Vintage Ad for Concerts at Riviera and Aragon, 1975

My upstair's neighbor is the coolest mom. She and her eleven-year-old son go to concerts on the weekend, hang out at jazz, rock, and reggae clubs when they allow all ages in, and peruse record stores--yes, record stores--looking for that perfect album.

I was never that lucky as a kid. I never went to concerts. In fact, it wasn't until I was 16 that I saw my first performer on stage--Corey Hart. (He had only a couple of hits that I can remember, "Sunglasses at Night" and "Never Surrender," but he sure was cute.) I had to beg and beg my parents to let me go with my friends; we were suburbanites, and I was pretty sheltered and oblivious to the "dangers" of the city. I snuck into town more often than I was allowed to go.

I wonder what my musical education would have been like if I grew up near such fabulous concert venues as the Riviera, Aragon, and Uptown. I'm sure I would have been scraping my allowance together and standing in line at the Ticketron to see shows more often.