HOT HOT HOT & time for another vacation

Buster Poindexter
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Class of '66 Reunion in July was definitely a high point this summer for me and the songs the DJ played have been ringing through my head for weeks.

Best slow song? Mel Carter singing Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me.

Best fast song? HOT HOT HOT with Buster Poindexter.

In case either of those songs doesn't spark any memories from the reunion, the slow song had everyone out on the dance floor in the firm grip of romance - sometimes even with their own spouse.

And HOT HOT HOT was the fast song that prompted a wild conga line.

The video of that conga line is pretty wild and will be heavily featured in the rockumentary about the reunion.

Here's a partial list of the songs that were played, which we might dub, the Class of '66 Soundtrack:

Tossin' and Turnin'
Mustang Sally
The Stroll
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
The Wanderer
Start Me Up
Takin' Care Of Business
Mony Mony
Devil With the Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly
Where the Boys Are
(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
HOT HOT HOT
Some Kind of Wonderful
Shout

And now that I reread the list, I suppose I will have Shout stuck in my head for most of the day, replacing HOT HOT HOT and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me.

Hmmm... Feelin' HOT HOT HOT... Nope, that one's still stuck in my brain.

This website will look pretty much the same - no, make that exactly the same - for a week or so, while Admiral Fox and I take our sailboat Sabbatical on a week's vacation into the California Delta area where - Gasp! - there is no internet service and cell phone service is pretty spotty. I'm taking along some old technology for amusement (books) and hope to come back refreshed enough to take on my new university job - and finish the rockumentary from our reunion.

But for your amusement, I pulled one still frame from the video of the conga line. In going from video-to-still, it didn't translate all that well, but you can get the idea.

The video version is quite clear and focused and five minutes long. Oh boy!

HOT HOT HOT Classmates!


The conga line at the Class of '66 reunion

Every reunion photo seems to full of smiles

Louie had a good time
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

MAYVILLE, New York - The most striking thing about virtually every photo that I've seen from our Class of '66 reunion from a couple of weeks ago is the smiles.

Everyone is smiling like they just won the California lottery or their work offered them such a great buyout they can retire right now.

Wahoo!

In this photo, Louie Acquisto is doing a Blues Brothers imitation and dancing with two gorgeous women. Way to go Louie. The video version of this scene is even more striking. With luck, I'll be able to share some of that later this summer.

I also received a number of smiley shots from Allan Winger, who apologized for showing his mug in almost all of the photos. I'm just glad he snapped so many photos and was kind enough to send them along.

Here's three from the collection:


Allan, Mrs. Keefe and Dan Keefe


Lee Anderson, Allan, and Greg Taft


Tom Priester and Allan

By the way, thanks to everyone who offered suggestions on what to put on the memorial brick for John Rupp. With 15 characters per line (including spaces) I finally caved in and did this simple inscription:

In memory of
John M. Rupp
Class of '66

No doubt the pain between my shoulder blades is John reaching from beyond to give me a kick (or a whack with a tennis racquet) for not writing some smart-ass thing on his brick.

But kee-rist! Fifteen spaces? Come on!