This weekend I was with some friends celebrating St. Patrick’s Day out at the Ranch. We ate lots of corn beef and cabbage and drank espresso drinks from my little coffee bar. I enjoy a good cup of coffee or a nice cup of espresso. Do not put all that caramel and whipped cream on my drinks! That isn’t coffee, it’s just Kool-Aid for adults, though I have to admit that I have a Starbucks card and go there a few times a week for a glass of iced tea. I also have to say that I enjoy meeting friends at a variety of coffee shops around town. It is a nice meeting place and beats the bar scene by far and this got me thinking…

Everywhere you look is a coffee shop springing up around town. In front of these shops, you will see an array of vehicles and bikes and people having meetings, doing homework or just socializing. It is a common site. I tend to think coffee shops are a relatively new over the past fifty years; my thinking could not have been more off!

In researching this, I have discovered that coffee shops have been around for a very long time. I have read a variety of articles that have different dates about the first coffee shops, but as far as I can gather, it was about 1475 when the first public coffee shop was recorded located in a Turkish city. Then in 1529, Europe began to have coffee shops and by the early 1650s, Britain had coffee shops and these shops were spreading worldwide. British coffee shops were called Penny Universities, that was because of course the price of a cup of coffee was a penny, and mainly what was known as upper-class business men hung out there.

Coffee and tea were the main drink offered until 1946 when the espresso machine was invented. Then espresso drinks began to pop up. These coffee shops soon became a place in the United States to talk politics, read poems, and sing folk music. Malt shops were for young love, dancing, a malt before the Football game and a hangout for teens. Coffee shops seemed to be for the creative intellects.

In the mid 50s to early 60s you would find beatniks in the coffee shops. This seemed to be a real movement. They were young people who banged on bongo drums and read poetry. They had something to say and people listened.  In the mid 60s folk music began to spring up in the coffee shops. People such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez could be found in these shops strumming their guitar and singing. Open mike nights would soon be a regular event at the coffee shops and singers began to sing their songs with messages and passion.

That was once upon a time ago. Today, coffee shops are more like chain stores and they tend to move people in and move them out. They have so many drinks that I dare to even call it coffee. Some privately owned coffee shops still offer the gentle sounds of a local singer/songwriter. However, the coffee shops of today will never be able to compare the coffee shops of the 50s and 60s.

I am sure we will never see the coffee shop go out of style and it will evolve more and more. In some states, Starbucks will soon be serving alcohol, which will then not make it a coffee shop but a bar. However, as long as there are shops that sell coffee and offer a place to sit talk and in some places listen to live music, then it pleases me to know that coffee shops are alive and well and ever growing.

I went to Rio Rico this weekend to see my niece Lily perform in her high school play called Disco Fever. This play was a campy who done it mystery. She played one of the Charlie’s Angels and she was actually quite good. The cast of this play was large and I must say they all did an incredible job, so kudos to Rio Rico High for having such a great drama department. The play was set in the mid 70s where Disco was at its height. I loved the details in the recreation of how people dressed and it got me thinking…

Disco produced some interesting fashions. When I think of disco fashion, I think of big hair, platform shoes and polyester, lots of polyester. I also recall the vinyl boots and skirts, which not only made me laugh, it was just somehow wrong. I was not a disco person, in fact, I had one of those t-shirts that said disco sucks but I have to admit, I had a few pairs of platform shoes.

I was not a huge dancer and only participated in a couple of Disco dances. I thought I needed to experience it just in case I was a Disco queen and I just didn’t know it. Disco was just way too over the top for this rock and roller. I did not mind going to the clubs occasionally and looking at fashion and behaviors. I should have known then I would end up in the field of psychology and human behavior.

The Disco era produced a spectacular array of colors. The colors of the disco era were bright, loud and clashy. I am talking about bright lime green and orange put together in a single outfit. The color line up in fashion included shocking pink, fuchsia, teal, and bright cherry red. There was nothing drab about the colors of Disco.

