
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990                   TAG: 9005300402
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MAYBE SHE DOESN'T KNOW BEACH MUSIC

TO HEAR Tracy Wimmer tell it, beach music is hard to come by on the radio and in record stores in the Roanoke area. But although only WROV-AM may have shows specifically devoted to beach music, it seems to me that one would be hard-pressed to find a pop station around today that doesn't include such beach music favorites as "My Girl," "Hey Baby," "Under the Boardwalk," and "Reach Out, I'll Be There" in its oldies collection.

Not only that, but many of the beach music standards keep coming back to the pop charts in new versions. (One good example is the current hit version of "This Old Heart of Mine" by Rod Stewart and Ron Isley.) Similarly, while the record stores in Roanoke may only carry a few compilations designated as beach music, I doubt there are any record shops in Southwest Virginia that don't stock "greatest hits" collections by such beach music mainstays as the Drifters, Temptations, Four Tops, and Spinners. Perhaps the real problem is that Wimmer doesn't know what beach music is.

\ STEWART TICK\ BLUEFIELD, W. VA.

by CNB