“Ain’t it funny how a melody can bring back a memory, take you to another place in time, completely change your state of mind.” (Clint Black)
In the past I wrote about how the Pointer Sisters’ cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Fire” evoked great memories of a wild time I once had at a club in Ft. Lauderdale. So let’s turn on the ‘way-back machine’ for some more recollections.
The other day while at a store I heard a song on the p.a. that I nearly forgot about. It was Vonda Shepard’s “Searchin’ My Soul” which you may remember as the theme song from the 90’s TV series “Ally Mc Beal.” I never watched much of that show but thought that was a good tune. At the show’s open you only heard a minute of it but the whole track is a fun one to check out.
Besides always liking the melody and lyrics of Ms. Shepard’s song, I have an extra positive neuro association with it. It was New Year’s Eve 1998 and I was playing blackjack at Joliet’s Empress Casino. Staying overnight at a nearby hotel and hoping to keep gambling for at least a few more hours I was already down one hundred and fifty dollars. My funds were quickly being drained.
The countdown to midnight happened and 1999 kicked in. Much of the casino broke into shouts of “Happy New Year!” with couples kissing and chugging down complimentary champagne and other drinks. Me? I was alone that night and stayed perched in my chair at the blackjack table while fellow gamblers took a break to ring in the New Year. It was just the dealer and me facing off for some lightning quick rounds of 21.
Just then, over the casino’s sound system, Vonda Shepard’s “Searchin’ My Soul” started blasting and I found my luck at the blackjack table started to turn. That song runs four minutes and in that short span I not only got back to even, my chips totaled to being ahead by almost two hundred bucks! That’s a three hundred and fifty dollar turnaround and I was thrilled. With the speed that dealer was running the one to one game with me, she could’ve easily put out my lights, but “Searchin’ My Soul” brought me the luck this basic strategy player needed. Whew! Eventually the game slowed up as other players re-joined the table and I closed the night hours later winning just over one hundred dollars.
NO WONDER I LIKE THIS SONG, IT ONCE WAS THE SOUNDTRACK THAT SAVED ME FROM LOSING A CHUNK OF MONEY AT A CASINO.
ANOTHER MUSIC MEMORY FROM THAT TIME
1/1/99- Late the next morning, I woke up and headed to my hotel’s indoor pool to do an hour’s worth of laps before checking out. A serious blizzard was forecast to start in a few hours and I wanted to be rested and ready at home.
Heading north on I-55 I was channel surfing on the FM band and came across a song I never heard before, Sister Hazel’s “All for You.” Great track and lead singer Ken Block’s voice had me drawn in. At the time I was working in country radio at US*99 and was missing out on some music heard on other stations.
The chorus of “All for You” was quickly burned into my brain. Later that afternoon when the blizzard arrived, I kept shoveling and moving piles of snow to the rhythm of Sister Hazel’s song. To this day, whenever I hear that tune, it takes me back to the first day of 1999 and me moving mounds of snow.
STARTING 1999 WITH A TUNE I NEVER HEARD BEFORE WAS FINE BY ME, THANKS TO SISTER HAZEL.
NEXT BLOG– Trick of Treat memories from my youth.