Origins of the 76 CD
"How did this CD and exhibit come to be?" I hope I hear you asking.
I've been a huge Terry Robb fan for more than 25 years. I just love the way Terry plays -- when he's on and I'm in the zone, he connects heaven and earth for me. I felt bad for him because he couldn't gig during the pandemic, and bad for me that I couldn't go to his live shows -- yeah, live streaming is way better than nothing, but it ain't the same ...
In 2016, I commissioned a Food=Love inspired commemorative CD from Terry for my 40th Reunion; we also hired Terry to play Reunions Thursday night and Saturday lunch. I tried to get him to add Tiger Rag to his repertoire then, but no soap radio.
Fast forward four years, and I'm thinking ... he needs the work, and I want the song ... will he accept a commission? Yes! He knocks it out of the park.
Then I think, that was so great, let's do another -- I would love to have a Terry Robb version of Old Nassau, Princeton's alma mater (school song). And he accepts and delivers. But I don't love it --- at first. The timing is unnatural to mine ears: as-sung traditional timing differs from as-written sheet music timing. I stew about it for days before reaching out to musician friends to help me understand and articulate what I don't like about it. [NB: As its own work, unshackled from my expectations, it sings, it soars, it sends me. As it tip-toes through Prospect Garden and capers about campus, I now revel in its inherent beauty, and savor how it's such an essential part of this entourage.]
Armed with insights gleaned from discussions with my dear friend Jim Lyon '75 -- "Terry did exactly what you asked for, but not what you wanted" (I had asked for something I could sing along with) and "You want more Terry Robb and less Old Nassau") -- I went back to Terry to ask if he would accept another commission for the same song. Yes! He knocks it out of the park. I am ecstatic.
OK, so now I have 3 songs. And Terry had cut a fresh version of Hesitation Blues for me on that CD from 4 years ago. So I have 4 songs. And our 45th Reunion is coming up.
Could we take a song from his most recent album and make a new 5 song commemorative CD? Yes! But ... times are tough ... his record company is out of the business -- Terry made the music and can create the master, but I have to do everything else (artwork, duplication, legal, finance, distribution). Terry gives me contact info for good people, and off I go. I produce the CD. I'm over the moon. I'm done.
I share the finished CD with another dear Princeton friend, Sandy Harrison '74. Sandy says something like "This music is great -- so great that you have to share it with more than your class. And oh by the way, your classmate Tom Swift '76 is head of the Princetoniana Committee -- I bet he's interested." So I contact Tom, and Tom responds with something close to "It's great! When can I start making the exhibit?" And the rest is history.
Why Food=Love? It's the motto of Terrace F. Club (TFC). Through another series of fortunate outcomes (cue Nikki "2K" Muller '05) to unfortunate circumstances (cue paralyzing Alumni Day ice storm), I was able to join TFC in 2015 as an affiliated alumnus. Both CDs are one way for me to express my passion and appreciation about being a Terran. Terrace is my home away from home when I'm on the Princeton campus.
Joseph Skudlarek '76
