I was 30 years old and a stay at home dad. My mother was in town to visit her new granddaughter. While the baby napped my mother and I talked about music. My wife had gotten me a record player for my birthday and I'd begun picking up bargain LPs at a great place over in North Beach near where I worked. I'd put on a record and listen while the baby slept or I'd just spin records through the morning and afternoons in lieu of turning on the TV. I don't recall us having an internet connection...now that I think of it.
Anyway, my mom liked the records and took to reading issues of Mojo that were laying around. After reading about the Rosemary Clooney album Blue Rose and the album she did with Bing Crosby called "Fancy Meeting You Here" we set off one day to find it at Jack's in the Lower Haight. When we got there, my mother astounded me by talking to the guy (Jack?) about all sorts of music for at least an hour. With the baby asleep in the Bjorn, I just walked around looking for blues records and asking dumb questions, clutching Fancy Meeting You Here (mint condition) and a nice Frankie Laine album. In the end, my mom bought all the records, probaby $80 worth, and each one is a gem.
The Frankie Laine album I have is now one of my daughter's favorites. We all love Wild Goose and That Lucky Old Sun, but really the whole album is fantastic from beginning to end. When I get around to it, I'll upload a picture of the album we have...I didn't find it in 5 minutes of searching the internet. I can't believe more people out there aren't talking about that album, but that's okay. We all love it. Thank you, Mr. Laine!
2 comments:
The Frankie Laine album I loved is "Hell Bent For Leather". I'm amazed at the number of people blogging about him. I thought he was pretty much forgot. Glad to hear I was wrong.
http://kevinpshan.blogspot.com/2007/02/voice-of-american-western.html
I would never have known his music while he was living if not for that trip to Jack's Records in lower Haight in SF. A combination of my mother's memory for music (I was amazed...she knew everybody) and Jack's amazing collection of records was all it took. I need to get back there...and bring my mother too!
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