I heard
this song on the radio this morning, and two to three great memories waxed over
my mind as I was driving to work. One had to do with a UPS clerk, Jerry,
at the Olympic hub in Los Angeles who worked graveyard. And every morning
as I strolled in at 7am from 1983 to 1986, he'd be playing a cassette of songs
by Rick Nelson. I can't tell you how many times I'd heard "Going to
a Garden Party," 1972, playing on his boombox as I walked on
the sorting belt, past the sorting cages, to my truck. He loved Rick
Nelson.
Will never forget the pall from the news of him dying in a plane crash in
1985. I didn't know that he was born in New Jersey.
Didn't realize that the plane he was flying in was his, a Douglas DC-3.
Wikipedia explains that
The plane crash-landed outside of De Kalb, Texas, northeast of Dallas, in a cow pasture less than two miles from a landing strip at approximately 5:14 p.m. CST on December 31, 1985, hitting trees on its way down. Seven of the nine occupants were killed: Nelson and his companion, Helen Blair, 27; bass guitarist Patrick Woodward, 35; drummer Rick Intveld, 22; keyboardist Andy Chapin, 34; guitarist Bobby Neal, 38; and road manager/soundman Donald Clark Russell, 35. Pilots Ken Ferguson and Brad Rank escaped through cockpit windows, although Ferguson was severely burned.
Given how he grew up on television with "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Show," he, his image, and his music were all
quite loved by the late 1970s and early '80s despite the new wave music, hard
rock, and psychedelic rock that dominated the radio in those days.
The other memory that intruded upon me was one of my favorite memories of the
LA County Fair in Pomona. A concert series was always part of the Fair's
venue during the month of September, and Rick Nelson and his Stone Canyon Band
performed there in 1974. Though we didn't drive with them to the
Fair, Chuck and Sally, Alicia and Coco were also going and the plan was that
we'd meet up with them, hang out a bit. Well, I learned that Sally wanted to
see Rick Nelson. I also thought it would be cool to see Ozzie and
Harriett's youngest son, movie and music star in a local concert, so I went to
the concert. I didn't see Sally Pullman there but I could definitely
imagine her being in a front-row adoring one of her '60s music idols. It was a
nice memory for me to know that she loved Rick Nelson. Chuck may have
gone in to watch the concert, but something tells me that he was elsewhere on
the fairgrounds, biding his time for the concert to end and for the
thoroughbreds and jockeys in bright, pennant-colored jerseys to line up at the
gate for the first race. So much excitement tagged with the racetrack in
Pomona.
Years later as I was attending UC Irvine, my girlfriend at the time knew a Thai
woman who was a domestic for Harriet Nelson who lived in Laguna Beach.
