In the Spring of 1963, I had some of my happiest times as a youth. My Dad was stationed on the remote air force outpost of Glasgow Air Force Base in Glasgow, Montana. The previous Fall of 1962 had led to some tense times on the base associated with being on a Strategic Air Command Air Force Base with a large number of B-52 bombers during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was in the fourth grade then and the entire school (the North Star Elementary School) took seriously the Duck and Cover drills that we practiced in preparation for a potential nuclear strike against us. (Do not laugh, back then I had no idea that such drills would not have saved us from a nuclear strike. Such knowledge would not come until a decade later.) But after the Crisis had passed, the Winter came, and I experienced, for the first time, six-foot snow drifts and temperatures at 38 below zero. How refreshing!
By the time Spring finally came, we were all looking forward to being able to come out of the house and play in the neighboring fields. We also looked forward to spending time at a new youth center that the Base folks had erected just down the street to relieve the Moms who had been confined for almost six months with children who needed to be outside.
The Youth Center was amazing. It was a gathering of kids from eight to eighteen and was a hot bed of social learning. I learned how to play chess and the board game Risk. There was a bumper pool table and a shuffleboard and I learned to play them well. And there was a stereo system that played all the latest pop hits. The Spring of 1963 predates the British Invasion, so the Beatles were still a year away. But there was a song that was played over and over again in the Spring of 1963. It was an Ear Worm song by a young girl and all the teenagers seemed to love it. The song was "It's My Party" and the singer was Lesley Gore. Here is the song that became embedded in my mind and memory.
It would not be until some 60 years later that I learned that the man behind this Ear Worm song -- the producer -- was none other than Quincy Jones.
Quincy Jones passed away yesterday.
I immediately thought about him with a smile. He had an incredible career and his work with such superstars as Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson is legendary. And, of course, his production of "We Are the World" was an epic work of musical genius.
I smiled at all of his achievements but the song I immediately remembered was a song from the album that introduced the World to the Solo artistry of Michael Jackson, and which, even today, breaks my heart.
Ironically, while Quincy Jones is no longer physically here unlike this song, because of his spirit, he will never be out of my life.
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
November 5, 2024
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