13 October 2024

It’s 1967 and the entertainment scene is buzzing in Cape Town. Everyone is into the overseas stuff blaring though the radio’s speakers . . . . the Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Tom Jones, John Gary, Engelbert Humperdinck.  Cape Town just lapped it up.  They bands played the songs in the nightclubs and the local artists gave their best version of it at the many stage  shows that abounded in and around Cape Town.

Those were good times and it just happened to be part of the early journey of my life as a reporter, particularly covering entertainment.  By day I was a court reporter learning the ropes of journalism.  At night I was jolling in nightclubs or catching any one of the many variety concerts listening to Deelah, Jane Londis, Roy Gabriels  Zane Adams, Dave Bestman, Taliep Petersen, the Butlers, the Flames, the Invaders. We overdosed on songs like Il Mondo, Please Release Me, My Way. . .

It was good times.  I loved it   . . . all  the way from ’67 through to the end of 1986 when I took a new direction in life.

But one never forgets the good times.  Those who were enjoying those good times around  1967, might find it a little hard to remember them as the old brain struggles a bit to put a face to that song and a link a special moment to a tune.  But when  everything clicks into place there’s that warm and fuzzy feeling.

It’s called nostalgia and it’s a pretty powerful feel good drug. Fortunately for me I have pretty much all of the newspaper entertainment story clips from the time I started at The Post in 1967  to when I walked out of the door at the  Cape Herald in 1986. Some were written by me, others by my colleagues at the time. It’s an important part of the soundtrack of my life.

I figure those  press clips would  also mean a lot to quite a few readers of the Post and the Herald. So, I figured sharing some of them would give you the same buzz that it gives me when I read it. Here’s one from July 1967 reporting on the Mr, Ms and Junior Entertainer winner and another clip from 13 October 1968 — 56 years ago.  In weeks to come, I’ll be posting more, particular those  that had an impact. Enjoy.