As a teenager of the sixties I enjoyed the music, politics and changing times. Many weekends to my parents chagrin were spent in Yorkville walking the streets and visiting the clubs. One evening upstairs in one of the psychedelically painted houses a 16mm projector played a radical film produced by North Vietnam; a different perspective.
One of my favourite 60′s groups was The Buckinghams. While walking to work at my Dad`s variety store (Becker’s) in Toronto on Sunday afternoons, I would listed to Chum AM on a little 6 volt radio with the one ear plug. I would sing along to what I thought was “Canada Drag“ (lousy reception or poor hearing) found out I later had the lyrics wrong……. the song was’ Kind of a Drag’. I rediscovered on the web The Buckinghams, who had the #1 hit and ordered a recent CD. It was great to revel in the old and new sounds of the band.
I recently celebrated a birthday and realized how far I’ve journeyed from the 60′s. It was illuminating and a downer. I received an email from The Buckinghams asking me if I would like to purchase their new 2010 DVD. I was in. My old band still doing it 40 years later and l could watch and hear them. What could be better? The following are two emails between Carl Giammarese the lead singer of The Buckinghams and me. By the way Carl is older than me:
Carl,
Emily and I watched your DVD. Your show was brilliant. The sound was tight, the vocals were resonant and on key. And it looked like the band was enjoying themselves ; more importantly Emily was looking to see if you were wearing a wedding band
Cheers, Martin,
Martin
Thank you for your input, I’m glad to hear you are enjoying it. We really enjoyed making that DVD, and we do still truly have a great time performing. I must admit, I have the same enthusiasm performing as I did in the late 60′s. Our band has been together a long time so we are a very tight group. I don’t wear a wedding ring, but I am married. I hope Emily is okay with that, ha ha.
Take care,
Carl