Another big fashion was spandex tops with hot pants and in many cases the hot pants were leather or vinyl. I got a kick out of the angel sleeve dresses or blouses. I called them bell-bottom blouses because the sleeves were like bell-bottoms. I have to admit my mother got me a purple paisley angel sleeve blouse for a gift. It was a shirt I only wore in front of her.

Of course, we can thank John Travolta and Saturday Night Fever for the 3-piece outfits that men wore. They were made of polyester, which I believe should be against the law. Still, men wore these outfits while heading to the beauty salons to get perms in their hair so they could have big hair to go with their polyester.

I look back at all the fashions, and to me, I have to say the Disco era was one of the brightest blingiest (no it is not a word) periods of time I can remember. I cannot say it was my favorite period of time fashion wise. I still wore bell-bottom blue jeans and leather sandals with whatever t-shirt statement I was trying to make. I did feel as though I had to wear sunglasses during that time to protect my eyes from the bright colors but I did find an occasional reason to wear my platform shoes.

Today, I enjoy listening to Disco when I am cleaning the house or doing some ranch chores. It gets my groove thing on while I work. Perhaps my favorite is ‘I Love the Nightlife’ By Alicia Bridges and I got a kick out of Rick Dee’s parody ‘Disco Duck’ and really who didn’t like ‘I will Survive?’ So what was your favorite fashion of the Disco era?

My sister called me yesterday with some interesting news. She told me that Davy Jones from the Monkees had died.  I felt her sadness as I felt my own wave come over me. Mine was a reminder that this was an end of a special time for many of us growing up; her sadness was she once truly was in love with Davy Jones and it got me thinking…

I rushed to Youtube and looked through all the Davy Jones video’s. I was looking for something specific, Davy Jones when he guest stared on the Brady Bunch. My sister thought he was ‘extra cute’ on that episode and she was right. I quickly found it, and put it on Facebook for her. She had written back that it made her cry.

She is not the only baby boomer crying. Davy Jones was the epitome of a teen idol. In the 70s teen Idols such as Bobby Sherman, Mark Lindsay, and David Cassidy shook the world of every teen girl, well not every teen girl. I was not a very big on teen idols, but I loved to watch the girls go nuts I found it fascinating. However, nothing or no one could make a girl go crazier than Davy Jones. You could walk into most girls’ rooms to find posters and photos hanging on the wall. I know my sisters walls might have well been wallpapered with photos and posters of Jones.

She was one of his biggest fans. I never met anyone like my sister who loved this English actor/singer. He was born in 1945 and became an overnight teen idol in 1965 when he joined the Monkees. No other teen idol could come near the likes of Davy Jones. He was cute, funny, charming, and he had an accent that melted young teen hearts.

Jones and his band mates Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith, were responsible for hits such as Last Train to Clarksville, Daydream Believer, Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You, I’m a Believer, I Wanna Be Free, Pleasant Valley Sunday and Steppin’ Stone. Jones had over a dozen albums  from his own solo career as well. He and the Monkees did many reunions tours and I watched a video of him singing just from October of 2011. He remained very active as an entertainer.

When I was a young girl in 7th grade, my mother took my sister and I to Phoenix to see The Monkees. My sister Kath and her friend was crazy with excitement. The coliseum was crowded and crazy with thousands upon thousands of screaming teen girls. I recalled when the Monkees came out girls were screaming and passing out. It was a moment in my life I would never forget because as a young girl, I had never seen anything like this. It was Monkee mayhem.

Today, baby boomers are grieving the loss of Davy Jones. One friend said to me, ‘I didn’t even like the Monkees but I feel this one.’ It is true, though I was not a huge Monkee fan, I grew up with them, I watched them on TV and I lived with a sister that played there records non-stop and I sung their songs under my breath for over 4 decades. Indeed today, the world feels a little empty with one of Americans favorite teen idols dead at the age of 66 from a heart attack. His heart attack will bring heartbreak to millions of girls that loved him then and love him now.

You can visit Davy Jones webpage to see what the family has said, and to go down memory lane. Today, Retroflections bids a sad farewell to Davy Jones. What was your favorite song?