Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Music Sharing BC

(Before Computers)

by Tommy Towery

Class of ‘64

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is working hard to protect the intellectual rights and music along with the royalty income of some of our classmates who work in the music industry. They are cracking down on the sharing and swapping of music over the internet. I’m not sure why the press is making such a fuss about sharing music. They act like it is a new concept. This is not a new idea. I know that we all (including our music industry classmates like Jim McBride and Eddie Burton) shared music back in the pre-Lee and Lee days and no one was ever threatened with a fine or jail time for doing so. Now there were some threats I am sure when at the end of an evening of sharing, someone not only shared your music, but acquired it in the process, but that was usually rare.

I’m talking about the days when we used to go to Ronnie Hornbuckle’s dad’s record shop or the shop that was up by the old Elk’s Theater a block off the square, and buy our own copies of music. I also seem to remember a record store on Clinton near the Grand Newstand (help me on this). I also had some old albums that came in the mail when the “new” idea of the record of the month club started. I think it was Columbia that did that. But those were usually my mother's albums of people like Dean Martin, Mitch Miller, and Jackie Gleason.

Remember the unique concept of being allowed to buy only the one song that you wanted to hear. They called them singles. Today that is being hyped as the newest concept of selling music, with sites like Apple selling individual songs for a price that people can afford. Hey, we lived with that everyday in our youth. Well, yeah I know it wasn’t always just one song. Unless it was a very long song that took up both sides of the record, they threw in a side-B, but we always felt that other song was a freebie and that we were not paying for it. It wasn’t like having to buy a whole CD, just to get the one song you like.

Back then our sharing process was to somehow mark your own copies of a record, and to take it to a party and “share” the sounds with all the other people at that party. I’m looking for some of you to tell me what was most often used to “mark” those records. I am sure that I know the answer that will come back the most. How many of you remember the stacks of records that would be thrown together near the record player and played by anyone who wanted to go up and put one on? We didn’t hire crazy DJ’s (like the editor at the Homecoming Dance) to selectively play songs. Anyone could do that. The crowd decided if we wanted to twist, do the dog, the money, the swim, or the jerk. The crowd decided if we wanted to dance slow and turn the lights down real low. (Okay, so maybe the parents had a say in that part). But we all shared the music.

We didn’t worry about high-speed Ethernet access. Our access was sneaker-net, and I remember very vividly carrying the albums under my arm and the 45’s with my fingers stuck through the big holes in the middle of them. Does anyone else but me remember the butterflies you got in your stomach as you waited all afternoon to go to the parties? I remember the closer the time got, the more hyper I became.

I didn’t have many albums because I could not afford them; but I did have one named “Your Twist Party” by Chubby Checker that I packed up and took to a party at Dianne Hughey’s house one night. I don’t remember who all was there, but I know Dianne was, and Carolyn McCutcheon, and Ginger Cagle, and probably some non-Lee folks like Randy Duck and Mike Thompson. When the party was over and we were cleaning up, my record was not to be found. It went home with someone else in their stack I guess. No matter how many people or how many times I asked, I never got that album back. So, I guess even then there were risks we took when we were sharing music. I finally had to accept that it was gone forever, but all was not lost. One day I found an almost mint copy in a Goodwill store so I bought it. But, if you are the one that took my “Your Twist Party”, I still want it back. It has my name on it, and a lot of great memories about those parties.

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Farewell To Carolyn -

Carolyn Lee McCutcheon Hanks

Class of '64

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

Last week when we listed the loss of Richard Flurnoy, I didn't write much. I never knew Richard that well. This week is a different story. It is rare that I sit down at the computer to write something and do not know where to start. For four days I have tried to come up with the right words I needed to properly reflect on Carolyn and how her loss affects me personally. She was one of the gang that I ran around with a lot during our days at Lee. I think I met her before I even started going to Lee. I think the last time I saw her was at the 1995 reunion, but she was just as pretty then as I remember her being the day I met her. I had looked forward to seeing her and Dean at the Homecoming 2003 event, but her health problems made them miss it. It just reinforces my belief that you just never know when you will have a last opportunity to visit with anyone these days.

