THE SATURDAY SURVEY

Wow!  The Beatles only hold on to the #1 position for just one week!

The Beach Boys topple The Fab Four to #2 while Herman's Hermits drop to #3.

Actually, there is only one new entry in The Top Ten this week ... 

"Just A Little" by The Beau Brummels climbs another seven positions from #17 to #10.

Despite this slight amount of shuffling, THREE records retain their bullets as they continue to climb:  "Back In My Arms Again," "Wooly Bully" and "Crying In The Chapel" all move up three places from #7 to #4, #8 to #5 and #9 to #6.

Making moves of ten places or more this week are "I Can't Help Myself" by The Four Tops (#39 to #20), "L-O-N-E-L-Y" by Bobby Vinton (#36 to #26), "Last Chance To Turn Around" by Gene Pitney (#44 to #31), "Concrete And Clay" by Unit 4 + 2 (#46 to #35), "Bring It On Home To Me" by The Animals (#52 to #36), "Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte" by Patti Page (#47 to #37), "Concrete And Clay" by Eddie Rambeau (#49 to #39), "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds (#63 to #41), "For Your Love" by The Yardbirds (#59 to #45), "Voodoo Woman" by Bobby Goldsboro (#62 to #48), "Before And After" by Chad and Jeremy (#68 to #49), "Wonderful World" by Herman's Hermits, who leapfrog halfway up the chart from #99 to #50!, "The Climb" by The Kingsmen (#64 to #53), "I've Been Loving You Too Long" by Otis Redding (#76 to #54), "(Remember Me) I'm The One Who Loves You," yet another comeback hit for Dean Martin (#77 to #59), "And I Love Him" by Esther Phillips (#74 to #63), "Lipstick Traces" by The O'Jays (#78 to #65), "Laurie" by Dickey Lee (#81 to #68), "It's Wonderful To Be In Love" by The Ovations (#84 to #71), "I Do" by The Marvelows (#88 to #72), "Here Comes The NiIght" by Them (#94 to #73), "What The World Needs Now Is Love" by Jackie DeShannon (#91 to #74), "Tell Her" by Frank Sinatra (#89 to #75), "Yes, I'm Ready" by Barbara Mason (#87 to #76), "You Turn Me On" by Ian Whitcomb (#90 to #79) and "It's Almost Tomorrow" by Jimmy Velvet (#95 to #84)  DAMN!  That's a WHOLE lotta big movers this week, right???

 

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

5/24/65 – Actor John C. Reilly is born

BREAKING NEWS

Some very, very sad news to report …

Billy Joel has been diagnosed with NPH … Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, a brain disorder which affects hearing, vision and balance.

As a result, he has cancelled / postponed all of his upcoming concerts through June.  It is believed that his health condition has been made worse by recent concert performances and doctors have advised him to cancel all upcoming appearances.  He is currently undergoing specific physical therapy under his doctor's instructions for this condition and has been advised to "refrain from performing during this recovery period."

In a statement, Joel said "I’m sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding.  I am thankful for the excellent care I am receiving and I am fully committed to prioritizing my health.  I am grateful for the support from fans during this time and I look forward to the day when I can once again take the stage."

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus is a disorder where excess cerebro spinal fluid accumulates in the brain.  It is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.  Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus is rare, impacting only 0.2 percent of older people. Sufferers usually undergo surgery where a shunt is implanted to remove the excess fluids.  Less than 20 percent of people with the disease are properly diagnosed.

Joel’s statement says that ticket holders "don't need to take any action to receive your refund. It will be automatically processed back to the original payment used for the purchase."

This truly is some VERY sad news … and we wish him a healthy and speedy recovery.  I knew something had to be wrong when he collapsed on stage in February, losing his balance when twirling his mic-stand … it just didn’t look right.  Such a shame that he JUST finally got back to writing and recording new material again this past year after decades of relying only on the old hits.  I hope doctors are able to remedy this situation soon and satisfactorily so Billy can get back out there and do what he loves the most.  (kk)

I am happy to report that after discussing this with Tom Cuddy, he sent me this …

Just spoke to a neurologist.  She said, if caught early, the chances of a full recovery is extremely high. 

Let’s all remain hopeful that this is the case in Billy’s situation.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you.  (kk)

Harvey Kubernik Wishes Bob Dylan A Happy Birthday

Dylan turns 84 tomorrow (5/24) kk

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB DYLAN

By Harvey Kubernik © 2025  

Bob Dylan’s 2025 tour concludes September 19^th in East Troy, Wisconsin.  

