Goodbye Junior hello Senior! Start my last year of High School! I almost became a father (false alarm). My friends and I have many things going on, jumping over the wall to the pool after it closes lol umm, alcohol and illegal substances could have been the cause for one of my friends sitting on the diving board on a chair (many years later, the pool scene with Cameron in the movie “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off” reminds me of this, lol). The Lords are official (my gang I am the first and last leader, two in between me) formed to prevent other punks from coming into our neighborhood causing trouble. Only two of us actually had a nick name, mine was Ace and David’s was JC (because he looked like some of the pictures of Jesus). We are also nickname the insiders (a real biker gang in the area, The Outsiders saw us and our colors and their leader said They were the Outsiders so we were the insiders) this happened at the carnival, which I later worked at for a week and almost joined, but the Carnies talked me out of it, said education was most important. Won my, hmm lost count, dance contest, got into a fight with a friend (sort of, just through one punch and knocked him down). Family came down in the summer and we toured all around Washington DC, the Washington Needle, the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and Mount Vernon. I celebrated the 4th of July at the reflecting pool in DC, man the fireworks were awesome! Had the group of five at the high school Sheri, Pam, Dawn, Chip and me. Senior year starts of good, have two computer classes and am pumped because in my last half of my Senior year I would have half a day of my beloved computers, and was looking at going to IBM. Forgot to say last year got my Drivers License (yippie!) Dad taught me how to drive I the snow in New Jersey. Problem with the driving part of the test was it seemed pretty simple. First you parallel park, then do a three point turn, and if all goes well on the course, the DMV person says “Okay, pull over next to the office. Problem is this is where 65% of the people fail. Because on your way over there, you are facing the back of a building that is red with white lettering, and the stop sign at the end of the course blends in pretty well. Run that stop sign and it is an automatic fail, no matter how good you did on the rest of the course (I passed on my first try!).
MUSIC:
Songs to come out: Last Child (Aerosmith), Year of the Cat (Al Stewart), Saturday Night (Bay City Rollers), You Should Be Dancing (Bee Gees), [Don’t Fear] The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult), Foreplay/Longtime, More Than A Feeling (Boston), Convoy (C.W. McCall –Mercy Sakes, Pig Pen), If You Leave Me Now (Chicago), Sara Smile, She’s Gone (Daryl Hall & John Oates), The Rubberband Man (The Detroit Spinners), Love To Love You Baby (Donna Summer), Taking It To The Streets (The Doobie Brothers), Take It To The Limit (Eagles), Evil Woman, Living Thing, Strange Magic (Electric Light Orchestra), Bennie and the Jets, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Elton John last one with Kiki Dee), I’d Really Like To See You Tonight (England Dan and John Ford Coley), Rhiannon, Say You Love Me (Fleetwood Mac – oh Stevie), December 1963 (The Four Seasons), Dream Weaver, Love Is Alive (Gary Wright), The Wreck Of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot), Crazy On You, Magic Man (Heart), You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate), Welcome Back (John Sebastian), Shake Your Booty (K.C. and the Sunshine Band), Beth, Shout It Out Loud (KISS), You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (Leo Sayer), You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (Lou Rawls), Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Kiss and Say Goodbye (Thew Manhattans), Blinded By The Light (Mannfred Mann’s Earth Band), This is it (Melba Moore), Love Rollercoaster (The O’Jays), Still The One (Orleans), 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Paul Simon – Just slip out the back, Jack!), Do You Feel Like We Do?, Show Me The Way (Peter Frampton), Somebody To Love, You’re my Best Friend (Queen), Disco Duck (Rick Dee’s-Disco is getting ready to start), Afternoon Delight (Starland Vocal Band), Fly Like An Eagle, Rock ‘n Me, Take The Money And Run (Steve Miller Band), Boogie Fever (Sylvers), Things We Do For Love (10cc), Jailbreak, The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy), Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry), Let em In, Silly Love Songs (Wings).
The Albums: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, High Voltage, TNT (AC/DC), Agents of Fortune (Blue Oyster Cult), Night Moves (Bob Seger), Boston (Boston), Chicago X (Chicago), Hotel California (Eagles), Dreamboat Annie (Heart), Leftoverture (Kansas), Destroyer (KISS), Presence, The Song Remains The Same (Led Zeppelin), One More From The Road (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Frampton Comes Alive! (Peter Frampton), A Day At The Races (Queen), The Ramones (The Ramones), 2112 (Rush), Fly Like An Eagle (Steve Miller Band), Free-for-All (Ted Nugent), Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy), Why Can’t We Be Friends (War), Wings Ovr America (Wings).
Events: Concert Promoter Bill Sargent offers $30 million and Sid Bernstein offers more for the Beatles to reunite, KISS adds their footprints to the sidewalk at Graumans Theatre, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards dies in an auto accident, Grand Funk Railroad disbands, Deep Purple disbands, Ike and Tina Turner split, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic start the P-Funk/Rubber Band Earth Tour – the biggest and most revolutionary stage show ever.
MOVIES: All the Presidents Men (Robert Redford), The Bad News Bears (Walter Matthau, Tatum Oneal), Black Sheep Squadron (Robert Conrad), The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (John Travolta), Burnt Offerings (Karen Black), Carrie (Sissy Spacek), Charlie’s Angels (Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett Majors, Jaclyn Smith – guys fell all over Farrah), The Enforcer (Clint Eastwood), Futureworld (Peter Fonda), Gator (Burt Reynolds), The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (Dan Haggerty), Logans Run (Michael York), The Man Who Fell To Earth (David Bowie), Midway (Charleton Heston), Network (Faye Dunaway), Ode To Billy Jo (Robby Benson), The Outlaw Josie Wales (Clint Eastwood), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (Peter Sellers), Rocky (Sylvester Stallone), The Shaggy DA (Dean Jones), Silver Streak (Gene Wilder), A Star Is Born (Barbara Streisand) and Taxi Driver (Robert DeNiro, Jody Foster).
EVENTS: Liberty Bell moves to it’s new home behind Independence Hall, NBC replaces the peacock logo, Bank Robbery in Beirut nets between $20 and $50 million dollars, Apple Computer is founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Forbes, Barbara Walters becomes the first woman nightly network news anchor, Legionnaires Disease has first outbreak in Philadelphia American Legion Convention killing 29, Entebbe raid by Israel frees Air France Airbus that was hijacked, 8.2 earthquake in Tangshan, China kills between 250 and 750 thousand people, earthquake and tidal wave kills over 8,000 in the Philippines, Cathy Comic Strip debuts, WTBS becomes nationally televised, Jimmy Carter is elected President, 2 Dollar Bills first minting because . . . Happy 200th Birthday America!
TV SHOWS: Marcus Welby, MD Ends. Bionic Woman, Donnie and Marie, Laverne and Shirley, Rich Man Poor Man (Miniseries), The Gong Show, Alice and Wonder Woman debut and Gone In The Wind is televised for first time on TV.
