Bridging the generation gap with Pat Boone

How do you like the new mug shot of me?

Hard to believe it's five years ago to the month that I started writing this column. Hard to believe, too, how my hair has gotten grayer and scarcer. Laugh lines getting a little deeper, cheeks a little chubbier. Remind me never again to wait five years before updating my picture.

Enough about me. I'm really here today to write about the Daily Herald's encounter with Pat Boone.

Carol Stream resident Robert Alender Walker passed away earlier this month at age 95. And as the motto at the top of our obituary page says, we pay a more in-depth tribute to people "who have enriched the suburbs."

Mr. Walker, legendary in the Christian publishing field, certainly fit the bill. We assigned this "Life story" to reporter Hafsa Mahmood.

She immediately began making calls to see who could speak about Mr. Walker's life and times. One name popped up repeatedly: Pat Boone.

So, Hafsa rang him up. Boone was cordial and chatty, and spoke glowingly of his friend Bob Walker, calling him one of the three most memorable people he's encountered. But midway through the interview, Hafsa asked Boone how to spell his name. That gave the 73-year-old crooner a little pause. He chuckled, spelled his name, then asked her: Don't you know who I am?

Hafsa, 24, didn't. She was frantically Googling him.

Wasn't necessary. Pat Boone cheerfully recited his resume: singer, author, movie star, and in the 1950s, he sold more records than anyone on the planet -- except some guy named Elvis. Boone addressed that with an album of Presley tunes in 1963, not to mention a boatload of greatest hits and Christian music albums, and, just a couple years ago, "We Are Family -- R&B Classics." In all, a staggering total of 125 albums listed on his Web site.

But as Boone ticked off some of his hits, none rang a bell with Hafsa, whose musical tastes run from Coldplay to Lauryn Hill to Sarah McLachlan to Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Beatles. She even admits a fondness for karaoke-ing to "oldies."

But not oldies like "April Love," "Love Letters in the Sand" and my personal favorite, "Moody River." I remember, too, going to the theater to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth," which starred Boone and James Mason. Of course, I was very, very young then, practically a toddler.

But on this occasion of my fifth anniversary of this column, and in the 30th year of my employment with the Daily Herald, I come to the realization that I am much closer in years to Pat Boone than Hafsa Mahmood, that I could sing along with any of the Pat Boone hits above, but I couldn't name a single Lauryn Hill song.

On the other hand, I'll take solace in the fact that I think the Chili Peppers' "By The Way" is one of my all-time favorite albums, that my 18-year-old son and I have a ton of music in common.

That's my musical moral for the day: Remember the past, but don't be afraid to embrace the future. With that in mind, everyone, please sing along:

"April love, is for the very young … "

jdavis@dailyherald.com