Revealing Our Musical Crushes

 LUCY BURDETTE: A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated music Sunday at our church. Our music director is incredible, and he’s infused amazing life into the choirs. Plus he’s a fantastic organist, and tons of fun besides. He often brings in guest musicians for special occasions. I read in the Sunday bulletin that the drummer he’d engaged to play for us tours with Mickey Dolenz and the Monkees.

This was such a blast from the past! Mickey Dolenz was my very first crush. Somehow, I persuaded my parents to let me attend a Monkees concert when I turned 13. My first (terrible) short story was about a jilted teenager who runs up the steps of the Hatteras lighthouse and finds Mickey Dolenz at the top! Trust me, if that had really happened, onlookers would have witnessed a major freak out. Apparently, Mickey and the Monkees band are still touring and this visiting drummer was going out on the road with them in several weeks. I introduced myself and asked him to say hello from Roberta.😂

So Reds, there is the question for the day. What do you remember about your first musical crush? How old were you and what drew you to him or her? Are they still alive and kicking? If you didn’t have a crush (really?), what was your first concert?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: That’s an easy one, Lucy! I was eleven when the Beatles hit the US airwaves. I fell madly in love with Paul McCartney and I have to say I never recovered. Paul just turned 84 on June 18th (of course I know his birthday) and he’s still adorable and is still performing and still writing great music. His new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, is terrific. I did the Beatles tour in Liverpool a couple of years ago with my pal Kate Charles and now I know the places he’s singing about.

And the first concert was The Beatles, in Dallas. We had seats on the 12th row, can you believe it? Of course you couldn’t hear them for the screaming, but it was still a life-marking experience. I’ve seen McCartney live twice over the years since, and they were the most joyous concerts  vvvI’ve ever attended. We love you, Paul!!

LUCY: So jealous of that concert Debs–Paul was my guy as well:)

RHYS BOWEN: In school my friends were all into Elvis in a big way. We’d listen to Heartbreak Hotel and they’d all swoon. Not me. There was something about his looks I didn’t like. I think my first crush was Gordon McCrea in Oklahoma and Carousel. I had the records of both and played them non stop. But when the Beatles came along— well, who wouldn’t love them?

JENN McKINLAY: First crush was Shawn Cassidy! He had a singing career, I guess, but I crushed on him because he played Joe Hardy on The Hardy Boys Mysteries every Sunday night! This is likely where my love of amateur sleuths began. My first concert was RUSH in the New Haven Coliseum! We all packed into a friend’s ancient Datsun B210 and drove 45 minutes to get there. No cell phones, GPS, or AAA. Can’t believe we survived – LOL. 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: My first musical crush..well, definitely not Elvis, I agree, Rhys, there was just no spark for me. But oh, absolutely, the Beatles. I sobbed, watching them on Ed Sullivan, and I was the vice-president of the Midwest Chapter of the National Beatles Fan Cluub. It was an actual thing! Paul, and John, oh, they were so cute, and so talented! I saw them at the Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and fairly levitated. Was that my first concert? No, I’m sure I went to many with my music critic (for the Chicago Daily News)  father –I do remember having a huge crush on Roddy McDowell who I saw playing Mordred in the musical Camelot, gosh, that was in 196-something?(The bad-boy thing, I guess. I never liked Lancelot.)  But the Beatles was the first concert on my own, and soon after that  I was all about Paul Simon. Still am. 

HALLIE EPHRON: My first concert was at the Hollywood Bowl: Joan Baez with an unknown rumpled male singer. She was terrific. He mumbled his way through a set and I, with my great prescience about musical talent, wrote Bob Dylan off as a never-gonna-be.

I’m a big baby when it comes to crowds, so concerts have never been my thing. If that weren’t the case I’d have haunted Paul Simon. Also Buddy Holly. Also LIttle Richard. Hmmm, also Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash.  

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Jenn, my sister and I were absolute devotees of THE HARDY BOYS, and agreed she would get Shaun Cassidy and I could have Parker Stevenson. I understand he’s Episcopalian, so maybe I’ll run into him in a church one day…? Both those men have aged VERY nicely.

My first strictly musical crush was - don’t laugh - Barry Manilow. No, the fact he played with Bette Midler in the Baths did not tip me off. He came to Syracuse for a concert and my BFF and I got tickets. My first show, and WOW it was so good. I’m happy he’s out and proud and living his best life, and I’m happy to have listened to “Barry Manilow II” and “Tryin’ to Get the Feeling” so many times I had to replace my record player’s needle.

