Saturday 9: April Love

Saturday 9: April Love (1957)

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Pat Boone sings that April love is a wonder reserved for the very young. Do you think the sensation of falling in love changes as we grow older?

A. Love changes as you age but I don't know if the initial sensation is different. An old love, like mine, is more like an old sneaker, well-worn and well-loved, while new love is heady, giddy, and like a pair of dance shoes. I don't know if that is any different if you are older. I suspect not.

2) "April Love" reached #1 on the charts. Between this song and "Love Letters in the Sand," Pat Boone had a career year. Only one artist sold more records in 1957: Elvis Presley. When you think of Elvis, what's the first song that comes to mind?

A. My Way.

3) Pat was extremely busy in high school. He wrote for the school paper, ran track, and acted in school plays. Share a memory of your extracurricular activities during high school.

A. I played in the band, where I sat through cold football games and in overheated gyms for basketball games, all so we could play the fight song.

4) It was his track coach who introduced Pat to the new girl in school, Shirley Foley. Three years later Pat and Shirley married, and remained man and wife for 65 years, until her death earlier this year. Who is the longest married couple you know?

A. Some of my friends are near their 40th year of marriage. Most of the other folks I can think of are widowed now.

5) Pat has lived in the same house for more than 60 years. He once received an offer to sell it for $18,000,000 but turned it down because it's the Boone family home and he simply doesn't want to leave. Do you plan on moving in the foreseeable future?

A. No.

6) Pat has a warm friendship with his neighbors, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. Pat has mentioned in interviews that he has enjoyed bike rides around Beverly Hills with Sharon. Tell us about one of your neighbors.

A. My neighbor Lanetta is about 78 years old, give or take a year or two, and she is a farmer. She was the athletic director at my alma mater for a long time and was quite instrumental in instituting Title IX athletics for women in Virginia. Here's a video about her. She has been named to four halls of fame for women’s lacrosse: Hollins, the University of Richmond, US Lacrosse, and Virginia Lacrosse. The Virginia Umpiring Award for Service and Devotion to the game is known as the Lanetta T. Ware Award. Additionally, The Blue Ridge Board of Officials offers The Lanetta Ware Service Award to the individual who has demonstrated a lifetime of service to sports through umpiring. Ware was an internationally rated lacrosse umpire, working for 28 years at the collegiate level, and is a recognized authority on field hockey, having officiated in a number of national and international field hockey competitions.

7) Mr. Boone was very critical of Barack Obama, enthusiastically supports Donald Trump, and has appeared on Fox News to express his views. How do you feel about celebrities talking politics?

A. They have a right to express their opinions just like the rest of us. Unfortunately, too many people are unable to differentiate between opinion and fact anymore.

8) In 1957, the year this song was popular, Dr. Ian Donald pioneered the use of ultrasound technology. Today ultrasounds are commonly used by doctors in diagnosing conditions affecting the eyes, blood vessels, kidneys, gall bladder and more. Have you ever had an ultrasound?

A. Yes, I have had numerous ultrasounds, mostly when I was trying to conceive a child and suffering from severe endometriosis that kept creating massive cysts on my ovaries that would then twist and become septic, forcing a surgery. I had 9 abdominal surgeries before they finally did a hysterectomy because I was young and because as a woman I had no say over my own body and couldn't just say, "Give me a damn hysterectomy." They wouldn't because, "you might get lucky and have a child" even though the odds were like 1 in a 1000 that would happen. I finally had the hysterectomy when I was 29. Still paying for the problems with scar tissue issues, thank you very much all you stupid doctors who wouldn't perform a hysterectomy when I was 24 years old and writhing in pain and begging for one.

9) Random question: You're sitting alone in a restaurant, waiting for a friend. The waiter brings you a drink and the compliments of a member of the opposite sex seated at the bar. What's your reaction? Are you flattered, shocked, embarrassed, intrigued or annoyed?

A. I would be afraid I was being set up to be robbed, because who pays attention to an overweight old lady? Nobody. Maybe they want my iPhone.

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