I was in my favorite local record store very recently, when I heard coming out of the store’s sound system the song "Don’t Talk To Strangers". Not the original version by The Beau Brummels, but a version by a band whose sound was familiar to me, but that I couldn’t quite identify. I went up to the counter to see who it was, and learned the song is on the most recent album by a favorite of mine, The Flamin’ Groovies. I also learned the album had been put on by a young female employee, in her maybe mid-20’s. I was astounded someone that young would not only have heard of them, but also presumably liked them.
I asked her how on Earth she knew of them, and she told me her band had opened for them on their last trip through Portland (Oregon), and that she had loved them for quite a while. I asked if she played guitar (everybody wants to be the guitarist in the band, right?), and was informed she is, in her own words, "a Classically trained pianist." I quipped, "Ah, slumming, ay?". Her laugh told me she was my kinda girl. Too bad I’m not a boy. ;-)
Anyway, the fact that The Groovies are still at it, and that another Bay Area group---The Rubinoos, one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen live---have a brand new album is heartening to me. Yeah, a lot of new music is not to my liking, but that there is new music being made which appeals to both a mid-20’s young woman and a sixty-nine year old man keeps hope alive.