Continuing during 2025 is a free exhibition of Dylan’s paintings at the Halcyon Gallery in London at 148 New Bond Street. 97 original works featuring characters, objects and scenarios are in a solo show, Paint Black. It’s based on original sketches done between 2021 and 2022. 

These drawings were then painted over with colours, to create “living, breathing entities that have emotional resonance, colours used as weapons and mood setters, a means of storytelling,” Dylan says. “The idea was not only to observe the human condition, but to throw myself into it with great urgency.”

Dylan’s ongoing influence is evident on the Bear Family Records’ 2024 compilation He Took us by Storm: 25 lost classics from the Bob Dylan folk-rock revolution era. Dion, P.F. Sloan, Len Chandler, Donovan, Leon Russell, Dino Valenti, Lou Reed, Johnny Winter, David Crosby, Jackie Washington, Tom Rush, and Bobby Darin are heard.        

On June 27^th, Columbia Records will release Barbra Streisand’s album of duets, The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two. Barbra and Bob team on a rendition of “The Very Thought of You.”

In her 2023 autobiography My Name Is Barbra, Streisand mentioned receiving a communication from Dylan.  

“Back in the 1970s he sent me flowers and a charming note, written in colored pencil with childlike letters, asking me if I would like to sing with him.”

When the Streisand-directed Yentl was due for theatrical release in 1983, Dylan sent a copy of Infidels to Barbra, indicating he was looking forward to watching the film, and wanted to work with her.

“You are my favorite movie star,” Dylan wrote. “Your self-determination, wit and temperament and sense of justice have always appealed to me.”     

On May 14, 2025, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band opened their European tour at the Co-op Live in Manchester England. Bruce closed the show with a cover of Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom.”

Dylan (birth name Robert Allen Zimmerman) had been a Johnny Cash fan since the very late 1950s, when, as a teenager, he hitchhiked the 75 miles from his Hibbing, Minnesota, hometown to Duluth and paid $2.00 to see Cash and the Tennessee Two at the Duluth Amphitheater.

On February 6, 2015, when Dylan was honored at the 25th anniversary MusiCares 2015 Person of the Year Gala at the Los Angeles Convention Center, he praised Cash in his stage remarks. 

“Johnny Cash recorded some of my songs early on, too. I met him about ’63 when he was all skin and bones. He traveled long, he traveled hard, but he was a hero of mine. I heard many of his songs growing up. I knew them better than I knew my own. ‘Big River,’ ‘I Walk the Line,’ ‘How High’s the Water, Mama?’ I wrote ‘It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’ with that song reverberating inside my head.

“Johnny was an intense character, and he saw that people were putting me down [for] playing electric music. And he posted letters to magazines, scolding people, telling them to ‘shut up and let him sing.’ In Johnny Cash’s world of hardcore Southern drama, that kind of thing didn’t exist. Nobody told anybody what to sing or what not to sing.”

Columbia Records Dylan ad and Johnny Cash Show TV Guide ad

courtesy of Gary Pig Gold

 

On November 19, 1979, drummer and friend Jim Keltner, invited Knack drummer Bruce Gary and I to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to see Dylan’s Slow Train Coming concert.

I had a chat with Dylan backstage. I mentioned interviewing Johnny Cash and Phil Spector for Melody Maker.  He inquired about Spector. During 1977, Dylan, Allen Ginsberg and I attended a Spector-produced Leonard Cohen recording sessions at Gold Star studios for Death of a Ladies’ Man.

I told Bob Phil talked about R&B vocalists, and he also cited “Dion, John, Paul, Elvis, Bobby Darin, and Johnny Cash as great singers.” 

Bob removed his tinted sunglasses and smiled.

Dylan has blue eyes like Eva Marie Saint, Charles Bukowski, and Kris Kristofferson.

He offered a firm handshake, and replied, “Johnny Cash is a friend of mine…” 

May 24, 2025 is Bob Dylan’s birthday. 

From 1975-2025, I’ve conducted interviews about Dylan with many people.      

Leonard Cohen:  I came to New York City in 1966 and was unaware of what was going on at the time. I had never heard of Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins or any of these people, and I was delighted, overwhelmed and surprised to discover this very frantic musical activity. Producer John Hammond was extremely hospitable and decent. He signed me to Columbia Records.  

