Will Switch Blog Sites Soon

I just wanted to let all of my friends know that I will be switiching to a new blog site soon. I have been having too much hassles with blogger.com. I need to go to a place where I can write long posts without worrying that my posts are going to get eaten up partway through. Please continue to check on my Facebook page periodically for updates. Time permitting, I will try to accomplish this switch in a week. I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience. I had a great blog typed up about my first day in 5th Grade last night and blogger.com ate up half of my post. It saved, but it did not post. I can only post the half that didn't get chewed up.

Odds & Ends: More Thoughts

I promise to continue with my St. Clare's posts very soon. In fact, I might do one over the weekend. I'm in the mood for covering a few things here quickly. This is all random. It's the way I'm feeling right now because I'm wiped out.
-Legalization of Marijuana: I'm for it. It should be legalized and then tax the living hell out of it. It'll put some slimeballs out of business. The more or less regular people who grow it can work with the government while keeping the organized crime elements out of the game. I don't smoke it. I only smoked pot or hash about 8 times since 1978 on up to about 2000 or 2001-somewhere in there. The last pot I smoked was supposed to be a mellow grade. If it was, the stuff was more pure than I thought because it felt like I got knocked between the eyes from behind. Just like how I was always a lightweight back when I could drink alcohol, I could never handle the THC in the pot.
-Booze: Before my IBS hit (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), I used to be able to have a glass of wine (I preferred red) or a bottle of beer. I was too much of a lightweight to be able to handle much alcohol. Plus, I never really liked the taste of booze too much. My Dad once had me try a creme licquer once and I thought I was going to throw up afterwards. It tasted worse than the worst cough medicine I ever used to have.
-Women/Equal Pay: Women are human beings. I'd like for the Neanderthal politicians of this Country to get off of their asses and make it so that women make equal pay to men. There should be no questions asked.
-Women's Abortion Rights: This is common sense. Don't take away their right to choose. It is utterly stupid that we have moralists out there trying to roll back Roe vs. Wade.
-Prostitution: Legalize it. Then Unionize the ladies and make sure they have health benefits.
-Hands down: Health care in this Country should be Universal. I also think banks and transportation should be nationalized to go with health care. Maybe someday we'll get wise and see that some aspects of Western European Socialism isn't so bad.
-I wish the goddamned medical community could come up with a cure for IBS and Digestive diseases. I miss eating a hell of a lot of food I used to enjoy up to the early '90s before my symptomology developed. I was thinking today, while eating my beans for lunch how much I wish I could go over to Fall Creek Bakery on campus ( provided if it's still there) and snarf down 2 ham and cheese croissants back in the days when my dear friend (whom I had a crush on) Diane and I used to go to Oregon. I would have loved to have knocked it back with a glass of Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice. Now all I drink it Crystal Geyser bottled water. I am fortunate in that I am about to go and eat at Chili's and have my bacon cheeseburger (dry-no lettuce, no oinions-medium) and fries to go with my water I'll carry in with me.
-I wish Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Geln Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Conservative Democrats who voted against the Health Bill, all of the Tea-Party Republicans and the vast majority of Republicans and their ilk would fall into a hole and never come out.
I think President Obama is basically a good President. His biggest mistake is in letting Timothy Geithner run the Treasury. Plus, he's been acting the good guy attempting to reconcile with the Republicans. It's obvious the Republicans don't want to compromise on anything because of the fact that the conservative elements of the party are using too much influence to sway opinion among the party itself. Well, Obama needs to stop and start ramming a few things down the throats of the Republicans.
-I wish I wasn't so physically tired so much. The days that I work out at the health club are the worst. I'll be very wiped out shortly after I have breakfast and lunch. There are some weights at the club that you would be surprised as to how much I'm doing.
On the days that I'm not at the club, I can still be tired, but my IBS doesn't allow me to eat all that much. So I'm pretty much stuck.
-Help from female inspiration would be greatly appreciated. I'd snap out of it for a couple of hours-like those times I went to Nevada.
I think I should go and get ready for my dinner tonight. I have to do a few things before I get there. I wish I could hang out with the mockingbirds in the backyard of Camino Drive again and listen to them singing and watch them diving about off of the wires from the power lines/telephone poles. I wish I could be wrapped up in the arms of a beautiful woman right now.
All My Love,
Steve

