JOE KELLY
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October 22
October
22, 2008
Although I’m not one to send fan
letters, I guess that’s what I did this morning. Remember Gary Lewis and the
Playboys? I went to his website and sent Gary an e-mail.
Here’s why: I’m driving to work and I’m tuned to an oldies station and on
comes a Gary Lewis song, “This Diamond Ring.” I cranked it up a notch.
“Who wants to bu-u-uy this diamond ring
She took it off her finger, now it doesn’t mean a thing
This diamond ring doesn’t shine for me anymore
And this diamond ring doesn’t mean what it did before.”
Unfortunately, you don’t hear Gary Lewis on radio much these days, not even
on oldies stations. I don’t know why. Gary Lewis was big, really big back in
the 1960s.
He was just a kid, probably a teenager, but he was on Ed Sullivan and the
Tonight Show. I just looked up his numbers. Gary Lewis and the Playboys had
eight gold records, 17 top 40 hits, four gold albums, and sold a total of 45
million records.
By the way, I met Gary Lewis once at a concert. I was backstage with him and
others at the Stanley Theater. This was back in the 1980s. He was on a
national tour with “The Turtles,” who sang “Elenore,” and the “Grass Roots,”
who sang “Midnight Confessions,” Sooner or Later,” and “Two Divided By
Love.”
But as far as I was concerned, Gary Lewis was the star of the show. I
remember talking to him just before he was introduced. He was polite and
nice but obviously nervous.
I looked up the column I wrote about that concert. Lewis answered my
backstage question about being nervous: “I always am. But I’m having a good
time. The minute it stops being fun, I’m gone.”
I would have let all this Gary Lewis stuff go out of my mind if not more
than 30 minutes later that same radio station played “Green Grass,” which is
my favorite Gary Lewis song.
“Green Grass ‘round my window
Young leaves that the wind blows
Yes, it’s springtime, golden sunshine
And we’re glad, my little love and I
Now that summertime is nigh.”
Memories from the ‘60s, some good, some not so good. Whatever.
Anyway, when I got to work and was able to get on a computer, I “Googled”
Gary Lewis and the Playboys. He is still performing.
It was sometime in the later 1980s when Gary Lewis performed at that Stanley
concert. I quoted him in the newspaper as saying that he had been performing
for 21 years at that point, which means he has been performing for about 40
years now, a long time for anything, especially if you are a performer.
On his website there is this greeting: “Hi everyone! Thank you for visiting
me at the official Gary Lewis website.” He went on to write that he felt
blessed to have had a long career thanks to many dedicated fans. He said
he’d appreciate hearing from fans.
“Although it is impossible to get back to all of you,” he wrote on the site,
“I will continue to try, so keep your letters coming.”
There was a place to send a message, so I did.
Later that day, when I checked my e-mail, there was this:
“Thanks for your note and the kind words. Next August 8, we’re playing a
fair in Cobleskill, NY. Why don’t you come...Gary.”
I just marked my calendar.
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Joe Kelly is the editor and publisher of The Boonville Herald & Adirondack Tourist and
THE GRIFF.
