It was February 1964 and as was the family tradition we were watching the Ed Sullivan Show, a Sunday evening television variety show that ran on CBS from 1948 into 1971. That evening the BIG event was the first live television appearance of the Beatles. The nation was in the grip of “Beatlemania.” At the end of their performance, my father solemnly announced” “that’s not music, it is just a bunch of noise.” I think we were referred to the true musical offerings of Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, either of the Dorsey brothers, Diana Shore, Doris Day and some others. Like so many in the greatest generation the 1960s were confusing times as he watched the country enter a period of cultural and civil unrest. Everything was changing. More than once he lamented that if the world would stop, he might just get off. Continue reading →