| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
It's Just Me Again No. 056 : Big Band Days It's Just Me Again No. 056: Big Band Days For past Chuck Hinman columns, thumb back through Sundays with CM, reading ColumbiaMagazine.com as a Daily Newspaper. Is Chuck Hinman your favorite Sunday with CM columnist, as many tell us? If so, we hope you'll drop him a line by email. Reader comments to CM are appreciated, as are emails directly to Mr. Hinman at: charles.hinman@sbcglobal.net by Chuck Hinman The days of most of us residents at Tallgrass Estates are filled with reminiscing of things that have come our way during a long and mostly happy life. I thank the Lord many times for preserving my mind so that I can enjoy calling up so many cherished times of years gone by. One of those special times that come to mind quite often is the "Big Band Days." Remember them? Of course you do. Let's go back to 1935. I was 13 years old. On Saturday nights in the fall and winter when it was too cold to go to town for a Saturday night bash, we stayed home and listened to the radio. One of the favorite programs was the "Your Hit Parade" [announced as "Lucky Strike presents Your Hit Parade"] with the Harry Salter orchestra. Radio programs were filled with popular songs of the day. The Lucky Strike Hit Parade on Saturday night radio sorted out which songs were played the most and presented the ten most popular songs of the week in reverse order, beginning at #10 and ending with the suspense filled announcement of the #1 song! Our entire family listened. We had fun guessing which song would be rated number one. We bet pennies if we had one! We kids were taking piano lessons. Our dear Mom, bless her heart, occasionally made room in her tight chicken-egg cash flow for a surprise extra! The Constable Rexall drug store in Wymore, Nebraska, carried sheet music. Occasionally Mom would surprise all of us and buy the week's most popular song. Sheet music cost a whopping 35 cents! We kids had an added incentive to learn to play our old clunker piano by having a few of the day's choice song hits on the music rack of our piano. I still have all those old songs, now considered collectors items. Imagine how cool it was to have just seen the hit movie "You Are My Lucky Star" starring Hollywood's glamour movie starlet Jean Harlow at the Lyric Theater in Wymore, Nebraska. Then in a few days to hear the title song of that show emanating from the Hinman farm home in remote Gage County in southeast Nebraska. How much better can it get! It didn't sound like a big band rendition, but it wasn't bad for a 13 year old "wanabee big band piano player." Don't laugh, it did happen a few years down the line. Then "fast forward" four years to 1939. I had graduated from Liberty (Nebraska) High School and enrolled at Peru State Teacher's College nearby. There was a big band known as the Glenn Miller band that soon became a household word. It was a large band for the times and soon became everyone's favorite because of their unique sound. Some of the favorites then and even now 65 years later were "Moonlight Serenade," "String of Pearls," "Chattanooga Choo Choo," "Star Dust," "In The Mood," "Elmer's Tune," and "Juke Box Saturday Night." And these were just the Miller favorites. Other well-known big bands had their own favorites for which they were known. I hadn't been at college long before I auditioned and became the piano player for "The Bobcats," the college big band, dance band. I think I could still play the 32-bar piano solo in "The String of Pearls." I worked so hard on it! When I was in the U.S. Army Air Force, I played in the college big band when I was going to school at Montana State College, Bozeman, Montana. Over the years, big bands have gone by the boards except for die-hards like ourselves for whom no other music will replace big band music. Thanks for the Lawrence Welk big band which remains true to the "Big Band" style and sound, it appears that Big Band music will always be available to us. Dar-room-ta-du-ti -- dut- it -- may I have this dance ... I like the cologne you are wearing -- is it "Evening In Paris" ... what's your name ... where are you from ... we're wearing the same color saddle oxfords ... keen! ... do wah, do wa ... I love jitter-bugging with you ... may I walk you back to Liza Morgan Hall after the dance ... swell. Do you mind if I hold your hand? ... I'm sure having a good time with you ... you are such a good dancer! -Chuck Hinman This story was posted on 2011-04-24 06:51:38
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
Question: Is pinhooking an art or a science? COF: Pinhooking was business for racetrack, fairgrounds Reade Heskamp asks if pinhookers still practicing art When was post office in corner building, reader asks Joe Hare visits with family of fallen Vietnam squad member Lindsey Wilson Baseball splits with Shawnee State 20th Crusade for Children Golf Tournament May 1, 2011 Photography: The Turtle Chorus. Looks like there was a plan Trina Slapeka named MSC Women's Tennis Player of the Year SAR units in Casey, Green, Metcalfe and Taylor receive grants View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
