(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

I had no idea what was drawing me-- none of my friends were interested in the slightest-- but when I was just entering my teen years I started going to the Brooklyn Paramount to see the rock'n'roll shows. It was so foreign, a window on another, stranger, vaguely glamorous (i.e.- non-Flatbush) world. This was pre-Beatles. Ben E. King was one of the greatest singer songwriters of the time and "Stand By Me" was the biggest in a long string of hit songs, from "This Magic Moment," "Spanish Harlem," "There Goes My Baby," to "Save the Last Dance For Me" and "Dance With Me."