Both Dick Clark and Jonathan Frid passed away this week.  If you’re from a certain age group, these were two influential individuals from your childhood.  Yes, I do happen to be in that group, barely.

The American Bandstand/ Soul Train block was must-see viewing every Saturday for Min & I.  It taught us to appreciate good rock music (which a lot of you now refer to as “classic rock”) and how to dance.  Back then, the most important thing for a song was a good beat that you could dance to.  We learned that from the Rate-A-Record segment.  Plus, we got to see some of our favorite performers on TV.   It was the B.C. time for television.  That means before cable (for those of you that can’t remember that cable didn’t used to exist).   Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were just beginning to tinker with and build electronic gadgets  in their parents’ basements.   The biggest thrill techno junkies got then was taking apart and rebuilding the family television.  Or building their own hand-held transistor radio.  The trick was whether or not the set would work after completion of the job.  My Keeper has confessed to this very act at his family home.  The only comment from his father: “You have to put it back together too.”  He did, and it worked, even considering that he had parts left over.   In his opinion, he made it operate more efficiently.  Yes, he grew up to be one of those smarty-pants, computery, engineering  types.

Min and I loved to dance.  We watched American Bandstand and Soul Train to learn all the latest moves.   Sadly, earlier this year, we also lost Don Cornelius, creator and host of Soul Train. For a couple of white Southern girls, we had pretty good rhythm, too.  Except she always made me do the guy part on the partner dancers.   During the Disco age, that was most of the popular dances.  I did have to dip her a lot, but I refused to do lifts.

I confess: I was alive on the planet during Dark Shadows’ original airing.  But I was a wee bit of a thing.  It’s one of the first shows I remember watching.  Yes, the family legend is true.  I believed Barnabas and the rest actually lived in the television and was afraid, if they saw me, they would come at night and get me. Still, I wished to know what Barnabas was up to.  So, I hid behind the couch every day while I watched.  In my defense, I wasn’t even school-age.   In later years, I watched Dark Shadows every time I found it airing.  I’ve even watched some pretty bad versions of it, but my favorite is still the original.  By the way, I did eventually quit hiding behind the couch when it was on.

Dick Clark seemed like he’d be around forever.  After all, he’d been on television since my parents were teens.  Min works at the high school we attended.  I’ve often accused her of aiming to be the female “Dick Clark”, the eternal teenager who never leaves high school.  Jonathan Frid was my first major fan girl crush, even more so than John-Boy Walton.   “Dark Shadows” was a big influence in my love of the fantasy genre. Let’s face it, I was bitten young.