RSD Countdown: For Every Kiss You Give Me, I'll Give You Three

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We're kickin' off our countdown to Record Store Day with a dreamy post by my knit+crochet confidante and all-around lovely lady Leslie Tolbert! Doo-wap down to the malt shop and enjoy!

I've been really stuck on 50' and 60's doo-wop bubblegum rockabilly country pop music lately.  My infatuation began at an underground soiree in Manhattan when The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" came swimming out the speakers.  In seconds I went from a 21st century19 year-old girl in a powdered, smokey, neon-lit, bass-powered basement to a cherry in a boat-neck pleated polka dot dress swaying and shimmying with the hunk from across the diner I shared a milkshake with earlier; his maraschino cherry kiss still on my lips.

The nostalgia of it takes me on such a great escape. There's a purity to it that no other era of music seems to evoke. Nothing can touch The Ronettes-- The Four Tops, Skeeter Davis, Bobby Darin, Bobby Vinton, The Cleftones, The Murmaids, Dion and the Belmonts, Roy Orbison, The Shirelles, Patsy Cline... I love where they all take me to. I'm slouching on a young boy’s shoulders as we scuff around the floor in front of the jukebox with my kitten heels, beehive hair and a-line dress.  You know what else is fabulous about this age of music? It gave birth to THE TWIST. Variations of the twist have always been one of my favorite things to dance; my go-to move. The twist can go with anything. You can even twist with P Diddy. Try it. You'll love it.

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I think I feel drawn to the time period because it always seemed, to me, to be a time of rapid transition that was kept alive by a hodpodge of trends and happenings, yet still had such a strong voice-- regardless of the fact that there were so many powerful ones belting out.  I feel very much like that right now in my life.  A collaged young woman in her twenties belting out every beautiful song she can sing until one hits the Top 40 list and strikes platinum. Gosh, reading up on some quick timeline tidbits from the 60's... Hitchcock, Elvis, Tylenol, Hemmingway commits suicide, SOUL (thank the lord for James Brown and Sam Cooke some days...), Breakfast at Tiffany's, them damn Soviets, the Ford Mustang, hippies...it goes on and on!

One of my favorite music quotes is from the brilliant psychologist, Oliver Sacks: “Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more - it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.”  Music is my time machine, my cardiotocograph, the hidden kiss in the corner of my lips, the sway and dip in my slender hips, my megaphone of memories, my diaphragmatic diary; without music, my world would be at half mute.

I leave you with this YouTube playlist.  Hop in your '56 Mint Cadillac Convertible, top down, chrome dash sparkling in your newly polished wayfarers, sunlight bouncing off your skin as you take a weekend va-ca to the beach with your handome hubby/darling doll.

Thanks for sharing your nostalgic music lovelist Leslie!  

“Moonlit strolls?? Fancy pants dinners?? No thanks, I would prefer to fall in love in the aisle of an independent record shop. See you there... - Bryan Garza (Scissors For Lefty)