Winter-2022

A n eight hour drive was worth it to experience Chicago. Not the city, the band. And call me crazy, but it was our second time seeing them in twelve days. Soon after we trekked to Las Vegas for fewer than 24-hours to hear a man in his late 70s with spiky hair ask if we think he’s sexy, we went back to Vegas again to hear another senior citizen with outrageous eyeglasses sing about saying goodbye to the yellow brick road—the one where the dogs of society howl.This last year has been enhanced by a rare run of concert-going—specifically seeing classic rock ‘n’ roll bands and solo superstars of the late 1960s and ‘70s. It’s a post-pandemic expression of freedom (and a chunk of my daughter’s inheri- tance spent), but mostly a celebration of being able to experi- ence the original members of some of my favorite bands. From October of 2021 until November of 2022 (when Three Dog Night dominated the Golden State Theater in Monterey!) we saw: The Doobie Brothers twice, The Eagles, Blood Sweat &Tears, Chicago twice, Three Dog Night twice, Rod Stewart, Boz Scaggs, and Elton John. Along the way, we had to give away tickets to The Who and Jefferson Starship. Every band we’ve seen has been performing for more than 50 years. It didn’t start as a game of “how many can we see?” but after a few months of chasing down the people who wrote the soundtrack of our childhoods, it became one for my husband and me. “Another concert?” my dad asked incredulously (and with a tinge of jealousy). “Are you guys dying?” read a text from my stepdaughter. “Nope, just trying to see as many shows as we can while the founders are still alive!” I replied. Yes—founding members still perform with Chicago, The Doobie Brothers and Three Dog Night (lead singer Danny Hutton is 80). Elton and Rod still sound as good, if not better than, the first time I saw them decades ago. In fact, one of my first concerts was Rod Stewart at the Cow Palace (remember that, Bay Area peeps?) in 1977. My husband’s was Chicago at the same venue in ’75. Some genius at the NewYork Times analyzed data to theorize that our favorite music is set in mental stone by our early teens: ages 11 to 14 for girls, and 13 to 16 for guys. As a kid in the 1970s, with young, hip parents, our home was filled with music by the aforementioned bands andTop 40 everything. My favorites seem to have settled into my neural pathways earlier than pubescence.The mind boggling thing for me is that these were my parents’ favorite bands, and are among my 25-year- old daughter’s. She joined us at two shows and would’ve seen them all if she could’ve. She can also attest that The Rolling Stones, despite losing drummer Charlie Watts, were amazing live.They’re celebrating 60 years together. If you’re between, say, 20 and 80, you can sing along, whether you like the music or not. “Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July,” right? “I don’t know anything by Three Dog Night,” one of my best friends said. “Oh, yes you do! How about ‘Joy to the world, all the boys and girls now,’ and almost twenty of their other hits that charted in the Top 40?”That music bonds us, despite our varied eras, with singers crooning, “Whoa oh, listen to the music, all the time,” instead of screaming about body parts or brandishing a weapon—all the time. I’m showing my age. But, remember, pre-internet, discovering that Elton was singing about Marilyn Monroe in “Candle in the Wind?”Or that the mystery behind Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” was about a songwriter working through the night? Me, too. I sat in each concert, mesmerized. A melodic, sentimental string was plucked with each tune:That last car ride as a family before my parents’ final split. That awkward, gooey, lip-gloss- laden kiss at the school dance.The radio, 8-tracks and albums. I’ve been through many music phases in my life, but the origi- nals have stuck, still resonating with me on a cellular level. Like watching a beloved breed headed for extinction, I’m gonna continue the journey on the road to “Shambala” while the originals are still here. I recommend you do, if you can, too. Dina Ruiz is a former news anchor at KSBW TV, past host of “Candid Camera” and has starred on a reality show on the E! Network. She is a writer, editor and yogini. She resides on the Monterey Peninsula with her daughter, Morgan. BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT D I N A R U I Z Elton and Rod still sound as good, if not better than, the first time I saw them decades ago. Whoa Oh, Listen to the Music 50 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 2