It's 1984 at Coney Island!

I can remember listening to only three cassette tapes in the car when I was a kid: the Pointer Sisters, Whitney Houston and Huey Lewis and the News.

And while the Pointer Sisters were my favorite, Huey Lewis came in a close second. So you can imagine I was pretty excited when Paul brought home a leaflet last month that said the group was playing for free last night as part of a summer concert series at a park near Coney Island.

We brought some beach towels to sit on and got there early enough to sit on a slight incline, so we had a good view of the stage. Hundreds of chairs were set up in front of us-- more than half were empty, I think-- for VIP's (whoever they were), so that was kind of annoying. But we had fun in the "cheap seats," where quite a few people were dancing and even more were singing along.


The concert started just the same way as the tape we always listened to in the car: a heartbeat thumping. Everyone cheered as the "The Heart of Rock and Roll" started: "New York, New York is everything they say, and no place that I'd rather be."

They played most of my favorites in about 90 minutes-- a childhood dream come true!