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Two weeks from today...

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Question Of The Day

What the Hell Is the CHP Officer Doing On His Motorcycle In The Subway Elevator?

Not only that but what was he doing IN the subway station on his motorcycle which is where we first saw him when we de-trained at the Universal station Saturday night? Its not like he could drive it anywhere down there. We watched him roll it onto the elevator and ride it up to the street level, being followed by two young ladies.Oh that's what he was doing down there - picking up chicks.

Whining In The 70's

January 28, 1977
No school because of the weather.
Most of the schools in Ill. were closed.
Went over to Lisa's house all day and watched TV.
Bob called.
Lisa and I sat around all nite.
It was real boring.
Bob called again later.

January 28, 1978
Went shopping all day with Lisa.
Went to Kevin's at night.
Damn. What a hassle.
Wa-Wa girls.
It was alright otherwise.

Snow Days In The 70's

January 27, 1977
No School.
Watched my soaps.
Talked to Steve.
Went over to Bob's house all day.
Went out with Lisa at nite.
Went over to Steve's.
There were really strange guys there
but it was fun anyway.

Par In The 70's

January 25, 1978
The day was normal.
Went to work and then to Fred's.
(The night was normal too.)
Saw Tony.

January 25, 1979
No school again.
Watched the soaps with all the girls.
Stopped at O'Neil's then went to get my car
but it screwed up again.
They haven't fixed it at all.
Went to Bondo's for a while.

Thumbs Up To You, Johnny

Little did people know that I always had a huge crush on Johnny Carson.
In my eyes Carson is one of the very few comedians who could get away with laughing at his own jokes, but so often he held it in check just to give the camera that look. That look that said you know damn well that was funny. And raunchy. He did such good raunch. I've missed him for a decade now so it doesn't hurt as much. I hope someone gave him the same job-well-done, thumbs up that he gave the acts that left his stage. I know somewhere Bette Midler is singing "Surabaya Johnny".

Snow In The 70's

January 24, 1979
No school cause of snow.
Sat around at Joy's till my car got dug out.
Went over to Brendan's at night with Joy,
Debbie, & Lisa.
Went to Ward's.
They all stayed over night.

Soapy in the 70's

January 23, 1979
Went over to Joy's for lunch and watched soaps.
They were crazy.
Went to work at night. Went to Ward's after.
It was alright.
Debbie came all upset with Paul and wouldn't
talk to anybody but her not so close friends.
It was strange.
I wonder if I'll ever find out.
Got stuck at Joy's so I stayed there.

Author's Note:
The winter of '79 was notorious. Blizzards and below zero wind chills (65 below for weeks at a time).
Constantly driving into snow banks and getting stuck. It never stopped us however, from going out - driving the VW Bug that had no heat or defrost capabilities (except in the summer). So many snow days at school that we ended up not having to make them up, the school district calling it "an act of God". And Debbie? Well, that wouldn't be the last time I was left in wonderment.

Letting Loose In The 70's

January 22, 1979
Had a test in Government. What a joke.
Got a 19 out of 20.
Joy had lunch here.
Went to Waubansee to get Debbie's books.
Got Joy and went to work.
Went to Happy Joe's for D.E.
Mark Walker was hit by a truck by Funway.
The story was let loose. Typical.
Tony called. Talked for hours.

Crazy In The 70's

January 21, 1979
Worked all day. Tony called this morning at 6:00.
He was on his way to the mountains.
Went over to the O'Neils then to Leo's house to party.
Went to Ward's for about an hour. We were there for closing.
We got pretty crazy as usual.

Science In The 70's

January 19, 1977
They had a Career Days thing at school.
I went to one of the sessions for science.
Steve Sauter called me after dinner. Called Lisa too.
Went ice skating with Bob at night. Had a lot of fun.

January 19, 1978
Went to Fred's after school.
Went out to Funway with Tony, Lisa & Scotty.
Played foosball and lost every time.
Went back to Tony's.

Author's note:
Wierd, science? Don't remember that. Remember losing foosball, however. Oh, the mind.

Freezing In The 70's

January 16, 1977
Didn't leave Western till 2:00 cause Dave's car wouldn't start.
There was no heat in the car and we froze all the way home.
65 below 0! Called Lisa and Bob when I got home.

January 17, 1977
Was really tired today.
Almost came home from school to sleep.
Went to McDonald's for lunch.
Went out with Lisa at night.
Went to the store and other places.
Wrote a letter to Bruce.
Bob called.

Hey Ho Lets Go

Stephen King wrote, “…Some bands are too tough to die. The Ramones were one of those.” Regrettably 3 out of the four original members have died. There is something mysteriously wrong with that, but that’s the way it is – three within three years. Their fable and music live on…

Joey died of lymphatic cancer in 2001, Dee Dee in 2002 of a drug overdose, possibly accidental. The Legend, as he called himself, Johnny Ramone died last year of Prostate cancer. His memorial unveiling was held Friday at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Since September, Johnny’s wife Linda and his friends arranged for a bronze statue to be made in his likeness so visitors to the Cemetery would forever be able to pay tribute to the legend. Friday’s event was just about the COOLEST memorial service that Hollywood could ask for. And as Vincent Gallo recalled, Johnny was all about COOL and being COOL was way COOLER than being hip or fashionable.

Among the eulogizers were Seymour Stein, CJ Ramone, Tommy Ramone, Pete Yorn, John Frusciante, Eddie Vedder, Nic Cage, Rob Zombie and the crazed Mr. Gallo.

