Nostalgia Comes Full Circle at Races

Sha Na Na will play between the races at Santa Anita today. Which brings to mind an interesting conundrum.

Remember back in the ‘70s when there was all that ‘50s nostalgia?

In high school, there were ‘50s Days. We’d take off our bell-bottoms and miniskirts and put on our mother’s poodle skirts and grease back our hair. And we’d take the Deep Purple tape out of our cassette player and listen to Sha Na Na.

Today’s teen-agers are wearing bell-bottoms and peace signs and listening to our Deep Purple tapes.

Does this mean they’re also going to do ‘50s nostalgia as part of the ‘70s nostalgia thing?

And what about Sha Na Na, which is actually a ‘70s band that came together in 1969?

Heck, they even played at Woodstock, according to band member Screamin’ Scott Simon.

“While everybody else was taking acid, we were singing ‘At the Hop,’ ” he recalled recently as he spoke over his car phone while driving down the Sunset Strip. “There was no nostalgia when we started.”

But after nearly 25 years of playing classic rock tunes, doesn’t that make Sha Na Na itself classically nostalgic?

“It’s Jurassic rock,” Simon said. “We’re keeping the music alive. Our goal is not to improve the classics.”

Instead, the group simply has fun--presenting a very visual show with costume changes and even audience participation.

“We’re a contemporary band,” Simon said. “We’re always at the cutting edge of nostalgia.”

The band is scheduled to do its first set right after the second race. Gates at the park, at Huntington Drive and Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia, open at 11 a.m., with post time for the first race at 1 p.m.

Admission is $3, which provides access to the infield, where the band will play.

Those more interested in playing the ponies can pay between $2.50 to $5.50 extra for reserved seating in the grandstand, but the music won’t be as audible.