Remembering the Sixties

“Try to remember the kind of September,” the 5 Milers sang, the words from the musical The Fantasticks, “when you were a tender and callow fellow, and if you remember, then follow.”

And they did, the audience gathered for the annual benefit concert on July 18 at the Door Community Auditorium. Five folk musicians sang popular songs of the sixties, tunes made famous by Peter Paul and Mary, the Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger, Dion, Ricky Nelson, John Denver and others icons of the era, recreating familiar lyrics and harmony. For like the folk singers on stage, most of the listeners were there during the sixties.

The old joke goes, if you remember the sixties, you weren’t really there. But the sea of gray hair in the appreciative audience, and the well-aged appearance of the balladeers was evidence to the contrary.

But while they, like many of us who were there, may once have been flower children, the times they are a changing: in the middle of a rousing version of “Drunken Sailor,” one of the members halted the group when the answer to the question “What do you do with a drunken sailor?” was to “Put him in a room with the captain’s daughter.” “We have daughters!” one of the singers called out, and suggested the word change, “Put him in a room with the captain’s dog,” which they sang as they continued the song.

The 5 Five Milers began as a garage band in 1963 formed by Neenah high schoolers Tom Jones, Rob Billings, and Terry Bigalke. They took their name from the first song they learned, “500 Miles,” but changed it to 5 Milers, Billings quipped, because the distance was too long. However, while most amateur teen bands disappear once the young musicians finish school and become preoccupied with their day jobs and families, the 5 Milers has managed to not only survive but to add two members, Nancy (Corr) Burleson and Lauren Mai, also graduates of Neenah High School.

The alumni have scattered since graduation: Billings (guitar and vocals) and Mai (string bass and vocals) live in Appleton; Jones (banjo, guitar and vocals) in Venice, Florida; Bigalke (guitar and vocals) in Honolulu, Hawaii; and Burleson (fiddle, drums and vocals) in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. But once a year they gather for a week in the Fox Valley to rehearse, reconstituting the repertoire of the group for a handful of concerts benefiting worthy charities in the area. At the end of the week, when they are near collapse, Billings joked, they return home to their other lives.

The group’s sound is a blend of Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio, with Nancy as “Mary” and the men as the Kingston Trio in their close harmony. Terry Bigalke has an especially rich Pete Seeger-style voice.

While the ensemble might not be as professionally slick as are the originals they cover, they bring to the stage not only the sound but the spirit of those times. And the idealist altruism of the sixties was celebrated by the fact that money earned by the 5 Miler concerts supports charities.

Both the Door County Auditorium and DOORCANcer benefit from the profits. The DCA is planning a new sound system. “Imagine how good we’ll sound once it’s installed!” Billings joked.

Kris Husby-Nelson, member of the board of directors of DOORCANcer, explained to the audience that the organization provides financial assistance with bills to patients undergoing cancer treatment. As the work of the group is conducted by volunteers, all funds raised directly benefit the recipients who may need help meeting the obligations of rent, insurance premiums, utility bills, and other necessary expenses.

In addition, concertgoers were encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item for Feed My People’s food pantry and subsequently a chance to win a restaurant certificate.

While the concert showcased music of the sixties, the 5 Milers included an original song by Billings, “Baileys Harbor,” celebrating that town as a vacation destination.

You can’t go home again, Thomas Wolfe (of Look Homeward Angel) laments, but the 5 Milers showed you can pay a visit. And the audience did, clapping and singing along. “Try to Remember,” “Let It Be Me,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” “Four Strong Winds,” “The City of New Orleans,” “Summer Song,” “We Shall Overcome,” and “Today” were poignant favorites for this writer:

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine

I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine.

A million tomorrows shall all pass away

‘ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today.

And we do remember.