Can't Go For That, No Can Do

Hall & Oates is (are?) coming to Des Moines next Monday night. I've been a fan since the late 1970's. I'm not sure who introduced me to this duo, but I purchased and fell in love with the Abandoned Luncheonette album (yes, real vinyl), before the group reached more Top-40 acclaim.

College years with Vic and Robyn

The album's headliner song lyrics resonated then as they do now.

They sat in an abandoned luncheonette
Sipping imaginary cola and drawing faces in the tabletop dust
His voice was rusty from years as a sergeant in "this man's army"
They were old and crusty

She was twenty when the diner was a baby
He was the dishwasher, busy in the back, his hands covered with
Gravy
Hair black and wavy
Brilliantine slick, a pot - cleaning dandy
He was young and randy

Day to day, to day today
Then they were old, their lives wasted away
Month to month, year to year
They all run together

Time measured by the peeling of paint on the luncheonette wall

They sat together in the empty diner

Filled with cracked china

Old news was blowing across the filthy floor

And the sign on the door read "this way out", that's all it read

That's all it said

I was nineteen or twenty years old when I fell in love with this song and the lyrics. Already realizing the nostalgia for times past. I wasn't in Atlantic anymore - I was a big college girl with a world ahead of me. But I've always been one to value my roots - maybe too much sometimes. I have to fight the urge to hold on to things sometimes. There's much worth grasping to my heart. And some I should toss.

I can't wait for the concert. Paul wasn't even my boyfriend when I discovered this band. We'll have a great time watching (and singing along) to them together. 

Old pic of Amy with college roomies Jenna and Rachelle

Amy is coming for a visit later this week. Her college roomie, Rachelle, is having her bachelorette celebration in Des Moines. Amy and I are planning to do some shopping. Mama needs a wedding dress! We are looking forward to time with our girl. Amy loves her college buddies - they'll be her bridesmaids in August. Some things (people) are worth hanging onto.