There are lots of memories over my 70 years of life stored somewhere in my brain. Occasionally, one leaks out and leads to another. This happened this morning as I was running trying to think of the name of the group who did 1960s hits of “Spooky,” “Stormy,” and “Traces.” Suddenly, the name Dennis Yost came to mind and the thought of seeing him live and in concert at perhaps Albion College my freshman year. I couldn’t quite put it all together so I resorted to one of my famous lists. I have an Excel sheet where I’ve attempted to reconstruct my live concert lifetime history. There are 280 groups noted but somehow I missed the Classics IV and a Google search didn’t help. It was back when I saw the likes of Three Dog Night, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Chicago Transit Authority. It was probably on campus, but all I found was the obituary for Dennis Yost from back in 2007.

Somehow I missed his death and it made me sad, even though I haven’t even thought about him in years. His popular songs are on my Apple Music playlist but only today did I recall the name of Dennis Yost and that concert. Sadly, like “faded photographs” I can’t even prove that I was there or readily find out when it was. There’s no ticket stub in my collection or photos of the show, only the faint memory of saxophones (a favorite instrument at the time) and singing along to the hits in a crowd of people. I’ve added it to my concert list, making it 281 but noticed that the Sturgill Simpson that I must have included last year after buying tickets was cancelled due to the pandemic. I’m still stuck on that last live Barry Manilow show we saw in Las Vegas before all the music stopped. I haven’t yet added the Santana along with Earth, Wind, & Fire show that I’ll hopefully see for my 70th birthday. 

It was 50 years ago when I likely saw the Classics IV. I’m almost sure of it, but why it didn’t stand out as I was preparing my list, I’ll never understand. It was in that timeframe right before concerts became a priority for me in the years to come. Once I got into the radio business, it became a way of life. I’ll continue to try to solve this memory, perhaps I’ll send a note to my roommate back then. Thanks for that look back in time, Dennis – Rest In Peace. In the meantime, just remember, “every day with you…is sweeter than the day before.”