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.

In Appreciation: Lolly Vegas of Redbone & Ron Banks of The Dramatics

So here I am as a 48 year old adult who is currently dealing with the stress of bad new neighbors and a lot of other issues in my life when I got the news that two more people who were involved with groups I grew up on and loved have passed away.
This has been a very strange day for me today. My anxiety appears to be growing ever since these new people moved in, my typing over at the Hoffman Forum was very rushed and full of typing mistakes and I spent 45 minutes pulling weeds out in my front yard while trying to place myself back in those times that Lolly and Ron played such a huge role in my life. During the day, I failed miserably to get myself back into that place (or even space if you wish to refer to it as that).
This evening, I feel a little better. I don't feel as rushed and their damned dogs aren't barking up a storm. As I type this, the anxiety is still there though.
I made a promise to the members of Redbone that I would honor each one of them as they left this Earth for the better place. I am in a state of shock that I have to be writing this only a couple of months after the passing of Tony Bellamy. This is for Lolly.
Lolly was speaking the language in "Come and Get Your Love" that I wish I only had the guts to speak of in his specific fashion in the song to women back then when I was a kid. It was a combination of confidence, '70s cool, sensitivity and open communication that made me feel like it was such a cool song. Lolly and Redbone were perfect for each other. Between that voice he used, the execution of the music, the orchestration and the arrangements, I was not just being a given a song, I was being a given the gift of a defining moment of what I felt the better side of the '70s was about. That better side reflected the last embers of the '60s in that pivotal year of 1974. Lolly's singing that song helped to put a line of demarcation (in my worldview) between the world where the '60s still existed to that point in around December of 1974 and into very early 1975 when whatever was left of the '60s began to be topsided by a majority rule of the stereotype of what many refer to when they think of the '70s. My '70s was the last glow of the '60s musically and in some other ways which I will explain in future posts. By early 1975, I still carried the '60s with me. But it became something, a curation, or a private carrying of a flame which became more and more internal than outward. It had to do with the fact that people had become so disillusioned that they chose not to carry it outwardly so much anymore. Everybody seemed to take their own individual paths in carrying the '60s with them in their own private manifestations as a way of dealing with the changes going on around them. It even affected kids. It affected me. This is why I appreciate people like Tony and Lolly so much. They gave me something during the last days when we could carry it (whatever it was) outward and visible to anybody who had eyes. But I also dearly appreciate them because it is something I can carry with me now that it has long since passed.
And so I say to Lolly. God Bless You dear sir. You inspired me like the rest of the band did. And then I find out today that somebody else passed on.
Tony Banks of The Dramatics is now gone as well. The Dramatics knocked me out with two great singles-"Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" and "In The Rain". Tony Banks was part of a great Soul group back during the '70-'72 period of my living in Eugene when I had no choice but to carry on in an insular fashion. I witnessed people showing the spirit of the '60s in '70-'72 outwardly. I carried it with me in the private confidence of my love of the music I was hearing. But I could not show it outwardly because I was among a group of fellow students who really didn't allow me to do so. I had a few friends here and there, but the little groups of people who hung out with each other had developed before I ever arrived at St. Paul's.
Tony Banks was part of a long line of people who were teaching me that Black people were real and that what they sang about had substance and meaning. When I listen to "In The Rain", I hear one of the greatest ballads of the very early '70s period. It is so full of emotional depth. It is so much about love. It was something that, in that early age (3rd & 4th Grade) of mine, I knew I was already aiming for. The Dramatics were giving me the depth which otherwise would have been taken from me by lesser minds full of race hatred or musical discrimination. That can't be replaced or taken from me now. It is in me. It has been within me since the day I first heard that song on KEED. It will stay with me when I finally break through and kiss and make love to that woman I've been waiting for to break me free from the prison I've been living in. I am so proud of The Dramatics for helping me to build on something I could confidently strut around to with my beloved classmates at St. Clare's when I moved back to Santa Clara in August of '72. Two songs like that were a great thing to carry around with a person and wait for the right time to let it all hang out. Thank you so much Tony for being part of a group who made it real for me.

