or had a great weekend depending when you read this.


Jeremiah was a bullfrog... Was a good friend of mine... Never understood a single word he said... But I helped him drink his wine... --The X-Files