I don’t know for sure if it was at one of the early boy-girl-kissing-game parties or at Carter’s Skateland that I first met Carolyn, but she was a part of my life at both of those happenings. I well remember a party at her older sister Vickie’s house when the Beatles were just becoming popular and we all sat around and listened to thier album. I remember her younger sister Joyce being there as well. I had already written the article on sharing music and parties and had already added Carolyn’s name to the list of those who I enjoyed being with at the parties when Dianne called to tell me that we had lost Carolyn. At first it didn’t sink in – then it hit me like a brick. In my sadness I thought about pulling the music story, but then decided that it was better to leave it, to share the good memories of her. I know she would like that. I am sad that she will not be a reader this time.

Carolyn was one of the prettiest girls I ever knew, and I always found it odd that she acted as if she never knew about her own beauty. She was a friend to many and did not seem to pick her friends based on their looks, or their social status, or the kind of car they drove or the kind of house they lived in. She could have chosen to be a part of any clique she desired, but instead chose to just be friends with all.

I am proud to say that I had one date with Carolyn. It wasn’t meant to be a date and was not much of a date at that. To her it probably wasn’t even a date, even though to me it was important. We really just went to the movie together one night with Bob Walker and Dianne. I didn’t hold her hand, or put my arm around her, or do anything with her except watch the movie. It was an innocent as "Happy Days."

Carolyn walked the halls with us, and she worked on the real Lee’s Traveller with many of us back in those typewriter, mimeograph, and staple days. She was nominated with Ray Walker for Best Athletes in the 1964 Silver Sabre, the first yearbook of Lee High School and a publication of which she was also a staff member. She joined in on lots of organizations and clubs.

There are many of you who may never have known Carolyn, but you have had your lives affected by her just the same. Does that seem odd? It's not really. For you see, if there had not been Carolyn, you might be doing something different this exact moment of your own life. If there had not been Carolyn, a seventeen-year-old boy may have never started a journal of his high school days' thoughts and activities. If there had not been a journal, there never would have been a book “A Million Tomorrows – Memories of the Class of ‘64”. If there had never been a book, then there never would have been a website. If there had never been a website, then you would have never shared in all the wonderful memories that we have all shared over the last almost four years. So even though she probably never knew her at Lee, people like Yvonne Waller Presson, Lee High School Class of '73, now shares in the laughter and tears of this group, because there was a Carolyn in some of our lives. She was important to many of you and never knew it.

In the journal that I kept, I wrote things in a simple code made up by Bob Walker and myself. Things like “OH” were written instead of “Oh Hell!” And KHG-N was written instead of “Kissed Her Good Night”. One of the last entries which mentions Carolyn in the book included the lyrics of the song “Today.” I can close my eyes and remember dancing with Carolyn to that song. The words included the verse “I’ll laugh, and I’ll cry, and I’ll sing.” In all my future memories of Carolyn, I’ll do just that. So, I suppose that if I were still keeping a journal of all the memories that we all share, tonight I guess I would in my very own virtual way have to write "KHG-B."

Carolyn Lee McCutcheon Hanks

Died Jan. 25, 2004

Carolyn Lee McCutcheon Hanks passed away Sunday. She was 57. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Valhalla Funeral Home with Bro. Darryl Cox officiating. Visitation will be two hours prior to

the service.

Published in The Huntsville Times on 1/30/2004.

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From Our Guestbook:

Randy Riblet

Rio Vista, CA

cjrandy @citlink.net

Year of Graduation: '66

A hello to all. Apparently I fell through the cracks of the Lee directory. Never-the-less, perhaps someone will remember me. I hung around with Carl Wehrmann and Dickie Cobb. A minor conflict in SEA got me out here to California. I graduated from Sacramento State and found a career as a state park ranger. I retired from the AF Reserves in '96. and plan on retiring from the ranger position December of 2005. I hope this finds you all in good health and high spirits.