I liked the work Bob Johnston did with Dylan, and we became good friends. Without his support I don’t think I’d ever gain the courage to perform.  

Patti Smith: The Bob Dylan Live 1966 Royal Albert Hall record.  I can tell you this.  I saw Bob Dylan in that period.  I saw him right before he went to England (in 1966).  I was really lucky.  I saw him in 1963 when Joan Baez introduced him.  I saw him through various changes.  Then when he started wearing a jump suit, this lion-like hair and had a band, The Hawks, behind him.  I saw him booed by the people even though he was really great.  When I hear that record, I see him in my head because I can remember when he sang “Visions of Johanna” acoustically for the first time.  He said, “This song is called ‘Seems Like a Freeze-Out.’”  He didn’t have that title, you know.  So, when I listen to that record it’s almost like a visual experience for me. 

Brian Wilson: I was a fan of Bob Dylan in 1965. I like him. We did a song of his on the Beach Boys’ Party! I thought Dylan’s voice was an interesting voice.

Rodney Bingenheimer: I met Bob Dylan in 1965 at The Trip nightclub on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. At the club I was with Billy Hinsche of Dino, Desi and Billy, who took a photo of Dylan and I holding my camera.

I went to the amazing December, 1965, Bob Dylan concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Marlon Brando sat in front of me. After the show, which was on my birthday, we all got up from our seats and went backstage. It was all happening! I love Cher singing Dylan’s “All I Really Want to Do.” 

Bob Dylan and Rodney Bingenheimer photo from the Rodney Bingenheimer Archive (Photo taken on Rodney's camera  by his friend and FH friend, Billy Hinsche) 

Andrew Solt: 1965 was the year my life changed. I graduated from Hollywood High School, started college at UCLA in February ‘65, and I discovered the Byrds at Ciro’s on the Sunset Strip. Ciro’s was two blocks from where I lived. Mecca! Dancing to the Byrds’ jet-powered rock at Ciro’s on Sunset Strip had me feeling like I was present at America’s version of the Cavern in Liverpool. 

One day late that fall I heard on the AM radio, probably KFWB or KRLA, that Bob Dylan would be appearing one weekend at three L.A. area venues. My brother John and I bought tickets for his concerts at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

The first set was acoustic. But when Dylan strutted out after intermission with the Hawks, the world seemed to stop spinning for a couple of hours. I was even more transfixed by Dylan live on stage with his electric guitar.

I was thrilled by his every move, his delivery and the way he cocked his head and sidled up to the microphone. His confidence and charisma were undeniable. He may have been an unlikely rock icon, but he definitely was one. It couldn’t have been any better. It was transformative. I was immersed in something groundbreaking that felt raw as vibrant as Dylan and his group were taking the audience and rock ‘n’ roll on a magic carpet ride to a whole new level. I didn’t want those nights to ever end. It was undoubtedly one of the most exciting weekends of my early life.   

In May, 1967, when Don't Look Back, the D.A. Pennebaker documentary on Dylan’s UK tour in 1965, premiered in Los Angeles at an art house in Los Angeles, the Los Feliz Theater, I was there. Transfixed. Dylan on screen. Not stage. Docu verite’ window into a magical world-spellbinding moments, musical gems, beyond comprehension. Next day. Same place. Back in line for another shot.

 

KHJ surveys, courtesy of Gary Strobl 

Carlos Santana:  FM radio in 1967 and ‘68 ... KMPX, KSAN. It blew my mind when I found it. Here’s the word: Consciousness revolution. It did not come from Liverpool or New York. I think it came from San Francisco. The psychedelic shock. Haight-Ashbury. When I first heard “Desolation Row,” it was like, “Man, this is like being inside one of Bob Dylan’s songs or something.”  

For me, being right out of high school, and listening, really listening, it gave me a vast awareness of “where do I belong in all this?” And I looked at B.B. King on my left and Tito Puente on my right. The first time I saw Michael [Bloomfield] play guitar, it literally changed my life enough for me to say, “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life."

Greil Marcus: The first thing a friend said when we first heard the album John Wesley Harding on the radio, late one night on KSAN-FM, “I think we'll be listening to this for a long time.” 

