Time Line

Birthdays

April: 15th – Terry Grant; 30th – Kathy O'Brien Henderson.

May: 13th – Bob Valois; 14th – Dennis Kilcoyne; 29th – Brooks Henderson.

June: 8th – David Willis; 8th – Betsy Radebaugh Knight; 19th – Bob Macy.

Anniversaries

April: We do not have a record of any.

May: 11th – Bob and Irene Adams (1963); 31st – David and Donna Willis (1980).

June: 21st – Teddy DePeugh and Herschel Schultz will be 52 years (1958); 30th – Gene and Bert Vaughn (1977); 30th – Bill and Cindy Holland (1978).

If we don't have your birthday and/or anniversary listed, it's because you haven't sent it to us yet! Please do!

Reunion Committee Meeting: June 11th in North Georgia

A 55th Gables Class of '56 Reunion Committee meeting is to be held at 4 pm on Friday, June 11th, at the Kingwood Resort in Clayton, Georgia....ALL CLASSMATES ARE INVITED !!

A block of rooms at the Kingwood Inn are being held beginning Wednesday, June 9th, until Saturday, June 12. can be made at 706-212-4143. $59+ per night for weekdays and $89+ for weekends nights.

A golf tournament is scheduled for Thursday and Friday as well as hiking and white water rafting trips and other activities. Group dinners will also be held on Thursday and Friday nights at the Inn.

Please let Cary Findlay know if you plan to attend...jcaryfindlay@aol.com..and what you would like to do while there.

Tenative Plans for 55th Class Reunion in June 2011

MARK YOUR CALENDARS.... The 55th Gables Class of '56 Reunion has been tentatively scheduled for Friday and Saturday, June 17 and 18, 2011.

ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE with the Westin Colonnade Hotel in Coral Gables. Rooms as low as $109 have been blocked for June 16-19.

CONTACT THE HOTEL direct at 305-441-2600 or via Fax at 305-444-9706. A credit card confirmation or one night's deposit is required. Cancellations are accepted up to 48 hours prior to arrival time. Identify yourself with the Gables Class of '56 to get the group rate.

DETAILED PLANS for the reunion will be finalized at the June 11, 2010 Reunion Committee meeting described above.

Sadness behind the ‘Million Dollar’ jams

One afternoon in December 1956, as 21-year-old Julie Andrews was becoming the toast of Broadway with her bravura performance in the musical "My Fair Lady," four rural Southerners about her age were jamming in an impromptu session at Sun Studio in faraway Memphis, Tenn.

On March 13, the story of that Memphis jam session, "Million Dollar Quartet," now running at the Apollo Theater, will open on Broadway. (And keep running in Chicago.) Improbable as it would have seemed in 1956, a musical opens with the "hot lick": "It's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go, cat, go. But don't you step on my blue suede shoes." Not exactly "I Could Have Danced All Night."

"Million Dollar Quartet" is a feel-good story — the fictional re-creation of the day Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins were rehearsing when Elvis Presley, already a star, dropped in. The studio producer quickly thought to call Johnny Cash to join them, the only time the four ever played together. The play features a superb cast, and classic songs including "Great Balls of Fire," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," "I Walk the Line" and "Fever."

If your only frame of reference was what you saw in the show, you'd walk away happy. But the show, entertaining as it is, doesn't allude to the sadness and tragedy in the star-crossed lives of those four music legends. They were all born during the height of the Depression in the Jim Crow South. The foundation of their sound was Delta blues music, sung by black singers. They combined blues with early country "hillbilly" music, each infusing his style with personal influences. Cash, from Arkansas, and Presley, from Mississippi, drew from gospel and bluegrass. Lewis played boogie-woogie piano, learned in his native Louisiana. Perkins, a Tennessee sharecropper's son, was heavily influenced by honky-tonk.

The distinctly American sound forged in Memphis provided enjoyment for millions and influenced countless musicians worldwide. But the young men responsible for it all paid dearly for success.

Elvis' story, and premature death, needs no retelling. Like Michael Jackson, he was too famous, too soon. One of his worldwide hits, "Hound Dog," was recorded shortly before the Quartet session. It was a cover of a song Alabama blues singer Big Mama Thornton had done three years earlier. When she recorded it, she received $500. After Elvis died, Big Mama was asked how she felt receiving only $500 for the song that made Elvis millions. Her succinct answer, "At least I'm still around to spend my $500."