A Letter For My Classmates From St. Clare's

Hi All Of You,
I just wanted to take a little bit of time out to say how much I miss all of you. There are only a few exceptions of people that I don't care to see anymore, but I am thinking about all of you constantly lately. I think it's because of the pressure I'm under with these new neighbors I have and the fact that I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to pull off coming back to California permanantly or not. People, I want to come back. I don't want to just visit on vacations. I mean, I want to come back for the real deal. I want to be among you again and reconnect.
Along with all of you classmates, I'm thinking of our teachers we had. I'm thinking of Freddie-our boy's coach. I'm thinking of Sheila Klopper-the girls gym coach. I'm thinking of the two P.E. guys we had at two points in our 5th to 8th Grade time of being together. Remember? One was an African-American whose name I can't recall and the other one was a guy named Greg (if I'm recalling correctly).
I am aware of the existence of a thing online called Classmates.com. I have tried using it without actually subscribing to it. I have been told by others online that it is basically a rip-off. I periodically get messages saying that (today for example) 5 of my St. Clare's classmates have found me. Well, I don't plan on subscribing to that service. But if you have been seeing my Facebook page or have been reading this blog of mine, I have a favor to to ask of you all. Could you please come out of the woodwork and get a hold of me. I pride myself on just how detailed my memory is of our times together. But I would love to talk to all of you so that you may help me to trigger more memeories I might have buried in my subconscious. Also, it would help me with some names I don't remember.
For names, I can give you a prime example. Our own classmate that we had for a couple of years, Maggie, is one person that I only remember as Maggie W. She had a Polish last name. I think I know what it is but I am not 100% certain.
I am also very open to hearing from people who may not have necessarily been members of our class. There were a lot of you who I recall, but I can't place your names. I remember I used to crack up a younger kid named George (I used to call him Georgie all of the time). Did Laurie R. have a younger brother named George? You see what I mean?
Without going into a lot of detail at this particular time, as it is a part of the story I'm trying to tell, I've been thinking about Mike Miranda a lot and how much I miss him. I plan to tell all of you what I learned from his Dad in a conversation I had with him back in 1997. We had a one on one conversation that was quite emotional.
In telling my story of how I recall things from those days, I am not out to hurt anybody. But I do want to give you my side of things. I feel it very important to do so. On the other hand, I am very scared. I am worried that life may have somehow changed me enough that that you may not want me to be among you anymore. It is my greatest fear.
There is a very important aspect to telling you my story which deals with the brief time I was in Santa Clara from October of 1996 to March of 1997. Some incredible things happened to me while I was there which ties in with you even though I was literally only in contact with a few of you when I came down. I had what can only be described as an incredibly uplifting chance encounter with Bill R. I saw George & Jay Migs on Christmas Day '96 that was just beautiful.
For those of you who aren't aware of this, I lived in a downstairs apartment on Lincoln for 5 months after my Mom, both of my brothers and I sold our last ranch we had. I came down thinking I was going to stay. Among other things, I missed my Mom too much and I moved back up. Though things had changed, I felt like I was breathing in my own skin again. The missing ingredient was that I wasn't seeing any of you and I also didn't have a computer at the time.
So please, try to get a hold of me here in Eugene, o.k.? I really want to hear from you. I also want to very much encourage you to comment on my posts and to become followers of my blog. I would also like it if we could encourage some of our teachers to come out of hiding and be a part of us again. Mrs. Schellene is gone (and I have a combination of hilarious and sad story to tell of my reconciling with her in late 1996 or very early '1997), but I really want to hear from Sue Johnson (most especially), Bonnie Kulhmann ( who has changed her name and I'm scared to reveal it here for her safety. I have spoken to her on the phone a few times) and Bea Wills. I'd also love to have the former Sister Nancy and Sister Geraldine be a part of this as well. When I was down there, Miss Kokes was still alive though I didn't get the chance to see her. I don't know if she still is or not.
I have our old school photos on hand now and I will have each one out as I go through the stories of each class from 5th to 8th Grade. I am planning (likely tonight or tomorrow) on searching for the mass card I still have of John Perry's when he passed away so tragically. BTW, if anybody ever runs into Lisa Perry, could they please tell her I said hello and that I hope she is doing fine? I'd appreciate it.
Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough for now. But I do pass my love on to all of you. I have not been back since I came back up in 1997. I was supposed to come down for the last reunion you guys had. I was all set to come down when my old used Ford Escort wagaon I had broke down. I ended up buying a new car and not a used one. That ended up blowing my coming down. At the time, a train or plane ticket was not an option due to more than one reason.
What has become of Charleen C? What has become of Chris R? I miss you so much. I will try to hammer out the next story pretty soon. I love all of you.
Steve

