ClassNotes » 1950′s

A Head’s Up

Sue — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:12:15 +0000

Okay all of you who are attending the Big Event on the 24th. Here is a head’s up if you are checking in on the blog regularly like you should be to get the most up to the minute news ….

Start absorbing all the 50′s trivia that you can. It will put you at the “head of the class” on Reunion night.

‘Nuff said.

Have spent a few hours today updating th…

Sue — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:47:58 +0000

Have spent a few hours today updating the Photo Nostalgia slideshow using the photos sent in by Cathy Riordan Full. There were some great pics of her, Barbara Ellis, and Dorothea Koch. There is one photo that Cathy took “on the sly” as she says to see how her new camera worked and I would like to identify the nun in the picture if we can. Does anyone out there know the identity of the “ranks moderator” in Cathy’s picture?

Music Memories

Sue — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:08:46 +0000

Working on this 50-Year Reunion has opened my memory banks in a lot of ways. In the past few weeks I have been concentrating on gathering a playlist of music from 1959 and surrounding years (really about 1958-1963). The years for which I (and most of the rest of you) was interested in dancing with the opposite sex and not just jitterbugging with the girls.

I have spent hours on Amazon.com listening to clips of many of the songs high on the charts during those years and determining a scale for acquiring them with a very limited budget based on popularity (in my own mind) and dance-worthiness for a bunch of senior citizens. (I want to see Tom and Mary jiving away again at this Reunion).

It’s good to remember the clean harmonies of the groups back then, and the simpler instrumentation before electronic sampling took over. And besides that, the music is still danceable for those with arthritic tendencies and out-of-shape muscles. All good for our purposes here. But …

I need to know what you might want in the way of favorite songs from the era. What do you want to remember? What music was your first “song” and with whom? It’s time to dish now … give up the good stuff …

Till next time … For those of you out there not used to communicating on blogs, just click the little link in the upper right that says “reply”.