124951616_web1_Coronavirus--1-

29 new cases reported in Luzerne County; no new deaths

The Latest: La Liga to resume individual training sessions

PLAINS TWP. &mdash; From the first time I heard The Beatles on the radio, I knew I wanted to learn how to play the guitar.
				I can&rsquo;t even remember what Beatles&rsquo; song it was &mdash; it didn&rsquo;t matter, they were all great. It was like nothing we had ever heard before.
				So my mom found out about a man on West Main Street who taught guitar lessons. His name was Stanley Bialek.
				I began taking lessons and soon got to be decent. I was a strummer, not a lead guitar player. Stanley said I should take a few lessons from a guy in downtown Wilkes-Barre. I think his name was Steve.
				I did OK and my mom and dad agreed to buy me an electric guitar. It was a Goya Rangemaster. It had several buttons on it that altered/changed the sound. It was pretty cool.
				When I brought it home, I plugged it into my Premier amplifier and my Reynolds Street neighborhood was never quite the same.
				This passion I had for the guitar and the ever-evolving music of the 1960s was like a freight train out of control. My friend George Miklosi learned how to play the drums and his cousin, Steve Miklosi learned the bass guitar. We then met Gary Pringle, who lived on Center Avenue. Gary played a decent guitar and, thank goodness, he could sing.
				We formed a band. I can&rsquo;t even remember the name, but it changed from week to week. We played at the dances at St. Mary&rsquo;s Catholic Youth Center on Willow Street. It was a lot of fun.
				Plymouth had a couple of other bands. One was, I think, The Mob, with Bobby Walters, Joe Yurko, Paul Zbick, Tom Oliver and Joe Kubicki. These guys were way better than us.
				Our band didn&rsquo;t last too long, but my love for the music and the guitar lingers to this day.
				On my daily ride Sunday, I traveled to Red Rock, Dushore and Eagles Mere. It was a long ride one-way, let alone round trip. I got tired of listening to sports talk shows about nothing, so I started scanning the music channels.
				Right off the bat, I got a John Denver song, then the Eagles, then Crosby Stills & Nash. To use AM radio vernacular, the hits just kept on coming.
				But what these songs did to me was take me back to those good old days and to times when we were all young lions and we thought we were invincible.
				I have to admit, I got really emotional. It got so bad, I turned back to the non-sports sports talkers.
				So when I came home, I went to my den and I got my 12-string Ibanez acoustic guitar, gave it a decent tune-up and I started playing. I got my songbooks out &mdash; Neil Diamond, John Denver, Buffalo Springfield, the Eagles, Peter, Paul & Mary, the Doors, The Beatles, America, Harry Chapin, Neil Young and others.
				One by one, I started playing &mdash; and singing &mdash; those favorite songs of mine. I hope the walls are thick so my self-isolating neighbors weren&rsquo;t subjected to my questionable talent.
				But it really felt good, at least until my uncalloused fingertips got really sore.
				It felt good to sing and play those songs and to go back to those days when we all thought we would be the next national teen sensation.
				Even though, in reality, we weren&rsquo;t even the best at the Plymouth CYC.
				I&rsquo;ll leave you with this from John Denver&rsquo;s &ldquo;Rhymes and Reasons&rdquo; &mdash; slightly out of order:
				&ldquo;fear that is with us now, that never seems to end,
				and the dreams that have escaped you,
				and a hope that you&rsquo;ve forgotten,
				there&rsquo;s a promise of the future and a blessing for today.&rdquo;
				Amen to that.

Coping with Corona: Music blast from the past