Diggin' Back

I was having a "senior moment" yesterday, that turned into a couple of HOURS!

Tonight is our "Western Bluegrass Gospel Night" at the church, that we hold about every 7 or 8 weeks. Yesterday, I was going over some music, plus the instrummental solo that I'M doing tonight, when "Sea of Love" popped into my head while I was practicing.

This happens to every musician from time to time. You'll be playing something, and maybe some little "run" you just did reminds you of some OTHER song. "Sea of Love" is a beautiful song, but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with gospel music. I quickly wrote it down, so I'd remember to add it to my practice book, and continued on with what I was practicing.

But I couldn't get that tune out of my head. I was in grade school the first time I ever heard it. "Fifties" & early "sixties" music (which people today call "DOO-WAP"), is a great weakness of mine, and I play more of that than anything else.-----it bothers me that we don't have a REAL "oldies" radio station here in Idaho, except for one station that "poses" to be......(if you consider 70's & 80's to be "oldies", which I do NOT).

I remembered the song well enough to play it note for note, but could NOT remember who the heck it was who recorded it, or when.

When "all else failed", I called Lamont. He's a keyboard player, has his own band and like myself, he's been a musician since WHO KNOWS WHEN. Well.......he remembered the song too, but HE couldn't remember who did it either, (so I didn't feel too bad). On the internet, I found some lyrics to it, but not much information, and Lamont said to try YOUTUBE.

YOUTUBE?.....isn't that just for the newer stuff? Apparently not......."Sea of Love" was recorded in 1959....(I was RIGHT about that---I WAS in grade school)....and it was recorded by Phil Phillips.

Phil Phillips.......yeah....I KNEW that!...........(In 1959 I knew that, but do you think I could remember that yesterday?). To my amazement, they not only had a beautiful video to go with that song, but footage of Phil Phillips HIMSELF in the recording studio singing it--------WHERE DO THEY FIND THIS STUFF?

Anyway, I dropped everything else I was doing for TONIGHT, and worked out a nice instrumental rendition of "Sea of Love" in the key of "G".......THEN, I starting "digging back" and for the next hour or so, I just "wasn't here anymore." I was playing "Sixteen Candles", "I Only Have Eyes For You", "Walk Don'T Run", "Love Potion # 9", "Only You", "Me and My Shadow", "Cab Driver", "Let It Be Me".....and two dozen more...........I was in a TIME CAPSULE and enjoying every second of it!

I noticed one other thing too......my hands (which I've had some arthritic problems with over the last couple of years), never once bothered me. The phone never rang, nobody came to the door, Donna was at work......I was playing UNDISTURBED and without any knuckle-joint discomfort at all. I was even makiing a few old "Chuck Berry" runs I haven't made in a few years now.

I've been getting "beat up" pretty good lately, and thinking about it this morning, I wonder if God just smiled down on me last night and says "are ya ready for a little break, Mikey?.......wanna go "back home" for awhile?"

It was one of those extraordinary practice sessions that every musician dreams about......where every run is perfect......note for note, you can DO NO WRONG........you would LOVE to have a night like that in PUBLIC (like tonight), although fate usually doesn't allow it.

The great jazz guitarist George Benson says "There are no two music days alike. One day you pick it up and say "I'm really gonna show this guitar where it's at today..........and the next day you pick it up and feel like an idiot!" And he's right. I've been at it 42 years now. There've been nights I'd like to forget about......and nights I could have played at Carnegie Hall.

If we have as many musicians tonight as we're scheduled to have, I should only be tapped for one instrumental (plus the lead work backing the singers in-between), so I SHOULD be able to "coast" a bit this evening.

I would love just once though, to be able to play in an "Oldies night" somewhere. I absolutely LOVE the old "American Grafitti" music that I actually got the LIVE through.

It's mostly unknown today among the masses, which kind of makes it somewhat like a "special retreat" for me......like some old favorite campsite or hunting spot that only YOU know about.

For me anyway, the old "DOO-WAP" music is something that a some of us out here will always cherish......it's something we can just put up on a shelf, were we can still see it and have it from time to time when we want.

And as long as I'm still breathing, I'm gonna play it.....at home and at every jam session I ever go to.

Naturally......I think it was much better music than ANYHING out there today.

And so is my old "Rocket 88" Olds. It's beautiful out there this morning.........looks like a great day for a short "cruise" before the show tonight.

I love "diggin' back"........for me anyway, it sets things "right" for awhile.