A Few Things On My Mind

I am really looking forward to writing about the '72-'74 Santa Clara period as well as the '75-'78 Santa Clara period. It is my primary catalyst to why I started this blog. The only problem I'm having is that I don't know how to approach doing it because of my overwhelming feelings about this time period and the people I knew and the music contained within. I may not even take a linear approach to it.
I'm still a very scared human being at this point in time. I don't know where I'm headed. If I could live in an ideal situation, Mom and I would be living back in Santa Clara.
Ever since I took a 5 month break and lived in Santa Clara for 5 months back in late '96-early '97, I've been visualizing my going back to watching University of Santa Clara basketball and baseball games. But what has been really surprising to me is that I have also begun having the urge to want to go to baseball and football games of Bellarmine too. In light of what I will eventually write about my two years of going there, this might come as a surprise to you.
Speaking of Bellarmine, I am putting out the call again. Could somebody please get a hold of Paul Comfort and tell him that I wish I could talk to him again? I miss him so much. I learned so much about music from him that I feel as if I could never repay him enough. Plus, he was a damn fine guitar player. I used to love listening to him play.
Those I don't have much time left for writing for this session today, I just wanted to get around to discussing my feelings about drugs. I promise to do so in more detail eventually. But I do want to say that one of the great ironies of my life is that I love music and musicians so much and yet I personally can't stand drugs. I have a lot of opinions about marijuana and the harder stuff. I've smoked pot and hash before, but I don't anymore. I think I smoked both combined less than 10 times and they just didn't do anything for me. Legalizing pot doesn't bother me so much as much as some of the arrogance I see in people who smoke it and have the attitude that they are getting away with something doing so. Arrogance is a trait of some people that I hate the most.
I have always forgiven musicians for their drug habits because of what they've given to me through their music (as contradictory as it sounds). But I don't forgive easily those people I have personally known who are not musicians. This whole paradox, as an issue, runs very deep with me.
Anyway, I should probably go for now. I have to do a couple of things before I have dinner at Mom's.

Eugene-KEED-1970-1972-The Big Names

I've been mentioning a lot of familiar names of people and songs in my posts about my Eugene experiences from 1970-1972. But it is time to now get to some of the very biggest names to finish things off.
John Lennon: At this point in time, I don't think I would have had any understanding of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album that came out around the time I was still in California and then moved up to Eugene. It was going to take for me to be an adult to fully understand why this album may well be the single most soul-baring album that an artist has ever made. So, when I was listening to the radio, I very seriously doubt that I heard "God" or even a censored version of "Working Class Hero".
What I did get exposed to was "Power To The People", "Instant Karma" and "Imagine". If I were to point to any one person who instilled a sense of militancy of belief and urgency of conviction in me at a young age, John Lennon would very likely be the one I would say was responsible. John made it real. It wasn't just the whole hippie thing. As a kid, I can recall seeing John in short hair for the (I believe) video for "Instant Karma". I loved the music, but John also was scaring me a bit simply because of how he looked. The short hair had me fooled. John was instilling in me through my immature subconcious mind that the idea is more important than the visual appearance even though the irony is that John and Yoko were visual peformance artists along with musical at this point in time.
What can I say about "Imagine" and how it took hold of people back then? "Imagine" became the template of philosophy by which I could strive for even though I would inevitably (and continue to) fall short of. John would fall short too. This is what makes the song all that much more beautiful. We've got to keep aiming higher just so that we don't get to a point where we despise ourselves.
I never took the line "imagine there's no Heaven" as being that you should not believe there is one. I've always taken it as being that you should never buy into what someone says is Heaven because Heaven will be what is yours when your time comes. And besides, we are nowhere near to creating a Heaven here on Earth yet.
Rather than being anti-God as some people over the years have suggested, I've always thought that John Lennon life and his music/philosophy was a gift from God because he gave us another way of looking at things. John Lennon was the militant friend or brother you loved to death for having the balls to say what he did.
Ringo Starr: There were two songs of Ringo's from the '70-'72 period that were monumental as well. "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back Off Boogaloo". Both of the songs were influenced by Ringo's reacting to the period of living among the ruins of the post-Beatles breakup. George Harrison helped him to complete "It Don't Come Easy". Ringo came up with the line that I still echo to myself repeatedly as I get older. "I don't ask for much/I only want trust/and you know it don't come easy". People, you don't know how much that line means to me now and how it has shaped my feelings about issues that I have which directly affects my life.
Paul McCartney: And then there's Paul. Oh God! This period of time in Paul's solo career has been so sadly maligned by people over the years-but especially right then. I don't know how the hell Paul managed to maintain his sanity. Plus, Ringo, George and John were occasionally taking to taking shots at Paul in the press and in their music. "Back Off Boogaloo" was a shot by Ringo at Paul for instance.
During the time I lived on Fir Acres, I bought and owned the Ram album and the Wildlife album. I was exposed to "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" and "Just Another Day" on the radio. I only occasionally heard "Maybe I'm Amazed". By the time I moved up to Eugene in '70, "Maybe I'm Amazed" had fallen off the singles chart.
It was the Ram album which really drove home the idea to me that I thought the ideal couple was Paul and Linda. A hope began that I could meet a Linda as a result of listening to the Ram album. I can still see myself standing out in my driveway on Fir Acres one cold January or February day in 1972 and looking up at the sky as the clouds were playing games with the sun and the blue sky while I had "Too Many People" going on in my mind. Paul was in a completely different mindset than John was in. His whole thing was to just create a life away from chaos through domesticity and music. He had messages, but he wasn't militant. He was just Paul giving you an opinion that you could take or leave with ease because he wasn't backing you up against a wall. Did his anger come out sometimes? Yes. All you had to do was listen to "Smile Away". That was his answer to John as well as "Too Many People".
My Dad absolutely loved the "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" single. He loved to listen to it whenever we were driving around. I remember his listening to it on a number of occasions. It was back then that my Dad used to proliferate his own opinion that Paul was the most talented of The Beatles. I never bought into it because I loved all four of them equally. In this regard, I was protected from falling into that trap. I hope Dad knows this now.