Seymour remembered the first time he saw The Ramones – they played eighteen songs in a thirty-minute set… Tommy talked about Johnny’s guitar buying habits... Pete talked about initially not wanting to do the tribute album until Johnny himself requested… Nic humorously spoke of the marriage Johnny and Linda had and how he would forever look up to it as how a marriage should be. Nic was unsurprisingly the best speaker out of all them and he actually had me a little weepy when he spoke to Johnny directly.

The not-so-underlying message about Johnny was that he was incredibly stringent and often unkind but very sincere and very honest. And of course - a legend.

Friday was the first unbelievably beautiful day since it rained here for pretty much three weeks straight. The area at the end of Rudolph Valentino’s reflecting pool was where they staged the eulogies. Right across the path from that, is where Johnny continues to rock.

Not far from there is where Dee Dee lies.

A long way from CBGB’s and Rockaway Beach, but the Ramones claimed their territory a long time ago and they still rule.

Cheeboiger, Cheeboiger, Cheeboiger In The 70's

January 14, 1977
Went to McDonald's for lunch. Dave
and Rob picked me up after school
and we drove to Western (University).
Went uptown at nite.
Bruce and I walked to McDonald's later.
It was a fun nite.

January 14, 1979
Hung around Robin's till early afternoon.
Went to Chicago with Brendan, Debbie
and Duke from Washington.
Had dinner at The Blackhawk. Had a
beer at the Billygoat.
The hockey game was cancelled.
Came back to Brendan's.

Author's note:
Just to let those who don't know what the heck the title to this entry is all about -
The Billygoat Tavern was the inspiration behind the SNL skit with John Belushi. You know - "Pepsi, no Coke." Or was it - "Coke, no Pepsi."

Kickin' In The 70's

January 13, 1978
Debbie & I got kicked out of History.
Went to lunch at Meister's.
Lisa came over. Went over to
Denny's and then to Fred's.

January 13, 1979
It snowed like crazy all day.
Was going to go shopping w/Julie
but couldn't get out of the driveway.
Went over to Robin's for the night.
Had a real good time. Got crazy.
Went out in the weather for a while
w/Deb, Donny, Fitz and those guys.

Review With A View

OPEN WATER -

#1 - "This isn't BLAIR WITCH meets JAWS. This is ALL MY CHILDREN meets THE DEEP."

#2 - "Expedia..Dot Commmmmm!"

It's Chinatown, Jake

I was researching some things today for my pending new biz and I came across the Los Angeles Almanac site and the breakdown of "living below poverty" by neighborhood. Fascinating. Not surprisingly, Bel Air has the least percentages and by quick glance it looks like Chinatown has the largest. Upwards of 60-some percent. After the last couple months of balancing - or lack there of - my checkbook, I think I could add one more stat to theToluca Lake column...
Pick a neighborhood and learn its history! It's fun! And frankly, it passes for work in my book.

Testing In The 70's

January 11, 1977
Went to McDonald's for lunch.
Had a Spanish test today. Ha.
Bob called later. I don't know what
happened but we were really mean
to each other at the end of the conversation.
Hm. Called Julie & then Debbie.
Watched TV later.

January 11, 1978
Went out with Debbie, John & Paula during lunch.
Took the Constitution test after school.
What a joke.
Went out with Debbie & Lisa at nite.

Missing Moments

Since the blog was down over the holidays I didn't get a chance to share a family portrait that my sister sent out before Christmas.

It has the year '58 on it so I wasn't around yet.
Those are my older sibblings, Margaret, Ann, Jim & Brendan dressed for the Nativity!
My niece (the child of Margaret) replied upon seeing this - "My grandparents did this to their children?"
Well, Irish Catholics in the 50's after all.
Not much of that after I arrived. Still had the practice of making homemade Christmas ornaments and wearing matching Easter outfits however.
My mother believes that Brendan is shouting, "Hark!"

Bobbing In The 70's

January 10, 1978
Went to MacDonald's for lunch.
Didn't see Bob today.
He called later.
Went to Lisa's for a while then
we went to the store.
Saw Bob there.

Ditchin' In The 70's

January 8, 1978
Called in sick to work.
Went out all day w/Debbie then went to Close Encounters &
then to Brendan's.

Author's note:
Gee - the day after a RUSH concert I called in sick?
I do believe we snuck into the back door of the theater to see the movie.
Sorry Steven. I owe ya' what - four bucks?
Call me. We'll do beers.

Rushing In The 70's

January 7, 1978
Went to Chicago to see RUSH w/Debbie, Lisa, Jimmy, Ken & his brother.
Had the greatest time. It was a fantastic concert!!

Author's note:
Yeah, right. How I remember it now is - a Cincinnati WHO concert waiting to happen.
We waited outside in an alley all day with two thousand other people in the freezing cold and drizzle.
When they finally opened the doors, it was dark and the people started charging - or "rushing" in this case. There was broken glass everywhere and barricades toppled and bodies downed. Debbie got walked right out of her shoes so she walked on my feet. Once inside it was every man for himself. General admission. The front twenty rows were made up of rickety folding chairs that got busted when stood on or thrown. Science Fiction Rock - Fantastic!

All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage

What Just Happened?

I thank all the good folks at wherever it is that put my blog back up and running.
Does it look different to you?
It looks different to me.
I think I have a whole new perspective on it anyway.
That is - from a non blogging once blogger.
I had practically a month without blogging and frankly....
Well...
Hmmm....
Does anybody really know what time it is?