The O-town Scene

March 10, 2011

The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY

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All in the Family Ricky Nelson’s sons honor life of teen idol dad through songs, videos and stories in tribute show I was one of those cool kids, I was spending Friday night listening to golden oldies on the radio with my mom. She shared that she had had a crush on Ricky Nelson, and used to pretend he was singing “Hello Mary Lou” to her (she, like many Irish Catholic girls born in the ’50s, was named Mary Louise). I called in a request to the radio station, and we listened to Ricky sing, “Hello, Mary Lou. Goodbye, heart.” It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I became familiar with Ricky’s Ricky Nelson became a part of my life in middle school. Because The Nelson family _ Ozzie and Harriet, Ricky and Matthew and Gunnar _ are a part of American popular culture that multiple generations have nostalgia for. mention them. If Ricky and the Nelson boys can make even the most composed women giddy, can you imagine the nostalgia explosion of combining the whole family into one show? That’s what Matthew and Gunnar have been inciting for the last year with their tribute show, “Ricky Nelson Remembered.” I spoke with Matthew Nelson about the show and his family. He was passionate about being able to tell his family’s history _ from grandpar- ents Ozzie and Harriet’s TV show to Ricky’s life to Nelson’s “(Can’t Live Without) Your Love and Affection.” He was also enthusiastic about his and his family’s fans. Those who attend the “Ricky Nelson Remembered” show March 27 musician sons, Matthew and Gunnar, the duo of ’90s pop-rock group Nel- son. Although I hadn’t come of age to their chiseled faces and long, blonde hair on covers of magazines, that wasn’t the case for Associate Managing Editor of The Daily Star Adrienne Wise. Adrienne, who is usually quiet and reserved, started singing “After the Rain” in the newsroom when we found out Nelson would be coming to Oneonta. The brothers were Adrienne’s teen idols in the early ’90s, and her face has been lighting up whenever we 16 O-Town Scene March 10, 2011 at the Oneonta Theatre will get a chance to meet Matthew and Gunnar in person. Matthew said he and his brother stay after every show two or three hours to meet and greet all of the audience members. He said they’re happy to do it. “We say our family’s in the connection business, not the music business,” Matthew said from LA during our phone interview. Continued on Page 17

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