Stories behind memorable albums of the 1970s as told by the artists

Tag: Three Dog Night

Whoa-oh-oh, listen to the music: The best concerts of 2019

Generally, there’s no such thing as a bad concert, and 2019 was no exception. While my criteria for what’s constitutes a good concert experience changes a bit from show to show — the location of my seat, the ticket price, whether I got to go to the meet-and-greet, the quality of the photos I get — I can usually find a lot of things I like about a show. 

I couldn’t limit the list to the Top 10 shows of 2019, so I made it Top 11 this year. Really, all the concerts were very good, it’s just that these were just a little bit better.

11. Steely Dan — The Met/Philly (Nov. 9) — There was a lot right and a few things wrong for me at this show. First and foremost, the music was brilliant, Donald Fagen can still deliver the goods, and his band is nothing short of outstanding. And while the historic venue is something to behold and a nice place to see a concert, the fact that there is little parking nearby and the overly aggressive ushers on prohibiting photos really took away from this show and explains the reason for the rank. But boy, what a catalog of great songs performed with master musicianship. 

Original members of Three Dog Night, Michael Allsup and Danny Hutton.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

10. Three Dog Night — American Music Theatre/Lancaster, PA — (Sept. 22) — There are only two original members left — vocalist Danny Hutton and guitarist Michael Allsup — but they still sound like classic TDN. The band’s library of hits includes some of my favorite songs from the 1970s. And the American Music Theater is a great place to see a show. The seats are wide and comfortable and the leg room between rows is plentiful. Plus I went down to the stage, something I’ve just started doing in the past year if the opportunity presents itself, for the encore, “Joy to the World.” 

9. Gary Clark Jr. — Ryman Auditorium/Nashville, TN (March 7) — I was unfamiliar with Clark’s music and my pal Jared Bilski invited me to this show when we were in Nashville for a work conference. Once the show started, I became an immediate fan of Clark’s music. Of course, being in the historic Ryman was a treat, despite the hard church pew bench seating in the balcony. The no-photo policy always annoys me, and this was no exception in that regard. Clark is a tremendous guitarist and can sing. I’d go see him again. I loved Nashville and I’d like to sit downstairs at the Ryman the next time.

Dan May and drummer Tommy Geddes.

8. Dan May — Sellersville Theater/Sellersville, PA (July 5) — Dan’s shows are always wonderfully entertaining and his songwriting is brilliant. The venue is where we first discovered Dan’s music when he opened for Crystal Gayle, so we always try to see him there. In recent years, Dan has added storytelling segments to his shows, reading chapters from his books, and I really enjoy that. There isn’t a better night of music and entertainment than the Philadelphia-based local musician and his band.

Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley of America.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

7. America — Penn’s Peak/Jim Thorpe, PA — (Aug. 17) — Given my well-chronicled affinity for what is one of my favorite bands of all-time, you might be surprised at this ranking. I see this show every time I can and will continue to do so for as long as I’m able. Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley still sound great, they do all the hits and the venue offers some great seat options, great prices and a spectacular view of the Poconos. 

J.D Malone and Tommy Geddes.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

6. J.D Malone and the Experts — Steel City Coffeehouse/Phoenixville, PA — (March 16) — Intimate venue, high-energy show where the artists come out and greet the fans personally before the show. Another full night of entertaining music for the ticket price by another Philadelphia-area artist. J.D’s songwriting is undeniably wonderful and he always looks like he’s enjoying himself up there on stage. That’s contagious for the audience and it returns the love. 

Left to right, Elliot Lurie of Looking Glass, Peter Beckett of Player and John Ford Coley.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

5. Rock the Yacht, featuring Elliot Lurie of Looking Glass, Peter Beckett of Player, Ambrosia, John Ford Coley and Walter Egan/The Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ — (Aug. 23) — A very yacht rocky lineup of many of my favorite artists of the 1970s. They all still sound great and we had great seats at a reasonable price. In addition to the show, a highlight of the evening was before the show, where we had the opportunity to meet and have dinner with Elliot Lurie, who wrote “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl),” one of the most iconic songs of the 1970s. A personable and friendly gent, I had interviewed Elliot for “The Vinyl Dialogues Volume IV: From Studio to Stylus” after connecting with him on Facebook. It was a thrill for me to meet the guy who wrote one of the songs to the soundtrack of my life. After that, the concert was gravy.

Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith of The Monkees.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

4. The Monkees — Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA — (March 6) — There’s only two of them left — Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith — but they still sounded like The Monkees. This was a rescheduled show from 2018 when Nesmsith fell ill on the stage of the Keswick during sound check and eventually needed heart surgery. But the duo put on a great show and gave us a little slice of our childhood back for one evening.

Daryl Hall and John Oates.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

3. Daryl Hall and John Oates — Allentown Fairgrounds, Allentown, PA — (Sept. 1) — This show could have been ranked lower because I’ve seen them so many times, but it’s not because Hall & Oates are just that damn good. An outdoor show on wooden chairs at a fairgrounds can present some challenges, but the weather held. Allentown is close enough to home turf for Daryl and John, and they always seem to be comfortable on their home field. We’ve seen this show many times, and it’s always ridiculously solid. The band is tight, tight, tight. The catalog of hits is undeniable. There have been times when I’ve hoped for some deeper cuts in the setlist, but John has told me in more than one interview that they feel obligated to the fans to play the hits. These guys are as good now as they ever were and we’re lucky that they’re still out there sharing their music with us.

2. Lionel Richie, Hard Rock Cafe, Atlantic City, NJ — (March 23) — This high ranking shows just how good a showman, entertainer and singer Lionel Richie is because I absolutely dislike this venue. The room is just full of bad angles, many of the seats are too far from the stage and it has a no-photos policy, which will always rub me the wrong way. But Richie can sing, he’s so personable on stage, and there’s no denying the great catalog of music. This is one where I wish I would have been sitting closer but the ticket prices were prohibitive for those seats. I’d go see him again in a heartbeat.

Little Steven Van Zandt and the Disciples of Soul.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

1. Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul — Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA — (July 20) — All the stars lined up perfectly for this show, which is why is takes the top spot. I went by myself, which isn’t my preference, but I got a ticket for $79.50 right in the front row. The Disciples of Soul rocked the house, Little Steven was all Little Steven and more, I love his music and I was in the catbird seat for photos, which Stevie himself encourages people to take. There’s always that slight chance that Bruce Springsteen is going to show up unannounced at an East Coast Steveie show, but that didn’t happen at this one. At one point Stevie stuck the mic in my face so I could sing a little — not a really good idea — but I wasn’t familiar enough with the lyrics of the song, so I shit down my leg and had to mush-mouthed it. He looked at me like, WTF man. But it was a tremendous amount of fun and I got some outstanding photos. If the opportunity presents itself, always sit in the front row when you can. 

It’s still easy to celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music with Three Dog Night

Danny Hutton, left, co-founding member of Three Dog Night, belts out one of the band's classic hits Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, at American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA, while bandmate David Morgan looks on. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Danny Hutton, left, co-founding member of Three Dog Night, belts out one of the band’s classic hits Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, at American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA, while bandmate David Morgan looks on.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

When I was a teenager in the mid-1970s, there were three songs I played over and over: “Sister Golden Hair” by America, “China Grove” by the Doobie Brothers, and “An Old Fashioned Love Song” by Three Dog Night.

Not surprisingly, those three bands have always been — and remain to this day — among my favorite bands. I still turn those songs up when they come on the radio.

And although I’ve seen America and the Doobie Brothers live several times, I’d never seen Three Dog Night in person, until this past weekend.

After 52 years — Three Dog Night formed in 1967 with founding members Cory Wells, Chuck Negron and Danny Hutton on lead vocals; Jimmy Greenspoon on keyboards; Joe Schermie on bass; Michael Allsup on guitar; and Floyd Sneed on drums — time has taken it toll. Wells, Greenspoon and Schermie have died; Sneed has retired from public performing; and Negron has been a solo act since 1986 and has appeared in recent years on the Happy Together tour.

That leaves Hutton and Allsup to carry on the legacy of Three Dog Night. And admittedly, I had wondered if those two founding members, along with the band members they added to form the current version of Three Dog Night, could pull it off and take me back to those teenage years with those wonderful songs.

It seemed to me that it was possible that today’s Three Dog Night could be a few dogs short.

