Garrett Stack, former Stratford teacher and principal, will be performing his show, American Jukebox® Live – Baby Boomer Classics
Bridgeport’s Bijou Theatre
275 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport
Sunday, Oct. 11, 4 P.M to 6 P.M.
Once upon a time there was a small elementary school called Lordship School. It housed one classroom of each grade, K-6. A September opening led Stratford Public Schools to hire Garrett Stack to teach sixth grade. And so, 21-year-old Stack set his path for a lifetime career in the school system teaching at Lordship, Nichols and Second Hill Lane, then supervisor of Media Services, Assistant principal of Wooster, and as principal of Franklin School for his last 12 years before retiring.
So now what? Ask any one his former students and they’ll say what they remember most about Mr. Stack – the love of music. “We sang almost every day, lots of folk songs, pop songs and traditional songs while Mr. Stack played his guitar,” says former Second Hill Lane student, Diane Chodkowski of Guilford, now a folk singer in her own right.
As Stack says, “They don’t remember that I also taught them how to find a common denominator, where in the world all the countries are, American History, daily news awareness, and how to spell and write standard English. But they all remember the music.”
For the past 20 years he hosts and produces his Saturday radio show called American Jukebox® on WMNR-FM. After retirement, Stack dusted off his old guitar and decided to grow callouses again on his fingertips. In 2019 he set out on a lifelong dream to perform for adults in adult settings. He started playing condo communities, and nursing homes. Since 2021 he’s booked into the Milford American Legion regularly – six years running. Four years at the North Haven Fair, a couple more at the summer concert on the Woodbridge Green, private events, and a gig in the Catskills this summer.
On Oct. 11 he will take the stage at Bridgeport’s Bijou Theatre as he presents the music of the Baby Boom generation in a 2-hour show. Stack says, “The radio was our constant companion. Back then, radios and jukeboxes were the only way we got to hear the music, plus a little on TV. We’d go out and buy the 45s with the big hole in the middle of the record.” Further, he says, “American Jukebox® Live is really an offshoot of my radio program, except instead of playing records, I sing the songs with my guitars and use additional electronic backing tracks. And like radio once did, the show covers, rock ‘n’ roll, pop, folk rock, country, soft rock – the stuff that is woven into the fabric of American culture of the late 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond.”
When asked to give examples of the music he says, “we go from Elvis Presley to the Beatles, Carole King classics, Creedence, John Denver and The Eagles. Throw in some Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash and you get the picture.”
For tickets and more information, go online at bijoutheatrect.net and click “event tickets.”
Author: Garrett Stack, who served as an educator in the Stratford Public School System for 35 years. He has been a radio host on WMNR-FM for 38 years, the last 20 of which as creator and host of American Jukebox®.
