On Getting Old -- 38

It’s Friday night and the concert in the park is the Brian Patti Big Band: A tribute to Benny Goodman, the King of Swing, on the 100th Anniversary of his birth.

On the way to Hodges Park we stopped for a large [or should I say vente coffee at Starbucks – I will never understand why small, medium, or large is not descriptive enough. Signs of the times?].

Our canvas chairs are unfurled next our friends Mike, Mary, and Nora. The night is perfect – just cool enough to keep the mosquitoes away. The street is cordoned off, and the kids are tossing around Frisbees and red and green neon colored hoops. From the speakers pour “Sing, Sing, Sing”.

Over the strains of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” the conversation with our friends is enjoyable. During the evening we listen to “Stompin’ at the Savoy” and “One O’clock Jump”.

I close my eyes and “Beyond the Seas” takes me back to a simpler, gentler time. Ah, that was music.

The evening ends with the playing of “God Bless America”.

What could be more comforting – beautiful weather, conversation with friends, being surrounded by hundreds of neighbors, children playing, all capped by memory-evoking music of Benny Goodman?



How sweet the candy, candy and more candy!



Ciao