It’s a Foul Wind, Indeed, That Blows No Man Some Good

Many of you regular visitors to Bolognabrain are aware of the trials and tribulations I have been suffering through as of late. Rehabbing my daughter’s new home, a couple of skin cancers removed from my face and my own family moving in to a new home about a week and a half back were enough to have me reminiscing about the Labors of Hercules. Then, last week, while I was leaving beautiful Amelia Island, Florida, after having played for the kids in all the libraries in Nassau County, as I was heading for I-95 and home, someone hit my car in the rear end and my insurance estimator called yesterday and told me the car was a total loss.


So where is all the good news in this epic?

I have yet to replace my car while I wait to see how much my insurance company values my former “ride,” so I have been using the cars of my wife, daughter, and mother-in-law.

My wife has a pretty cool PT Cruiser convertible, my mother-in-law has her conservative Toyota Camry, and my daughter has the obligatory SUV to haul the little one and all her trappings around. It’s a KIA Something or Other. So today I have the daughters KIA Something or Other and I’m looking around for some interesting CD from her collection to listen to. You may recall I’ve turned my back on radio. My daughter has her Master’s Degree in Theater from The Savannah College of Art and Design and has, what I consider to be, pretty good taste in music. After all, she’s my kid. I listened to You’re a Good Man Charley Brown. I’ve never seen the show and we talked about it for a while. I liked the music, thought the lyrics were too fast and jumbled and way too sophisticated for kids. Maybe I missed something, but it didn’t knock me out. Later in the day, I had her car again while I ran some errands and while fiddling through her CD collection, I ran across The Mommas and Poppas Greatest Hits. GOLD MINE!!! I hadn’t heard them in a long time and within seconds, I was singing at the top of my lungs, one great song after another. All the leaves are brown…, Monday, Monday, Words of Love, I Call Your Name, the autobiographical Creeque Alley, not to mention great covers of Twist and Shout, Do You Wanna Dance and Dancing in the Streets. The harmonies and arrangements were just great. Momma Cass had one of the best voices ever; another giant (no pun intended) silenced before her time. John Phillips, never mind the rumors or what might or might not have been going on with his kids, was a great lyricist and arranger and created a sound that was totally unique in a musical era when totally unique was re-defined on a daily basis. Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty filled out the quartet, but John and Cass were the driving force. It is music that should be re-visited and honored for what it was. Some music is just too good to be forgotten. The Mommas and the Poppas are one of those groups.