August 1972 Through Labor Day 1972 (Continued)

Please note: I am continuing this particular post because there was a problem last night with Blogger.com. I don't know if there are word or space limitations when you do posts or not. Also, please forgive if I repeat a few things here that may have been in the first part of this particular chapter or post.
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This was reinforcement of a lesson I learned from The Undisputed Truth and their song "Smiling Faces Sometimes". The Eddie LaVert even references the song towards the end of "Backstabbers".
I had no idea that this song was going to serve me on such a grand scale on a very scant short days later from when I first heard it.
To reiterate (in case it wasn't in my previous post), it was the drive in Eddie LaVert's voice and the urgency contained within that grabbed my complete attention. It was with this song that Philadelphia International Records reached out to me and made itself known not only to me, but to the whole Country as well. They were to become a worldwide phenomenon in the '70s. They were absolutely evident in my life from 1972 to 1974. It was a form of Soul music that I locked myself into immediately. And before 1972 was to close out, I was to be informed of two more incredible songs from that stable fronted by Gamble & Huff.
Again, like I said in an earlier post, along with the other music I was hearing on the radio, I kept having this thought about how much I really dug the Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out album from The Rolling Stones so much just before I left to come down to Santa Clara once again. The thought kept going in my mind, "I can't wait for Mom & Dad to get down here so that I can convince Mom to go and take me to a record store so that I could buy a copy of Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out of my own."
After watching the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon on television, the day I dreaded had finally arrived. I was going to have to put myself into the salt & pepper pants, the white shirt and blue sweater uniform and walk the couple of blocks up to St. Clare's and start 5th Grade. Oh brother! Little did I know what was coming. And that is where I am going to pick up next time because my memories of that first day are as sharp as the day I actually went through it.

August 1972 Through Labor Day 1972

When I wasn't walking around and checking things out again since I had returned home, there was one vital thing that I never forgot to do and that was to listen to a radio and get my fix of the charts. It was an intravenous feeding to my soul and my sense of imagination and possibility.

The Sony transistor radio I had had a black leather cover over a silver encased little piece of silver hardware that beame the most important item in my possession during my time at my Aunt & Uncle's while waiting for Mom and Dad to complete the sale of the Fir Acres house to the parents of a former classmate of mine at St. Paul's and come back down to start life on Camino Drive.

There were two primary places where I used to do my listening at this juncture. One being the top of my Aunt & Uncle's bed during the daytime on weekends and the other being the couch in the living room where I slept at night. Like any kid, I tried to pull a fast one on my Aunt & Uncle by trying to sneak very late-night listens when I decided I didn't want to sleep. It was really a case of me being so curious of what was being played at odd hours that fueled my attempting this manuever. I never really got into trouble for doing so, but it always backfired on me. There were two reasons for this. Since I was hearing impaired and tried listening to the radio even when I stuck it underneath a pillow in an attempt to muffle out the so so nobody would hear it, I was not realizing that I was still screwing up by turning the damned thing up too loud because impairment didn't allow me to properly gauge how to get away with listening to stuff at a low enough level. The other reason became all too apparent. While I was hearing impaired, my Aunt had the ears of a church mouse. She could hear a pin drop through a tornado. I tried this repeatedly and with no avail. She would always come down the stairs and I would always fake being asleep and she would reach under the pillow and turn the thing off.

