Resonant memories strike chord in

      Ken Lelen's Vintage Music Concert
Posted Monday, Nov 22, 2010 @ 2:42 pm

By Daniel Castro

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - HOLDEN, Mass. — As Ken Lelen strummed the strings on his rare vintage guitars at the Holden Senior Center and his deep voice crooned the lyrics to songs from the  1920s, 1930s and 1940s, the music evoked memories of bobby-soxers, youths on roller skates, trysting lovers and drugstore cowboys—images behind the music that tell the stories Lelen has been collecting for years to weave into his Vintage Music Concerts.

                                                      Photos: Daniel Castro
Ken Lelen and his 1938 B&D Groton No. 1

Lelen, a New Jersey native and former Washington Post reporter, performs with an extensive collection of guitars that were made between 1892 and 1952 by companies such as Martin, Kay, Washburn,  Gibson, Kay and Vega. The unique tone of each instrument is the starting point for a performance from the era when each instrument was made, whether the style is ragtime, jazz, or swing classics.

     The first guitar he played, a B&D Groton made by Regal of Chicago, had cost $15 in 1938; it is now worth $2,500. "This guitar has been through 70 winters, 70 summers, 70 falls and 70 springs," he said, plucking its strings. "Somebody played it, sang to his girlfriend and put all the music inside."

     The music inside Lelen was put there as a youth, listening to his mother's 78 RPM records. "My mother was 17 years old in 1945, a bobby-soxer, the third of three girls and called Baby all her life," he said. "So she ran away from home and joined the roller skating show. She told me once, 'We were rebels in our day.' "

     As the troupe of skaters traveled around the country doing dance routines to the songs of the day, his mother collected records Lelen would later play and absorb into his musical repertoire. "I've listened to "Rhapsody in Blue" 5,655 times," he said. "That was one of the records she had and George Gershwin affects you in a very significant way when you're two years old, so my [musical] goose was cooked at an early age."

     Lelen not only performs songs that are familiar to older generations, but is interested in less familiar tunes in the American Songbook. For example, at Wednesday's concert he played an upbeat "You Are My Sunshine" in the way Tex Ritter would have played it and a slowed-down version of "After You've Gone."

     "Some guitarists like Django Reinhardt played this song at 110 miles an hour - but when you do "After You've Gone" real fast it's a revenge song," he said. "What you're saying is 'Someday, you dirty dog, you'll get yours.' Well, I found the sheet music for this song, which Sophie Tucker sung in the 1920s, and it was written in 1918. Across the top of the sheet music it says: 'Ballad-not too fast.' When you sing "After You've Gone" as a ballad, you're saying 'Someday, you will feel what I felt - you dirty dog.' "

Some of Ken Lelen's collection
of vintage acoustic guitars.

     After the concert Lelen explained he is careful when he performs a song for seniors not to completely let his audiences lose themselves in the nostalgia of the moment. Such audiences might have grown up with a song, but he makes sure he adds something of his own to each version to pull them back into his performance. Either way, his songs struck a chord in the hearts of his audience members at the Senior Center, who kept slipping into singing along with him.

     Lelen's concert at the Senior Center was made possible by the Friends of the Holden Council on Aging. To learn more about Vintage Music Concerts, visit www. kenlelen.blogspot. com.

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