I am happy to report that is not the case. Three Dog Night sounds just like it did on all those great records they made from 1968 to 1976. The “new” guys — David Morgan on vocals, Paul Kingery on bass and vocals; Pat Bautz on drums; and Howard Laravea on drums — complement Hutton and Allsup quite nicely.

I was interested to see what lead vocals Hutton would take on. He had sung lead on “Liar,” a No. 7 hit in 1971; and “Black and White,” which was No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart in 1972.

On Sunday, Sept. 22, at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA, Hutton stayed in his familiar lane, although he did pick up the lead on “An Old Fashioned Love Song,” one on which he had originally been targeted to share lead vocals with Negron. But it didn’t work out that way.

According to interviews that I did with Hutton for The Vinyl Dialogues, by the middle of 1971, things were really crazy for Three Dog Night. 

Michael Allsup, original guitarist for Three Dog Night, leans into his guitar at Sunday night's show. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Michael Allsup, original guitarist for Three Dog Night, leans into his guitar at Sunday night’s show.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

The two studio albums the band released in 1970 had done well. “It Ain’t Easy,” which would make to to No. 8 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, featured two Top 20 hits, “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” a cover of a Randy Newman song he had originally written for Eric Burdon’s (vocalist for the Animals) first solo album in 1966, with Wells on lead vocals, that got to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart; and “Out in the Country,” written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, which peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and No. 15 on the Hot 100 singles chart. 

And “Naturally” would continue the string of hit albums, making it to No. 14 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on the strength of another No. 1 single, “Joy to the World,” written by Hoyt Axton; “Liar,” written by Russ Ballard, which made it to No. 7 on the Hot 100 singles chart; and “One Man Band,” written by Billy Fox, Tommy Kaye and January Tyme, which checked in at No. 19 on the Hot 100 singles chart.

And now it was time to get back into the studio and work on the next album, titled “Harmony.”

“Just when we started ‘Harmony,’ out of nowhere, ‘Joy to the World’ took off like a rocket,” said Hutton. “It was six weeks at No. 1. It was crazy. We thought it was some fluke the first week and then it just stayed there forever. And before that song went back down the charts, then ‘Liar’ became a hit. All of a sudden it was a crazy period.”

In mid-1971, between “Naturally” and “Harmony,” the band released the album “Golden Bisquits,” a compilation of hits from the band’s first four studio albums.

But the groundwork laid with “Naturally” provided a fertile environment for the band to kick it up a notch in the creativity department for “Harmony.”

“When we talked about doing the [Harmony] album, we talked about that. It was time to kind of expand and just really get into way more intricate tracks, not just be limited by being a four-piece band so we could do everything live. We said let’s just get crazy and creative,” said Hutton.

So that was the plan for “Harmony” when it came to production and arrangements — crazy and creative.

Harmony,” released in late December 1971, featured two songs that cracked the Top 10, “An Old Fashioned Love Song,” another Paul Williams-penned tune with Negron on lead vocals, which charted at No. 4; and “Never Been to Spain,” another Hoyt Axton-written song, which charted at No. 5, with Wells on lead. 

The two remaining original members of Three Dog Night, Michael Allsup, left, and Danny Hutton. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

The two remaining original members of Three Dog Night, Michael Allsup, left, and Danny Hutton.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

On the strength of those two songs — and “The Family of Man,” written by Williams and Jack Conrad, which just missed being a third Top 10 hit, checking in at No. 12 — the album itself reached No. 8 on the charts.

The band members had a feeling that “An Old Fashioned Love Song” was going to be a hit.

“As you well know, there is my version, somebody else’s version, and then the truth,” said Hutton. “What I remember about that song is that we’d have these listening sessions with a bunch of demos. And that was one we heard and all went, ‘Yeah, that’s cool.’”

Hutton recalls that he had to leave town at one point during the recording sessions for “Harmony,” and when he returned, Negron had finished recording the lead vocals for “An Old Fashioned Love Song.”

“Originally what I remember was that Chuck and I were going to take turns singing leads on verses. But I came back and Chuck had done all the verses. He said, ‘Oops, you weren’t here, man. I think it works better with just me.’ But we didn’t have the outtro for that song. So I arranged that part,” said Hutton.

