"Hangin' on to those good times, Baby!"

100.03, the Sound, is playing the greatest top 100 albums (that's vinyl to you young-un's), voted into being by their listeners.  I didn't vote--not because I couldn't narrow it down.  But the songs they've been playing have taken me from the floaty buzz of that third tequila shot--high school-ditched afternoons on the shores of Redondo Beach, when the lowering sun lined everything in gold, and the salt air seemed hypnotic.

I've thought of every family member.  "Some are gone, and some remain", as Mr. Lennon says . . . said.  No, says.  Just like all these songs speaking to me today.  My mama used to like "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.  My brother, back in the day, had a killer stereo: receiver, turntable, cassette player, three microphones and "Quad" speakers.  Family-party time, always including mama, was to get totally blind and sing.  My sister's, my brother, myself and our partners would spin C.S.N.& Y. , the Eagles, Poco and others and sing like the stars we'd suddenly become--beer in one hand, mic in other.  Rockin' It!

 We'd sing along to the LP (thank God), record it all onto the cassette and listen to it the next day.  Which was nothing less than wizz-your-pants hysterical.  Hard on a hangover.

Still. I will never forget how my mama smiled and cried whenever we sang "Teach Your Children", always requesting encores.  I loved my mama deeply, but, by her own admission, was not the greatest mother.  So, I always wondered if she'd really listened to the words of that song.   And now that I'm a mother, I think she did.  Probably hoping we'd notice that she 'got it'. For us to know that her life hadn't been easy, and that she did the best she could.

I listened, Mama.

This radio show has brought back old loves and bad ones.  My first love and first broken heart.  The first time I was "flashed".  A lot of songs (LP's) wrap around some of the best vacations I've ever taken.  Right now, they're playing "Exile on Mainstreet".  Great album, but at the time I was without a home and sleeping at a friend's  house with her sister's two kids.  Still, I was a kid myself: 17.  Not a care in the world.  Right.

Anyhow--I could go on and on, but I'm saving stuff for my NEXT BOOK!  Yes, I will finish the one I'm on.

Memorial Day is for remembering, and I enjoyed myself.    Music is my favorite way to travel. (I think that's a Moody Blues song.  Damn, thought I came up with that on my own).