Godfather of Milwaukee rock 'n' roll: At 85, Larry Lynne keeps rockin' on

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Most musicians eventually play their final show. Their instruments become keepsakes, hanging on a wall as reminders of the past.

But for one Milwaukee rock 'n' roll pioneer, the music never stopped.

There comes a time when most guitars end up hanging on a wall. Not this one.

Every few days, at 85 years old, Larry Lynne takes it down, slings the strap over his shoulder and walks back onstage.

"It's an expression. And when I'm up there, I don't see anybody, to be honest with you. I just play, you know," Lynne said.

The first time he began playing, it didn't start with a guitar. It was an old cigar box with a rubber band tied around it.

"I picked it up, and it kind of went like boing, boing, boing kind of thing, you know what I mean?" Lynne said.

Since then, Lynne has never really stopped playing.

"I was driven," Lynne said.

Back when most dance halls echoed with polkas and country music, Lynne wanted something different.

"It was something that you didn't expect to see locally," said Harry Diament, Lynne's friend and bandmate.

Lynne wanted rock 'n' roll long before anyone else in Milwaukee did.

"He is truly the original godfather of Milwaukee rock 'n' roll," Diament said.

His band, Larry and the Skunks, became one of the biggest names in the local music scene and on the radio.

"Never dreamed it. Never, ever dreamed it," Lynne said. "When it first came on the air, you're like, 'Wow, that's us.'"

That was nearly 70 years ago.

"It's like yesterday. It really is," Lynne said.

Diament remembers seeing Lynne perform for the first time.

"Every time Larry performed with the Skunks, I had to go see them," Diament said. "No matter how we had to get there, we got there."

Today, Diament isn't standing in the audience anymore. He's standing beside Lynne.

"Well, this is like a dream come true," Diament said. "Very proud of him. I'm honored to be his friend and doubly honored to be onstage with him."

The band is now called Livin' the Dream, a name Diament said fits perfectly.

"Truly, it's for me too," Diament said. "I'm living the dream to be able to share the stage with a person like Larry, who's been there and done it."

Where words fail, music answers.

"Music is like the voice of life," Diament said. "A wonderful, wonderful thing to have in your life, and if you don't have it in your life, get it."

After all these years, Lynne still gets the same feeling just before his fingers graze the strings.

"I never had that inspiration of quitting, you know, and going on to something new," Lynne said.

Maybe that's why, at an age when so many people are slowing down, Lynne keeps finding another stage, another audience and another song.

"I'm as excited as I was when I was 17, banging drums, you know," Lynne said.

Some people count the years. Lynne still counts to four and lets the music take it from there.

"I think it's my whole entire life," Lynne said.