PS, Lucy, my Monkee was Peter Tork. Somewhere out there, there’s got to be a personality quiz that reveals who you are based on which of the Monkees or Beatles you crushed on! 

LUCY: I’d be surprised if that quiz doesn’t exist Julia! Red readers, tell us about your first musical crush…

Your Fantasy Concert

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We just scored tickets to see James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt, here in Dallas (Frisco, actually) on July 31st. JT!!! 

The theater is new to us, and looks fairly intimate. I hope so, because no way could we afford front of house seats. Yikes!! We are talking thousands!

But we are huge James Taylor fans, especially Rick, who I think can play every single JT song on the guitar, but we've never seen him play live, so this was a must! We've seen a lot of rock-n-roll legends. My first-ever concert was the Beatles in Dallas in 1964. Not that you could hear them, mind you, but it was an experience (as in mass hysteria...) But a few years ago, I got to see Paul McCartney on tour in Dallas. It was the last stop of his tour, and when he walked out on the stage you could tell he was exhausted. But then he seemed to just suck up the energy from the audience and he played full on for THREE hours. Amazing.

We've seen the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young reunion tour. We've seen the Police on their reunion tour. (Man, I wish I had seen them in the day. I have a huge crush on Andy Summers.) We've seen Sting with Annie Lenox.

I did see Led Zeppelin in the day (maybe 1970?) It was a stadium concert, and I don't remember much other than the sweltering heat and the sound of Jimmy Page's guitar.

There is one more long-time idol I would really really really love to see in person, and that's Paul Simon. I think he is the singer/songwriter/genius of my generation, at least.
How about you, REDS? Memorable rock concerts? And who would you want to see that you've missed over the years? (I want to see Green Day, and they are going on tour but not coming to Dallas:-( Not that I know who I could drag with me...)

JENN: Concert lover here! Like you, Debs, I’m married to a musician and the Hooligans have gone musical, too, so we are big time concert goers. Guns n Roses was last year’s big concert for us, this year it’s Dead and Company (formerly the Grateful Dead) but I’ve heard grumblings that we’re going to see Metallica, too. My first concert was my junior year of high school and it was Rush at the New Haven Coliseum. In college, I was a bartender at Toad’s Place, also in New Haven, which is a live music venue, so I got to watch and meet everyone from the Allman Brothers to Cyndi Lauper to the Stray Cats, oh, and my fave band was the Ramones because they played there all the time since they lived in the area and were friends with the owner. Those were definitely some of the most fun years of my life! Hub went on to be the music editor for our local paper so I got to be his plus one for years and was giddy to see so many great shows like Aerosmith, George Strait, Madonna, Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard. Wow, this really makes me realize how important music is in my life. Here’s a question, I tend to use music to help my writing, especially when I’m stuck. Does anyone else do that or do you need silence?

INGRID: I loved going to concerts when I was growing up, and I saw some amazing artists.  One of my sisters was an avid concert-goer, and that’s how I got started. No joke, I think Prince may have sweat on me when I had second row seats to his show.  I also saw Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, George Michael, Elton John, Duran Duran (yes, I was a tween in the 80’s), James Taylor, Billy Idol, Tears for Fears, Erasure, Squeeze, Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd,) and Howard Jones.  I haven’t been to any concerts lately, but I would love to see Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Bruno Mars, although huge stadium concerts seem too big unless you’re right in the front, spitting (or sweating) distance from the stage.  As much as I love listening to upbeat pop music, I can’t listen to it when I work.  Anything with lyrics is too distracting for writing, but it’s just the ticket when it’s time to unload the dishwasher!

RHYS BOWEN: When I was growing up it was really the Golden Age of rock and roll. I saw the Stones when they were brand new and so amateurish. I saw the Beatles before they went to America and became super stars. In my staid and boring adulthood I have opted for people like Harry Connick Jr, who is an amazing performer. I've never seen Billy Joel, but I would have liked to. Frankly I don't think I would want to be involved in that seething mass of humanity at a concert. But I've a good concert story. I was in Australia visiting my mother. My daughter Jane was visiting people in South Dakota for whom she used to babysit. She was about fifteen at the time. John called me and said that Jane had asked permission to go to a concert and he had said yes. When I got home I found out it was Def Leopard and she had gone alone! And John couldn't understand why I freaked out. Jane said everyone was very nice to her and lifted her over their heads to get a good view.

