OK...so....I'm backkkk....again.

It has been May since I posted to this blog.  I have been overwhelmed with running my business, David's Music House, Inc. for the last two years and in these economic times, it has been a spectrum of highs and lows. This is the first business I have ever attempted and I knew it would have to be something that was connected to my passion and love of music, to get me through any difficulties. When a new business is started, it is often said that it will take 3 to even 5 years to see success. The idea is unique, the model is good and being tweaked and developed all the time but it is longevity and resources that are the critical piece. I continue, month to month, looking for ways to keep costs as low as possible while looking for new revenue sources and so far, I have been able to keep things going due to the support and help of a good many people!

In the meantime, I am going to try to amp up my posts on this blog. There's was just too much time spent on it and it has a good foundation to keep building upon to let it go of.  I began blogging to become knowledgeable about social media while discovering that I loved to write so I need to continue developing those skills.

The Baby Boomer Generation is not going away.... yet, that is. We are getting older, to be sure. I was just realizing that I am finding more people who I graduated with who are passing away! I can remember my parents and their friends talking about the fact that they felt that all they were doing is going to funerals of friends.

As I have stated in previous posts about my small business venture and it being something I, as many Boomers are doing, am doing to be my "extended pre-retirement working years". Boomers have been told by financial advisers for quite a few years now, that we will not be enjoying the same type of "retirement" as our parents did. We will be working past 62 or 65 and beyond. I began thinking about this about ten years ago and knew that I really wanted to do something that I was more passionate about, which is music.

With Boomers being the largest segment of the population, whatever they do....is indeed, a factor that has a domino effect on many aspects of the country, with the main one being financial. As we Boomers age, all the aspects of aging will effect everyone in this country. What remains to be seen is how will the younger generation feel, react and care for their parents as we age.  However Boomer children behave and react to their aging parents can not be blamed on how the Boomers raised their children anymore than the Boomers can blame on their parents, the Greatest Generation. We are each responsible for our own actions in our lives and responsible for the decisions we make.

Only Time Really Tells the True Story

My business, David's Music House, Inc. is now entering it's sixth month of being open and I am realizing a new phase in owning my own business.


The first three months were just pounding in nails, ordering things, paying bills, looking for ways to bring in customers, ya da ya da ya da.....It was a complete whirlwind of emotions of both highs and lows. There weer golden moments and others of complete and utter stress. After three months, we were able to take a break due to the Christmas Holidays. After the break, I saw many things that needed tweaking and we made some changes of focus.


Now that we have hit the sixth month, I am seeing another similar phase. It is now time to do more tweaking, in the area of organization and time. We have hit a huge milestone in offering "A Total Music Experience" to the community as we added a whole new service. We have added dance to our host of services. Dance Etc. is a local dance business that has been in the community for 15 years. My youngest daughter, Savannah went to dance classes at Dance Etc. a few years ago. I was so happy to welcome Megan Beile, owner of Dance Etc. into our music family. This addition will also bring in many new families into our "experience" to see what David's Music House is all about.


Yes indeed, you can plan, get advice, read and research everything you can find to plan and start a business, but nothing but TIME of actually going through the steps and phases of starting a business will show you what it actually feels like. Don't misunderstand, the planning, advice, etc. is absolutely necessary to prepare you for going through the phases, but only going through the steps allows your to gain the true feeling, awareness and experience necessary to know if you're doing good or bad.


All signs point to success! The message is getting out to the community. Musicians are calling to perform in the Coffee House. Local musicians are discovering the recording studio and our helpfulness, comfortability and flexibility.


The main goal and passion to bring to any business is to NOT do the things that make you dislike other businesses when you are a customer. My passion is to ALWAYS present the best appearance of the business and to treat each customer as friendly and helpful as possible. We want to make sure that if anyone remembers anything about coming into David's Music House, it is that they were treated with kindness and made to feel welcome. This along with your expertise and quality service will insure that the word will spread and bring new customers consistently.

