Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

"1964" - The Tribute

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

Sue and I went last week to see a show called “1964 – The Tribute”. I thought it was about our Senior Class, but instead it was as close to a real Beatles concert as anyone will ever get a chance to see. The group has been doing this for 24 years, and will be performing in Carnegie Hall in January, in case you want to go see them. We had a “fab” time at the concert. The band does early Beatles songs, wearing authentic dress and Beatle Boots, and even has the floppy hair. They put on a terrific show and it brings back the age of innocence when the British Invasion first hit us. What I think I appreciated the most was that they primarily stuck to the early Beatle music (pre-“Sgt. Peppers”) and it truly reminded me of the real Beatles concert I attended here in Memphis back in the mid-Sixties. They have the same type instruments and the same sound equipment that the Beatles used back then. No lasers, no fireworks, no strobe lights, no smoke machines. It’s amazing how much can be done with simple red, yellow, blue, and green stage lights and one spotlight. We’ve rode the Beatle concert horse already on this website, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up in case you ever get a chance to catch this act. If you missed seeming them live, here’s an opportunity to make up for it. If you don’t take you’re your binoculars, you’d never know it wasn’t George, Paul, John, and Ringo up on the stage. Don’t miss it.

It’s funny the things that go through your head, and even though I was thoroughly enjoying the music and singing along with every verse, I was multitasking with memories that the songs brought back to me. Here are some of them in random order.

I remember sitting in front of the TV and watching them the first time they appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Most of us did that.

I thought about how Jerry Brewer, Class of ’64, and the rest of The Continentals put on wigs and Beatle Boots for their Beatles set at Bradley’s and the other places where they played for the dances.

I remember “She Loves You” has always brought back memories of a very small, private party at Carolyn McCutcheon’s sister Vicki’s house on Oakwood. It was a small house and there were only a few of us, but someone had just bought the new album "The Beatles Second Album" that had that song on it and we almost wore the groves off of the record playing it that night.

I remember buying the “Meet the Beatles” 33 1/3 RPM album at Montgomery Wards out at Parkway City and buying the Mono version instead of the Stereo version because it was $1.00 cheaper.

I tried to think how long it has been since I was so familiar with all the songs on an album that I knew the sequence good enough to know which song was next. Even at this concert, 43 years after I bought the album, when the band finished with “This Boy”, I was all ready to join them in “It Won’t Be Long.” To my great disappointment, they did not follow my mental script of the concert. When I got home I had to prove myself right by looking up the album on Amazon.com. I smiled when I confirmed it.

I also remembered the sadness in my heart when I thought about moving to Memphis the day after I graduated, and how I would sit in my room on the weekends and play that “Meet the Beatles” album over and over again. That accounts for my having the sequence memorized. You will never know the pain of the homesickness I felt during that period in my life.

I remembered how my parents, especially my step-father, hated the music that I thought was so wonderful. I remember trying to reason with them and making them listen to “Till There Was You” the way the Beatles sang it and trying to get them to admit that it was beautiful. It was so frustrating. I guess today I might understand a little more, because there certainly few songs in the top 100 that I would like to listen to, much less spend money on to buy.

I’d love to hear from any of you that have also seen this tribute show. The web site for their concert dates can be found here:

http://activemedia.he.net/cgi-bin/suid/~grouph/webcal.pl

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Chip Smoak, Class of '66 - I do not remember what they were called but they somewhat imitated the sound of the animal pictured on the side. They were not expensive. It is a shame that they are not available to children today. I spent many hours playing with the ones that I had.

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Linda Beal Walker, Class of '66 - I cannot remember a name for these toys, but I do remember that you turned them upside down and then right side up again and they made the noise of whatever was pictured on the label, mooooooooo or baaaaaaaaaa, etc.

In my South Central Bell days, the Telephone Pioneers sold a floppy, green, stuffed frog that made a noise based on the same principle of the above referenced toys. Turn the frog upside down and then right side up again and it made the appropriate noise. I bought the frog as part of the Christmas presents for my niece and her son and daughters. I packed it in a large box along with the other gifts, not thinking that the frog would "croak" when the box was moved. I explained it to the postal clerk, but I have always wondered what reaction it received from Birmingham to Indianapolis.

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Rose Sharon Towery Linsky, Class of '65 - This photo is very familiar to me and brings back fond memories when, as children, it was fun to go into the stores and turn the plastic coated cylinders over and hear the "mooing" sound that would be created.

However, the most fun I ever had with these was much later, when my family and I were in Germany (my husband had taken an overseas civil-service appointment between 1981 and 1984) - Anyway, we were staying at one of the resort areas and had purchased one of these "things" - I cannot remember the proper "name" for the "Moo Cow" gadget. My husband's mother, sister, and our neice were visiting with us and were in on the "Moo Cow Incidents".

The first "incident" started out innocently enough...

While at a fancy new "steak" restraurant in Garmisch - My sister-in-law (who is an elementary school teacher in Conyers) decided to "turn over" the gadget and inform the waitress that she thought our steaks were too "rare" - the waitress did not at all seemed amused.

Later, that same evening, the "kids" and I would stand outside the dining room windows and turn the "moo cow" over again and again, thinking it would be a great amusement to watch the reactions of the guests. However, to our dismay, the only one who heard us, evidently, was the waiter who (being much more "with it" than the aforementioned waitress) would wink at us from time to time and smile. This amusement only lasted us about 10 or 15 minutes - we eventually gave up and went inside to watch the mountain trout in the aquarium - and rest up for a trip to the Alps in the morning. Ho Hum...

Anyway, the "children" are all grown and married now with children of their own and they still tell of the incident - so at least we created an on-going memory of the "moo-cow" incident that has lasted at least 2 generations and, who knows, may be passed on at least one more time before it dies out....

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Eddie Burton, Class of '66 - Didn't those things make the sound of the animal on the canister? I remember the cow one's. I don't think I ever saw the sheep one.

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Jennifer White Bannecke, Class of '66 - The mystery items were sound makers. One would moo like a cow when you turned it over and the other went baaaaaa like a sheep. They were fun when you were around 6 or 7 years of age.

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Tommy Towery, Class of '64 - I continue to be amazed when I look back at the things that were so simple yet entertained us and kept us occupied for hours. A simple "moo" or "baah" repeated over and over again as long as we had the strength to turn the can upside down. Compare the simple one-note sound to the birthday card my daughter Tiffany got me that, when you open the cover, plays the whole song of "Sweet Home Alabama" loud enough for anyone in the room to hear it and sing along with it.

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