It wasn’t a surprise to Hutton that “An Old Fashioned Love Song” hit big. Songwriter Williams had been on a roll in the early 1970s, having written hit singles for the Carpenters — “We’ve Only Just Begun” in 1970 and “Rainy Days and Mondays” in 1971.

“Paul Williams at the time was so hot with the Carpenters, so that didn’t hurt when the deejays looked at the album and saw his name on the song, they went, ‘Whoa, let’s check this out,’” said Hutton. “We wanted to be a rock band. But once in a while you do something like that and it’s like, ‘Oh my God.’”

Negron’s version of the story isn’t much different.

“When I heard ‘An Old Fashioned Love Song,’ the publishers weren’t really that hot on it because they had Paul Williams writing with different people and he was very successful,” said Negron. “This was the first time he had written by himself.

“So I said, ‘Play it for me, I want to hear it.’ I heard it and I said, ‘Hey, this is a good song.’ And I recorded the lead vocals.”

Hearing Hutton finally get the lead on “An Old Fashioned Love Song” some 48 years after it was recorded didn’t diminish one of my favorite songs at all. And as a shoutout to the current version of the group, the members did an a cappella version of a new song during the encore called “Prayer of the Children” that was absolutely incredible. 

By the time we got to the last song of the evening — “Joy to the World” — I had made my way down to the stage. Even after all these years and a different lineup, it was still quite easy to celebrate, celebrate . . . dance to the music.

From left to right, David Morgan, Michael Allsup and Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

From left to right, David Morgan, Michael Allsup and Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

Search for elusive vinyl ends with a deflating ‘Conrad’ moment

The album "The Morning After," by Maureen McGovern, was released in 1973.

The album “The Morning After,” by Maureen McGovern, was released in 1973.

One of the enjoyable aspects of starting a vinyl collection well into adulthood is the thrill of the hunt. That is, as long as some jamoke named Conrad doesn’t mess up the experience.

I like to go to the various used records stores in my part of the world – suburban Philadelphia – and spend some time rummaging through the endless discount bins for certain albums. Usually, I’m looking for an album that I’m writing about, either one that appeared in The Vinyl Dialogues or one that’s going to be featured in The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II.

It’s a relaxing way to kill and hour or two on the weekend, if one has the patience – as well as a good back and legs – to stand there and sift through album after album looking for that buried treasure.

On my most recent excursion, I was searching for the 1973 album “The

This album used to belong to somebody named "Conrad," who felt it necessary more than 40 years ago to sign it.

This album used to belong to somebody named “Conrad,” who felt it necessary more than 40 years ago to sign it.

Morning After” by Maureen McGovern. I had interviewed Ms. McGovern for an upcoming show she was doing in New Hope, PA, and during that interview, I gathered enough of her recollections to make a chapter about the album for The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II.

So off I went to The Rock Shop in Plymouth Meeting, PA, which has a nice selection at reasonable prices. Another thing I like about going to used record stores is that – to nobody’s surprise – there’s usually a turntable playing records, which provides a soundtrack for the search. On this day, the classic album of choice was “Before the Flood,” by Bob Dylan and The Band, a live album recorded during a 1974 American tour.

That’s a really good choice for perusing vinyl.

I went through bins of records for an hour-and-a-half. Among those I pulled out was one that I hadn’t yet found from The Vinyl Dialogues, “Tarkio” by Brewer and Shipley from 1970; two from Hall & Oates, “Along the Red Ledge (1978) and “X-Static” (1979); two from America, “Heart” (1975) and “Hideaway” (1976); “Golden Bisquits” by Three Dog Night (1971); and “Whistling Down the Wire” by David Crosby and Graham Nash (1976).

Even though I found albums from just about every female singer-songwriter of the 1970s – Carole King, Carly Simon, Janis Ian, Phoebe Snow, Linda Ronstadt, to name a few – I didn’t find Maureen McGovern’s “The Morning After.
I was just about ready to call it a day, when in the last row of records I was searching, nearly at the back, there it was! “The Morning After” by Maureen McGovern.

It was indeed like finding a buried treasure, and I immediately broke into my happy dance, which resembles the Snoopy Happy Dance from the “Peanuts” cartoons, but with much less grace and rhythm. I am not opposed to doing that in front of other record store patrons when I find the elusive vinyl. If anyone were to ask what was wrong to me, I was prepared to tell them that I was just rocking out to Dylan and The Band.