Awesome clip for Boomers...Bruce does so much good for his heroes of music!

This is a terrific video clip from a GrowingBolder.com interview of Roger McGuinn where Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to a musician who inspired him. Bruce is 60 and Roger is 64 and these two Rock and Roll Hall of Famers play two great Byrd hits in this video, Tambourine Man and Turn, Turn, Turn....absolute classics!

The video has a great interview from Roger as well as more information on GrowingBolder, which is a great site of inspiration to all of us Baby Boomers as they strive to show the amazing people of the over 50 crowd and how we age is all in the mind of the beholder.


(Re-post)

The Power of Music of The Baby Boomer Generation Changed a Nation!

Buffalo Springfield, left to right: Stephen Stills,
Dewey Martin, Bruce Palmer, Richie Furay,
Neil Young - Wikipedia

One era of time in our country’s history clearly illustrates the power of music and that is of the 1960’s and 1970’s when a movement of socially conscious musicians, who were disturbed by war and the path they felt the government was taking the country, led a young generation to force a change. Music and lyrics started playing the battle cries of a generation who knew the power that this music possessed. It caused the Baby Boomer generation to come together for a purpose of change that could not be ignored. The music didn’t make the change. It brought together a young generation of people who then felt the power they had to shout a message that was unified and undeniable. The government and the mainstream media heard them clearly and one of our nation’s clearest marks of how people can change a nation where imprinted in history. The power of music made that all happen.

Some of the earliest and most influential songwriters who helped use that power were Stephen Stills and Neil Young. There are many others, but these two came together in their beginnings of success and influence in a band named “Buffalo Springfield” and their first successful song, “For What It’s Worth”, written by Stephen Stills. Today’s generations hear this song and others of those times in the numerous movies about the Vietnam War, such as “Forrest Gump”. The music is included in these movies to not only show the role that music played, but to bring that same power to the movie itself.

Here is one of those first songs that made a generation come together and realize the power they had to make change happen.

(Clip of Monterey Pop Concert, 1987 from http://www.rockpeaks.com/)

These social changing musicians were just kids who were influenced by rock n’ roll of the 1950’s and The Beatles, who picked up some guitars and formed bands to have some fun. Their years of growing from teenagers living at home to becoming adults and seeing how much the government was going to direct their lives. They faced being drafted and forced to go to a war that did not have the same clear reason that their parents faced when World War II began. These musicians felt a spark ignite within them and they used music to release their feelings into stories and messages of social change. The rest of the country’s youth heard the same messages, uniting them for a movement of change.


Today's movement of unrest brought on by mistrust of financial, big corporations and government partisanship and special interests have their various portions of the population coming together, but using the Internet as their tool of today. The Internet lacks the passion and power that music has in our daily lives. Music was the key before and only music has that power of movement. The best thing about this emotional power of music is that it can't be bought by the haves to manipulate for their greedy purposes. Music has a truth within it, which is the reason for it's ability to grab onto the soul and inspire to do great things!

Paul McCartney is coming to Pittsburgh!

Video from http://www.paulmccartney.com "Up and Coming Tour"

I may have to break my long time rule of not going to concerts at large venues ever again. It was announced yesterday, June 3, 2010, that the entertainer who would perform for the opening of the new Consol Energy Center, which is the new home of the Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey Team, will be non other than Sir Paul McCartney! The show will be on August 18, 2010. McCartney is 67 years young and going stronger than ever, displayed at his grand concert in New York City performed over three nights as the inaugural concert at New York City's Citi Field, 17, 18 and 21 July 2009.

Paul McCartney was last in Pittsburgh Feb. 4 and 5, 1990, at what was then the Civic Arena. He had appeared with The Beatles at the same venue on Sept. 14, 1964. Needless to say, seeing one of the Beatles perform live is not something that occurs many times in a lifetime. As a Baby Boomer who was about 10 when The Beatles took the US by storm in the early sixties and then inspired by their music to become a rock musician at 17, in 1969, the year of Woodstock and release of “Abby Road” and the beginning of the end of the greatest rock band ever, I think I need to find a way to get to this performance.

