One of summer’s pleasures is going to outdoor concerts. It’s a treat to be outside, sitting in the shade on beautiful evenings, with the sun slowly setting, listening to good music (and no mosquitos biting).
Faribault hosts weekly concerts at their Central Park’s bandshell every summer. By the time the concerts begin, the park is mostly shaded. People start filling in the open space, setting up camp chairs or blankets to sit and be entertained by different bands.
Last week, a band called Little Chicago played and we went to hear them. It’s a group that has been together several years (since 1999). They are based in New Prague, Minnesota and call themselves a Horn Band…a rock and roll band with a brass section. They play pop/rock musical hits from the 1960s and 1970s. They featured songs from the bands Chicago, Eagles, and many others. There were ten instrument players on stage along with two main vocalists providing an entertaining concert.
They played the songs from when Gary and I were in our teens…the era of classic rock and roll music with lyrics you could mostly understand and sing along. I was surprised at how easily the words to songs came back to me from songs I hadn’t heard of for years…for instance Mellow Yellow, to name only one of many.
That led me to thinking of a song we used to teach to our first- graders in church years ago. The song is called Input, Output (lyrics by Kathie Hill and Gary McSpadden, released in 1984). The chorus is this:
Input output, what goes in is what comes out.
Input output, that is what it’s all about.
Input output, your mind is a computer whose
Input output daily you must choose.
The song compares your brain to a computer. What you hear and see (the input) changes what you say and do (the output). This rings true, and are words to remember. Especially for the young ones and modern music….the words they listen to in song stick.
I really enjoyed singing along to the oldies from so long ago when I was a teenager– I wanted to get up and dance…some young children did.
It was a great evening of free entertainment.