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Location: south east Michigan | This event came to mind today and brought a smile to my face. Maybe it will bring one to yours.
I must have been either January or February of 1971 because I know it was still very cold. The local FM station had just announced that Grand Funk Railroad tickets were going on sale Saturday morning. This was when Grand Funk was at their absolute peak. They came from Flint, Michigan, about an hour north of Detroit, and this billed as a huge homecoming event.
Me? I was down with a severe case of mono. A “maybe he should be admitted to the hospital” type case of mono.
My Mom & Dad knew how much I liked Grand Funk and for whatever reason (maybe because I was so miserable), they offered to drive down to Detroit, to the Cobo Hall box office, and purchase some tickets for me.
You all know how box office sales for big events are. Crowds, lines, waiting, and very cold in the winter. But there were my Mom & Dad, right in the middle of it all. A security guard, thinking it was all a terrible mistake, worked his way over and offered to take them directly to the window selling “wrestling” tickets. My Dad informed him, "No, we are here for Grand Funk, thank you." More than a couple times they were offered joints that they politely refused. They marveled at the company they were keeping and the crowd was just as interested in them.
The coolest part came when the box office opened. That is when the pushing, shoving, and confusion sets in. For years after my parents remembered how those “nice kids”, (note: not dope smokin’ hippies), protected them from being pushed around in the crowd. They formed a ring around my parents and shouted out, “Hey… there’s a lady here!” It turned out to be an eye-opening experience for everyone.
My Dad is 9 years gone now … my Mom is in a nursing home and doesn’t know who I am anymore. Little memories like this can make the loss somewhat bearable. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Precious memory Brad. Thanks for sharing! |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Wonderful parents, Brad. Must be why you turned out OK in spite of your friends.
My Dad isn't very musical and probably would never stand in line for concert tickets of any kind, much less that damn hippie music.
My Mom, however, has played the piano and been in the choir all her life until a couple years ago. One of my best musical moments was just a couple years ago when I had to leave the NW Ovation Gathering early so that we could attend Mom's surprise 80th birthday party.
My daughter and I played our Ovations and sang "Momma" by B.J. Thomas for her in front of the hundred or so family members. I got to thank her for the gift of music in a special way. She's got some dimentia now and it's getting worse pretty rapidly, but I'll bet she remembers that till she dies. |
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Location: Tidal Mudflats of Virginia | ~Snif~ Yep, they can...Thanks Brad
Miss you Mom & Dad
(12 & 9 years ago for me) |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | Brad - very nice memory! That's an awesome thing that they did and the fact that they did it together is even better. How was the show?
I've got a good memory of my Grandmother - not music related, but similar. This was back in 1976, so she was in her 60s. She was real old world - immigrated here from Czechoslovakia around WWI. Anyway, I don't remember how she did it, but she somehow got tickets for my brother and I for Monty Python at the City Center in NYC... the best part was that she came to the show with us. I don't think she ever saw Python prior to that and had no idea what to expect. Bear in mind that Python back then was pretty out there. I was 13 and my brother was 11. I don't think she got most of it, and was probably pretty shocked at some of the language and the topics (gay lumberjacks?) but she endured it for us... we absolutely loved it! She's been gone for about 8 years now and that's still one of my most cherished memories of her. |
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Location: Carle Place, NY | Back in 1967, when I was 13, my parents got tickets for me and my older sister Ronni, then 16, to see "Hair" on Broadway. It was the original cast and an awesome, incredible experience. Sadly, Ronni passed away from breast cancer 12 years ago.
Thanks Brad for helping me revive a really great memory of doing something with someone now departed. |
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Location: NJ | oh boy I got a million of these types of stories.
I was going to share this one at amelia if I got a chance to play the tune.
My father would not allow us to watch the Monkees because they were dirty no good long haired hippies. So we watched the tom jones show instead. One night tom jones introduced a new artist from England Joe Cocker and the Grease band. they played the letter(tune I thought about doing in fla) and She came in through the bathroom window. My old man was not too happy. I soaked it all in...... |
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Location: south east Michigan | Wow.. Thanks for your response guys.
I wrote it then almost did not post it thinking it might be a little to far a-field.
Was it a good show???
Oh yes. You've seen pics from that show posted here. |
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Location: SoCal | Sorry, not about my mother...my daughter, at concerts or Broadway shows would call on her cell phone so that her mom could hear some of the numbers...course, that was fair as the tickets ended up on my credit card. |
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Location: South Windsor Connecticut | I think it was 1970 I was in the 8th grade. The entire school was called down to the auditorium for surprise. My best Frank and I decided to just leave instead, but at the last minute, we decided to stay. When the curtain opened it was "Three Dog Night".
They sang two songs and left. The first song was “Joy to the World” Jeremiah was a bullfrog, and then “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” We spent many hours listening to TDN after that. Sadly my friend Frank passed away in 2000 at the age of 45.
R.I.P Buddy…..
:( :( :( :( |
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| My ma didn't know who anyone was for the last 3 years of her life - and like brad says, for whatever reason the strangest things come back to you straight out of the blue. I often wonder what the memories will be that my kids have of me. I'm probably better off not knowing. |
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| Nice story's gentlemen. Like Al I have a bunch myself. I too grew up with the Father who hated my generations music, especially those Damn Rolling Stones! he called it all "That Hippy Shit" and took every opertunity to point Hippies out while driving or on the news or on the radio in the car. When I came of age and wanted desperately to learn this "hippy Shit" on guitar I found myself a $5 junk guitar and started working on anything I could figure out. I have to say the action was so bad I don't think I could make that old thing sound good even now but it did give my fingers a great great workout! My father hated the music with a passion but he saw I was not going to give up and ended up buying me a much better acoustic guitar and surprised me with it. That guitar meant a lot to me, I outgrew it very quickly or thought I did as I wanted an electric...... and with little thought of the future sentimental value sold it or traded it or gave it away to one or another of my musical aquanitances of those years. I honestly do not remember what it was anymore.