McCartney’s performances in New York City this year illustrated how he is as good as ever. He played many of The Beatles, Wings, and solo works that were as good as they get. The older I get, after over 40 years of playing as a professional musician, the more I appreciate and realize how amazing the songs written by the Fab Four were, as they endure and stand the test of time. We see the newest artists redo their classics again and again and every new generation finds the Beatles music fascinating. Over and over, I hear stories of young kids playing classic Beatles songs and becoming avid fans.

There is no doubt that The Beatles changed the world and have continued to do so for over 50 years. The idea that one of the most successful musicians of our times is coming to perform in the newest entertainment venue in Pittsburgh, this year, decrees to be a part of this in my lifetime. Now the problem is, will I even be able to get a ticket?

Be sure to check out a website that I just came across with the most Beatles information, rare early music, out takes, interviews and rare background detail on each recording. Check it out at The Beatles Rarity

* Interesting side note - (Article from the Trib Live: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/music/s_684270.html)

"Pittsburgh connection

When Paul McCartney performs Aug. 18 at the Consol Energy Center, Carl Grefenstette hopes to be there for two reasons:

1. The owner of Pittsburgh Guitars in the South Side is a diehard Beatles fans.

2. The ex-Beatle will be playing a guitar Grefenstette once owned.

"It's a 1960 Les Paul, left-handed guitar, and it came from here," he says.

Grefenstette sold the guitar to Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick 25 years ago. The late Linda McCartney bought if from Nielsen a few years later for her husband.

Now, Grefenstette wants to hear it played again.

"I'm hoping I can get a ticket," he says."

Rock 'N Blues For The Cure

 I don't always post events that are promotions of causes as an article on Baby Boomer Davy's Locker, but this is a great local music event in the South Side of Pittsburgh, PA this weekend to listen to some tunes and give to a great cause.

If you're a reader of Baby Boomer Davy's Locker and in the Pittsburgh area, check out any of these worthwhile events. If you are not in the area and still want to donate to the cause that benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, you can do so from the link below as well.

2010 Man & Woman of the Year Campaign to Benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Here is a list of events:

• Sun., April 25, 2010--2:30 PM-9:30 PM. Rock 'N Blues for the Cure Benefit Concert at Buckhead Saloon at Station Square. $20 Tax-Deductible Donation. Free Massages courtesy of Spa-Nique! 50/50 Raffle & Door Prizes!
  
  
• Thurs., May 6, 2010--6 PM Happy Hour. 7 PM Dinner. Seis de Mayo for the Cure! Mexican Dinner at Emiliano's in McIntyre Square Mall, North Hills, Pittsburgh. Click Here for Google Map. Happy Hour at 6 PM in the upstairs bar. All-You-Can-Eat Dinner Buffet from 7-9 PM in the private patio room on the main level, near the front door.
  
  
• Sat., May 8, 2010--8 PM-11 PM--Party for the Cure! Food, Beer, Wine & Live Music. Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, 5006 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224. Great Food, Great Drinks, Great Music for a Great Cause! Contact me if you'd like to become a sponsor. Voice:  412-202-8908.
   
• Tues., May 11, 2010--7 PM--Wine Tasting & Dinner for the Cure! Wine Tasting & All-You-Can-Eat Dinner Buffet. Joey D's 2801 Freeport Rd., Harmarville, PA 15238 Wine & Dinner included for $20 donation. Meat & Vegetarian options available for the buffet. Due to limited space for this event, you MUST REGISTER & PRE-PAY on the Grape Thoughts web site to reserve a spot. Click Here to Register & Pre-Pay on Grape Thoughts. Contact me if you'd like to become a sponsor. Voice:  412-202-8908.
  
