RIP Mike Mitchell

Mike Mitchell, guitarist and founding member of the garage rock band The Kingsmen, has died. I remember reveling in the scandal in 1963 around their hit, Louie Louie, when I was in my mid-teens and just discovering the female gender. Like others, I was certain that their song had dirty lyrics. Other hits of that year that I loved included Sugar Shack (Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs), Surfin' USA (Beach Boys), He's So Fine (Chiffons), Blue Velvet (Bobby Vinon), and Fingertips Pt. 2 (Stevie Wonder). I was underage but somehow managed to get into the notorious Marina Palace in Seal Beach, California, to hear Stevie perform that and watch him dance on top of his piano. Days of innocence...

As we age more and more of out contemporaries are seen to move on to another plane of existence. It sux but we aren't the first to experience this. I long for more Moody Blues music, but what we have is all we'll ever have. Treasure what they gave us and enjoy it.

I never did hear "dirty" lyrics in Louie Louie. Just something sung garbled. I think it was in the mind of the listener and not in the vinyl.

Barbara and I e-attend a "Faith and Movies" Sunday school class.  This morning the class decided to view Gigi next week.  Why?  Because Gigi is a time capsule, enabling us to remember the world we grew up in and how it no longer exists.  Brian is right of course:  C'est la vie.