New Beginnings

Sometimes lately it feels like spring and other times it does not. This coming Easter weekend may officially help drive the point home that spring is here. As George Harrison once sang, ‘it’s been a long cold lonely winter’. People are still suffering with cruddy viruses. We just need some consistent better weather and fresh air. During my youthful days on the farm spring meant new calves, pigs, chickens, and ducks. We had them all. One Easter dad and mom gave sister Sue and me baby bunnies. We quickly got in the rabbit business until they broke out of their cages and partied with the wild bunnies never to return. Usually by April we had a growth of oats peeking through the ground and many times the new seeds would get covered with one last blast of winter. Many will remember the great April snow of 1973. We did not have school for an entire week. That was the only spring break that I remember. We partied with scoop shovels moved snow so that the milk man could get his truck near the milkhouse. My Huffy bike with a banana seat was left in the yard and buried under 20 inches of snow. Not even the sissy bar was visible. I had a special uncle and aunt that treated Easter like Christmas and they would always bring me a present and it was usually a record. One year they gave me the album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. In 1971 my Easter basket contained the Partridge Family album ‘Up to Date’. To this very day, the music of David Cassidy and company is one of my guilty pleasures.

Music has always motivated me and there are many songs about new beginnings. That will be our overall theme during Those Were the Days on Saturday night. Tunes about the hope of starting over and moving forward. Our mix tape will include songs such as I Can See Clearly Now-Johnny Nash, Don’t Stop Believing-Journey, It’s My Life-Bon Jovi, Don’t Stop-Fleetwood Mac, Don’t Look Back-Boston, Right Now-Van Halen, and Just Like Starting Over-John Lennon. Do you have any thoughts about songs with motivating lyrics? Four years ago, when I was in the hospital trying to recover from long Covid, I listened to a lot of music. The Physical Therapy team would play my requests from their phones. Feeling Stronger Every Day by Chicago became my theme and there were others that helped me literally take one step at a time before I had to sit because my oxygen level would drop. It was the toughest six weeks of my life, but music helped get me on the right track.

During the first hour of Those Were the Days Saturday night, I will be proud to turn it over to the father and daughter team Craig and Stella. They were the top bidders in a recent benefit silent auction, and their prize is a one-hour guest d.j. showcase on WRCO. We will be taking your requests between seven and midnight. Feel free to give us a call or text and get ready for trivia and all sorts of fun. Let’s shake off the blahs and welcome in the new season and the hope that it brings this Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9, WRCO.com, and through the Civic Media app.

Phil