  
• Sat., May 15, 2010--4 PM-11 PM--Fill the Mug" Charity Bar Crawl. Starts at the Library Restaurant & Bar, 2302 E. Carson Street. Touring South Side Bars. $10 Donation until April 30th. $15 from May 1-15th. Shiny yellow beer mugs for all participants and cool raffle prizes! Contact me if you'd like to become a sponsor. Voice:  412-202-8908.
  
  
• Fri., May 21, 2010--6:30 PM. Grand Finale Gala Party at Bobby Rahal Automotive Group in Wexford, PA. 15035 Perry Highway Wexford, PA 15090. Tickets for the Grand Finale Gala Party are $50 each, and can be purchased online. The party will feature a cocktail reception, hor d'oeuvres, a silent and live auction, and a reverse rafflefor a brand new 2010 Mercedes Benz C300 AWD! Raffle tickets for the car are $150 each, and include admission for two to the Grand Finale Gala Party. (Winner need not be present.) Only 500 tickets will be sold, so each raffle ticket has a 1 in 500 chance of winning! 

I also wanted to note that I discovered this event through The Pittsburgh Live Music Meetup site organized by some great lovers of music in the Pittsburgh, PA area through Meetup.com

You know what you’re doing on New Year’s Eve when you’re a musician

As a musician, for so many years, New Year’s Eve meant one of the best paying gigs of the year so that’s how you celebrated it. It is hard to pass up that big pay day as a performing musician but a part of you wants to do something with your family some of the time. If you have children, you are not with them as you are usually playing in a bar or club. You are also not really one of the people enjoying bringing in the new year by celebrating with the one you love. Even though a spouse or special someone may likely be with you, as a musician, you are in the middle of a set and counting down to midnight, perhaps get a quick kiss and hug, as you begin playing “Auld Lang Syne“. Although you are out celebrating and having a good time, after many years of playing in a band on New Year’s Eve, you will most likely, want to not play, once in a while.

In one of the bands I played in, all the members wanted to not play out, so we decided that we would demand a much larger amount of money, thinking that would be the only way to not play. The amount was accepted, so play we did! As a musician, especially if you play for a booking agency, it is almost an unwritten law that you must play on New Year’s Eve.

To illustrate the pressure of a musician to play on NYE, I once was in a house band at a ski resort and scheduled to play. During the day, I began to develop symptoms of the flu and near the time to leave home, I really did not want to go, but I knew there was no way that I could call and tell them we could not play, so I went. I lasted about a couple of songs into the very first set and fainted and fell off my chair onto the stage. I vaguely remember people carrying me out of the lounge and putting me in a car to take me home. I don’t really remember much but waking up 2 days later after the fever broke. It was a bad case of the flu and I should have never have gone, but one thing I remember after I fainted on stage and being laid on a restaurant floor, was the bar manager saying, “That’s OK, he doesn’t have to play”, proving the only way I could have gotten out of playing was by fainting in front of the manger.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that playing wasn’t enjoyable and the extra income was always nice for those after the holiday bills, but just once in a while, it is nice for a musician, to enjoy being in the crowd or just at home, watching the Time Square, New Year’s Eve ball fall and go crazy with your kids!

  It has been quite a few years now that I haven’t had to play a gig on New Year’s Eve, and although I am not ruling out ever doing that again, I must say that I now enjoy being home or doing something with my family and don’t really miss the New Year’s Eve bash with the band.

New Christmas CD soon to be released!!!

