In 1964 to about 1968 I began hanging out with a few friends and we started going down to the poolroom about 12 blocks away and we got to meet and make friends there. The room we played in was upstairs and right next to it there was a bowling lanes separated by a wall and there were about maybe 12 tables to use and If I remember, they charged $1.00 an hour per game.

And downstairs there was a food counter where we would get a bite to eat maybe, some fries, soda, mostly and a Jukebox, I can still hear the four seasons on it singing “Lets Hang On! Then at times we would hang outsite just singing the songs of the times like, the Four Seasons, the Beatles, Motown hits like, “My Girl” and many others.

We would go down the poolroom almost every night to play a game or just to hang out other than have band practic at my friends home. Or we played at a dance or backyard party somewhere. It really seems like yestderday when it all happened, over the years we mostly went our own way but I did stay in touch with my friend who played lead guitar in the band we formed.

In 1965 I did save up $60.00 to buy a Pool table and had my brother In-law help me we had to tie it up on the roof of his car and it was bigger then I thought, I had it set up in my bedroom that I shared with my brother, and it took up most of the room Hah! But we didn’t mind because we had fun playing on that table till it wore out!!

Back in 1965 I walked around the block from my house to my friend’s home who was the lead guitar player of our band we started in 64′ and he was in the backyard with a guy I met who was in his brothers band at the time and he came from Texas and man could he play the guitar! he played what is known as “travis picking” he was fast and knew a lot of songs anyway, I brought my guitar along as me and my friend would always practice, so I’m sitting there as he’s picking tunes out on my friends guitar a 61′ Gibson SG Solid body a Beauty! Anyway as he’s playing I had my guitar on my lap and he says try playing along so I’m like are you kidding!

I knew a number of chords at the time so I played along as he called out the chords, about 4 or 5 and it was was fun and we had a great time, little did we know it then but over the next few years he joined a group called “Dr Hook” and played lead gutiar and they had a few songs on the charts one was ” Sylvia’s Mother” and one of the guys in the the group came from the city we lived in at the time.

So I can say I once played along with a guy who was on a record lable and had hits on the charts, they were together a number of years after then I guess they just went thei own way.. Yes I had a great time back then in the backyard playing along with a great guitar player from Texas!

Sears and Roebuck stores were the place to shop when growing as a kid and the place I got my first line of credit in 1968 buying a beautiful wood stereo radio console with a turntable included!

The store in my city had 3 floors with an elevator that took you to living room furniture, bed and bath, electronics, appliances, and the store even had an auto service in back of the store!

I even went there in the 50’s with my Mother to see Santa and give him my list! Sadly Sears had to request bankruptcy in October 2018 and Sears announced on January 16, 2019 that it had won its bankruptcy auction and would shrink and remain open with about 400 stores.