Music in the Background

             So, unlike many of my friends, including my husband…. I’ve never been much of a music person.  Just didn’t grow up that way.  We had one radio in the house when growing up, and typically the only thing listened to was WLW for Reds baseball games.  There was a record player in the living room, but I honestly have no memory of it ever being used.  My sole source of music was at church, and to be honest, even though I participated in the church choir, I couldn’t carry a tune if my life depended on it.  To the extent that at one time I had a choir director point to me and ask me not to sing, just mouth the words.  That’s how bad I was!!!

            I am hard pressed to explain the gist of this writing but I think I can.  I have mentioned in the past that I take classes at the Univ. of Cincinnati’s OLLI program.  A curriculum for folks over the age of 50 who just like to learn.  I’ve been involved for several years now, taking classes, teaching classes, etc.  Recently in one of my classes a classmate recommended a class called ‘Roc Doc’.  He explained it a little, but I didn’t really get it!  When I registered for this current quarter, I was looking for a second class to take on Tuesdays, as it is a bit of a drive for me to get there, and I really don’t like to make that drive for one class.  So, I signed up for Roc Doc and now…. what a pleasant surprise!

            The first class was last Tuesday, April 22.  The moderator explained that we would be looking behind the scenes of the music industry.  Didn’t really get at first what that meant, but quickly figured it out.  He showed a 1 hour 41- minute film called “The Wrecking Crew” (you can find it on You Tube) that told the story of ‘session musicians’.  Never heard that term before, but quickly learned what it meant.  These were the musicians who played the music in recording studios for many, many, many of the big named 1950, 60 & 70’s bands/individuals, that we grew up with.  Don’t know if you remember, but I do, when then the big story came out about The Monkees, not playing their own music, it was ‘session musicians’ who did.  For someone who has no knowledge about these bands/individuals, it was really an interesting movie and I learned a lot about an industry I had no knowledge of.

            Today’s class was about ‘backup singers’.  This time it was a 1hr 31-minute movie called ’20 Feet from Stardom’ (also can be found on You Tube).  Again, a very interesting movie with a lot of fascinating history. 

            Our moderator has told us over the 8-week course we will look at behind the scenes of Motown and Muscle Shoals and others. 

            Really glad I signed up for this class.   

I'LL LET YOU KNOW!!

             I’ve written before about cleaning out files, boxes, etc. and finding all kinds of things.  Well, it’s happened again!

            I know this is odd, but in ancient times I tended to be a paper hoarder.  Like, for all the years I worked in offices, whenever there was an over abundance of paper, like letterhead, or anything related to a completed project, or outdated surpluses, I would bring it home and use it for writing projects when I was working on drafts, or anything that wasn’t a finished project.  The stockpile has dwindled over the past few years since I haven’t been occupied with office work since 2010.  But every once in a while, I stumble over a new cache.  That happened recently.

            For a little more context.  I’ve been writing, one thing or the other since I was in 4^th grade.  I remember writing a little book about farms (since as I’ve mentioned before, my early childhood was spent a great deal of time on farms).  I remember that project particularly well cause it was one of the few times in my life when I got a spanking from my Dad.  Mom usually did the spankings.  Anyway, in this little book I also did the illustrations, one of which was of a horse pooping and peeing.  That drawing evidentially offended Dad, never understood why.

            Anyway, back to the story.

            I was cleaning out a file drawer and came across an old project that I have absolutely no memory of.  And the problem is, it was obviously a very big project. 

            There is a fairly large stack of papers in this project.  Some is handwritten, and some is typed.  The project is evidentially a script I was writing, probably originally intended for a TV production, I don’t really know since I have no memory of doing this.  But it is definitely my project as the handwritten pages are my handwriting.

            I have all the stages of writing this project.  A general outline of the story.  A specific outline scene by scene.  The rough draft of the script. The final typing of the script.  Goodness, I must have been very serious!!

 

 

            In addition, in the file I found a document from the ‘Writers Guild of America East’ which is evidentially an organization that registers your project for ownership protection.  I looked them up online and at least in theory, they do exist beyond just the very old hard copy document I have in the file. 

            I’m trying to figure out a timeline on this project, because again, I have no memory of spending this much time on this project.  There are two key indicators of the timing. 