I have been working on a Christmas CD for a few months now, off and on, among my many other projects in this "career change" phase of my life. My first CD, "Thoughts of Home", release in July 2008 was all original instrumentals of music for relaxation and stress relief. One of its songs, "Western Sky" won the month of May 2008 for the instrumental category in the international song writers contest, "Song of the Year", making it eligible for entry into the song of the year. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

I had to get really busy to finish production and get copyrights and publishing rights approved as this new CD has some traditional Christmas songs on it. There are also two original songs on this album. One is an instrumental winter song titled, “Snowy Mountains” and the other is a vocal and is the title of the CD, "At Christmas Time"

It will take a few weeks for all of the on-line stores have the CD available for purchase. I will make announcements when it's officially released and at least available on my Official music site: www.davidlindbergmusic.com

I have to thank my best friend, who just happens to be my wife, Anita, for all of her support of my efforts of making music "what I do"! Without her consistent love, encouragement and support, (especially working her incredibly difficult job which is stressful beyond belief on her) I would not be "Who I Am"!

Thanks also to all of my friends and family who have always complimented me on my music abilities and gave me the reason to perform and keep my love for music going!

Here is a sample of "At Christmas Time".

My recent visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame forever changed my aspect of my own music!

Bruce Springsteen Exhibit from Rockhall on Flickr (now open until Spring 2010)

The Springsteen exhibit has videos of live performances, rare footage and detail of his career from the beginning to current times. The entire exhibit is on the top two floors of the hall of fame and is fascinating to follow. I was struck by his spiral notebooks where he used an entire notebook to create and develope the lyrics for only ONE song and took weeks or months to complete some songs! This has inspired me to rework and spend much more time working on my own song lyrics.

I always wanted to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but even though it is only 2 1/2 hours from Pittsburgh, near Cleveland, OH. it seemed like a huge effort to drive anywhere anymore, with people driving worse than ever, and myself growing older and wanting to deal with them less and less each year. I had pictured it being in some type of a huge old building, for some reason, but it is a modern science center/museum facility. They recommend 4 hours to tour on a self guided tour and I see that it could actually take a few more hours than that if you read every note and every piece of material and info about instruments and clothes that were worn in the largest memories of all of my musical heroes. It made them all seem so much more real to me now. The distance of knowing them only by the media sources that we have all watched and listened to over the years make them appear to be god-like and beyond human. They were kids once, exactly as I was when I first learned to play the basic rock chords and sing their songs in the earliest bands I played with. 

The thing that hit me, as I walked through the exhibits was that they looked just like me, played the same instruments, dressed the same and rocked the same. What I now know that is unique about them was not necessarily originality, but drive and passion to go and play wherever they needed to be, and to ignore the risk and fears of the unknown. Out of that drive came the originality and the sounds that we all know and love, even to this day. I kept saying to myself as I walked through the displays...“that could have been ME!”


We can’t go back and we can’t dwell on our past as mistakes or “should have’s” as everything we do is about choices that are driven by the things that are the most important to us in those times! The past is what makes us who we are now. I think as we age, we become profoundly aware of the fact that we NOW have the reasons and the knowledge of what we could have done better in our lives, not that we made mistakes, but that we DID have the ability to follow our dreams when we were young. We just didn’t choose to do so, at that time, for a myriad of reasons that can not be judged in our current times.


If you either just love music as a listener or perhaps have been a musician since the beginnings of rock and roll, you must make the journey through this history and hall of rock's legends.

Ellie Greenwich wrote huge hit songs. Did you ever hear of her?

I saw on NPR's website a clip from NPR radio program, All Things Considered, that spoke of this women and pioneering songwriter in the male dominated music industry of the 1960's, Ellie Greenwich, who just died at the age of 68. I can't believe great song writers like this do not get near the publicity that they should! I realize they may occasionally not want to be in the limelight and their names are well known in the circuit of publicists and producers, but I would have like to known her name and that she wrote great hits like "Chapel of Love," "Da Do Ron Ron" and "River Deep - Mountain High." 