I think I recall her telling my Mom about this on the phone a few times. I would love to have heard what Mom had to say to her.

During the times when I didn't have to hide anything, I would have that radio right up to my good left ear and listen away. So, what I search for? I remembered KFRC from back when I was on Franklin Street and that was the first station I went to. In hindsight, this turned out to be a very appropriate move. You see, back then, off all of the AM stations in the Bay Area, KFRC had the biggest and most urban sound of all of them. Why? The secret, I am convinced, was that KFRC had some added reverb to their overall sound that they gave to their listening audience. It boomed louder than KYA or KLIV.

The bigness in sound was to be symbolic of the bigness in my mind of the events that were about to unfold before me on that fateful day that Day 1 of 5th Grade started. That booming sound from KFRC would make this time period so easy for me to remember. It created a massive ripple in my head.

And so my dear classmates and readers, what was hitting me at this time? I was hearing Elton John's "Honkey Cat" and being aware of the irony of lyrics and of my being back in a huge metropolitan area and loving it. I was exposed to what I would likely choose as my favorite Bread single of all-time-"The Guitar Man". The playing by the late James Griffin was so dramatic to go with the music as it built up to the end of the song. That song was further making me realize that I was a guitar worshipper.

To go further with guitar playing, I got to hear one of the great power chord songs of all-time during this period of time. You want Power Pop at its best? You have needed to look no further than "Go All The Way" from The Raspberries. It was also planting something else in my mind-the idea of sexual urgency. Let me tell you. It worked. Eric Carmen's singing on that song is just so undeniable. It's as real as the day is long.

When I was listening to that little transistor, I was also still learning valuable lessons from my beloved Soul guys. A new group (to me) taught me that "Everybody Plays The Fool". Cuba Gooding Sr. was like an older friend who was putting an arm around me and telling me that I was going to go through this. Damn! He was right too. The Main Ingredient. I dearly love them.

A beautiful, mournful song hit the airwaves that I fell in love with. It was Gilbert O' Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)".

In anticipation of my upcoming schoolyear and the feeling that I was growing up at least a little bit, I really took to Three Dog Night's "Black and White". I felt like I was one of the children and one of the band at the same time. We were going to get through it together.

It was only appropriate, since I was back in the South Bay Area, that I would be placed historically to witness the release of the first big single for the San Jose band we would all come to know as The Doobie Brothers and "Listen To The Music".

I was being exposed to more variety too. I got to hear Wayne Newton's "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" as it came out while Sammy Davis Jr's hit from earlier in the year was still getting heavy airplay on KFRC with "The Candy Man". I would get to watch both of them during the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon of Jerry Lewis at my Aunt and Uncle's.

I was still thinking of my brother Mike and how bummed out he was in moving back down whenever I heard Argent doing "Hold Your Head Up". I was to learn later on that I had been listening to single edit. I was to love the full-length album version so much more.

My dear Bill Withers was still having his "Lean On Me" single being played. It was ursurped by a song with a serious groove. It was "Use Me" and I really dug it. Plus, I was actually comprehending a bit what the song was really about.

Mac Davis gave us "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me". I know that a lot of people have despised this song over the years. I don't. That little radio was plugged into my ear and it was breathing life into me. I wasn't going to knock Mac for giving me a good hook and a lyric to remember.

I was to hear Michael Jackson stepping out of the shadows of his brothers by releasing "Rockin' Robin" and "Ben". "Rockin' Robin" may have been from earlier in the year, but I heard it more on KFRC than I did up in Eugene on KEED.

Michael's fellow Motown artists, The Four Tops had left the label and released the great "Keeper Of The Castle". Levi Stubb wasn't letting up one iota in the confidence and masculinty department while teaching some things about what was going on the world.

