18. Give A Kid The Gift Of Music

Later, in the Summer of 1966, my dad's brother Gene Gary Poe and my dad's mother came to visit us in Bethesda, Maryland where we lived. Gary - shown here in his uniform - had just gotten out of the army after being stationed in Germany (he later did a tour of duty in Korea in the 1970's). He was 10 years younger than my dad and he had also gotten bitten by the music bug, playing bass in some bands with his army buddies while over in Germany. Gary also had great taste in music and a pretty comprehensive collection of singles from the era.

When Uncle Gary came to visit, he gave me some of the singles he had collected in Germany. One was "All Day And All Of The Night" by The Kinks, on the Pye record label. I played that single over and over and I also made a lifesize cardboard guitar to jump around with. One day during his visit we took a bus to downtown Bethesda, had lunch and went record shopping. He bought The Kinks' new single "Sunny Afternoon", which just seemed to make the day perfect. Many's the happy hour I've spent with The Kinks music since then and hearing "Sunny Afternoon" always transports me back to that simpler time and place...