I was watching the sunset having dinner with a friend the other night when I got a text from a friend of mine who took her daughters to Phoenix to go see the Fray, Then on Facebook I saw the post from my friend who wrote, “everyone standing packed like sardines. I’m in back of room leaning on the only railing with “the elders” overlooking the mob…ahhhh, to be young!” After reading this, it got me thinking…

Yes indeed many of us were once young and attending concerts…with our parents. Now some of you might not fit in this category, and many of you will. Today this goes out to parents who are hip enough to take their kids to concerts.

I recall the first concert my mother took my sister and me to. It was The Everly Brothers and I am unsure what I remember about them as I was young, but I knew they were a big deal and they enamored my sister. She was probably about 11 at the time and loved their song “Kathy’s Clown.”

My mother took my sister and I to a variety of concerts. Some of them she took us to she did not mind much, and some of them I am sure gave her one of her those “sick headaches” that frequented her. Most of the time I do not think she minded too much, well that was if she approved of the artist. My family belongs to a rather strict sect so her approval depended, but most of the time she looked away so my sister and I could have fun. Let’s face it, when we had fun she had fun.

I recall the time my mother took my sister and I to Phoenix to see Sony and Cher. They did not rock out too much, she could handle the overtly sweet pop sounds, and she laughed at their humor. My sister and I did not laugh and at times, I think we both felt a little embarrassed, but it was how we got to concerts, so we did not say anything.

I think the concert she got the biggest kick out of taking us to was The Monkees. My sister was a teen and took one of her teen friends with her. The drive to Phoenix probably drove her nuts since my sister was way too excited. Most of all, I think my mother got a laugh at watching the screaming girls and watching them cry until they fainted. I was amazed because I figured that only happened on Ed Sullivan.

I am unsure when she drew the line that she was not going to take us to concerts. I think it was when music was not as poppy and my sister began to drive. I was at my sisters beckon call to go to concerts. We saw people like Chicago, Bread, America, Cats Stevens and a few others. In high school, as soon as I could drive, I would go to concerts like Heart, Journey and other rockers.

Still to this day, I am grateful that my mother who endured the crowds and the music to allow my sister and I to enjoy concerts. It is what memories are made of. So today, I say hats off to those mother’s and father’s who battle the mob and feel their age, to make sure their children get to experience live music.

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My father was in the hospital this past week and I spent a great deal of time at the hospital. I must say, being an observer as a profession and watching human behavior, the hospital is a great place to watch human interaction. I also found myself feel my age as I watched how modern technology has taken over hospitals and it got me thinking…

Everywhere I went, every floor I walked, every hallway, was a storage unit for modern technology and machinery. I found it fascinating and am glad technology can now help save lives. The first thing I noticed was how quickly blood pressure, temperature and pulse were taken. Within in a minute or so nurses could evaluate the state of their patient with no human contact.

Something was missing so I went down memory lane in my head to try to figure out what it was. Let’s see, years back nurses used to wear funny little caps on their head and white uniforms, is that what was missing? No that isn’t it. Nurses used to smile and offer a great deal of help because hospital floors had more of them. What was missing? Hmmm, not quite. I walked the halls wondering what was missing. I watched nurses gossip, I saw bells go off unattended as they rolled their eyes that they might have to check on a patient. Then it hit me!

I understood in a second what was missing. I began to recall back in the day all hospitals had a wonderful group of volunteers called candy stripers. They got this name because the young women who volunteered their time wore red pinstriped uniforms.

Candy stripers started in the mid 1940 and hit popularity in the 50s and 60s. They were normally younger women from schools and colleges doing civic programs. They helped make they stay of a patient more pleasant and friendly. They offered magazines and books and would read stories to those who wanted. They played cards or checkers with lonely patients hoping to make time go by faster. They smiled and told a friendly joke and made sure the patient was happy and offered reassurance and human compassion, and they did it all free of charge.

You do not see candy stripers anymore, at least not in the hospitals I have been to, though I was reading in some states this wonderful program still exists. We still have wonderful volunteers in our hospitals, but it would be nice to bring these candy stripers back. Nurses appear to be so caught up with technology and paperwork they simple do not have time to offer a friendly magazine or a moment to hear a story. I cannot help but miss the bright red stripes that young women wore with a smile even brighter than their outfits. I think as we go down memory lane, we should salute the candy striper for making a patient stay in the hospital tolerable. So cheers to the candy striper and by all means, if you ever were one, we would love to hear from you.

photo from timstvshowcase.com

The other day I was talking with a few people about the shows we watched growing up. We all had our favorite shows that we watched as children. The one thing that kept coming up for all of is in the conversation was the children’s TV shows that we watched as kids and it got me thinking…

I forget whether I was a Brownie or a Campfire girl, either or, I was kicked out of both of them. It was difficult to be a want to be hippie child while being a scout of some sort. I believe the Girl Scouts did not want me so the campfire girls took me for a few years. I really was not a scout girl at all. I wore my Nehru shirt with my Campfire cap and skirt. My fondness memory of campfire girls was when we had the opportunity to go to the KGUN 9 studios and be on the Uncle Bob Show, or maybe it was the Kgun Marshall Bob show, I forget however, I was on it several times and even was selected to play a game to win fabulous prizes.

If memory serves me, Bob Love started off as Marshal KGUN, clearly these details have escaped my mind. He dressed as a cowboy and ran cartoons and had games. His show ran from 1961 to 1979. What I recall when I was on his show was we all sat in little bleachers in the studio. It smelled of popcorn. I think it is because he gave away popcorn and Wham-O toys. He sometimes would have a special guest and aired lots of cartoons. It was something for us kids to watch after school.

There were a couple of morning children’s show that come to my mind. The first one was Captain Kangaroo. It aired for almost 30 years from 1955 until 1984. What stands out the most for me with this show was of course the Captain and his read captains coat. I recall always sort of joking about his hair. Mr. Green Jeans was the captains side kick and I thought he was all that when I was growing up.

Mr. Moose was a puppet who dropped ping-pong balls made me laugh and I would try to gather ping-pong balls and drop them on people, but it only got me in trouble. Then there was a rabbit who wore glasses and loved carrots and of course my favorite, Tom Terrific, a cartoon that could change himself into all sort of things. I would day dream of all the great things I could turn myself into.

Finally the one early morning show that I have memories of was a children’s show that ended with a magic mirror and a chant that said, “Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic mirror, tell me today. Have all my friends had fun at play?”

You guessed it, Romper Room which was a children’s show that was actually franchised so local TV stations could have their own Romper Room show. I didn’t care for the show much, but oh how I would hope she would see me through her magic mirror. She never did, and that was okay because I never watched the entire show as a kid anyhow.

Today these great shows do not exists and have been replaced with cartoons, the Disney station and cheesy shows. I suppose the kids like them, and I guess that is all that matters. Oh but in my day, watching a children’s TV host come to life on that black box in my living room made being a kid special.