Michael Simmons: I adored John Wesley Harding when it came out at the end of '67. Still do. It's one of my favorites among many Dylan favorites. There's an account that I read years after the album was released that Dylan had a huge, well-thumbed Bible on a stand at his home in Woodstock. I remember thinking that's where John Wesley Harding came from to some degree. It's full of morality tales and parables and Book Of Revelations dread. One could argue that JWH is Dylan's first biblical album. Also, Bob obviously knew that the album would be pored over by fans looking for ‘the truth’ and the liner notes are hysterically funny -- a dig at First Decade Dylanologists. The country seduction tunes “Down Along the Cove” and “I'll Be Your Baby Tonight” end the album and seamlessly lead into his next – Nashville Skyline.

Chrissie Hynde:  Bob Dylan's "Forever Young” has got such a beautiful lyric. I just love it. He's the pride of our generation. The song is genius. I'll tell you another great Dylan album, that was not one of his most popular ones, was Shot of Love. The song, "Lenny Bruce.”

Time Out of Mind. It’s one of his best albums. He just sings magnificently, for a start. They're just great songs. Bob always writes impeccable songs, but my suspicion is that he's a little impatient in the studio. On this one, he really stuck it out and got gorgeous vocals. The singing is fantastic. The songs are so well crafted and they just got the great sound for each song. You don't feel like he just got a band in, wheeled them in and played all the songs and left. Each song is very carefully thought out.

Obviously, that's a lot in the production and I'm sure that's Danny Lanois who masterminded that. Jim Keltner is the perfect drummer for any band if you ask me. He's great with Bob Dylan. Keltner is a genius drummer. I love that guy.

Clem Burke: Dylan was just being himself in Dont Look Back. The whole cinema verite concept. You got the feeling you were a fly on the wall and Pennebaker had access.

The Last Waltz was great. I went to see a screening of it at The New School when it first came out and Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson spoke at it.

That is getting back to what I thought music videos should be. There you have great performances captured for prosperity. You have a moment in time that should have been captured. All those artists together in one place. Levon Helm blew my mind.

I liked The Concert for Bangladesh, but no behind the scenes stuff at all just about performance.

Steven Van Zandt:  I’ve gone through different phases with Bob Dylan. I had an older friend who first played me the folk music stuff of Bob, the first three albums. I liked it but didn’t understand the whole poetry thing. I was age 12 and didn’t quite get it. He was interesting, even then.

As a guitar player, I've played Dylan’s songs with Bruce [Springsteen] and in top 40 bands earlier. Dylan was an extremely good folk guitarist as far as the folk style he played on his first few albums. Extremely adept at that.

The Byrds introducing him to the world, really, with “Mr. Tambourine Man,” was a major factor. I can't give them enough credit for that. I don't know if Bob Dylan would have been accepted at Top 40 radio if it hadn't been for “Mr. Tambourine Man.” I mean that, Harvey. That gang has been a great service to the world. I was a huge Byrds' freak. Still am. As you know, they lead you to Bob.

On my Little Steven’s Underground Garage and Outlaw Country [SiriusXM satellite radio] channels I program things from Johnston’s Cash albums all the time, especially the live San Quentin.  On my shows I like to spotlight producers, whether it be Andrew Loog Oldham with the Rolling Stones, or Bob Johnston’s work with Dylan. These are people who need to be talked about.  

I play a lot of Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde. I talk a lot about [Michael] Bloomfield. Oh my God … One of the greats. The single most unsung guitar hero. Really, right there alongside the holy trinity of (Eric) Clapton, (Jeff) Beck and (Jimmy) Page. Probably next in line as far as influence and importance would be Mike Bloomfield in our early youth growing up. Extremely important.  

We usually don’t play a lot of Bob’s things that classic rock stations are playing, like “Tangled Up In Blue.” I’ve programmed Rod Stewart and the Faces covering “The Wicked Messenger” from John Wesley Harding and Jimi Hendrix doing “All Along the Watchtower” from the same album.

Dylan pretty much walked away from rock ‘n’ roll for a minute, ya know, and started getting back to his roots and taking them to some other place, more the country and folk world where he came from. People didn’t know what to make of it at the time. It was a strange sort of new Bob Dylan that emerged after his July, 1966. motorcycle accident.

Jimi Hendrix did more to promote John Wesley Harding than anybody. It was one of the most remarkable records ever made, of course. And the fact that Jimi picked up on that from that unusual and not very popular Bob Dylan album and made everybody go back to it. And, I’m telling you Harvey, that’s how powerful that record was.

Everybody went back to John Wesley Harding after hearing Hendrix, thinking, “You know, maybe I missed something? Look what Jimi Hendrix did with it. Look what the Faces did with it.” It worked. It’s a terrific album but sort of subtle, compared to Blonde On Blonde that most people consider Bob’s peak. 