Johnny Cash sang with everyone — from Bob Dylan to Ray Charles. He stayed contemporary; his late-life cover of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails is a masterpiece partly because it parallels his lifelong history of drug abuse, legal difficulties, a divorce and suicide attempt. Cash lived a hard life. You could hear it in his music and see it in his face.

The cliche of the debauched rock star pales compared to Jerry Lee Lewis' actual story. Lewis' promising career plummeted in 1958 when he married his 13-year-old cousin, one of his six marriages. He experienced the deaths of several wives and two sons. His notorious alcohol-fueled escapades include being arrested at Graceland at 3 a.m. with a loaded pistol. Remarkably , he is the only surviving Quartet member.

Finally, Carl Perkins, the least famous of the Quartet, the only one who never had a movie made about his life. Even though the Beatles "rediscovered" Perkins and recorded several of Perkins' classics, Perkins never relived the early success he had with his iconic song, "Blue Suede Shoes," the featured opening number in "Million Dollar Quartet." Perkins put his aborted career in perspective before his 1998 death: "All these boys — Elvis, Jerry Lee, Roy Orbison — they all lost their wives, their families. People say, ‘What happened to you, Carl? All of them went on to superstardom. Where'd you go?' I say, ‘I went home. And that's a good place to be.' "Now Perkins' song has made it to Broadway.

Ironically, one of Broadway's top producers who bridged the decades was David Merrick, renowned for his eye for talent, his ego and fearsome temper. Before he died, Merrick provided a unique perspective to success, "I'll tell you what it's like to be No. 1. I compare it to climbing Mount Everest. It's very difficult. Lives are lost along the way. You struggle and you struggle and you finally get up there. And guess what there is once you get up there? Snow and ice." That's the part about the "Million Dollar Quartet" they won't mention on Broadway.

Thanks to author Cory Franklin
Cory Franklin is a physician with NorthShore University HealthSystem.
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune

Trivial Topics

MORE 2010 ANNIVERSARIES:

10th: The Mike (Greenberg) and Mike (Golic) morning show on ESPN Radio and ESPN 2 cable.

25th: Greg Evans' "Lu Ann" comic strip.

30th: The Miracle On Ice Olympic victory by the USA hockey team over Russia.

40th:Rounder Records (the home of Alison Krauss and other "alternative" artists).

50th: Bil Keane's "Family Circus" comic strip.

90th: Eddie Bauer clothing stores.

FACTOIDS

In a 2009 Harris Poll JOHN WAYNE was still ranked third amongst Americas favorite movie stars. He is the only deceased actor on the list and the only one who has appeared in the top ten every year since Harris started the poll in 1994!

The prolific NANA MOUSKARI, who is fluent in Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese and English, and is globally the biggest-selling female artist of all time, was born with only one vocal cord.

208 episodes of "General Electric Theater", hosted by (and occasionally starring) Ronald Reagan, have been donated by GE, along with $15 million, to the Reagan Presidential Library. The black and white episodes, which ran from 1953 to 1961 in both 30 and 60 minute forms, have been restored to broadcast quality.

TEST YOURSELF!

Why We Didn't Need an Aerobics Class in 1956

Take a Look at the Jitterbug

What is this thing called Rock and Roll?

Coral Gables Perspective - Part Three

Historic Coral Gables A Self-Guided Tour

In 1986 the Junior League of Miami published a booklet which was a guide to historic sites in Coral Gables. There were two self-guided walking tours which included maps. They also included the entrances, plazas and fountains, the 7 villages, and other points of interest. The following is part three from that booklet.

A Downtown Walking Tour
This self-guided tour of downtown Coral Gables begins at City Hall, where on-street parking is available. Seventeen buildings are highlighted on this one and one-half hour walk which guides you through the city's most historic commercial area. (We cover four through seven.)


FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CORAL GABLES
2312 Ponce de Leon Boulevard – J.P. Turner – 1926

For many years the First National Bank of Coral Gables stood regally above smaller Mediterranean-styled shops on this block. The central two-story arch supported by engaged columns, the detailed entablature of the second floor and the bas-relief crowning the third floor are notable features.

Listed as number 5 on the walking tour map.