Once that moment of finding the proverbial needle in the haystack elation subsides, though, then I usually take a closer look at the record and the album cover. Which is what I did this time as well.

This one looked good . . . but, wait. In the upper righthand corner, just above Ms. McGovern’s name, there was another name, this one written in ballpoint pen. It read “Conrad.”

Now it’s not unusual to find records with people’s names on them. There was a time – and I understand this – as kids where we put on name on our most valuable possessions. This album, likely more than 40 years ago, apparently was a prized possession for someone named Conrad.

There is no way for me to know if that is a first name or a last name, but my immediate reaction to finding Conrad’s name on the very album I had been searching for was to seek out the first person named Conrad I could find and punch him right in the nose.

WFT Conrad? Did you not know 40 years ago that someday I would find this record, with the hopes of having it signed by Maureen McGovern?

Of course, that is an unreasonable reaction. But it did take a bit of the steam out of the Snoopy Happy Dance once I came to my senses.

I bought the record anyway. One never knows how long the search would have continued to find the album again. This is one is in pretty decent shape, and will look cool once it’s signed by Ms. McGovern.

That will be the second autograph on the album. Thanks, Conrad.

Grand Funk’s Mark Farner rocks the ‘Happy Together’ lineup

Mark Farner, former lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Grand Funk Railroad, is still rockin' on the 2014 Happy together tour.

Mark Farner, former lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Grand Funk Railroad, is still rockin’ on the 2014 Happy together tour.

Howard Kaylan admitted on stage Tuesday night at the Keswick Theatre that the Turtles used to be a drug band. And he added that more than 40 years later, they still are.

It’s just that now, the drugs aren’t cocaine and marijuana, they’re Lipitor and Viagra.

Bada-boom!

Mark Volman, left, and Howard Kaylan of The Turtles anchor the 2014 Happy Together Tour.

Mark Volman, left, and Howard Kaylan of The Turtles anchor the 2014 Happy Together Tour.

Old-age jokes worked with the packed house on June 24, 2014, in Glenside, PA, because most of us are old now. We’re not ancient, just seasoned. Classic may be a better word. And by the way, we had the best music, you young whippersnappers.

Kaylan, longtime front man for the Happy Together tour, and his Turtles partner Mark Volman, who went on to become Flo & Eddie after the Turtles disbanded in 1970, have been doing the Happy Together gig now for several years. They first started it in the mid-1980s, took some time off, and then revised the idea again in 2010. At one time, the Happy Together tour had 15 stops across the country. This year, the artists will do more than 60 shows, according to Kaylan.

Joining Flo & Eddie on the tour this year are Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis and the Playboys, mid-1960s pop star; Detroit’s own Mitch Ryder and his soulful ’60s sound; Mark Farner, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Grand Funk Railroad in the early 1970s; and Chuck Negron, formerly of ’70s’ hitmakers Three Dog Night.

Interviews with Kaylan and Negron are featured in “The Vinyl Dialogues.” Kaylan was a particularly good interview, detailing the southern California music scene in the early 1970s for the chapter on Flo & Eddie.

Collectively, we may be too old to rush the stage anymore – nobody wants to see anybody break a hip – but that doesn’t mean we can’t still rock out. In fact, the crowd was able to stand through the entire three minutes or so of the tour’s namesake song, “Happy Together,” which was the Turtles’ only No. 1 single and in fact knocked the Beatles’ “Penny Lane” out of the Billboard Hot 100 top spot, staying at No. 1 for three weeks in 1967.

I love Gary Lewis’ hits, most notably the No. 1 “This Diamond Ring,” the No. 3 “She’s Just My Style,” and the No. 4 “Everybody Loves a Clown,” all from 1965. That was a good year to be Gary Lewis. And he still does a good job with those songs today.

Mitch Ryder’s music never much appealed to me, although I do like one of his songs, his No. 4 hit from 1966, “Devil With A Blue Dress On.” Ryder was, however, entertaining in his between-song banter and was engaging with the crowd. At one point, he even sold the fact that former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman was in the audience, but it was all a ruse to set up a joke.