            One is the draft paper on which this tome is written.  There are 3. 

One is the 1985 Welcome Letter to Morning Glory riders. Morning Glory was a fundraising event of the Miami Group of the Sierra Club of which I eventually became the president.  The Morning Glory was a bike ride that wandered the streets of Cincinnati at 4 AM.  It was a 25-mile ride that ended with breakfast.  The 1985 ride was the second ride over a span of approximately 20 years.  I know it was the second because the ride that year ended at Grammers Restaurant for breakfast, a restaurant that has long since faded into the sunset.  The first ride ended at Arnold's Pub, which is still in business.

The second draft paper is letterhead from the Friends of Cincinnati Parks, Inc.  Not sure how I got a boat load of this paper, but my name is listed as a Trustee member.  Again, I don’t remember sitting on this Board, but it was probably during the time that I was president of the Miami Group.

Third was letterhead from Jennifer Thie, MD.  This is letterhead was from her original practice.  From 1989-1992 I was director of her second practice, The Crescent Women’s Medical Group.  A multi-specialty group practice that was sold off to another group a few years after I left the practice.  I must have gotten a box of her outdated letterhead just to help clear the clutter.

Then, the other time indicator is the story itself.  From 1973-1975 I lived in Alaska.  One of the great adventures of the era, was friends I made who lived full time in the bush.   In my script I’ve taken the setting and created my own story line with characters, events, etc.  What cracks me up the most is how I named the characters.  The names are all family and friend names but applied not to whom the name actually belongs.  For example, the main male character is named Ted, my Dad’s name, but he is not my dad in this story. 

I must have started this project sometime after 1988 because there are Pete, Kate and Josh characters in the story line, but not as my husband and step-children. 

So, now I am in a quandary.  What do I do with this???  I cannot throw it out!!!  Do I want to continue my work on it? 

I’ll let you know.

A TIME MACHINE

 

This week was hard.  Had to say goodbye to another aunt.  This was on the Poff side of the family.  Jean lived a long, excellent life.  Married only one man, had 4 kids who all grew to adulthood and thrived.  She was a really great lady.

It got me thinking about the old days.  My Mom and Dad both were born into farming families.  My childhood memories are of running around on two different farms with lots of cousins!!!!  On the Poff side of the family Mom was the first-born daughter, second born child of 14, 12 of whom made it to adulthood.  From that 12, I eventually ended up with 33 cousins.  Most of these cousins I never got to know very well…. they were born way after I was an adult and on my own, or they lived far away from us.  There was 20 years between Mom and her youngest sibling… so you can understand the span.

On the Hallsted side there were 9 aunts and uncles who had 26 children (cousins for me).  The eldest of my father’s brothers and sisters, my Aunt Ruth, had 6 kids.  All of them I feel like I knew well.  Many of the others were again, either born after me, or lived too far away. 

Three of my cousins I have no memory of ever meeting.  One on each side of the family died while I was still very young.  One cousin on the Poff side is still with us, but I have no memory of ever meeting him. 

Part of the problem is that my family moved to Florida when I was 9 years old, and southwest Ohio was really the hub of the family for both sides.  So, while a few of the aunts and uncles moved to other parts of the country, the rest were mostly in Ohio.  When we moved to Florida, I lost contact with most of my family, except for one of my Mom’s sisters who lived in Tampa, and still, we did not see them that often.  So, all those cousins who were born after 1957, I just didn’t know. 

I’m dwelling on this, because the numbers are dwindling.  All the aunts and uncles on the Hallsted side have passed.  There are only 3 of the 14 left on the Poff side.  Of the original 59 cousins on both sides, only 40 are still with us.

I miss the family gatherings that used to take place.  When we were really little there were always Easter egg hunts and weekend poker overnights, and fabulous breakfasts at the Poff farm.  The Hallsted’s, for many years, hosted reunions all over the place, east of the Mississippi River and it was amazing how many of the Hallsted’s showed up.  They ended when the last Hallsted uncle passed. 

So, having another aunt pass, reminds me there is more of my life behind me than in front of me and that our generation is next up.  And all of these cousins are now grown, with families of their own.  Most are already grandparents and their circle of life circles around them. 

I think I need a time machine.