Woodstock - 40 years ago and 40 years ago, we began a band

1969 was a monumental year for me. It was the year of my high school graduation. It was the year that I was finally free from those high school years that I absolutely hated! My high school graduating class was huge and it really made it difficult for most to make a lot of friends. It seemed that, especially as a boy in the 1960’s, you had to be a jock or a trouble maker who partied and drank alcohol. I was never good in sports, didn’t like sports and was afraid of doing things that would get me in trouble. I saw my older brother always get in trouble and argue with my dad all the time and it made me not want to ever go there! This left me pretty much a loner. I had a few friends but never close ones. I didn’t mind school but I had many teachers who were probably either tired of teaching for so many years or just weren’t there to help students realize their potentials. I couldn’t wait to get home everyday and stay as far away from any school events as possible. When I graduated from high school, I felt as it a huge burden was lifted from my shoulders!



I had been taking organ lessons for a few years and also had played professionally for a while in a local restaurant. I didn’t particularly care for playing there as it was for six hours on a Friday and Saturday night and it was just playing background music of older songs from before my generation. I didn’t mind the music but the whole experience was not pleasant. It felt more like a job.

I began listening to the music that was changing everything. It was the revolution of The Beatles, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Santana. Soon during that summer of 1969, a guy who I actually graduated with but didn’t know had heard that I played the organ and he and a few of his friends asked to come hear them play. It was amazing! They were playing Hendrix and Motown and before I realized it, I was starting to practice with them and loving this new sense of belonging to something! I had some close friends and I was playing great music and even singing background harmonies. It was an awakening of my life!

With the help of my father, by helping us purchase instruments and a sound system, we wanted to begin performing. We soon got our first gig playing in a bar in the area. Later we found out it was a very rough bar where bikers often came and there were many fights. We learned to get friendly with a few locals who were always at the bar by playing music they loved. They became our security and watched out for us. I was actually too young to even play music in a bar so my father and other family members would always come just in case. It didn’t bother our fathers to have an excuse to watch the topless dancers either! One night, the Liquor Control Board did raid the place, looking for violations and it was a good thing our parents were there. Sometimes a very tuff looking guy would ask us for a certain song and if we didn’t know it, we would go outside in our van and learn it quickly, as best we could by ear, to prevent him from beating the crap out of when we started playing again. We really had some great times and we could not believe that someone would actually pay us to play, which was really just having amazing fun! What a way to earn a living! We were all bitten by performing music and it would be a huge part of all of our lives forever.

One night we all packed into the van with some girls who were friends of some of the guys and went to the drive-in movie. I didn’t know what we were going to see, but it didn’t really matter. I was in a world in my mind that I had never explored before...a world of fun, music, laughter and girls. I didn’t need drugs. To me, as I had never done anything outside of my home before, this was unlike any high I had ever known. It turned out that the movie was “Woodstock”. We were all in awe of all of our heroes, playing at that history making event in music. We, of course, each in our minds pictured being part of playing the same music that was from Woodstock. We were part of the revolution that was happening, although we didn’t realize it then.



As this is the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, there is a lot of information in the media about it. Here is a great site with a lot of pictures from those who were there.

Woodstock69.com

USA Today has a great article about some of the performers of Woodstock and what they are doing now:

Then and now: Catching up with Woodstock stars

WINNER of May 2009's Song of the Year Songwriting Contest!!!

It has been nearly a year since I released my CD, "Thoughts of Home" on iTunes, Amazon Music, eMusic, Rhapsody and on my Official Music Site: www.davidlindbergmusic.com. I have entered songs in a few contests and have been trying to break into writing music for film and TV.

I entered the song, "Western Sky" from the CD in the International song writing contest called Song of the Year. It was selected as the winning song in the instrumental category for the month of May. This will enter it into Song of the Year, which is chosen at the end of 2009. Song of the Year also will now distribute the song to many high profile people in the music business, record labels, promoters, etc.

(You can listen to "Western Sky" by clicking play on the music player to the right of this article.)

I also had submitted another song for a critique from professional reviewers, with lyrics and vocals titled, "This is My Promise" which I wrote for wedding ceremonies and have performed many times. My hopes was to find out if it was good or not. I received the review which was rated with very high marks in all feedback categories.