Three Dog Night has always been one of my favorite bands from the 1970s, and Negron can still sing, although he did not perform my favorite Three Dog Night tune, “An Old-fashioned Love Song.” He was also gracious enough to give a shoutout to his former bandmates Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, Jimmy Greenspoon, the late Joe Schermie, Mike Allsup and Floyd Sneed. Why Negron, Hutton and Wells – the core lead singers for Three Dog Night during the band’s heyday, don’t tour together now is anyone’s guess. Certainly there is history there, but if the Beach Boys can reunite for an anniversary tour, maybe Three Dog Night can as well.

But the highlight of the show for me was Grand Funk Railroad’s Farner. He’s still got rock star written all over him. His voice is still strong, the guitar playing is still excellent and his stage presence – complete with Mick Jagger-esque prancing – is still entertaining.

After the show, Farner even took some time to sign autographs for a couple of dozen fans or so outside the theater. Volman also came out to interact with fans. There was no sign of Kaylan, although I didn’t hang around for more than 20 minutes. He may have eventually come out. Negron, Ryder and Lewis were all escorted to a waiting van by security and didn’t interact with the fans.

It was an entertaining show. The fact that I got through it without breaking a hip was gravy.

A special kiss, courtesy of Three Dog Night

The only known picture to exist of Mike and Sue as members of the prom court at the 1976 junior/senior prom at Pekin Community High School.

The only known picture to exist of Mike and Sue as members of the prom court at the 1976 junior/senior prom at Pekin Community High School.

It wasn’t my first kiss, but it was a special kiss.

In the spring of 1976, I was the 17-year-old president of the junior class at Pekin Community High School in central Illinois.

One of my “duties” — in addition to running around being a teenage goof-off — was to help plan the junior-senior prom.
For the record, I was much better at goofing off than I was at planning a prom.

Three Dog Night had split up by 1976 but I was still a big fan in those days, despite having never had the chance to see the band perform in concert.

My big contribution to the prom that year was pushing for “An Old Fashioned Love Song” — written by Paul Williams and made into a hit by Three Dog Night — to be the theme of the dance. As class president with hip Elvis sideburns and a puka shell necklace, I apparently exhibited enough charm with the female members of the prom committee to get my wish on the prom theme.

I was also fortunate to have been elected to the prom court that year — a goof-off with Elvis sideburns who wore a puka shell necklace apparently also held some sway with the voting block of students — and it was as a member of the prom court that provided the backdrop for the unexpected and special kiss.

My escort for the prom court introductions was Sue Brown. As we waited to be introduced to the student body that evening, Sue and I stood there, her arm in mine, and our eyes met.

And we kissed. It was more than a peck, but it wasn’t a passionate kiss, it wasn’t a long kiss. Sue didn’t happen to be my date for the evening — oops — but I sure do remember that kiss, even all these years later. It happened just as “An Old Fashioned Love Song” began to play on the school sound system to kick off the prom court introductions.

I saw Sue Brown — she’s married now with a different last name — only once in the next 38 years. She happened to be a teacher at the elementary school that my niece and nephew attended and we sat together at a basketball game and chit-chatted for a bit.

The prom night kiss from years earlier never came up.

In 2012, I published my first book, “Dancing in My Underwear: The Soundtrack of My Life,” a memoir about growing up with the music of the 1960s and 1970s, and I planned a book signing event in my hometown of Pekin, Illinois.

A few weeks before the event, during a phone call with my sister Casey, she told me that she had seen Sue at the grocery store and had invited her to the event. Sue said she would attend.

“Hey, Sue Brown is going to be at the book-signing event in Pekin,” I said to my wife, who had heard the prom night story and was familiar with the particulars. “You know, if she shows up, I’m going to have to kiss her.”

My wife’s reaction was predictable: “I don’t think so, pal.”

The book-signing event went off without a hitch, with one exception: Sue Brown was a no-show.

But every time I hear Three Dog Night’s “An Old Fashioned Love Song,” it takes me back to that evening of the junior prom in 1976, back to standing next to Sue Brown, styling and profiling in that powder blue tuxedo and felt bow tie that I was sporting, right to that moment when our lips met and created a personal teenage memory that I’ll never forget.

“An Old Fashioned Love Song” was indeed “one I’m sure they wrote for you and me.”

Or at least for Sue Brown and me.

 

 

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