Distant Roads...
Seasons Changed, And So Did I…
We just finished watching a concert DVD by the Guess Who recorded a few years ago. It was pretty good. They’ve gained thirty years, and so have I; such is the way of the way of the world. I’ll always love that band for a particular reason. It involves cruising, banana splits, and 8tracks…
It was the summer of ’71 and my family was visiting my cousins out in Colorado. My cousin Renice was dating a guy, also named Rob, whom she later had the good taste to marry. Like so many others out on the Western Slope, Rob was into what I call “car culture” and it was quite a fun education for me. Every weekend we’d go cruising. It was about a two mile circuit in the town of Montrose. He and Renice, my brother and me, and some of my other cousins (generally Marshall and Lynnae), would pile in and we’d be off on the night’s sojourn. I still smile at the memory – it was like something out of American Graffiti, and a real change from life in Alexandria. Rob had a hot car, (forgive me, I have no idea what it was at this point), and we’d buzz along, honking at his friends while seeing and being seen. The tape player would be blasting out Alice Cooper and the Rolling Stones. It may not sound like much, but I loved every minute of it.
There were several possible stops along the way. It might be mini-golf or bumper cars, a hamburger at A&W or perhaps some cheap wine back at my folks’ trailer. But the one constant would be stopping at the Tastee Freeze for folks to get some ice cream and for me to indulge in a banana split. They had a cheap sound system there, I’m sure it was just another 8track, and only ONE album to play on it – The Best of The Guess Who. Hour after hour, day after day, we’d hear it. Those songs are burned into my DNA now. I’m sure it was hell on the crew working there, but I really enjoyed those tunes and still associate them with some of the best and most relaxed days of my life. And there was much more going on musically – CSN& Y, Aretha, Derek & The Dominoes, EL&P, and the Doors were all hot then, and many more. But spending a hot and calm summer evening while listening to the Guess Who is still the defining sound of that summer for me.
Memory can be a funny thing. There’s all sorts of crap I can’t remember from three weeks back, but I still remember a very attractive young lady behind the counter at the Tastee Freeze, (who, despite Rob’s prodding, I was too shy to talk to and ask out). And I can still recite just about every line from the Guess Who’s hits.
Like so much else in my life, the Tastee Freeze is gone, as is the mini-golf, the bumper cars, the A&W, and most everywhere else we passed in those days. Rob sold that car decades ago, and only the gods know what happened to the pretty girl. But I’ve got a nice half a dozen albums by the Guess Who and distant roads still call to me.
We just finished watching a concert DVD by the Guess Who recorded a few years ago. It was pretty good. They’ve gained thirty years, and so have I; such is the way of the way of the world. I’ll always love that band for a particular reason. It involves cruising, banana splits, and 8tracks…
It was the summer of ’71 and my family was visiting my cousins out in Colorado. My cousin Renice was dating a guy, also named Rob, whom she later had the good taste to marry. Like so many others out on the Western Slope, Rob was into what I call “car culture” and it was quite a fun education for me. Every weekend we’d go cruising. It was about a two mile circuit in the town of Montrose. He and Renice, my brother and me, and some of my other cousins (generally Marshall and Lynnae), would pile in and we’d be off on the night’s sojourn. I still smile at the memory – it was like something out of American Graffiti, and a real change from life in Alexandria. Rob had a hot car, (forgive me, I have no idea what it was at this point), and we’d buzz along, honking at his friends while seeing and being seen. The tape player would be blasting out Alice Cooper and the Rolling Stones. It may not sound like much, but I loved every minute of it.
There were several possible stops along the way. It might be mini-golf or bumper cars, a hamburger at A&W or perhaps some cheap wine back at my folks’ trailer. But the one constant would be stopping at the Tastee Freeze for folks to get some ice cream and for me to indulge in a banana split. They had a cheap sound system there, I’m sure it was just another 8track, and only ONE album to play on it – The Best of The Guess Who. Hour after hour, day after day, we’d hear it. Those songs are burned into my DNA now. I’m sure it was hell on the crew working there, but I really enjoyed those tunes and still associate them with some of the best and most relaxed days of my life. And there was much more going on musically – CSN& Y, Aretha, Derek & The Dominoes, EL&P, and the Doors were all hot then, and many more. But spending a hot and calm summer evening while listening to the Guess Who is still the defining sound of that summer for me.
Memory can be a funny thing. There’s all sorts of crap I can’t remember from three weeks back, but I still remember a very attractive young lady behind the counter at the Tastee Freeze, (who, despite Rob’s prodding, I was too shy to talk to and ask out). And I can still recite just about every line from the Guess Who’s hits.
Like so much else in my life, the Tastee Freeze is gone, as is the mini-golf, the bumper cars, the A&W, and most everywhere else we passed in those days. Rob sold that car decades ago, and only the gods know what happened to the pretty girl. But I’ve got a nice half a dozen albums by the Guess Who and distant roads still call to me.
posted by mendip at
9:13 PM
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