HALLIE EPHRON: It's so embarrassing to admit, but rock music and concerts isn't my thing. Ask me about dance or art and I can offer up opinions. So... most memorable concert for me was WAAAAAY back -- Joan Baez on tour, and her warm-up act was an unheard of singer, Bob Dylan. I thought he was awful. I also saw Big Brother and the Holding Company and Janis Joplin at the Filmore West and thought she was... inscrutable. Like I say, I've got no sense at all when it comes to popular music.

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh Debs, I love love love Bonnie Raitt. Have seen her several times and would go again in a heartbeat. Also Emmylou Harris and many bluegrass bands back in my Tennessee days. Jenn, Toad's Place!! I wonder if we overlapped in New Haven? I moved there in 1984...

Did you see that Paul Simon just announced a tour? We did see Art Garfunkle a couple of years ago, but he'd lost his voice and it was embarrassing. Also saw James Taylor and Carole King--wonderful. Oh, and Traffic in NYC, back in my wild college days:). And a little bit of Kenny Chesney right here in Key West. But I'm with Rhys, the great big crowds put me off so we don't do too much of it these days. I'd rather go to a Broadway show!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, you KNOW I will go to Paul Simon..any time any place. We saw the Beatles in the 1964, I'm sure no one could hear a word over the screaming.  In college, we sneaked away form class and drove to Chicago to hear Crosby Stills and Nash (maybe 1968?) and after a few songs, they said--"we're thinking about adding someone else to our group, let's bring him out and see what you think." And then out came Neil Young! And if that wasn't amazing enough, the out came Judy Blue Eyes herself.  Jonathan and I went to a Judy Collins concert a year ago--wow, forty-five years later?--and she was still amazing.
I went to a Linda Ronstadt concert in maybe--1999? And sat in the front row. She was amazing. AMAZING!  I've been to several James Taylor concerts at Tanglewood--he's a local boy--and I am always so happy afterward. (I'd adore to hear Carly Simon, too, but never have in person.)
And Bruce Springsteen at Fenway Park. Blew the roof off the place. Well, there's no roof, but he would have. LOVE The Boss.
Now--I'd love to hear Bruno Mars or Justin Timberlake or Adele. But Jonathan would never go. Agreed--I'm not a fan of HUGE concert events.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Ross and I went to a concert for the first time in years this past summer  we saw Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band. We had a great time. The audience was multi-generational, and we talked and sang along with the folks seated around us. Buffett played for over two hours, which at his age I think constitutes good value for the money. We saw Three Doors Down a few years ago after winning four tickets - the most memorable thing about that was the beautiful location on a pier in Portland. We could watch the ships coming and going and the sun setting while drinking beer and occasionally tuning in to the music.

When I was young? First concert was Barry Manilow when I was a junior in high school. My best friend and I went and we both had SUCH a crush on him. The most memorable thing about the Grateful Dead concert I saw was discovering AFTER I had gotten inside that my boyfriend had stashed his weed in my purse! I saw the Who during their farewell tour in England, after a mad dash from London to Birmingham to reach the venue.

On the smaller live band front, we've seen Robert Earl Keen several times. If he and his band come to your town - and they might, they're a touring band - I highly recommend them.  I'd drop dough for Harry Connick Jr. in a New York minute, but overall, I'm much more likely to pay for seats at the symphony than at a rock concert. 

DEBS: Well, you have all put me to shame, and I have an embarrassing confession to make. When we've been to rock concerts the last few years, I've had to wear ear plugs. How lame is that? But I have a bad ear (nerve damage) so that much noise is really painful. But, as much as I love classical concerts (and I was a season ticket holder for the Dallas Opera for more than twenty years) and Broadway or West End shows, there is nothing like the energy and experience of a rock concert. I was too young for Woodstock--now that must have been something.

I'm adding to my fantasy concert list. Having just recently become a huge Bruce Springstein fan (I know, totally dopey, but I listened to ENGLISH bands...) I would love to see him. 

And I'd love to see Bruno Mars. There is just a huge amount of joy in his performances.

So, readers, what about you? What's the fantasy concert you've always wanted to see? (And, yes, we will accept non-rock:-))

PS: Jenn, I cannot listen to music when I'm writing. Unless I'm in a coffee shop, and then it's fine. Isn't that weird?

The Stuff Daydreams Are Made Of

Rudy Vallee

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  (More on the Oscar snafu below!) Who's your heart throb? Not now, but oh so many years ago? I mean, when you were young, and crushing, and imagined anything was possible. (That's a drawing of Rudy Vallee from Photoplay in the 1930's.)  I ask because I was invited to write an essay for a book edited by the fabulous Elizabeth Searle… And it's about how our teen idols shaped our lives. 

