In my dad’s own words:

Growing up in Coulee Dam Wa did not allow much exploration into the contemporary music of the early 60s.  Being in a hole below the dam with all sorts of powerlines above, we could not receive radio from more than 15 miles away.  On top of that, the only local station was a country station.  I have never liked what I call the “twang and beer” songs.  My Grandpa Ray had a massive stereo built in his den which was the back porch of his house walled in.  He couldn’t hear very well and high notes not at all.  His philosophy was if you couldn’t feel it then turn it up.  That’s where I learned bass and the volume dial was my friend.  (In the car I really like to feel the base come through the seat.)  Music was not something I paid a whole lot of attention to.  My brother was in a band in the early 60s and Dad had a long history of playing in bands in the 20s and 30s with his brothers.  Just a note here, your great Grandpa Lefty, Uncle Lee and your dad all play the saxophone.  I carried one in a high school marching band for parades but never learned to play.  I did take piano lessons for at least a year but never could read music.  So where does music fit in?  I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep when I was in junior high and high school.  I found that if I played records when I went to bed, I would fall asleep faster.  I put together a record changer and several 33rpm albums and would play them when I went to bed.  The changer would automatically turn off at the end of the albums.  It worked like a champ especially music without words.  I can still remember one of my favorite visions was a high mountain meadow the size of ½ a football field in a forest ringed by pine trees.  I imagined the smell of the prairie grass and flowers mixed with the sent of the pine trees on a sunny 75 degree day.  Add some music (Long, Long Ago-explained later) and sleep was inevitable.  Another vision I would use seemed to be one where I would look out the window of a space ship as it lifted off from earth, seeing the blue/black of space and floating among the millions of stars.  (Ventures in Space album- )  This was the time of Sputnik and the space race with the USSR.  This was also the time frame I read the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov.  I am still a very slow reader and have to reread things when I take a break.  It took me over 8 months to read the series the first time then I reread them in college which took me about 2 months.  Not long ago I got the audio version which was much easier.  But I digress.  This is about music that influenced me.  As I was thinking back I remembered two songs that Mom used to play that still make me feel good.  We got an upright piano sometime around my 4-5^th grade.  I didn’t know Mom could play but she could and played two songs that have stayed with me over the years.  The first is “” just as I remember it.  It has a very haunting melody and although I do not remember the words other than ‘long long ago” I can still hum the chorus. The other song is the Susa march “Stars and Stripes Forever”.  Mom loved marches and this was her favorite.  Both these songs still get stuck in my mind as I ride my motorcycle on long trips.  Just got to make sure I stay awake.