You've Got a Friend...James Taylor or Not

If you went to summer camp, likely you sang "You've Got a Friend," arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, tears eventually rolling down your cheeks.

I haven't heard it in a long time or thought of it, but along comes this nice cover by Nigel Hall  and friends from last week's JamCruise.  This talented musician is friends with my friend The Coach.  Actually I think I will call him Big Josh from now on, since that is how he referred to himself in another recent online post.  Ok, Big Josh?

Jump to start around 2:00

Remember the Neville Brothers?  At least one of these musicians, Ivan Neville, is related.




My friend Lisa and I did a cover of this song during our teen tour at a make-your-own-cassette-tape kiosk on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and called ourselves, tongue-in-cheek, The Japettes.  Lisa is a good friend to this day and very much *not* that derogatory cultural stereotype.

Here we are, me wearing my Vuarnets, those very 80s preppy sunglasses I referred to in this recent post. when I mentioned the song "Prep School Hippie."

Finding the Good Stuff in Lake Placid While on Break from Andover (or Hotchkiss)

My sister, Reba, is confused as to what type of blog this is.

It is a me blog.

And a big part of me is seeking out the good stuff.

I am posting stuff here that I like and hopefully it will all make sense.

We have spent a day in Lake Placid the past couple of years en route to our Adirondack Mountain vacation.  I love the ADKs, having gone to summer camp there.

On Mirror Lake Drive, the main drag in Lake Placid, you are sure to find touristy shops and restaurants.  I believe I found the best one of all, and even on the outside of the store which is called "ADK Outlet" you will not know the goodness unless you go inside.

photo courtesy of the ADK outlet's Facebook page

Awesome oversized patch from ADK Outlet, 2472 Mirror Lake Drive, Lake Placid, NY  12946

There is nothing touristy-cheesy about the ADK Outlet.

Last summer we finally met the proprietor of ADK Outlet.  His name is Tom Dalton.  He played guitar in the store with my children.  He currently has no web site but produces a lot of preppy-inspired reproductions.  Rugbies, felt college banners, vintage-looking college shirts for Syracuse, Michigan and other popular schools.  He himself exudes the prep-school boy ski bum image, though he is well past the school years and is from Upstate New York.  You feel like he is Ralph Lauren (nee Lifshitz)'s long-lost brother. He is doing preppy for cheaper.

Tom lives in China half of the year where his quality goods are produced.  Last summer I purchased some jersey-knit knee-length skirts that I have not found anywhere else.  The quality is is superb.  He embroiders the skirts right on-site.  For those frum readers among you, these are the best comfy "sweatshirt" A-line skirts you will ever find.  They are elastic waist with drawstrings.  They are really the perfect skirt I have been looking for years for.  Colors include:  cobalt blue, black, hunter green, gray.  I sniff a business idea.  Not.

His shop is decorated beautifully with a plethora of vintage collegiate memorabilia including felt pennants, sporting equipment, and Adirondack hiking gear.  If someone blindfolded you and brought you into his store, you would think it was Ralph Lauren.  

This all reminds me that I have never heard "Prep School Hippie" and there isn't even a YouTube since Phish no longer plays it, but here are the lyrics:

Prep school hippie

Or hip school preppie

I can't decide

Should I spend my adolescent days wearing tie dyes or Vuarnets

I can't decide

Big ten kegger at the frat

Or watching Jerry shake his fat

Prep school hippie

Or hip school preppie

I can't decide

I can't wait till I'm 21

Doesn't this give you the hankering to get back to Oak Bluffs?