The great classic
“THE other evening, my wife and I had a date night at home. So we decided to listen to some really old classics such as, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by The Platters, Bring It On Home by Sam Cooke and quite a few other golden relics from the good old days. It was a delightful waltz down memory lane where she played nostalgic numbers by Connie Francis, Conway Twitty and so many other iconic hit makers of that fabulous era. We danced for as long as our legs would let us. Then when she played a few newer songs such as Forever Jones titled, Hallelujah, it blew me away. We both closed our eyes and allowed the powerful presence to gently embrace us and refresh our soul. Straight after came Singing in My Soul, a beautiful piece by Liz Wright. For a moment, it felt like we were in a church worship session. Playing these spectacular songs triggered wonderful memories of yesteryear.
Growing up, we had this beat-up old record player that we used for playing everything from Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley, Wilson Pickett and Ella Fitzgerald. When we had our fill, our parents would play their Strauss waltzes and dance cheek-tocheek in the living room. It was weird watching the two of them because they looked like they were lost in a world of their own. And they seemed oblivious of us sitting there and chuckling half embarrassed as the two old fuddy duddies smooched on the dance floor. They were far from old but they appeared old to our young innocent eyes at the time. Funny thing is, now we do the same in our music room. And I have a quiet chuckle thinking how time has a way of reversing positions and perspectives. In those days, all we had for entertainment was a rickety old record player and the radio. We’d be glued to the radio on a Saturday night listening to Hugh Leonard weave his magic with that velvet-smooth voice everyone loved.
He had such a delightful way of introducing the top 10 songs in the local Hit Parade. Or we’d listen to one of the great radio plays during weeknights. Then when the cassette player landed, boom, everything changed in a heartbeat. It launched a whole new entertainment revolution. The cassette player was portable and was able to operate on batteries. So the portability allowed us to take our entertainment everywhere. Sometimes we’d sit under a tree with friends and enjoy a good mix then wash it down with Fiji’s finest brew while listening to our favourite music. In those days, there was no such thing as Spotify or a hundred different ways of listening to our favourite music. As we were enjoying our evening together, I told my wife that I would happily employ her as a DJ if I was going to have a party because her song choices are amazing.
Probably like her late dad and mum, she definitely has an ear for music. Our youngest son, who’s a DJ, introduced her to Spotify. And now she’s able to search different song genres and compile her own playlists. She’s become pretty cluey with the technology, especially for a senior citizen. And I absolutely love her selection. Every now and again, she’ll ask my opinion on whether a particular song she’s chosen fits the mood for what she’s putting together. But most times, I’m stoked with her choices. And she absolutely loves doing it, which makes all the difference. I don’t have the patience or the inclination to do what she does. Nevertheless, I enjoy discussing her song choices. Date nights and times together in a relationship, I’ve discovered, are vital for keeping the fires burning to keep “boring” and “stagnation” at bay.
Because all too often, some of us guys can become a little lazy feeling we’ve won the prize, so why bother with romancing the marama. I must admit that I’ve been there. But thankfully, I was reminded to rekindle the romance some time ago and we’ve done that. Most times we’ll enjoy dinner dates at a nice restaurant or go to a movie together. Every now and again, we might enjoy a live concert as we did early this year when I hit that magical 70 mark. Our youngest son bought us tickets to see George Benson live at the iconic Palais Theatre, one of the great venues here in Melbourne. And what a thrilling concert it turned out to be. Our city’s blessed with the most amazing variety of restaurants and concert venues anywhere in the world. And it’s partly because of the diverse cultures that call Melbourne home. There are a thousand different things to do and to go to on any given day in this great city which provides a plethora of choices for everyone, including children.
Melbourne’s very much a family city. One of the things we’ve come to appreciate about our town is, Melbourne’s weather is totally inconsistent. We can have four seasons in a day or sometimes in the space of an hour. Instead of getting het up about it, we’ve learned not to allow our wayward weather patterns to determine our choices about going out and doing things. The weather’s actually made us more resilient. So we just dress up appropriately and choof off. Recently, my wife and I drove all the way up to Sydney for our Ulysses band reunion. It was a nine hours drive. We had three pit-stops along the way to break the journey and stretch our legs. Then, after our awesome reunion, we drove another four and a half hours north to near Port Macquarie to spend time with my brother-in-law. After spending two nights with him, we drove about eight hours south and spent a night in picturesque Batemans Bay. Then we spent nearly 11 hours driving all the way back to Melbourne from there. When we arrived home, we were absolutely knackered.
But we felt so very satisfied that we’d made the effort. The reunion was the highlight of our time up north and we got to meet so many familiar faces, some of who’d travelled from NZ, the US and interstate. Seeing so many people we hadn’t seen in years was a joy beyond belief. I don’t think we’ll ever get to do it again in our lifetime because all of the remaining band members are in their 60’s and some in their 70’s. But what’s really inspiring is, that everyone who could make it, came and played their hearts out and we danced the night away listening to Ken Janson, Tom Mawi, Kuki Nayacakakou, George and Manus Knight including so many others who came to help us celebrate. It wasn’t about how well we could play or how perfectly we could hit some of the notes we used to when we were young and spritely. It was about coming together one last time and rocking ourselves silly.
Because that’s what I really believe life’s about. We have to take it by the short and curly and give it a good shake and stop making excuses about being too young, too old, or whatever silly excuse we can think up about not wanting to do something that’s a little uncomfortable or inconvenient. Because at the end of the day, life is always going to be inconvenient, challenging, awkward, annoying, frustrating and any of the hundreds of adjectives you care to think about. I leave you with a quote to not only think about, but to do something positive about changing the things you need to change to start living and enjoying life again with your life partner.
“You can’t cross the sea by merely standing and staring at the water!” – Rabindranath Tagore.
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