As I started to read an article O.C. Register web site, I was remembering back a couple of decades to the late 70’s and early 80’s. Hearing the name Lynyrd Skynyrd brought back memories of the high school band my brother was playing in around that time.

The first paragraph of the article reads “As it was in the mid-’70s, so it is now: Wherever the Southern rock torchbearers of Lynyrd Skynyrd roll, partying instantly ensues.”

Wow, just before I read that I was remembering how the crowd always reacted to my brother’s band whenever they would play a certain classic Lynyrd Skynyrd song. Yes, you guessed it: “Free Bird.”

It was always the most exciting moment of every gig the kids played. As soon as the audience recognized the opening notes to “Free Bird,” they would go nuts. For once, I was reading something in the newspaper that, according to my own experience, was right on the money.

I strongly suspect that audiences who gather to hear the legendary southern rockers play today have much the same reaction that I witnessed so many times all those years ago.