Taking a trip to the '60s
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

Staff writer Kathy Baratta with Peter Noone

Thanks to two gentlemen, Hank Grassi and Marty Gelfond, for about an hour on Saturday night I was a girl again. What I am about to tell you is the truth and the fact that I got to tell "Herman" himself that night left me giddy as a schoolgirl.

The first thing I ever saw on color television was Peter Noone's eyes. My girlfriend who lived across the street had the luck of being the first family on the block to get a color television set. It was a Sunday night and Herman's Hermits were going to be on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

The fact that the Hermits were going to be on the Sullivan show was a "must see" event then for any young girl who is now "of an age," but can vividly recall all the greats from the British Invasion of the 1960s, of which Herman's Hermits was one of the greatest.

I remember I ran breathlessly into her house to find they were already on. I'm not going to lie, I honestly don't recall what song Noone was singing, but I can tell you I remember vividly that I thought I had never seen eyes so beautifully blue in my life. But wait, it gets better. My maiden name is Brown, so when Noone sang "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" when I was 12 he was, of course, singing it to me. The evening of June 9 was no different. When he broke out with that classic during a performance at "Manalapan Under the Stars," he did it just for me. I knew it even if no one else did.

Walking up the steps and into Noone's trailer in the minutes before he was going on stage, my heart was pounding, and when I looked into his eyes, they were exactly as I remembered. I was 12 years old again!

I told him what I just recounted here. I'm sure I was babbling, being as star-struck as I was. Ask Hank and Marty. I was practically levitating.

When Noone spoke to me I actually felt myself blushing. I was speechless for a second, and that's no easy feat; just ask anyone who knows me.

Noting that we are all older now, he nonetheless admitted to being as excited about performing as the throngs of people who had come to see him were.

For Noone, that night, in that venue, was as important to him as all those years ago when he and his band mates would perform on TV programs like "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Shindig" and "Hullabaloo."

Those shows gave American audiences their introduction to groups like Herman's Hermits and Gerry and the Pacemakers, whose hit "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" was more than ably covered by Noone and his "lads" at Saturday's concert.

Like Ted Nugent, Peter Noone was known for living a clean-cut, nondrug lifestyle in a crowd of the newest, brightest talents in the business in the 1960s when they were making drug use a contractual provision.

Noone, who looks remarkably young at 59, told the crowd he could probably credit his present health and happiness to the fact that he did not use drugs. During our chat Noone told me he was especially encouraged by the huge turnout of youngsters, along with the adults who, like me, were there to be carried on a wave of nostalgia back to a time that is gone but will never be truly forgotten as long as there are baby boomers and oldies radio stations.

Speaking about the number of children who were there, Noone observed, "They are the future of music, aren't they? The fact that they love my music like their mums do makes it even more special."

Well, there really did seem to be a "Kind of Hush" all over the world when he broke into that classic and judging by the screaming, everyone was "Into Something Good" when he sang that crowd rouser.

It was obvious the kids were responding to him as much as their mothers and grandmothers were, and fathers and grandfathers for that matter. I saw a few burly and older types singing with everyone else to several show-stoppers, most especially the closing "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am."

During that song Noone got the crowd into different singing sections with people who were more than willing to belt out the famous song whose most well-known line behind the title is, "Second verse, same as the first." You could feel the energy and it was letting everyone know a good time was being had by all.

The fact that it was a picture perfect night also helped to promise it would turn out to be a night to remember for everyone who was there, hearing Noone, either for the first time or, like me, capturing memories as sweet and fleeting as youth itself. The only thing missing were the fireflies and some empty bottles!

Kathy Baratta is a staff writer for Greater Media Newspapers.