I remember after I thanked him for the new digs he told me "No Problem but if your going to keep playing that hippy shit keep the door closed or go out back" In later years he never changed musical values much but grew to like/tolerate the likes of CSN, America and some of the other nice acoustic with good vocals groups. It was nice to put in a CD (every once in a while)that I liked, and that he did not complain about when I'd give him a ride. |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | For my 16th birthday, my Dad asked what I wanted. I replied that I wanted to go see Chicago, who was playing in Hartford. Daddy said "OK, but I'm going to take you, to make sure you're safe." Now, Dad was NOT a big Chicago fan by any means, but he would've done anything to make me happy. I got to thinking about the "atmosphere" he'd have to breathe in (He had asthma) and decided it would be better to tell him I changed my mind, rather than see him get sick from all the smoke. Instead, he got me a Tornado (wish I still had it). I sold my old Danelectro and bought a Fender Vibrochamp to go with it. It was a great birthday, and the best part was knowing my Dad would have done anything for me, and likewise, I would have done anything for him. |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | Nice stories, guys. Cherish them. |
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Location: Simpsonville, SC | +1 Weas! |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | We need to make some of those for our kids. My daughter's 25th is in a couple weeks. I've got an 83 Collector's that I'm trying to bring back to as good as possible so that I can give it to her. My wife thinks she won't appreciate it, since she doesn't use the 2 guitars she has, but this thread has convinced me that she might not appreciate it now, but maybe in 30 years, something will pop up on some Ovation Fan Club thread and she'll remember the guitar I sent her. Besides, like most parents, I want to do something for her that she doesn't need, just because I want to. I hope she doesn't sell it or pawn it. |
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Location: Budd Lake, NJ | From when I was a little girl:
Every night, Mom and Dad would stand in the doorway of our bedroom, singing "Good Night, ladies; farewell, gentlemen.......;" and then back down the hall singing, "Merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along...." That evening ritual started my sister and me along the musical road.
Their biggest sacrifice for me was the Buffet clarinet (which I do still have) they bought me my sophomore year of high school. It was secondhand, but $435 was a lot of money back then. I still don't know what they gave up to do it; we certainly weren't well-heeled.
Mom will be gone three years next week, Dad three years the end of August. Thanks, Mom; thanks, Dad. Miss you.
--Karen |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Mine got me a Vito clarinet. It wasn't an all wood clarinet that were the best at the time, but it was the best they could afford. I left it at home when I went to college and they eventually sold it to somebody. I've seen a few recently that are priced a couple times what they paid back in the 60s. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | There's a local guy who can't drive anymore so he has to ride a motorized bike around this little island on the east coast of America. He likes to write and sing songs but did it all on the worst POS possible. Last December 26th, a Wednesday, he went to play at his favorite bar and see if he could win anything in that week's song competition. When he walked in he found that HIS guitar hook on the wall had a new Takamine hanging in it. When he went to move it he realized that there was a little wooden placque over the lable in the sound hole that said "Built for Ray". No one ever admitted to how it got there but I think he suspects that it came from two of his friends. |
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Location: Utah | I don't have any music memories from my parents. They were, and still are, deathly afraid of the drug culture within the music world, so they didn't exactly encourage my music.
Their gifts to me were in other areas, like spending a month at the beach every summer. I can vividly remember driving with my Dad in the front seat of the '63 Ford Fairlane, stuck in traffic on the Parkway before it was widened beyond 2 lanes. No air conditioning, so the windows were down. No seatbelts! It did have an AM radio, so we'd drive with him listening to whatsisname doing his weekly Frank Sinatra show. Rambling with Gambling was it? Somehow my mother put up with three kids for a month, doing nothing herself but watching us and keeping us out of trouble. Dad would come down for one full week plus each weekend.
Now we go to the same town, Stone Harbor NJ, with my parents, my sisters, and all our kids. 41 years this year! The surf shop is long gone, they've put in beachfront condos. I remember going in and enjoying the smell of fiberglass while ogling the surfboards and surfer girls! For some reason I can still hear "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed when I think of that surf shop.
We still have Saturday morning breakfast at Uncle Bill's Pancake House, and get sticky buns or coffee cake from the bakery most mornings. My kids say that the week at the beach is their favorite place to be. Lots of memories to go around for all of us. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | They refused a joint? |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I bought Neil Diamond for my mother on her birthday (and one her best friend) when I was a young punk...
She had never been to an arena concert before that. She was in her mid thirties at the time...
and loved it |
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Location: NJ | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
I bought Neil Diamond for my mother on her birthday (and one her best friend) when I was a young punk...
She had never been to an arena concert before that. She was in her mid thirties at the time...
and loved it when you purchase neil diamond do you get complete services? like a happy ending?
just curious |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | guess I shoulda said "Tickets"
(and... Yes.) |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
They refused a joint? Well gee... I dunno.
They said they did.
Man if I ever find out different Mom is so grounded. |
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A music related memory
