If You Could Go Back to the 60’s …Part Two

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By Groovy Reflections Team Members, Pete, Maria, and Guy


For part one, click here.


Time to hear from the rest of the team, and then we have a special surprise, for you.

Pete: I would want my time machine to take me back to January, 1961 and let me have a front row seat to the greatest historical event in rock and roll history - the birth of the Beatles and the British Invasion.


I'd want to follow the fab four to Germany as they played the hot clubs of Hamburg. Then I would ride along with the "boys" as they returned to Liverpool and played their gigs in the local club scene there including their legendary gigs at the Cavern Club. 


I'd be there when they first hooked up with Manager Brian Epstein, signing with EMI/Parlophone and their first encounters with producer George Martin. I'd be at the London Palladium in late 1963 when John told the rich folk in the audience to just "rattle yer jewelry!" 


As the Beatles made their way across the Atlantic to America and the beginning of full blown international Beatlemania, I would spend my time travelling the English countryside "discovering" the sounds of the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers and so many others. I would be there as London became the fashion mecca of the world. And I would buy up as many collectables as my time machine would allow me to take as I made my way back to 2012. Alas, I would die a very happy man!!

Maria: I was born in 1969 and very much cherish that year because it was the year of “Woodstock”. I would have loved to be old enough to be there and enjoy the music. I watch videos today and it just emanates peace and caring from a group of people that don’t even know each other. 


Music consumes the soul, comforts the heart and maybe even makes us cry. But the general cause was there and the emotion of peace filled the air with the music of souls who were very insightful and they did it wholeheartedly without malice. I would have loved to be part of this amazing peace rally because I feel for the world and I see what these people had in their hearts and soul. 


Peace and love can happen and it was proven on those three days with 600,000 people in very close quarters. No one judged and no one hated. They were all there for one purpose: Peace and love. So if that many people could so love then in that time era, I don’t see why they couldn’t now. I wish you all peace love and light. Embrace the music and feel because you can.

Guy: They all sound appealing. As funny as this is going to sound, my least favorite would be Woodstock, mostly because there was so much rain while it was going on. My wife and I are both OK with rain as long as we don't have to be stuck out in it.


I chose The Summer of Love because of the novelty. All these artists I was already familiar with plus the new ones singing about peace and love. At the age of 13 I decided, and haven't wavered from that one iota since, that those were the things that were important in life. John Phillips and Scott McKenzie said it all with the song San Francisco. And I'd love to go to the Monterey Fair because as Art Garfunkel said, that was the "first one."


And the results from the GRoovy poll are:

Well over one-third of you wanted to hear GRoovy music and dance in the rain! Maybe this calls for Woodstock Fifty Years Past in 2019? Ah, but that can be another poll question some other time. Hope you enjoyed the trip back. 


Did you know? We give away an original Groovy Reflections tee every time we reach 500 new fans on Facebook. If you can't wait, they're available on our site as well as our hand dyed tees ($3 to help those in Kentucky from the sale of each limited edition tee) ....FAR OUT! www.groovyreflections.com

If You Could Go Back to the 60’s …Part One

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By Groovy Reflections Team Members Gerry, Paul, and Joe

Recently, we asked fans and followers of Groovy Reflections “If you had a time machine and could go back to one of these times, but only one, which would you choose? The four choices were:

• Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco and the 1967 Summer of Love

• 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair

• The Village, Lower Manhattan NYC During Folk’s Heyday: Dylan, Guthrie, etc.

• Cavern Club, Liverpool and Carnaby Street, London in the “Swinging 60’s”

Our Groovy Reflections team thought about it too and here’s what three of the team members said:

Gerry: Are you a dedicated follower of fashion?

It was a VERY close choice between the Summer of Love and Carnaby Street, but MOD won out for me as I envisioned shopping at Mary Quant and hanging out with people resembling members of the Small Faces. The mini-skirt made a bold statement in fashion and independence; you had to be downright groovy to wear one.

I was too young to properly participate in any of the choices in the poll, but the thought of being transported to Swingin’ 60’s London just for a short time...oh yeah! The fashion, the music, and the accents! Would the Brits laugh at me when I say “kawfee”…oh wait, tea is the drink of choice.

Paul: The Village. I’m a folkie that loves music and words that come from the heart: Music that speaks not only to the people but is ABOUT the people. Folk music tells a story, sometimes happy, often sad. In the words of Phil Ochs, “there but for fortune, go you or I”, and as Pete Seeger said, “there are many kinds of folk music, go to China and there’s Chinese folk music, Russia and Russian folk music, there’s as many kinds of folk music as there are folks”.

I love a good story and just can’t imagine wandering into places like Gerde’s Folk City, The Bitter End, and the Village Gate and hearing people like Arlo Guthrie, Odetta, Bob Dylan and Tom Paxton playing their latest tunes for nothing more than pocket change when the “hat” was passed.

Imagine hanging at Dave Van Ronk’s apartment while folks like Joan Baez, Richard Farina or Ramblin Jack Elliot show up to critique each others work? You could wander the coffee houses and bars on MacDougal Street or the infamous Bleeker Street and see Peter, Paul and Mary or maybe Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Pass through the Arch at Washington Square Park and hear an impromptu jam session with Tim Hardin or Richie Havens and so many others! I would love a chance to relive the most famous and prolific time in the music of the people, by the people and for the people!

Joe: Hmmmm….I was there. I lived thru the 60’s, starting them as a 7 year old and ending them as a 17 year old. Old enough to see what was going on, too young to participate. Woodstock? Too muddy. San Francisco….pretty cool. The Village? Also cool, but not as cool as LIVERPOOL!!

Watching the baby Beatles grow would be the best use of a time machine for me, out of the four choices given. Keep Carnaby Street, I’ll take The Cavern Club. And while I’m there, I will teach John and Paul a thing or two about songwriting! I’ll tell them to write a song about a day in the life…….And then…………I woke up, fell out of bed…

But wait, there’s more! Click here for part two…

And if you haven’t taken the poll yet, click here.