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Barbara Seely Cooper

Class of '64

Looking over the articles in recent issues, it strikes me how significant a bond was made between my classmates who went to Rison and then to Lee together. Not having had that background, it's obvious I missed some really fun times. Also, it's obvious my parents kept me on a very short leash. Good thing I didn't know how much I was missing back then! The article about the satellite launch brought back big memories because Dad was very involved in it. He would work all week at NASA, sleeping on a cot at his office, then come home and practically sleep around the clock over the weekend while the launch was being prepared. Since he always seemed to try to explain his work by showing me math equations, I faded out, but I do remember some exciting events. First, one day a man Dad worked with knocked on our door and wanted to see him. Dad was sleeping, so Mom woke him. The visitor was there to tell Dad the launch was successful. The two of them danced up and down the hallway like young children, screaming and pounding one another on the shoulder. Next, I remember the Moon Walk. Our family sat in front of the TV and Dad "translated" what was going on, bit by bit. When the module landed and the astronaut stepped on the moon, Dad cried - very subtly and quietly, but he cried. That was all it took to get me going, too. I also found the Princess phone and doily very memory-provoking - I had a blue princess phone and it was such a huge deal to me then. Like Sarajane Steigerwald Tarter, my parents used it like a sword to discipline me. Having to wash the dishes (no dishwasher in those days at our house) was another biggie on my "doghouse" chore list. I learned to make the most of five minutes on the phone and to wash a lot of dishes in no time at all. Finally, Tommy's great Coke bottle article topped it off: We used to buy king-sized Cokes (in glass bottles) by the case at our house. How in heck did we ever get to sleep??? Nowadays if I drink a Diet Coke (yes, that's wussy too) later than 1:00 p.m., I can't sleep! Thanks, T. Tommy. Whenever I check the website I get a

good memory and a good laugh. What more could we ask?

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Subject: Lee High

Patrice Waller Williams

Class of '71

PWK5704@aol.com

Hey Tommy,

I am a Lee grad - Class of '71 - and my three other sisters graduated after me. The one who graduated in '73 is HOOKED on your website. She is emailing me DAILY - "Have you checked it today??" . Sometimes she says she can't get anything done because all she does is read this!! ha! So, please - in one of your future issues - could you do a BIG "shout-out" (as this generation calls it) to Yvonne Waller Presson, class of '73, formerly of H'ville and now a resident in Plano, Texas?? I think it would mean the WORLD to her.

It IS wonderful to have a connection to our past - even though it was a few classes before ours! Thanks and big hugs from H'ville!!

(Editor's Note: Hey Yvonne, thanks for reading and feel free to send any comments or thoughts of your own. I hope the weather is better in Plain-Old, Texas than it is here in Memphis right now. I spent six years in Foat Woath myself when I was in the Air Force. You've got a great sister looking out for you it seems.)

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Subject: More of the Real Thing

Eddie Sykes

Class of '66

Tommy,

I enjoyed your Coke article. It stirred up some fond memories. I recalling going to Atlantic City in 1955 and coming back with stories of giant Cokes. Yes, they were already selling 12 oz bottles of Coke there but only 8 oz bottles were available in Huntsville then and for another year or two. The grocery store that I worked at had a map of the US in the back room with a piece of string hanging from a thumbtack stuck into Huntsville used for measuring the winner of the longest distance Coke bottle game.

We would also make a cork ball from the corks out of 10 or 12 bottle caps. It was a cylinder shaped object that looked like a half roll of quarters after it was taped up. That and a old broom stick was all we needed to have a neighborhood game of stick ball. It was a poor man's game that didn't require expensive balls, gloves, and bats. Those were simple times when all you needed was a empty Coke bottle to get a kiss or just a little imagination, a broom, and a stick to be cowboy. Do you still remember how much fun we had with just one piece of chalk ?

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Subject: " Coke Bottles"

Escoe German Beatty

Class of '65

Tommy...

You are downright incrediable! Anyone who can write a thesis on the meager Coke bottle should be given an award!! I really enjoyed it...and I'm with you those spin-the-bottle memories are still among my favorites.

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