Zoey’s – Those Were The Good Old Nights
Frank Sinatra’s 1973 song “There Used to Be a Ballpark Right Here” came melancholically to mind when the 101 Drive-In theater was demolished in 2001 and again when the Cabrillo Racquet Club permanently took down its tennis nets in the winter of 2007.
In the summer of 2008 it was the treasured indie bookstore Adventures For Kids that was lost, reminding me of Carly Simon’s 1971 hit “Anticipation” because when I took my two children to A4K (as loyal patrons called it) I knew “these are the good old days” that couldn’t last.
Now another local touchstone has been lost. Zoey’s Cafe, a magical music mecca, killed its mics for good last Saturday. Another song from the early 1970s, “America Pie” by Don McLean, fits the moment beginning with the very second line: “I can still remember how that music used to make me smile.”
The music at Zoey’s made me, and countless others since Steve and Polly Hoganson bought it seven years ago, smile. The names of the musicians I saw there – mostly at the original location on Ventura’s Main Street with its upstairs “listening room” that was as intimate as a home den – escape me, but I remember this: those “good old days” in cozy Zoey’s were as magical as big-name concerts I have seen in the Hollywood Bowl.
A sample of this homey magic from my 26-year-old daughter: “I saw many wonderful singers at Zoey’s – most recently my friend from high school, Lauren Sexton, who came out with her debut CD ‘Home by Morning.’ And when I was going to Purdue in Indiana, I remember being homesick and feeling so happy and comforted when I saw ‘Zoey’s, Ventura, CA’ listed on Tony Luca’s concert T-shirt as a stop on his tour!”
In honor of Zoey’s and in thanks to the Hogansons – and also as a reminder of how important it is for each of us to frequent and support locally owned-and-run businesses – here is a “mash-up” created with lyrics from “Anticipation” (Simon), “America Pie” (McLean) and “There Used to Be a Ballpark Right Here” (Sinatra).
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I can still remember how that music used to make me smile (McLean)
And the air was such a wonder (Sinatra)
And, I knew if I had my chance that I could make those people dance (McLean)
And maybe they’d be happy for a while (McLean)
And the people watched in wonder (Sinatra)
And, there we were, all in one place (McLean)
With a joy I’d never seen. (Sinatra)
How they’d laugh and how they’d cheer (Sinatra)
Them good ol’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing (McLean)
And tomorrow we might not be together (Simon)
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues (McLean)
’cause these are the good old days (Simon)
Can you teach me how to dance real slow? (McLean)
I rehearsed those lines just late last night (Simon)
Can music save your mortal soul? (McLean)
I met a girl who sang the Blues (McLean)
These are the good old days (Simon)
Now, do you believe in Rock and Roll? (McLean)
We can never know about the days to come (Simon)
But we think about them anyway, yay (Simon)
We all got up to dance, oh, but we never got the chance (McLean)
I knew I was out of luck the day the music died (McLean)
I went down to the sacred store (McLean)
Now the children try to find it (Sinatra)
Where I’d heard the music years before, but (McLean)
The man there said the music wouldn’t play (McLean)
And the sky has got so cloudy (Sinatra)
When it used to be so clear (Sinatra)
And the summer went so quickly this year (Sinatra)
And, in the streets (McLean)
We (Simon)
Cried (McLean)
On (McLean)
The coast the day the music died (McLean)
Yes, there used to be (Sinatra)
Lovers (McLean)
And poets (McLean)
Right here (Sinatra)
Bad news on the doorstep (McLean)
Something touched me deep inside the day the music died (McLean)
So, bye bye (McLean)
Z (Sinatra) O (Simon ) EY (McLean ) ’S (McLean).
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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for the Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. His new memoir WOODEN & ME is available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com and Amazon.com.