Thanks For The Memories

On Wednesday evening, the YesterUkes had fun singing and playing for the kind people at Broad St. United Methodist Church. About 90 people came out on a cold, rainy night for sausage casserole, grits, baked fruit...and the YesterUkes! We sang old songs, laughed a lot, and remembered times gone by. We are rarely set up on a stage, but this church has a fabulous facility, complete with a full stage, where we looked and felt like a "real" band. The place went crazy when Dick sang "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

Earlier this week, the YesterUkes lost one of their biggest fans. (He was my uncle). Uncle Phil loved fishing, the Carolina Gamecocks, and he loved the music we played. I learned much of this music second-hand -- from my parents, their collection of 78 rpm records and old movies on television. But when I would visit Uncle Phil, he would ask what we were playing now, and as we talked about the songs, he would tell me that he remembered seeing Glen Miller play that one. Or, that he and his lovely bride had danced to Tommy Dorsey playing that particular song years ago. And he remembered seeing Nat King Cole singing with a group, before he became famous. Hearing his stories made it all come alive. And most times, he would tell me that his favorite singer was Doris Day. And then he would always say, "You know...she and I are the same age."

Several months ago, he arranged for the YesterUkes to play at Morningside, where he was a resident. I was told that if we had flown in from Hollywood, he could not have been more proud to have scheduled our appearance. We will be back there in a couple of weeks to play again. How sad it will be to play without him there listening. But we hope that now, he is somewhere where the fish are always biting, the Gamecocks win often, and Doris Day is heard on the radio all the time.