6 / matters magazine / summer 2019 READ & RECYCLE Featuring Local People, Places and Things that Matter Since 1990 Please address all correspondence to: Visual Impact Advertising, Inc.© P.O Box 198 Maplewood, NJ 07040 973-763-4900 mattersmagazine.com info@mattersmagazine.com Matters Magazine© is owned and published by Visual Impact Advertising, Inc., P.O. Box 198 Maplewood, NJ 07040. Matters Magazineisfree,witheditionsdirectmailed seven times a year to the residents of Maple- wood and South Orange and distributed to businesses and surrounding communities totaling 16,000. Subscriptions are available tonon-residentsfor$30(U.S.)$40(Foreign) annually. No part of the publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission from Visual Impact Advertising, Inc. CIRCULATION VERIFIED BY U.S. POSTAL RECEIPTS. ing a ride from a truck driver when I was walking home from buying the record. When I thanked him for picking me up in the midst of a downpour, he said, “Anything for a cute chick.” You can’t unforget that – or my poor judgment for taking the ride to begin with. Of course, I had disappointments, like when I bought Queen’s A Night at the Op- era just to have “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I didn’t like the rest of the album and later sold it to my brother. It was a good buy for him as I heard it through our shared wall along with lots of Pink Floyd and Santana. I attended college in the Chicagoland area and one of the oft-repeated questions from my friends (only the boys for some reason) was whether I liked Bruce Springs- teen. Of course, the answer was yes – I had to represent – and I could prove it with my record collection. That connection got me a ticket to one of his concerts in a small theater. My friend Drew had to camp out to get it. My friends also asked me about Blondie’s Debbie Harry and I liked to share the story about how she babysat for my brother’s friend. I’m not sure it was true, but it sounded like credible insider information. I’d say my musical consumption peaked in my early 30s after spending a lot of time at Kenny’s Castaways, the Bottom Line and the Bitter End. New responsibilities can crowd out interests that seemed untouchable. While I’m still an avid listener, I eventually sold my albums at a garage sale, saving a few that served as milestones in my life. For some reason, I’ve kept my 45s, as well as my first transistor radio, cassette player and various Sony Walkmans – all of them broken. My husband says I’m not sentimental but I beg to differ. My early record collection is like other people’s photo albums, reflecting the styles of times I’ve lived through. And even though I can’t play them, I have no plans to give them up. Matters PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF Ellen Donker ASSOCIATE EDITOR Joanne DiPasquale ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS Rene Conlon H. Leslie Gilman Adrienne MacWhannell COPY EDITORS Nick Humez Tia Swanson CONTRIBUTORS Melanie Finnern, Mason Levinson, Donny Levit, Abby Sher, Karen Tedesco FOUNDER & CREATIVE CONTRIBUTOR Karen Duncan M usic has always played a big part in my life whether it’s been singing in a choir, play- ing the piano and violin, or simply being a listener. Sci- ence has proven that music is tied to our memory and all it takes is a few notes of a song to trigger a remembrance. If I hear “Windy” by the Association, I’m sitting on my kindergarten teacher’s lap. Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus and Brahms’s Requiem bring me back to junior high girls' glee. And just the other day, the O’Jays’ “The Backstabber” transported me to fifth grade and watching Soul Train on Saturday afternoons. Our family had the usual musical di- vide of parents vs. kids. My father appre- ciated good harmonies and liked to play the Lettermen and the Andrews Sisters. But on road trips he’d torture us with the early music of Johnny Cash – the half-talking, half-singing type of songs. We still laugh about Look at Them Beans and eventually gave him credit for recognizing a legend in the making. I started my record collection in third grade. FM radio wasn’t popular yet, so we listened to WABC-AM which- played the top ten hits in heavy rotation. I’d beg my mother to take me to Kresge’s (we called it the dime store) so I could buy the latest 45 that I really, really wanted with my care- fully saved allowance. I still have my collection, preserved in a record box, also from Kresge’s. The index of my records, written in my evolving print, reveals some embarrassing purchases starting with my first 45, Donny Osmond’s “Puppy Love.” Memory keeps the good as well as the bad, which accounts for my being able to sing it word for word. By the time I got to high school I was buying albums, likely influenced by FM radio where we could hear more than the “A” side of a 45. Any song on Jackson Brown’s Running on Empty reminds me of my 16-year-old self tak- heart of the matter Music History Remembering my life through songs BY ELLEN DONKER