January, 1969

There are moments in the lives of all people, and in the lives of all families, that just slip past unnoticed never to become an indelible memory. The framework of the period exists with only the most basic tidbits of information. Things like where people worked, what state they may have been in, or even what grade someone was in at school are just a few of the rudimentary blocks that remain. Nothing of note has left an imprint. There are no tales, no shocking pieces of gossip or family drama to help cement events into the collective conscious of those who lived through the time. It is the forced mental hibernation particular to January when almost everything freezes in the brackish, grey ice of an east coast winter.

It is the first month of the last year of the 1960’s: a decade of chaotic - often unwanted – change, upheaval and tragedy. Where once, just a few months earlier, the Beatles sang about revolution they now only asked for everyone to just let it be. And after perfroming from a rooftop, the Beatles retired from public performances and were never seen together again. This maybe would have struck a tragic chord within our own family had my older sister been a Beatles fan and not a Rolling Stones fan. Whatever the song, at the end of the 1960’s, everyone was just coming down.

Number one hit from January, 1969
Crimson and Clover, Tommy James and the Shondells