I got to hear The Isley Brothers, in all truthfulness, for the first time at this time. I might have heard "It's Your Thing" and their version of "Twist and Shout" at some point in my radio listening up to then, but it didn't sink in with me. The first song of theirs to have an impact on me was their great single "Work To Do". They would go on to top this even more later on when I was on Camino Drive.

Other than not realizing that Billy Preston had been playing for The Beatles on Let It Be and for George Harrison, my first exposure to hearing Billy's name associated with a song was for "Outa Space". He would go on to help out a little band I was taking notice of called The Rolling Stones.

I got to hear a great one-shot Soul single from Laura Lee called "Rip-Off". What I remember about this song (and it had to be a coincidence) is that I only remember hearing this played at night. I loved it. It was almost like it was taboo. Why? I'll never be able to figure out.

The one weird song I could never figure out (but went along with it) was Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll (Part 2)". But it did sound very urban and very big to go with menacing as well. Little did we know of his personal and legal trouble decades later.

For some reason and I'll never know why, but on multiple weekends, KFRC loved to play the old Rascals hit "Groovin".

I got completely knocked out by two big ones from two Soul singles which were a big sign of things to come for the '70s. For starters, Stevie Wonder served notice that he was upping his game in a very big way with "Superstition" from his Talking Book album. I really dived into this song and it was going to serve me very well in the coming few weeks ahead. I was really boppin' to this one when I was walking around during my free time.

Now, my dear people, the next song I am about to remind you of is a song that has held everlasting meaning to me. This song was not only a foreshadowing clue of the power of the great combination of Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff and what they brought to the table in the stable of artists they were about to unveil to the world at this time, this song was going to become an anthem to me for what was to come in a very short time. I got to hear the roaring opening piano line and then the guitar and it's reverb kicking in. Then the percussion and the orchestra kicks in. This baby was an urban song. This song was real. It was in my face tellin' me the truth. It would be a reinforcement of of a lesson I learned from