 I had to think about that for a moment, because did my "teen idol"shape my life? I had never thought about it before. Let alone write eight pages about it.

We each had to pick one person, and after a ridiculous amount of contemplation, I finally did. When I finished writing the final draft of my essay, I have to admit to you, I burst into tears. I guess I had discovered something I didn't know I knew.

So we'll talk about the book more when the publication date comes, not till next year! But for now, did you have a teen heartthrob? I won't tell you who I chose until you all do!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, yes, Hank. I fell madly in love with Paul McCartney when I was eleven, and I don't think I ever completely got over him. I saw the Beatles in 1964, can you believe it? I saw McCartney again on tour in Dallas a few years ago and was just gobsmacked. I guess this goes some way towards explaining my lifetime of Anglophilia, doesn't it?

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh, Debs, I was a Paul fan too. But since you got there first, I will admit, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees was my first luv. I was completely gaga over him, and begged my parents to let me subscribe to TIGER BEAT so I could read up on all things Micky. 

Mickey Dolenz

And then my parents bought my best pal Laura and me tickets to see the Monkees for my 14th birthday--I looked it up, the concert was actually on my birthday in Detroit. Amazing that they arranged this! Laura and I spent hours putting together a birthday box for Micky. This contained all kinds of handmade stuff for a birthday party--paper hats, artistic napkins, and who knows what else lovesick, naive teenagers might have felt necessary to include. We handed the box over to a ticket taker when we got to the concert. And then we screamed our love for the whole show:). I never did hear back from Micky, but I did get a signed poster in the mail--sigh...

HALLIE EPHRON: This takes me back to the early nineteen sixties. I was fourteen years old and obsessed with my shortcomings (tall, skinny, pimply, smelly, hairy.) And just at the time when a person couldn’t get more self conscious, along came breasts…or in my case, didn’t. In the throes of self-conscious adolescent angst I first clapped eyes on Warren Beatty. My best friend and I took the bus to the Picwood movie theatre in Westwood to see Splendor in the Grass. I left besotted with Warren Beatty’s Bud Stamper, a sweet, sensitive, sex-starved, high-school quarterback who’s madly in love with beautiful, popular, passionate, virginal good girl, Deanie Loomis (Natalie Wood). They burned up the screen, those two.

He (Bud? Warren?) nailed me with those crinkly eyes, that goofy smile, and an endearing boyish awkwardness. He had the perfect inarticulate stammer and aw-shucks manner about him, a sweetened amalgam of Marlon Brando and James Dean. By the time Bonnie and Clyde came out six years later the bloom was off the rose. The movie magazines I devoured were telling me that my sweet Bud was sleeping around. And around. Ya let me down, Bud.

HANK: Oh, Hallie, I interviewed Warren Beatty (for Rolling Stone Radio News) when he toured for Shampoo. In Washington DC, at the Watergate Hotel. I have to say, he was--not exaggerating--the handsomest person I have ever seen. EVER. We will talk about it in detail another time, but he hit on me, I mean, seriously. (I guess he was enchanted by my pink acid-washed matching jeans and jacket.) I went home and wrote it all down, word for seductive-ish word. Bottom line, I turned him down. I thought it would be hilarious to be the only woman who ever had. Plus, he was married at the time, wasn't he? To JULIE CHRISTIE? I mean--gah. 

Speaking of Warren: poor thing, though! To be handed the wrong envelope? What did you think? I felt so sad for everyone...

Anyway. Rhys?

RHYS BOWEN: I was a terrible judge of men in my early teens. I was madly in love with British pop star Cliff Richard, with British actor Dirk Bogarde and with Rock Hudson, all of whom turned out to be gay!
When the Beatles came on the scene I was actually more attracted to John than Paul because John had that raw sexiness. I was disappointed when I found out he was married.
The only real crush I've had since then was Robert Redford. I still have a photo of him on my bulletin board!

JENN MCKINLAY: At age nine, I was a hard core Shaun Cassidy girl. I mean, come on, the feathered hair, the satin pants, singing Da Doo Run Run, and shaking his money maker - seriously, what was not to love? LOL. 

