The LuLac Edition #2714, August 17th, 2014

WOODSTOCK @ 45

This week the 45th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival was observed. If you had been alive at the time, you would have seen rock and roll and the immigration of hundreds of thousands of young people invading Bethel, New York as the lead story on the evening news and on the top of the fold in your daily newspaper. I was too young to attend (I was 15 which wasn’t that young at all) but I had no connections who I knew were going there. Many call it the end of the 60s and the last gasp of the hippies. Other just like to regard it as a festival of music of the time.
Woodstock spawned many an FM radio station playing that genre of music and the three record set became a best seller. Most every high school kid I knew owned it.
All of us now in our sixties and beyond remember it as a cultural phenomenon that is still commemorated every five years. In 1970 CSN&Y outlined the event in the Deju Vu LP.

PRESLEY GONE @ 37

A guy who wasn’t at Woodstock but making his own brand of music in 1969 was Elvis Presley. Finally away from the ridiculous formula movies that his manager Colonel Tom Parker talked him into, Elvis began a significant music journey that would be regarded as his most artistic and contemporary. During this time period Presley even released a song that had some social consciousness.

Presley died in 1977 at the age of 42. I was working at WVIA Radio and TV at the time and saw it come over the news wire with Bill Kelly. Presley is still regarded as one of the seminal figures in rock and roll. After his death in the summer of ’77 a surefire opening line for any single guy in a bar chatting up ladies of a certain age was, “Shame about Elvis wasn’t it?” If they were a fan of The King, you had an even chance that evening for at least coffee at Denny’s.

STEVE FURMANSKI DIES

Steve Furmanski of the Buoys passed away this week. Furmanski was the rhythm guitarist who joined the band in 1967. The Buoys were the band to hire ($1000.00 as I recall) for a dance if your class was having a fundraiser. Furmanski left the band before they hit with their top twenty hit written by Rupert Holmes "Timothy". Furmanski later played in various groups throughout his career.

THE BABE GONE @ 66

Your blog editor standing over the grave of Babe Ruth in 1988. (Photo: LuLac archives).

The same day Elvis died was also the same day the great Babe Ruth died. Ruth died in 1948. Even though the Babe was gone 6 years before I came along, I’ve been a fan and consider him to be one of the greatest ball players of all time. In 1988 I took a trip to Yankee Stadium to see the Red Sox and Yanks but on the way stopped at Babe’s grave site at Gate of Heaven Cemetery. It was odd standing at the grave site. I had a very similar feeling when I stood at Thomas Jefferson’s and the Kennedy Brothers site. Babe would have been gone 66 years this week.

GWTW @ WOZ @ 75

My mom graduated high school in 1939 and told me that other than getting out of high school that year, one of the best things that happened to her social life was the plethora of movies that came out that year. She told me that story in later years as the following classics appeared on the small screen. Released in that year were Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, The Women and Goodbye Mr. Chips. A great year for films.

JOHN SAVO DIES

.

John Savo Senior died late last week. Savo and his sons have Savo Auctioneers, LLC on Kennedy Drive in Archbald. I met Mr. Savo a few years ago when he came down to the house and took some items that I no longer needed or wanted from the LuLac archives, aka attic. He gave me a fair price, worked like a dog and was very personable. Savo and his sons have had a weekly program on WILK Radio Sundays at 2pm which was wildly entertaining with Savo and his sons. I caught the show a few weeks ago and John Senior seemed to be struggling,  but ever the consummate pro carried on. His humor and good grace will be missed. I was glad to meet him.
The Savos were also featured on one of the Cable Channels (National Geographic) a few years ago outlining their business in the Mid Valley. The show was called Auction Packed and featured Savo’s sons, J. Bear and Carlo.