Back In Santa Clara-August 1972

I remember the plane ride on the yellow bird known as Hughes Air West. I kept looking over at my brother Mike from time to time as he sat next to me during the flight. It was obvious that he was bummed out about leaving Eugene. I, on the other hand, knew that I was going back to familiar surroundings. I was just curious as to what the people I knew from 1st and 2nd Grade at St. Clare's were going to be like and if they had changed much.
When I left Eugene and came down to Santa Clara, the Summer Olympic Games were going on from Munich. I watched some of it before I left. It was either on the day that I arrived or within the following day or two that the news hit about the two Israeli athletes who had gotten murdered. It was the first time that I can recall that I was exposed to the idea that there was hatred against Jews by Arabs and/or Muslims. I can still see quite vividly a very distraught and visibly shaken Jim McKay of ABC reporting on things. I can still recall how all of major name people who were covering events all suddenly became reporters-including Howard Cossell.
There are so many great names from those games who are indelibly ingrained within myself. There was Mark Spitz, Olga Korbut and Jim Ryan among others.
When I arrived, the Oakland A's were starting to make their big drive to get into the AL postseason series on their way to their first World Series Championship. My being in Eugene kept me from being exposed to the A's at this point in time. It wasn't until I got back (what I will now always refer to as home) to Santa Clara that I knew something big was beginning to brew.
There is a conversation that I had with my late Uncle Matt which still makes me crack-up laughing privately to myself whenever I think about it. I knew my Uncle was a big San Francisco 49ers fan. So, I decided to ask him how I thought they were going to do since I started catching snatches of them playing pre-season games on television at his house where I was staying. I hope I'm spelling his name correctly. I bet anything that my classmate John Martin remembers this guy I'm about to mention. My Uncle starting talking about Cederick Hartmann (sp?). The thing that cracks me up is that he never used to say Cederick. He always used to pronounce his name as Cee-drick. He mentioned this to me and I started laughing about it. That conversation has always stuck with me with great fondness.
This was also a time when I started to become fascinated by watching NFL quarterbacks get their passes off while avoiding being creamed by defensive linemen and safeties. This is where, from watching television in the front living room, I became fascinated with watching John Brodie throw to his most frequent target in Gene Washington.
At this early stage of my return back home, I had no idea of the local mystique concerning the Oakland Raiders. That wasn't going to come until I moved into the house on Camino Drive in October and from hanging around and bullshitting with the guys in 5th Grade.
From my Aunt & Uncle's house on Santa Clara Street, I would frequently venture out for walks around the neighborhood to prevent boredome from setting in and to satisfy my own curiosity about things. At this age, I knew enough that I wanted to take things in at my own speed. This was a great way of doing so. I started going for walks over to St. Clare's to see both of the yards and over to the library as well. Even before school had started, I was beginning to dive my nose into books at the library. I got a card within a very short space of my return and the very first book I ever checked out for myself was a book on the NFL that was full of pictures of all of the past NFL greats.
I would also walk around and notice that I really liked and was used to hanging out in the California sun as opposed to the Oregon sun. I honestly could tell a difference. It felt so much more natural there.
On one of my walks, I went over to the area by Franklin Street and the old small Santa Clara mall. I walked through it quite a few times and was looking at all of the old places that were there. I reacquainted myself with Joe Paz's Barber Shop. I also noticed that there was a radio station studio in the mall. This was KARA. I had times where I could see the studio where the music was played as well as the office. At other times, they had things covered up and curtains drawn so that I couldn't see anything at all. But I was looking at a place where the magic of music that I was listening to was coming from as far as getting a visual read on what a radio station looked like. I wouldn't start listening to KARA until the mid-'70s and then only infrequently. Still, looking at it played a role in getting my mind set into more forward motion as far as my own person musical evolution/revolution was headed. The little black-cased Sony transistor radio I had lugged along with me back down to home was going to help me make the connection between a studio and the music I loved.
