It was a weekend of songs that I barely remember. I had heard a couple of Bobby's songs before and it was good to hear them again because they brought back memories from my childhood.
We had a huge stationwagon when I was a kid. I remember when we lived in Oakland and we would ride around in the back and slide around from side to side. No one used seatbelts back then. I remember hearing the Beatles on the radio, the radio with the big black buttons that physically moved the dial. You could push down slowly on the far right button and move the dial slowly across the radio. A 1970's scan function.
I didn't hear as much Three Dog Night. Most of what I heard of them was from compilation records that would include songs like "One."
Last night was more like One Dog Night. The band all looked like kids. I don't know who the singer was but he looked like he was having fun. Many bands seem to go full circle. Three Dog Night was playing in one of the casinos and not in the Concert Hall. Bands start playing in small venues, then move on to big ones, and then go back.
Some bands are just locked in time. It's not that they didn't go on to make more music but the fans refused to move on with them. Part of that is probably the fact that music locks in a part of our life. Play Purple Rain by Prince and I can remember cruising around with CV Rick in a beat up Dodge Colt (which would get beat up more later when he sideswiped a guardrail). I'm not going to mention that I was wearing parachute pants because those kinds of details should be forgotten.
Some bands become slaves to the music that brings such intense memories to their fans. I listen to the bands and they play some of their newer stuff and it sounds good. The audience is polite and claps when they get done. Then break out playing Jessie's Girl and the crowd goes absolutely crazy. I see it with band after band. That one song is always held out to the very last.
I think it has less to do with the music and more to do with the memories and the feelings that the music evokes in the listeners. Like a carefree easy summer spent with your best friend. The music is a time capsule for feelings. They might not be our favorite songs but they are our strongest memories.
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