I spend about an hour a day in my car, more if I’m on a trip, and I always have the radio on. I pretty much ignore talk radio anymore – too depressing, so I listen to the oldies station or light rock. It’s background noise, mostly, something to occupy the time. But there was once a time when the radio not only made noise, but it also entertained us. Many Boomers recall the Golden Age of … [Read more...]

  One of my favorite things to do on this earth is fish from the end of a pier, preferably in salt water. First, it soothes the soul, and second, you never know what you might catch. My first experience with pier fishing came on Uncle’s Sidney’s pier on Bogue Sound in Morehead City, NC, across from Atlantic Beach. I fished and crabbed there for hours on end. I never caught anything big – … [Read more...]

How all the kids born from the 30’s through the 70’s have managed to survive. First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Babies were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with brightly colored, lead based paint. We had no … [Read more...]

One of the great presents I have ever received came at my 10th birthday. I had begged for a record player and perhaps even a record or two to put on the spindle. My wishes came true. I unwrapped a small portable record player and a 45 record from Dean Martin – Memories Are Made of This. Soon my collection would include Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley, The … [Read more...]

At 87 years of age, chances are that Johnny Mathis, a millionaire many times over, is playing shuffleboard at his Florida mansion. Not so. Last Sunday night, Johnny Mathis performed in Charlottesville at the Paramount Theater, and Nancy and I joined a packed house of devoted fans who marveled at his still-amazing voice. Johnny Mathis is a living legend. There were a few young people in … [Read more...]

We had lived in Lewisburg, WV for a year and by now I was becoming acclimated to the friendly little city. I had made lots of friends, I shot my first quail with a .410 shotgun and was fortunate to be young and alive in one of the greatest years of all time – 1956. In 1956, things didn’t cost much. The average price for a new house was $11,700, the average monthly rent was $88, a gallon of gas … [Read more...]

Travel with me back in time to 1954. You are a school kid, just home from class. The first thing you do? Make a pitcher of Kool-Aid. Boy, did we ever drink the Kool-Aid in those days. The powder form of the sweet, fruit-based drink was invented in 1927, but it wasn’t until the 1950’s that Kool-Aid took off.  General Foods bought the brand in 1953 and began advertising on TV. They introduced a … [Read more...]

Thomas Wolfe says you can’t go home again. What once was is no longer. Things change. Nothing stays the same. Except for one thing. Jim’s Drive-In in Lewisburg, WV, my hometown. I’ve written about Jim’s Drive-In many times because it was such a large part of my youth and growing up. My family discovered the joys of the iconic drive-in soon after we moved to Lewisburg. When Daddy was out of town … [Read more...]

I bought some Texas Gulf Shrimp from Kroger’s this week, on special at $9.99 a pound. They were large and sweet and juicy, and we really enjoyed them on a bed of lettuce as a seafood salad. However, I happen to remember shrimp priced at 59c a pound, and my dad thought that was outrageous. I was about 11 or 12 and we were on vacation in Morehead City, NC where my Aunt Anne had a cottage on … [Read more...]

  Most people these days won’t stoop down to pick up a penny in the parking lot and they usually donate any extra pennies to the cup beside the cash register. Some even suggest doing away with pennies entirely since they are considered a nuisance. But Boomers didn’t consider a penny a nuisance. To us they were nuggets of gold and what could we ever do with a couple shiny pennies. After … [Read more...]