Feeling Really Old, And Really Stupid.

I just watched a two-hour documentary on PBS about The Dave Clark Five.
I don't know what possessed me to do that, because, as I have indicated previously, my young mind turned off musically right after the Beach Boys.
I was old ahead of my time.
The Beatles was something I tolerated.
The others were just acts that appeared on Ed Sullivan, with girls screaming in the background.
This has led me to develop some mistaken notions about the 60's British invasion.
And watching this documentary has proven to me just how mistaken those notions were.
I thought that as far as history was concerned, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were on the pedestal.
And that everyone else was the Anglicized version of chopped liver.
Through sheer ignorance, I placed The Dave Clark Five on the same level as Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Or even Herman's Hermits, and Freddy and the Dreamers.
They were all "Channel Changers" to me.
If any of them came on TV, I'd immediately get up and change the channel.
And without a remote control, because we didn't have them yet.
And not without a fight, because my sister loved ALL of these groups.
And there was only one TV in the house.
I have certainly since come full circle on The Beatles, but The Dave Clark Five hadn't really entered my head until I watched this documentary.
And what I saw was great musicianship, great singing, and great songs that I knew and liked a lot, but didn't know that they were the ones who had sung them.
Such as:

"Glad All Over"   "Bits and Pieces"   "Can't You See That She's Mine"   "I Knew It All The Time"
"Because"   "Catch Us If You Can"   "Over and Over"   "Let Me Show You Where It's At"

I only knew a couple of them by their titles.
But I knew ALL of them by hearing them.
And they were all great.
And then there were all those tributes.
By all of those artists who were influenced by them. Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen....
When Springsteen says they were great, you sit up and take notice.
And their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
You won't see no Freddie and the Dreamers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hell, they couldn't even pay their way in.
They were like comets.
And not Bill Haley's.
Here and gone, after only about four years.
By choice. Paul and Mick are still swaggering around the stage, at their advanced ages.
Dave called it quits before the seventies.
Three of them are gone now, so it's only the Dave Clark Two.
That's sad.
I'm really glad I saw this documentary.
Glad all over.
Yes, it made me feel stupid.
But it also enlightened me.
So it also made me feel smarter.

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My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not
e-books. But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one. If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube, and my 4-hour interview at the Television Academy's Emmy TV Legends Website.
Here's the link:  www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/mark-rothman

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