Of course, it helped that he also played the adorable Joe Hardy on the Hardy Boys television show. I wanted to be Nancy Drew but I wanted to date Joe Hardy - never Frank - always Joe. Huh. And now I write mysteries with amateur sleuths...hmm.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Oh, my gosh, Jenn, my sister and I were GLUED to the tube when the Hardy Boys came on. She got Joe, and I got Frank, played by the oh-so-good-looking Parker Stevenson. They were the perfect very early girl crushes - with their smooth skin and coiffed hair, there was no chance to threatening masculinity. The first man I crushed on was Paul Michael Glaser in, yes, STARSKY AND HUTCH. He had chest hair and five o'clock shadow, and made 13-year-old me feel all confused and excited whenever he got shot (which seemed to happen frequently)  and had to be nursed back to health.




Finally, seeing Frank Langella in DRACULA (1979) pretty much completed puberty for me. When
he glided into Kate Nelligan's bedroom in his undone white linen shirt and whispered to her, "I need..." I finally understood what sex was all about.

HANK: This is so fascinating, and so indicative of how old we were and when. (I loved Spin and Marty, too. I forget which one.) And Dirk Bogarde! And Frank Langella in Dracula--and Compromising Positions? Whoo.

And it's incredibly interesting, and indicative of the times, to see who we chose. Back then. My mom told me she skipped a day in junior high to see Frank Sinatra.  It'd be SO different now, right? Anyone know anyone who's 10? Who would they choose? 

But for my hearthrob, I chose the poetic, intellectual, brilliant Paul Simon. I was so sad and unpopular, and when he sang I am a rock, I thought, I'll be a rock. too! And he's still my idol.

How about you, dear Reds?

ON TEAMWORK

"It takes two, baby..." Tina Turner

"I am a rock...I am an island." Paul Simon

RO: Chinese or Italian? Your relatives or mine? Wuthering Heights or 40 Year Old Virgin?

With all the choices that couples have to make - and all the agonizing that can go into even small decisions like what toppings to put on the pizza (at least in the Harris household)how in the world do couples actually write together. My husband (poor guy) can't pull out of the driveway without my editing him. How can there be so many successful writing teams? Married or not, I've got to think that a writing partnership is like a marriage, with all of the attendant give and take, joys and frustrations. Could you ever do it? Do you?

HANK: I always write as a team. A team of three. The real me, then the me who thinks I'm a good writer, and then the me who thinks I stink. We all talk. Oh yeah, there's also the Me who answers for the writing mentor I sometimes wish I had.

But I actually have written with a real other person. I've been a TV reporter for thirty years--for maybe 15 of those, I've had a producer, and we do investigative reporting as a team. Usually, we chat about what the point of the story is, and come up with a sort of thesis sentence. Then I write a rough draft. I give it to her for tweaks and adds and comments and fact checking. She gives it back to me, and we go back and forth with it. Finaly I say, OK, this is done. And get her to read it one more time. In the edit booth, when I hear how it sounds out loud, I often change it again.

It truly works. I think it all hinges on respect. Knowing each other's strengths. That the goal is to have the best story possible and that it doesn't matter whose idea anything is. That laughter is good. Could I do it writing fiction? With someone good? Hmm. You know, I think yes.
(Choosing a movie with my husband? We take turns.)

JAN: Definitely yes. Like Hank, I'm used to the collaboration of a newsroom. I also wrote a screenplay with a good writing buddy, and although we never sold the screenplay, we had a hoot writing it. It was a comedy we called Fatal Feng Shui, and I don't know how effective our humor was in the screenplay, but we cracked each other up writing it.

I also have tentative plans to write a thriller with my brother, who is an avid mystery reader (much more so than me), a chick lit book with my daughter, who will be home this winter on a college break, and the great American novel with my son, who doesn't know about this plan yet. Okay, maybe not with my son -- he probably wants to write the great American novel alone.

But it gets lonely writing alone. I'd love to try writing with a partner!

HALLIE: I have a series of 5 Dr. Peter Zak mystery novels from St. Martin's that I wrote with a writing partner, Don Davidoff. Our shared, authorial pseudonym is G. H. Ephron. Don is a neuropsychologist who runs a unit at Harvard's McLean hospital and he's also often called as an expert witness in criminal trials. So, roughly speaking, our model for Dr. Zak was Don.

Don took the lead on plotting, I did all the writing. Supposedly that's how the cousin partners who were Ellery Queen (Frederic Cannay and Manfred B. Lee) collaborated. It was a great partnership--we had virtually no overlapping skills. Working together for 8 years was enough. Now I'm working on my own nonfiction projects and novels.

HANK: I remember the Marvin Gaye version of It Takes Two, Ro, and now it's incessantly going through my brain. (cf. our blog on earworms...)