My late Auntie Ann was also occasionally driving me a little nutty at times. She wanted to make sure I was eating. Her chicken soup was out of this world. I loved eating the star shells and the little bit pieces of chicken.
She was always trying to get me to eat more-even when I felt like my little belly was going to burst. The really embarrassing thing that I eventually had the guts to confront her about was that I was really not thrilled about her seeing me through when I was taking a bath in the upstairs tub. This, to my upcoming 5th Grade state of mind thinking, was a bit much to take. I think she was worried that I was going to klunk myself on the head slipping around in the tub or something. I told her not to worry and that I could dry myself off by myself.
You see, people. It was during times like these where the occasional phone calls from my Mom were like a Godsend. This is one of the reasons why she and I bonded so closely. When Auntie Ann was distracted while I was talking to Mom long-distance, I would tell her about the things Auntie Ann was doing. Usually, the end result of those all too short phone coversations between my Mom and myself was that Auntie Ann (God Bless her) usually backed off but not altogether completely. She knew that she would earn the wrath of my Dad if anything happened. LOL!
This was also a time period where I had my first true intersection in my life with Hispanic culture-specifically Mexican culture. My Aunt and Uncle were sponsoring/taking care of 3 Mexican kids who were older than myself who would come over and visit the house fairly frequently. Two of them were females. The guy was always a little standoffish while the two girls, though essentially shy, were pretty approachable. I enjoyed talking to the both of them on occasion.
They noticed a book I had on David Cassidy I had brought down with me from Eugene and I told them about my love of music and how I was interested in Cassidy because of how he seemed so successful and able to draw in all of these girls seemingly at will (at least in my mind he did). But the conversation that I recall the most with hilarity is one I had with either one or both of them when I started telling them about my love of classic horror movies. We started talking about Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. I had them tell me what they would be called in Spanish. We had a lot of fun with that-especially the Wolf Man. I seemed to be on a major Wolf Man kick at that point. I loved the idea that a crazy guy could get all hairy and become a big ferocious canine. I think it also helped that I had my dog Chainsaw to think about to relate to and drive my imagination a bit.
The house on Santa Clara Street of my Aunt and Uncle's was also not without the ever present camelias that my Uncle was growing and making hybrids of. This was his passion and he dedicated many a successful hybrid project to my Aunt.
I just thought of something. In my return and the walks I used to take, I can't recall ever being tempted right off the bat of going over to the Franklin Street house to take a look and see how it was. I had to have, but at this very moment, I honestly can't recall that I did.
There was one really nice thing that I noticed though. I was hearing the ringing of the angelus (sp?) coming from the Carmelite Monastery practically daily and from St. Clare's on Sunday. I hope I'm recalling this correctly.
I do very clearly recall my Aunt hauling me off past Camino Drive a few more blocks down from where would be my new house to go to Merry Mart to go and get my new uniform for school. This trip obviously induced fear in me because it reminded me that, yes indeed, school was coming up and I had no idea what was in store for me. I had no idea that legends were to made in a few short weeks. Plus, the one good thing I got out of having been to St. Paul's in Eugene for two years was that I didn't have to wear a uniform. Now I was going back to the dreaded salt & pepper pants, white shirt and blue sweater. Oh shit! I'm really in the Catholic system for sure. I can't fake it, man!
The weird thing about this time was that I was trying to envision what the Camino Drive house was going to be like and I was having a hard time doing so. I was stuck at my Aunt and Uncle's and I had to make do as best I could as I hung out with them as well as my Cousins Bill and Dee. My brothers were at my Godmother's house and I never really saw them except just before we moved over to Camino Drive.
There were two things that made me make the time what it was. Those two things were my Sony transistor radio and the memory of having listened to Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out from The Rolling Stones at the Freitas house which kept me going full speed ahead into one hell of a time.

