I got to attend many great concerts in Honolulu
when I was working for Sunbums newspaper.
The finest was Roberta Flack: the audience wouldn't
let her stop singing "Killing Me Softly."

It was a magical night.

When we were learning to play musical instruments (in my case a clarinet), we went down to the basement to practice. One time when I came upstairs, Daddy said something like “That was actual music.” After many sessions of squawks and squeaks and basic exercises, I had arrived. The song was “Ava Maria.”

(Lucky Michael played trombone and was more musically talented and had precious memories of Daddy coming down and playing duets with him.)

My fondest music memory is of our family singing in the car on trips, songs like “There Is a Tavern in the Town” and “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt” and “Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.” And, of course, Christmas songs in December.

These are the kinds of cars we sang in.