CORAL GABLES MEDICAL CENTER
265 Aragon Avenue – Lee Wade – 1927

This charming building next to the Police and Fire Station was originally the Coral Gables Medical Center. It housed several doctors' offices and is most remembered as a center for treating crippled children and those afflicted with polio. Children from as far north as Stuart and as far south as Key West were treated here. Many patients also came from Cuba and South America.

The building consists of two wings connedted by an arcade supported by four simplified columns. the courtyard serves as a lovely escape from the outside world.

Listed as number four on the walking tour map.







H.N. DEITRICH'S
178 Giralda Avenue – Phineas Paist – 1926
This very simple cement and stucco building on the corner of Ponce de Leon and Giralda was originally the H.N. Deitrich's Hardware Store. Although the building has been remodeled, its exterior architecture is little changed. It still has the red tile roof and the large arched windows on the first floor.

Listed as number six on the walking tour map.












DREAM THEATRE
2308 Ponce de Leon Boulevard – John and Coulton Skinner – 1926
Consolidated Bank has literally revived a Coral Gables dream: the bank's offices occupy what once was the Dream T heatre. This outdoor movie haouse was built to resemble a spanish bull ring. The theatre was enclosed by a curved wall planted with bougainvillea and tropical vines, and patrons would sit on apple-green painted wooden chairs under the stars, to watch the silent movies of the day. If you enter through the parking area, you will see the tower which housed the original projection booth. The large screen was placed at the opposite end.

Listed as number seven on the walking tour map.




























(Building descriptions and tour to be continued in newsletter #16)

Your Staff Recommends
For Your Listening & Reading Pleasure

Recommended Listening:

CRAZY HEART: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK"
The soundtrack features 16 songs including the original songs performed in the film by Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell, The Oscar winning "Weary Kind" performed by Ryan Bingham (the theme song heard in the film's trailer and closing credits) and music featured in the film by Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, Sam Phillips and many more. These are true blues old classic country tunes. The soundtrack was co-produced by 10-time Grammy Award winner T Bone Burnett. Burnett, who co-produced the soundtrack with guitarist/songwriter Stephen Bruton.

Recommended Reading:

JAMES W. HALL "SILENCER"
Mystery fans should be sure to check out this new thriller from Coral Gables-based and Edgar Award-winning novelist James W. Hall. It's available at an excellent sale price from Amazon.com.














All of these releases are available at retailers where CDs are sold like Barnes & Noble and Borders, but the best prices seem to be from Amazon.com where, for those of you so inclined, you can also download these releases direct to MP3.

LIFESTYLE RECOMMENDATION FROM A CLASSMATE

To my friends and family – Contributed by Anne Jensen Harper.

Hi there! As you may or may not know, Jim (Kavney) and I are intent on living healthy lives for a long time and enjoying our later years. Much of what we do to accomplish that goal relates to our lifestyle – diet, exercise, attitude…..the mind-body- spirit concept. We have learned a lot through reading and listening to those who know more than we do. The civilization in which we live fears aging, dreading what we consider the inevitablity of suffering and disability. We have come to understand that this is not necessarily so. There are actually places in our world today where people live healthy, active lives into their 90’s and even into their hundreds. They have no heart disease, no diabetes, no osteoporosis, no cancer, no Alzheimer’s or dementia, and they enjoy the love and respect of those in their family and community. What is it that allows them to enjoy a happy, healthy longevity???? It’s their lifestyle – what they eat, what they do physically on a day-to-day basis, and how they feel about their lives and about themselves.There are so many things I would like to share with you, but there aren’t enough pages to do it. We have learned a great deal about our world and about ourselves from a book entitled Healthy At 100 by John Robbins. What the author learned from his studies of various long-lived societies is summarized in the following quotation:

“I’ve learned that one can be old and beautiful , old and passionately alive, old and still bursting with wonder and blooming with joy. ….That old age can be a time of growth and renewal, wisdom, and well-being, …… that the lives of older adults can be as full of promise and potential as those of younger people,….. and that different generations can relate to one another with dignity and respect.”

I want to share this with you because I believe that it is possible to age with more vigor, happiness, health, and inner peace than is the norm in the Western world today. I care about you and want you to have the opportunity to learn what we have learned. You can get this book (it’s only about $15.00) from Amazon.com or probably from any book store. I hope you will consider getting a copy.

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