Wrapping Up '70-'72 Eugene & KEED

If I am covering a few people here that I already did in previous posts, you will have to forgive me. I may have not crossed off a few with my pen on my list I made out before I started this blog.
Arlo Guthrie-"The City of New Orleans": If I could think of one song from this period which could have possibly set me up for my later love of Bruce Springsteen (which would come in 1978), it would be this one. Why? Because Arlo's sense of characterization in an almost cinematic sense in this song was so vivid to me when I first heard it. I never tired of hearing it. Plus, I noticed something different about how some people reacted to this song. I noticed that my Dad and some older people like himself seemed to take a liking to this song. That image has always stayed with me.
Paul Simon-"Mother and Child Reunion", "Duncan", & "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard": There was no getting around the fact that the impact which was left behind in the wake of "Bridge Over Troubled Water", the aforementioned album and the breakup of Paul and Art was huge in the minds of music fans everywhere at this time. And when Paul Simon came out with "Mother and Child Reunion" song, I got my first big challenge in regards of thinking about how I viewed spiritual matters. This is a heavy thing for a 4th Grade kid to handle. Nonetheless, it was there for me to deal with. I dearly loved the song except that I had a hard time grasping what it was about. Strangely enough, as if I needed any more reason to do so, this song made me start thinking of my bond to my Mom in much greater terms than in the literal sense. Many years later, as an adult, I read somebody who once wrote that it was a song where the idea of reincarnation was being introduced. I wonder if this same person realizes, in his or her's interpretation, that Paul got the title from a Chinese resteraunt menu. The big line, for me at least, which made me ponder a lot a few years back, was "Though it seems strange to say/ I know they say Let It Be/but it just don't work out that way/and the course of a lifetime runs over and over again". I can't recall where I read this, but I read recently that it may not really be so much about reincarnation as about not losing hope. The course of a lifetime runs over and over again in the lessons we learn and the love that we cultivate to deeper levels. This is what I ultimately get out of the song. The thing that always threw me, and I'm sure it did others, is the "I know they say Let It Be" line which may or may not reference The Beatles and the philosophy being shared in that song.
The other thing about "Mother and Child Reunion" that was very important to me is that Simon was also introducing me to Caribbean rhythms in the same importance that Dave and Ansel Collins did with "Double Barrel" at the same time.
The song which I really took an immediate liking to was "Duncan" and the use of Andean flute instrument (whose name escapes me at the moment). I also was very much drawn to sense of one on one conversational tone in the song. The girl he sang about in the song really intrigued me too. Obviously, it was going to take for me to become a little older before I realize what it was meant when Paul sang, at the beginning of the song, "Couple in the next room bound to win a prize/ They've been going at it all night long". This makes me chuckle a bit. However, it's appropriate. Paul was talking about losing his innocense in more ways than one. I was certainly going to have that happen to me as time went on.
And in yet another example of a song that I was going to have to be a little older to understand, there was "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard". At the time, I thought it was about smoking cigarettes. Well, I was half-right. I was just off on what exactly the type of cigarette they were smoking. LOL! Plus, I didn't know what the Queen of Corona line was either. For those of you who don't know, it's not beer. It was a brand of condom.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (both as a band as individual artists with solo works): Over at the Fir Acres house, both of my brothers stocked up on their CSN & CSNY albums to go with the Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash albums. Between those two and KEED, there was no way of getting around them. I got exposed to the first CSN album, the CSNY album, Neil Young's After The Gold Rush & Harvest albums, Stephen Stills self titled first album (even over at my friends over at the Freitas house along with the second album with "Change Partners" on it) and Graham Nash's Songs For Beginners.
This was to be a huge stash of songs which would influence me greatly and producing a lot of reactions. When I listened to KEED, I was getting a huge dose of "Teach Your Children", "Our House", "Woodstock" "Ohio", "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", "Love The One You're With", "Change Partners", "Chicago", "I Used To Be A King", "Southern Man", "Heart of Gold" & "Old Man". I had no idea whatsoever that Jerry Garcia had played the pedal steel on "Teach Your Children". All of these releases had a profound impact on me.
I have to make mention of a single from a little outfit called Matthew's Southern Comfort and their version of "Woodstock". You don't know how many times I have carried privately to myself how much I love this version of the song. I love this thing equally to the one that CSNY borrowed from Joni Mitchell. It's weird, when I think of the CSNY version, I think of it as being the outwardly sociallly/politically active version of the song while the Matthew's Southern Comfort one is the one that we all carried within us in our internal hurt and wishing that the '60s had turned out to have realized more of its ideal intentions.
The Guess Who-"No Time", "Undun", "Share The Land" & "American Woman". My oldest brother had a copy of The Guess Who-Greatest Hits that he bought in Santa Clara and hauled up with him to Eugene. There was a period in late 1970 and into very early 1971 where it was rare that John was not playing one side of that album or another at any given point when he was at home. All three of these songs really hit me in the sweet spot, but I have to make special mention of "American Woman" because I was beginning to make it my own in a sense whenever I either had girls not paying attention to me or when I saw girls being mean to guys. I really loved the rebellion of the song. At the time, I didn't realize that they were Canadians. They would go on to have a couple of more songs of theirs really hit me when I moved back to Santa Clara and time progressed.
I may have mentioned him before, but I'm going to take a chance and mention him again just in case I missed.
Gordon Lightfoot-"If You Could Read My Mind" & "Don Quixote": This man has had a major impact upon my musical life. I am so incredibly thankful that he came in and took me to places I had never been to before. Both of these songs are huge to me. He was to continue to leave an even bigger imprint on me as time wore on. I heard such great musicality and sophistication in "If You Could Read My Mind". With "Don Quixote", there was description of the horse rider that stayed so vivid in my mind's eye. It made me forget about my bad experiences with horses I had at the old Lorane ranch.
People, I believe I'm done with the '70-'72 Eugene period. I may do a summation of this period and an introduction to the return to Santa Clara period. I am still trying to figure out how I am going to approach the '72-'74 period or if I should just lop the whole '72-'78 period altogether and not try to stay linear. The '72-'74 period was just so huge to me. At the same time, the changes that I saw from '75-'78 were huge as well and made the '72-'74 period that much more precious to me. I'm just going to have to see where it takes me. It is going to be incredibly detailed.