I have a post on my music website with more details on the Song of they Year win and the critique. For more details, go to www.davidlindbergmusic.com

This was another milestone in my efforts to make music my career since leaving my corporate job in 2008.

Michael Jackson was quoted as telling a fan who asked him for his best advice in striving for success. His reply was to never give up, work hard and believe in yourself. He said to not allow yourself to be swayed from your goal by doubters. With the sudden passing of Michael Jackson, this meant so much to me at this point in my life! I have been a musician for over 40 years and have put it in the background for far too long. Now that I am trying to succeed and make a living from music, at this stage of my life, staying on course when I start to doubt myself has never meant more. Michael's words rang true to help me just when I was beginning to have doubts. He was much more "normal" than we all were led to believe! The memorial service showed how human he was... He helped people all over the world and he still helped me know that I can do this... If I Believe!

The Last Beatles Concert!!! What can I say???....

What a AWESOME article of the last Beatles concert ever! If the people on the street and in the local area who had the fantastic fortune to be there for not only the last concert, but one of the very few live performances of the Beatles, only realized the significance of this day! I got unbelievably excited just watching the videos from this article! This music stands the test of time. It could have been released today, and is still being recorded and performed by so many musicians. It was a Perfect Storm of talent, time and just fortunate events that led to the music history phenomena known as "The Beatles"! One that formed my lifetime love of music and of so many millions of others!

Enjoy this and explore it fully...give the author a comment on his site as well!

The Last Beatles Concert EVER

The Best Tribute Site Ever To the True Birth of Our Generation!

I am 56 years old, born in 1952, right in the height of the Boomer generation. For me the 1950's are a memory of my early youth of innocence, when I didn't have a care in the world. Summers were for playing baseball, hide n' seek, reading comic books all day, playing army in the woods, building forts, choosing sides, red light - green light, curb ball, flipping cards, sleeping on each other's porches, watching fireworks on the 4th, chasing after the ice cream man, swinging on a tire, swimming at the local city pool, watching scary movies at each other's house, going to the movie theater in our local downtown, going out to eat at Eat n' Park where we sat in our car and they put our food on a tray that hung on the car window, laying on the grass at night staring at the stars, laying on the grass during the day and guessing what shapes the clouds were making, sitting out underneath the street light with all the neighborhood kids just talking and laughing and not causing any trouble, calling "first street light" when the first one went on at dusk even though you didn't win anything for calling it first, riding our bikes for miles sometimes without our parents fearing if we were safe, leaving our house in the morning and not returning until dinner and our parents never worried, ...... I guess I could go on and on with this list.

How many things can you remember doing in the 50's when you were young?

I kind of got lost off in a tangent of my youth there.... the main point of this article is to let everyone know of the best site I have ever found that will spike you memory into your youth, if you were a teenager when Woodstock happened.

I was 17 years old and had just graduated from high school.... oh if we knew how incredibly important that year was when we were there!!! During that first summer after graduating from high school, a guy who graduated with me but only vaguely knew me, called me because someone told him I played the organ. I had taken organ lessons since I was 12 years old, but rock was inspiring me to play that music. He invited me to play in a band he was forming. I went to hear them and that was it! I was hit with a rock that would launch me into a passion that would guide me all throughout my life. During that summer, we all went to see the movie "Woodstock" and it defined us! We were just coming of age and would have never just jumped in a car and went to the event. In fact, we didn't know about it until it was over and became a movie.

This link is to the best site about that momentous event that cracked open all that was of those times. Rock and Roll had set the stage for youth to change, but Woodstock and it's players and rebelling against the Vietnam War changed how youth would behave, or not behave, as previous generations thought they should.

Enjoy the site and spread the word of it to anyone you know. You may also want to investigate learning all about Squidoo.com as well.

Woodstock Music Festival 1969