Reelin' in Sunset Boulevard

I run to you...

Niko Photos | Unsplash

I guess I’ve had a thing for VW’s for a long time. Especially the old bugs. (Oh, and I suggest you read this while listening to the song below). In fact, my youngest son promised me a date in a V-dub bug 25 years ago, so I must have talked to him about the one from a high school date, the one I bought at 17, and the one his dad had when he was young. The kid was four years old so I guess he felt like it was a good idea to promise me a date in one. That story came true here.

Little did I know while cruising Sunset Boulevard in 1977, as a 16 year old, that I’d end up marrying a double bass playing, VW Bus driving, because his 60’s ragtop bug was hot-wired and stolen long haired hippie beachy guy who would eventually take me to local dives to see “the best bass players” and point out how that guy missed his potential by doing drugs and living in his car out back.

We’d hit the small venues, like The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, three years after it opened in 1980, and see musicians like Stanley Clark, with Steve Gadd on drums. After we got married in 1985, we began to search out the jazz clubs in L.A. like the Catalina Bar and Grill (presently Catalina Jazz Club) to see musicians like Chick Corea with Wayne Shorter, Marcus Miller and so many more. I also wrote about our love of music here.

How we missed seeing Steely Dan in concert, altogether, I’ll never know? Whether listening on the stereo, or attending live concerts, music has honestly conducted and formed my world in case I’ve never stated that clearly.

Frank Davanzo was one of the sweetest guys. In 1977, Frank was set to graduate in June. Part of an “Italian force,” in Granada Hills High School football history, that would continue throughout the following few years. I am surprised I did not grow up to marry an Italian, omg. At the time, he was No. 13, and incoming sophomore player No. 11, John Elway, soon to be forever No. 7, would pump up football at our high school and beyond. I’m sure Frank was there as we cheer-leaded the team in the fall of 1977 with 9,000 people in attendance. I still marvel the fact that I, who did not grow up in an American home, per say, thought that this was totally normal for high school football. I mean you could feel it was special, but wow! America was amazing!

I previously wrote about another special date and the feeling of being at that school during this time. Ramble on. Sing our song.

I was 16 and a half in June of ‘77. The football players hung out in the quad at lunch and Frank and I had a conversation about life and music. He asked me to go on a date, which was a really big deal, because it happened in the fall when I was still 16 and he had graduated.

Frank picked me up in the coolest 60’s VW Bug. Gleaming with pride, he opened the door for me and yeah…. funny, when I met John, he told me all about his bug, that his grandparents gave him, low miles, barely used, and how he fixed it all up, “cherry’d it out” he’d say, and this guy standing there, outside my home, had done the same. Guess I picked guys like my dad, in a way (who they totally ran scared of respected).

Off we went for a date in Hollywood, to a French restaurant, which I was pretty nervous about. So fancy I would not be able to use my language skills because I sat in French class for fun.

We took the Santa Monica Freeway to Sunset Boulevard. As we headed to the tip of Sunset, Frank plugged an 8-track tape in as if to say, “this is exactly where one should listen to this new album. Cruising the length of Sunset with Steely Dan’s Aja album absorbing the sites and sounds of the boulevard.

Cedric Letsch | Unsplash

I already loved the area since I danced on Yucca and Vine and spent many an afternoon auditioning for that other odd life that all Americans do right?

1973’s “Reelin’ In The Years” was already an anthem to our high school days. The sexy voice that joined Steely Dan on keyboards, the same year, Michael McDonald, became one of the most distinguished voices in the industry that still makes John say, “your boyfriend is playing.”

My introduction to the song Aja was extra special due to the moment. Not only is the song deeply visual, according to Donald Fagen, keyboard/vocals with co-founder/writer Walter Becker, guitar/bass/vocals, “Aja” was inspired by a real woman. A calm, spiritual, almost mythical woman who lent the romantic feelings of what it must feel like “when all my dime dancin’ is through… I run to you.” “Dime dancing” referring to dabbling in worldly things at the time of their fame.

Eight minutes of aspiring jazz chord progression, intertwining the sounds and rhythms of Asia, featuring a legendary drum solo by Steve Gadd with a mesmerizing, accelerating saxophone solo, by Wayne Shorter, that takes you down to the serene, sunlight-off-the-buildings, beauty…. and back again into their dual vibe, leaving room, space, for the haunting undertone sounds of Asia, fading off into the distance…

SoCal Palm sunsets | iPhone

Frog legs. No. Atmosphere and company. Yes.

What did I just hear? I was the No. 1 fan of Chicago, so horns? yes. At the same time my little brother was just starting drum lessons from a very young Dave Garibaldi (Tower of Power) because every local music store had a guy like this working there right? He became a great drummer btw.

Listening to the album, Aja, on Sunset Blvd., was a memory I will hold dear forever. Frank moved onto college life. “Just friends,” but definitely friends with the kind of unassuming lifetime benefits I will always cherish. The music.

Who is the gaucho, amigo?

The real deal thinking man.

Frank, you were golden.

Reelin’ in the years on the boulevard.

I run to you.

Frank, No. 13, and the greatest laugh from Elway, No. 11, that soon became the famous "7.”

This was 1978, second year cheering. Me on far right standing :) A great group of friends. Still in touch with some of them. This was the All-American blessed life. Maybe that was my inner fight. Wasn’t I British?

Double click if on a computer, then hit esc to play and read.