A Nostalgic Night At The Civic Theatre

Carole King is one of the most talented singer/songwriters of our generation, so when a group of my women friends wanted to go see Beautiful, the Carole King musical, I jumped at the chance.  We started the evening with Happy Hour at Brooklyn Girl in Hillcrest.  Crab fritters, shrimp tacos, crab salad, several pizzas and some alcoholic beverages put us in the mood for some good music from our youth.

I knew Carole King was prolific, but I had no idea she had written over 400 songs for artists like The Drifters, The Everly Brothers, The Shirelles, The Beatles, The Chiffons, The Monkees, Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, and many others.  She, with her husband Gerry Goffin, wrote hit after hit in the 1960's.  When Carole and Gerry divorced in 1968, Carole was at first devastated.  She soon came to realize that she could do it all, without a partner.  She wrote music and words for the Tapestry album as a single mother with two small children, and began to perform her music too.  No longer writing for other artists, her songs were personal, inspirational.

It's funny how songs are often a timeline to your life.  I was in college when many of the songs Carole wrote were performed.  I can almost put myself back in the dorm room or at a college dance when I hear these songs.  They bring back so many memories!

When the show was over and the applause had died down, we were all disappointed.  We wanted more!  More music and more songs that reminded us of our youth.  Thank you Carole King, for the hundreds of songs you wrote and sang, that bring back that lovin' feeling of the 1960's.