Fifty Years Ago

As a reward for enduring torture sessions with my Huntington Park orthodontist, Dr. Elsie C. Schildwachter, the embodiment of a German Nazi in my own mind (if not in reality), Mom always took me out for a treat: often to a nearby Newberry's, where I might get a malt at the soda fountain - or a record from the music department. Those 78 RPM singles were my first pop records, and I played them over and over.

I can remember them to this day: off-brand covers of pop hits such as "Learnin' the Blues", "You Gotta Have Heart", and "Wake the Town and Tell The People."