Album cover Bob Dylan courtesy of Sony/Legacy

Thursday This And That

July, 1967, was my introduction to The Who - at the Lido Beach Club (with my father, who was Decca's PR-chief), playing around the pool. Keith Moon had day-glo drumsticks and they were simply sensational. But as I approached them, a weird vibe began to emerge.

Decades later, I met with Pete Townshend at a Rockers On Broadway event we were repping and again, that aura emerged.

Strange ways for sure 

- DIS

Fastest Revolving Door in Rock History!

Can anyone recall more back and forth (in and out) with a member of any band?

David Lewis

I can’t see why they felt a need to air all of this publicly.  I mean, let’s face it … the decision was always going to draw attention either way, especially when announced in conjunction with their latest farewell tour.  But Zak Starkey has been with the band for 29 years!  (And it’s not like he’s not just a little bit famous in his own right!  Most of you have probably heard of his dad before!)

This still seems to be a case of Roger Daltrey stomping his feet until he got his way …

But then why would Pete Townshend come out and publicly deny the firing, posting pictures of himself and Zak in happier times?!?!

The whole thing reeks of bad publicity … or, at the very least, a MAJOR publicity gaffe. It’s a shame that after 60+ years the band chose to go out on such a low note.  Kinda makes you miss the days when they just used to beat each other up on stage for entertainment!   (kk)

Rod Stewart will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s American Music Awards.  He will also perform.

This is the 51^st AMA ceremony and will be broadcast live from the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, on Monday, May 26^th, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.  (kk)

Billboard interviewed Connie Francis about her sudden “overnight success” in the TikTok arena with her 63 year old recording of “Pretty Little Baby” …

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/connie-francis-viral-hit-pretty-little-baby-1235976736/

Francis, 87, admits she didn’t even know what TikTok was when she first heard the news … and had to listen to the song again to even remember ever having recorded it.  (Turns out she cut it in several different languages, which was sort of her thing back then.)

Holding no particular significance in Connie’s memory, “Pretty Little Baby” was just one of 40 songs she recorded during several sessions spread out over four days in August of 1961.  It ended up on her “Connie Francis Sings Second Hand Love & Other Hits” album. (#111)  How anybody even found it is really quite remarkable … but, incredibly, it has turned into a MAJOR hit.

Billboard is reporting that on April 10th, “Pretty Little Baby” was streaming 17,000 times per week in the U.S.  A month later, it was streaming 2.4 million times (!!!), an increase of more than 7,000%. The track has over TEN BILLION TikTok views, “hitting No. 1 on the app’s Viral 50 and Top 50 charts, and recently crossed over to streaming success, with 14 million global streams, landing at No. 67 on Spotify’s Global Top 100. Francis’ label, Universal Music, recently reissued the versions Francis had sung in Swedish, Japanese and other languages in 1962, when her label, MGM, hoped to score hits in regions outside the U.S.”

CONNIE FRANCIS:  I want to thank everybody. It gives me a new lease on life.  It’s just a blessing to know that kindergarten kids know me and my music now. It’s really thrilling.  (kk)

Tom Cuddy sent us this loving tribute to Johnny Mathis in honor of his last show …

https://youtu.be/3t7bni8TJCw

And some personal reflections from Joe Marchese of The Second Disc …

https://theseconddisc.com/2025/05/20/i-get-misty-a-personal-reflection-on-johnny-mathis-final-concert/

Grace Jones had a birthday 🎊🎂🎈🎉🎊 on May 19!

Mystery ponytail contest!

Who is it?

He turned 80 on May 19^th, too.

It's Pete Townshend being guarded from fans who showed up at The Four Seasons Hotel after The Who performed "Tommy" at Universal Amphitheater. Took pix of fans with Roger that night. The hotel security wanted the fans off the property. Roger continued to be cool and yelled at the security. Very cool of him.  

Jim Roup

Sad to hear the actor/comedian George Wendt has passed away.

I had a very unique run-in with George MANY, many years ago when I was working for a small printer downtown.

This would have been in the late ‘70’s, a time when I regularly went to shows at The Second City and saw Wendt appear alongside his future “Cheers” costar Shelley Long.

I was very familiar with the various characters he portrayed on The Second City stage … and one day, out of the blue, he came into the print shop where I was working down on Rush Street in the city to have his resume printed on the back of some black and white glossy photos.

