It was just in last week’s post here that I spoke of my love of all the oldie shows on TV as well as mentioning my fascination with anything to do with time travel. It has always been my opinion that time travel truly is possible. However, it’s not in the physical sense but in the realm of the mental, such as me loving and re-experiencing the viewing of all those oldie TV shows.

Big WISE AND “LITTLE JOE” BROWN

But for me, the true experience of time travel is felt when I listen to all those golden oldies that were once played on the basic AM radio stations of the 60s, before FM hit the big time. Our big station here in the Asheville area was 1310, WISE, lovingly known as Big WISE. It was the station we always listened to when we got up in the morning to get ready to go to school, and the morning DJ was an all-time Asheville favorite, “Little Joe” Brown, who just recently passed away. He later on became a good friend of mine, but that’s another story for another time. But I have such great memories of him from back in those early days of remembering him.

One thing I recall about him is that if he fell in love with a song, we’d hear it every morning for weeks on end. And if he didn’t play it, someone would usually call and request it. A few of those songs I so remember are “Those Were the Days”, by Mary Hopkins, “Working in the Coal Mine”, by Lee Dorsey and “Angel of the Morning”, by Merrilee Rush.

ROCK ERA

And then there were a few somewhat controversial songs in that era. “Louie Louie”, by the Kingsmen, was initially investigated by the FBI for what was found to be nonexistent obscenity in the lyrics. But being in the beginning of the rock era, parents were greatly concerned with this new music which their kids were eating up. Then in the mid-60s came such songs a Lou Christie’s “Lightning Strikes” and “Rhapsody in the Rain”. Christie had a signature falsetto voice reminiscent of Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons.

But those first two big hits of his had some interesting lyrics and many radio stations banned “Rhapsody in the Rain”  due to the controversial lyrics telling of a teenager’s regret over his sexual experience in the back seat of a car. Oh how times have changed since then, considering not only the music but also what can be seen and heard on television and in the movies.

CD COLLECTION

But over the past few days, I’ve rediscovered this era by going through my CD collection and finding some CDs I’d forgotten about. I’d bought these when CDs first came out and the record companies head made many of them by re-releasing those oldies from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Since it’s now the time of year when I spend many hours on my riding mower taking care of the lawn, I never hit the yard without my portable CD player attached to my side. It’s been so interesting listening to these oldies again. Most of ’em from that era were usually just 2-1/2 to 3 minutes long so they would fit on a 45 RPM single as well as fit into the time allotted to the radio stations to play a song between all the commercials. And all those groups and songs bring back so many memories.

ROCK GROUPS I GOT TO SEE

And, ironically, I actually got to see many of those groups in person, thanks to WISE radio. If you recall, there was a 1996 Tom Hank’s movie, “That Thing You Do”. It was about rock groups that did road trips to appear in different cities promoting their records. That scenario actually too place back in the 60s, featuring groups and performers that had appeared on ABC’s Where the Action Is TV series.

The tour came to Asheville and performed at the old Asheville Auditorium a couple of times to my recollection. To the best of my memory, it cost me $5.00 to get in the door, and for that price I got to see such acts as Dionne Warwick, a young Neil Diamond, as well as Sonny and Cher. Then there were the groups, like Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Swinging Medallions (“A Double Shot of My Baby’s Love”) and Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs doing their famous classic “Li’l Red Riding Hood”.

Those are just a few of the acts I got to see, so many appearing in just one show!  And, of course, those shows were hosted by ‘Little Joe’ Brown from WISE Radio. Such great memories that just hearing a particular song can bring back.

RECORD COLLECTION

And at that, I still have my record collection of over a hundred 33 RPM LP albums and all my 45 RPM singles, including original Rolling Stones and Beatles recordings of “Satisfaction” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”. Those are truly antiques. Maybe I can sell ’em one of these days. Any takers out there?