BEACH BOYS PARTY

On the day that Bruce Johnston, Rock musician, singer (The Beach Boys), turns 72 and The Beach Boys takes the stage at Cliff Castle Casino Hotel’s Stargazer Pavilion in Camp Verde, Arizona, we have a Beach Boys Party.

T.R.A.C.S at Timothy Plaza on River Island

Land Mark: http://slurl.com/secondlife/River%20Island/221/249/22

Bruce Johnston

Bruce Arthur Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin on June 27, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer best known as a member of the Beach Boys. He joined the band for live performances in 1965, but then became a contributing member on subsequent albums. Johnston is also known for his early 1960s collaborations with Terry Melcher as Bruce & Terry and with the surf band the Rip Chords, as well as composing the 1975 Barry Manilow song "I Write the Songs".

On April 9, 1965, Johnston joined the Beach Boys, replacing Glen Campbell, who was playing bass on the road and singing Brian Wilson's vocal parts. Johnston did not start playing bass until his first tenure with the Beach Boys, and the very first vocal recording Johnston made as one of the Beach Boys was "California Girls" (although for contractual reasons he would not be credited or photographed on a Beach Boys album until 1967 on the Wild Honey album).

Johnston is frequently credited, by some, as one of the original greatest supporters of the Beach Boys' 1966 signature album Pet Sounds. He flew to London in May 1966 and played the album for John Lennon and Paul McCartney. He wrote several Beach Boys songs, notably 1971's "Disney Girls (1957)", which was covered by Cass Elliot, Captain & Tennille, Art Garfunkel, Jack Jones, and Doris Day. Johnston also sang lead on three songs from the 1970 Beach Boys album Sunflower: "Tears In The Morning", "Deirdre", and "At My Window". During live concerts Johnston sang lead vocals on "God Only Knows", "Please Let Me Wonder", "Wendy", "Do You Wanna Dance", and "Disney Girls (1957)".

Johnston returned to the fold in 1978 at Brian Wilson's request to appear on (and co-produce) the album L.A. (Light Album). The following year he was credited as sole producer on the follow-up LP, Keepin' the Summer Alive. Johnston has remained with the Beach Boys ever since and was the only member to continue touring with Mike Love as The Beach Boys after the death of Carl Wilson. In June 2012, Johnston, Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and David Marks reunited for a new album and 50th anniversary tour. Despite his long involvement with the band, he no longer has a full membership in Brother Records, having traded his shares (but not his artist royalties) in 1972. Johnston still retains his equal ownership of the band's ASCAP publishing company, Wilojarston, and is the only member of the band to have earned a Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

The Beach Boys remained active through many trials and tribulations, such as the original main creative force, Brian Wilson’s estrangement from the group due to creative differences and mental issues, the deaths of Dennis in 1983 and Carl in 1998, and the addition of newer members over the years. The current group consists of founding Beach Boy Mike Love (lead vocals) and Beach Boy-vet Bruce Johnston (vocals/keyboards), along with Jeffery Foskett (guitar/vocals), Randell Kirsch (bass/vocals), Tim Bonhomme (keyboards/vocals), John Cowsill of The Cowsills (percussion /vocals) and Scott Totten (guitar/vocals). 

SOCK HOP PARTY at T.R.A.C.S

Last Saturday with DJ Anj. It was slippery but we had a great party!

 

SOCK HOP PARTY at T.R.A.C.S

T.R.A.C.S at Timothy Plaza on River Island

Land Mark: http://slurl.com/secondlife/River%20Island/221/249/22

Sock hop and Gymnasium

A sock hop or sox hop, often also called a record hop or just a hop, was an informal sponsored dance event for teenagers in mid-20th-century North America, featuring popular music. It was commonly held at high schools and other educational institutions, often in the school gym or cafeteria. The term came about because dancers were required to remove their hard-soled shoes to protect the varnished floor of the gymnasium. The music at a sock hop was usually played from vinyl records, sometimes presented by a disc jockey. Occasionally there were also live bands.

Sock hops were held as early as 1944 by the American Junior Red Cross to raise funds during World War II. They then became a fad among American teenagers in 1948. In later years, "hops" became strongly associated with the 1950s and early rock and roll. Danny and the Juniors sang "At the Hop" in 1957, which named many popular dances and otherwise documented what happened at a hop.

In subsequent decades, with the widespread popularity of sneakers and other types of indoors-only shoes, the practice of removing shoes was dropped. The term then came to be applied more generally to any informal dance for teenagers.

The term caught on in England in the late 1980s during a British rockabilly revival, led by groups like The Stray Cats. "Life Begins at the Hop", a song celebrating sock hops, became the first charting single for XTC.

Gymnasium

A gym, short for gymnasium, is an open air or covered location for gymnastics and athletics and gymnastic services such as in schools and colleges, from the ancient Greek gymnasium.

Gymnasia apparatus such as bar-bells, parallel bars, jumping board, running path, tennis-balls, cricket field, fencing gallery, and so forth are used as exercises. In safe weather, outdoor locations are the most conductive to health. Gyms were popular in ancient Greece. Their curricula included Gymnastica militraria or self-defense, gymnastica medica, or physical therapy to help the sick and injured, and gymnastica athletica for physical fitness and sports, from boxing to dance.

The Greek term gymnasion (γυμνάσιον) was used in Ancient Greece to describe a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men. The latter meaning of intellectual education persisted in Greek, German and other languages to denote a certain type of school providing secondary education, the gymnasium, whereas in English the meaning of physical education was pertained in the word 'gym'.

The Greek word gymnasium means "school for naked exercise" and was used to designate a locality for the education of young men, including physical education (gymnastics, i.e. exercise) which was customarily performed naked, as well as bathing, and studies. For the Greeks, physical education was considered as important as cognitive learning. Most Greek gymnasia had libraries that could be utilized after relaxing in the baths.

The gyms had halls and colonnades with statues and pictures. These gymnasia also had teachers of wisdom and philosophy. Community gymnastic events were done as part of the celebrations during various village festivals. In ancient Greece there was a phrase of contempt, "He can neither swim nor write." After a while, however, Olympic athletes began training in buildings just for them. Community sports never became as popular among ancient Romans as it had among the ancient Greeks. Gyms were used more as a preparation for military service or spectator sports. During the Roman Empire, the gymnastic art was forgotten. In the Dark Ages there were sword fighting tournaments and of chivalry; and after gunpowder was invented sword fighting began to be replaced by the sport of fencing. There were schools of dagger fighting and wrestling and boxing.