I recognized him immediately and said “Second City!!!”  He was completely shocked at being recognized … “No Way!” he blurted out.  He told me he was heading out to California to try and get some work out there.  Imagine my shock and surprised a few years later when both he AND Long were cast in the new NBC comedy.

I was an immediate fan of the show (and remained so for about the first six seasons or so.)  It was my first introduction to Woody Harrelson, too … who would have EVER guessed all of the amazing things he would go on to do after playing such a bumpkin on this series in the VERY unenviable role of replacing “Coach” behind the bar.

We’ll miss ya, George.  (kk)

DJ’s + KENT …

DEATH REPORT

On My Platters Group, DJ Richard Phillips Is Reporting That Reverend James Reynolds Of The Edsels Has Died.

FRANK B.

Reynolds was a founding member of the group, who scored one classic rock and roll hit in 1961 with “Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong” (#21)

It was not planned. It just happened.

My daughter told me months ago we were going to Goodspeed Opera House on Mother's Day. Then two more opportunities came along for the Thursday and Friday night before. At the end of every school year, the push comes to use up all of our personal days. Seems like this is the perfect time to me.

Setting off Thursday afternoon, May 8^th, for Peekskill, NY with plenty of time to get to the hotel. Good thing, because my GPS switched to a search I had done to Harwinton, CT, the night before. I was then slightly off-track as I was going north instead of northwest. Pull over, reset, get going again. The theatres on this road trip are all vintage, restored (or still in restoration mode) and with so much character and history in the architecture. This one in Peekskill is called The Paramount. The show is Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone with opener Larry Stevens. 

Larry Stevens has a band, which he says is still circling on the roundabout of Black Bear Mountain Expressway. Funny, but I am confident that he is booked here as a solo act. There are times that openers surprise you. This is one of those times.

He really is a powerful entertainer. He plays his guitar and sings while not only delivering great music, but also quippy conversation. He repeats the fact that he will tell us a joke, "and it's a good one" at the end of his set. You know what ... I will tell you his joke ... at the end of my review.

The man sitting next to me has a photo of Peter Noone holding a microphone out to him on the Flower Power Cruise as he belts out "Henry."  "I had been drinking." He has come from Ithaca to see this concert. The conversation is fun.

The concert is a much-needed ball of fun. The top ten songs we hear at every concert plus five or six that are more rarely performed. Jimmy Herter is filling in for Billy Sullivan, who is recovering from knee surgery. Jimmy has been active in HHSPN before to help complete the group. Peter is spending more time in the audience it seems, singing, interacting and just enjoying the moments. 

The next day, I drive back toward home but detour in Bridgeport to the Bridgeport / Port Jefferson Ferry to ride over to Long Island. This cuts an hour out of my trip, but more importantly, it is restful as I am not driving but riding over the waves. OF WHICH THERE ARE MANY TODAY. This must be our rainy and windy season, as it just keeps popping its head out every few days. Then drive off the ferry and continue on to Riverhead, LI. 

The Suffolk is another eye-catching venue. I spend time both nights looking at the ceilings, walls and decor while I wait for the shows to begin. Both hotels had been refurbished and modernized, both theatres were being restored, both shows were fun and re-energizing. I was in my glory. 

The past month plus, the Saturday surveys have conveyed the success of the British Invasion 60 years ago including Herman's Hermits. How fitting that I could back up Kent's stories with a concert road trip! 

Back on the ferry. A beautiful calm trip going home. A restful Saturday night before Mother's Day and a trip to East Haddam, CT, to the Civil War era theatre, Goodspeed Opera House to see 'Ragtime.'  A musical about music? Sort of.

'Ragtime' is a historical novel of the beginning of the 20th Century when ragtime music was first seeping into society. It depicts three different social classes of the times (I will use the words from the show) immigrants, negroes, and white society. Goodspeed decided to open with this show this season to acknowledge the resurgence of similar current social separations. Their settings, props and performers are always the best; brought in from NYC and various theatre groups to give their audiences impact not found elsewhere.

I go back to school Monday. It is a Full Moon. Every school employee and hospital can tell you this will be a week of surprises. BUT I HAVE MEMORIES AND FEEL SO RELAXED AND HAPPY. I need to instill this as a tradition before every full moon.

Larry Stevens' joke?

An elephant walks down a beach passing a naked man sunbathing. The elephant asks the man, "How do you breathe through that?"

Shelley J Sweet-Tufano

NE Correspondent

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