Published: November 28, 2006 02:04 pm         

Having fun with Kokomo!

Memoirs of Kokomo around the world. Join in!

VASICEK: With a name like Kokomo, why wouldn't you copy it?



I have written about my initial exposures to Kokomo before, but I keep having more Kokomo experiences. First, let me rehash a few memories I’ve shared before.

I think I first heard about Kokomo back in 1977 when I met Kokomo native Jeff Evans; we were floor mates at Moody Bible Institute (in Chicago). Jeff now serves as youth pastor for Morning Star Church, and Jeff’s folks attend the church I now serve.

After Marylu and I made the move to Kokomo in 1983, it was “Kokomo-all-over-the-place” time. We watched an old “B” John Wayne gangster movie (even then, Wayne was the good guy). The gangster kept telling his girlfriend, “Aw, go back to Kokomo.”

When our daughter was an infant, my wife, grandma, and daughter (in the stroller) were enjoying Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. It was vacation time for us. We struck up a conversation with another grandmother, daughter, and stroller-infant. This grandma amazed us: she would be motoring to Kokomo that night with her husband for a class reunion!

Marylu and I vegetated before an old Red Skelton movie, set in the days of pioneer automobile inventors. Red Skelton repeatedly defended the validity of his auto experiments by referring to “Elwood Haynes up in Kokomo.”

When my wife and I went on our first date, where did we go? Orchestra Hall in Chicago. We heard The Civic Orchestra under the direction of whom else but Margaret Hillis. When we relocated to Kokomo less than five years later, we found out that Hillis was a Kokomo native and her dad (Bud) was our Congressman!

After Marylu and I accepted the call to our Kokomo church, my dad informed me that he had been offered a job in Kokomo before I was born.

He worked as a printer, and he had buddies who worked at Cuneo Press in Chicago. Cuneo was in the process of relocating to Kokomo, and his buddies asked him if he would make the move for a better job. He declined (but I said “yes” some 30 years later!). Talk about destiny.

But it keeps going on and on. What is Kokomo, New York City or something? Let me elaborate.

As a fan of ’20s and ’30s music, I am a CD glutton. Three weeks ago I purchased a new “1920s remake” CD, and what do I find? A song titled, “Red Hot Flo from Kokomo.”

Unfortunately, Flo was too risqué for me. I am not including this song in my computer library! Kokomo must have been pretty wild in the ’20s.

But we should face the obvious: there is something cool about the sound of “Kokomo.” Jazz singer James Arnold became known as “Kokomo Arnold” after gaining fame with his song, “Old Original Kokomo Blues” in 1934. Then, in the 1960s, in an attempt to revise his (and other vintage music), fans formed a company named “Kokomo Records.”

There’s more. A British Pop Band called “Kokomo” had a few hits in the middle 1970s. Kokomo Island is a privately owned island in Jamaica. I am not going to bother elaborating on the Beach Boys 1988 hit song about Kokomo Beach. Most readers know all about it.

Heard about Kokomo Jr., the chimpanzee? His “OTV career spanned the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, and early ’80s, with appearances on many major network TV shows, such as “The Today Show,” “The Tonight Show” with [both] Jack Paar [and] Johnny Carson, “The Steve Allen Show,” “To Tell The Truth,” and “The Candid Camera Show.”

Everything’s big in Texas except for Kokomo, Texas! Kokomo, Texas, population 25.

Don’t forget web radio “Kokomo” from France! I can’t give you more information because my French is, how you say, crummee? And don’t forget Kokomo’s Restaurant in Las Vegas.

So why can’t we escape from the word “Kokomo?” Easy: Kokomo is a fun word to say. It is so much fun, who wants to escape from it?



EDITOR's NOTE: In addition, there is the

-- Tiny Toons Adventure featuring a re-assembly of the Marx Brothers in a skit called "A Night In Kokomo"

-- The deli in the Wrigleyville area of Chicago called Kokomo Cafe and another one by the same name in Los Angeles, CA

-- (From TribTalk) Aretha Franklin's 'First Snow in Kokomo' written about her exploits while meeting native Kokomoans when she used to frequent the City of Firsts. The song is on her Young, Gifted and Black Album/CD.

-- The Blues Brothers played at "Bob's Country Bunker" in Kokomo, IN

-- There's a Kokomo Resort in upper Minnesota.

-- And a Kokomo, MS about 120 miles from Baton Rouge. Pop. 1,204.



If anyone else has some links or stories to share about Kokomo throughout the world, please send to jim.santori@kokomotribune.com

     

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