What a summer that was! I was 20 years older than you so I remember it vividly. I had just graduated with my MLS (masters in Library Science) from UCLA, and I was waiting for my port call to go to Vietnam as a civilian Army Librarian running recreational libraries for the soldiers. Right around the time of the moon walk, which I watched in total amazement, I went to a concert at the Orange Show auditorium in San Bernardino, CA starring Diana Ross and the Supremes. The extra added previously unannounced attraction was one of the first public appearances of a brand new R&B soul group, the Jackson 5. I’ll never forget it. A month later I was flying out of Travis AFB on my way to a life changing year in Vietnam. I’m going to make a playlist of those Top 20 songs. They will always remind me of that summer of ‘69, when for me everything changed.
I think the Jackson 5 were the second group or band that I became aware of after The Beatles — but as you note, they were pretty new in the summer of '69, so I probably didn't find out about them for at least a few more months after the moon landing!
Great read. I has a similar experience of my first live exposure, but a bit older, 3rd grade, maybe, when a local band played at the All Purpose Room at Saint Andrew the Apostle. I too have no memory of what they played, but I can still feel the "boom" in my chest when they hit their first note, prolly on twenty buck amps!
Aw, I was 10 in 1969, and I recall all those songs on the hit list except "Mother Popcorn"! I guess my AM station didn't play it. Your start of loving music is a great story!
AM radio was so fascinating in those days — I love seeing local station countdowns, like the ones WLS would print every week, because they often varied wildly from the Billboard or Cash Box countdowns. (Your local station totally should have played James Brown, though!)
Which is so funny, because I have a really hard time believing that ANYONE was plugging coins into their neighborhood jukebox to hear "Quentin's Theme".
Ah yes, the Milwaukee Clipper. And, your romantic mother who undoubtedly remembered the trip the DQ family took in the mid-fifties from Milwaukee to Muskegon on our way to Niagara Falls and NYC and visits with their friends in Bethesda , MD. That was quite a trip, but our mother, being very practical and sensible felt she could manage her 10, 8 and 4 year old daughters just fine. Except, I, the 10 year old, was seasick and threw up at least 10 times and all over her and the chairs and table besides the commode and floor in the bathroom. And, that is my memory of the Milwaukee Clipper........my one and ONLY ride!
Sweet, sweet story! I am so down with 'overlaying the silent 8 mm home movie memories with the late 60's soundtrack playing in mind'... I don't remember which ferry we took one summer on our family vacation to Door County Wisconsin from MI, instead of driving around Chicago to get there. It was either the Clipper you write about or farther north on what is now the SS Badger out of Ludington (to Manitowac, WI), but what a thrill - driving a car onto a ship!!!
I never forgot that, at one point I scared the shit out of myself climbing up onto the railing of the deck somewhere in the middle of the lake with no land in sight, I realized the seriousness of the situation if I went overboard!
Last summer on my way up Lake MI to get to the UP we stayed over in Ludington and I watched the morning ferry head out as the sun came up, I wished in that moment that I planned on taking the ferry over to WI and now it's on my list of things to do next time I have the time when I'm in Michigan. https://ssbadger.com/. I see there's one still going in Muskegon too; https://www.lake-express.com/.
Oh yeah — driving in a car onto a ship was probably the most mind-blowing thing I could have experienced at that age. Even my first exposure to live music couldn't really compare!
Those Sears Silvertone amps are supposed to be pretty good.Did you have the 'burns at age 3?
Some of their guitars are quite prized these days, as well. But the sideburns wouldn't come in until the 80s...
Ah yes, "Ken Rogers" and First Edition!
They didn't feel they knew him well enough to go for the more informal "Kenny"!
Did NOT have Zager and Evans on my “bingo card” today!
https://r2.theaudiodb.com/images/media/artist/thumb/yswpwu1593991240.jpg
Oh, by the way, which one’s Zager?
I think he was the clean-shaven one...
What a summer that was! I was 20 years older than you so I remember it vividly. I had just graduated with my MLS (masters in Library Science) from UCLA, and I was waiting for my port call to go to Vietnam as a civilian Army Librarian running recreational libraries for the soldiers. Right around the time of the moon walk, which I watched in total amazement, I went to a concert at the Orange Show auditorium in San Bernardino, CA starring Diana Ross and the Supremes. The extra added previously unannounced attraction was one of the first public appearances of a brand new R&B soul group, the Jackson 5. I’ll never forget it. A month later I was flying out of Travis AFB on my way to a life changing year in Vietnam. I’m going to make a playlist of those Top 20 songs. They will always remind me of that summer of ‘69, when for me everything changed.
I think the Jackson 5 were the second group or band that I became aware of after The Beatles — but as you note, they were pretty new in the summer of '69, so I probably didn't find out about them for at least a few more months after the moon landing!
Great read. I has a similar experience of my first live exposure, but a bit older, 3rd grade, maybe, when a local band played at the All Purpose Room at Saint Andrew the Apostle. I too have no memory of what they played, but I can still feel the "boom" in my chest when they hit their first note, prolly on twenty buck amps!
Aw, I was 10 in 1969, and I recall all those songs on the hit list except "Mother Popcorn"! I guess my AM station didn't play it. Your start of loving music is a great story!
AM radio was so fascinating in those days — I love seeing local station countdowns, like the ones WLS would print every week, because they often varied wildly from the Billboard or Cash Box countdowns. (Your local station totally should have played James Brown, though!)
Cash Box- Billboard for jukeboxes only.
Which is so funny, because I have a really hard time believing that ANYONE was plugging coins into their neighborhood jukebox to hear "Quentin's Theme".
Ah yes, the Milwaukee Clipper. And, your romantic mother who undoubtedly remembered the trip the DQ family took in the mid-fifties from Milwaukee to Muskegon on our way to Niagara Falls and NYC and visits with their friends in Bethesda , MD. That was quite a trip, but our mother, being very practical and sensible felt she could manage her 10, 8 and 4 year old daughters just fine. Except, I, the 10 year old, was seasick and threw up at least 10 times and all over her and the chairs and table besides the commode and floor in the bathroom. And, that is my memory of the Milwaukee Clipper........my one and ONLY ride!
Hahaha - my mom must have forgotten that part of your voyage!
Sweet, sweet story! I am so down with 'overlaying the silent 8 mm home movie memories with the late 60's soundtrack playing in mind'... I don't remember which ferry we took one summer on our family vacation to Door County Wisconsin from MI, instead of driving around Chicago to get there. It was either the Clipper you write about or farther north on what is now the SS Badger out of Ludington (to Manitowac, WI), but what a thrill - driving a car onto a ship!!!
I never forgot that, at one point I scared the shit out of myself climbing up onto the railing of the deck somewhere in the middle of the lake with no land in sight, I realized the seriousness of the situation if I went overboard!
Last summer on my way up Lake MI to get to the UP we stayed over in Ludington and I watched the morning ferry head out as the sun came up, I wished in that moment that I planned on taking the ferry over to WI and now it's on my list of things to do next time I have the time when I'm in Michigan. https://ssbadger.com/. I see there's one still going in Muskegon too; https://www.lake-express.com/.
Oh yeah — driving in a car onto a ship was probably the most mind-blowing thing I could have experienced at that age. Even my first exposure to live music couldn't really compare!