Saturday, August 9, 2008

Memoir: Song With Memory


‘In the Still of the Night’ takes me back to the Doo Wop music of the late 50’s and early 60’s, and dancing with David at the Seven Stars Dance Hall in Lakewood, N.J.

He wasn’t the only one I danced with. Roman was smooth in his dark trench coat and curly black hair. His younger brother, Ralph, always with a big smile and humor, loved the younger girls his own age and eventually married my younger sister’s best friend, Celie.

Johnny Grasso was all style, in clothes and dance moves and was out on the dance floor smiling and showing off with a crowd around him.

The Mash-Potatoes, the Bristol Stomp, the Cha Cha and the Pony, accompanied the Twist and the dances from Philly.

But the slow dances were like a bump-and-grind, slow sinuous dances that left little to the imagination. And then there was the Philly Glide. This one was my favorite slow dance and David could dance with the best of them.

It didn’t matter that I was five foot to his five foot/ten and a half inch frame. It didn’t matter that the dance floor was packed and everyone was sweating from hours of movement.

When ‘In the Still of the Night’ came on the record player at the disc jockey’s hands, David and I dropped our precious partners and met on the floor, ready to dance meaningfully while the singers crooned their harmonies and swept us away with their words.

The song inspired romance and young love…at sixteen, what else is there!

Jyoti

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