Randy’s mom was a singer. Quite well known in her day in and around Green Bay. She starred in musicals and sang the National Anthem at Packer games. My dad was a singer. Community theater productions and karaoke before karaoke was called karaoke. Randy and I each got a bit of singing talent from our parents.
Randy played the guitar. I attempted to play the guitar. I later also attempted to play the piano. Let’s just agree that though I have a number of talents (as do we all), playing a music instrument isn’t one of them. But I digress.
The point is, music was important to Randy when he was a young man. Back in the early days of our relationship, between his first Air Force enlistment and his second Air Force enlistment, he spent a lot of time on musical pursuits. Because Randy was important to me, during that time we combined our (meager) talent with that of his sister, Terri, and two of his friends, Craig and Mark, and formed a musical group we called Whirlwind. Randy and Craig each played guitar and all five of us sang. We did songs in the genre of the Fifth Dimension, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Association, Loggins & Messina. Not much instrumentation, but lots of good harmony in the vocals. To our surprise, Whirlwind achieved minor celebrity status in the Green Bay and northern Wisconsin areas for the short time we sang together.
Ah, to be 22 again. I had the energy back then to do gigs on weekends and some evenings and still work full-time. Randy had recently separated from the Air Force (the first time) and experienced some difficulty settling into civilian life. He was working on and off. We struggled financially, as do all young couples. When Craig (who was the leader of our little troupe) was approached and asked whether Whirlwind was interested in doing the Holiday Inn entertainment circuit, we had serious discussions about our future in the music business and beyond. To make a long story short, we got and stayed married, Randy went back in the Air Force, and Whirlwind became a pleasant memory of a fairly turbulent time in our relationship.
There is a surviving recording of some of the songs Whirlwind sang back then. I remember the session well. On a Sunday afternoon in 1976, all five of us, two with guitars, crowded around one microphone in the middle of the living room in the house Randy and I were renting at the time. The quality of the recording reflected the times. No sound board, no equalizer, no reverb, no computers, no auto-tuning. Just raw voices recorded on reel to reel tape. Those were the days.
Both Scott and Mark are talented sound engineers and have, over the years, preserved and enhanced that one recording session. So Whirlwind lives on and provides us, still, with great memories of simpler, more innocent times, good friends, a few laughs, and gratitude for God’s opportunities and gifts over a lifetime.
In case you’re curious, here’s a link to one tune we did, called A Love Song, originally done by Loggins and Messina. The soloist is Terri. I’ll post another song in the Shorts on Friday.
When Randy and I got married, another of his sisters, Kristine, and a brother, Scott, joined Terri, Craig, and Mark so Whirlwind could provide the music for our wedding. The poor Catholic priest nearly had a coronary when they broke into “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” and “When I’m 64” as we were walking down the aisle out of church after being pronounced man and wife. The song choices surprised us, but we were delighted. The memory, and the story told 47 years later, is even more special now that we’re past 64 and do indeed still need and feed each other.
These days Terri is, sadly, estranged from the family, but everyone else involved in Whirlwind is still in touch. No reunion tour is planned, but we usually spontaneously perform Why Do Fools Fall in Love at family wedding receptions. Liquor helps, and in Wisconsin, that’s never a problem, especially at weddings. In fact, Scott’s daughter is getting married in Green Bay less than a month from now. I guess we’d better start warming up our vocal cords. Craig is happily living in Texas with his amazing wife, Annette, so won’t be there. But Randy and I, Mark, Scott, and Kristine (maybe) will be there to lead guests and the next generation of our family in a rousing chorus of Fools.
It’s a lifetime ago, and yet seems like only yesterday. Memories…joyful….full on.
P.S. When we moved to Florida, Randy gave all of his guitars to a niece. We’d carried them around for nearly 50 years, but he rarely played them anymore. Watching him hand them over to Josie was delightful and heartbreaking for me at the same time. Josie was so excited, but I felt like a chapter in our life we’ll never again experience ended. Thank goodness memories live on.
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