Eugene Music-KEED-1970-1972

-Chairman of the Board-"Give Me Just A Little More Time": This is one I really dug. I just wish they had more than one really big hit because I never got tired of hearing this one. The lead singer has since passed away and I really miss him.
-Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose-"Treat Her Like A Lady", "It's Too Late To Turn Back Now": "Treat Her Like A Lady" has got a groove and one of the greater guitar drives on the rhythm that I've enjoyed over the years. The guitar provided the confidence and the lyrics provided the respect for women all of us guys should have when it comes to loving them. "It's Too Late To Turn Back Now" is just so lush and beautiful. How can a person not love a song like this? Plus, this was a big one which was playing on the radio when my Dad and I went on the trip to Santa Clara prior to my moving back down. I seem to recall that my Mom liked this song as well. But hey! She had to live with us guys having the radio on to what we wanted to have it on.
-The Eagles-"Take It Easy", Witchy Woman": Well, the big run of The Eagles becoming like a franchise instead of a band started while I was living up here. KEED played to death both of these songs. I enjoyed them. It was obvious, even to a kid like me, that this was the start of a band that was going to have some staying power. It really did strike me, in my want of having a girlfriend as far back as then, the line where it is mentioned "I've got seven women on my mind". Even back then, I sometimes wish in my case that it was only seven. For the life of me, I could swear that I only started hearing "Peaceful Easy Feeling" when I moved back to Santa Clara. I can't seem to recall for certain.
-Linda Ronstadt-"Rock Me On The Water"-I got exposed to Linda through this song first in a clear way that I was listening to Linda and knowing it was her. I could swear, however, that I did hear her with The Stone Ponys and "Different Drum" back when I was still living on Franklin Street. This was my double shot entry to being influenced by Jackson Browne as well as this is his song being covered by Linda. Little did I know that two people with whom I've already mentioned early in my story had a connection to Linda. They were both distantly related to her.
-Harry Nilsson-"Courtship Of Eddie's Father", "Without You", "Coconut": Well, what can one say about Harry that isn't going to be full of superlatives? He was superb in his voice range. He was deeply soulful as a singer (he took "Badfinger's "Without You" and made it his own and ended up winning a Grammy for it). He could be absolutely hilarious as in the case of "Coconut". He would go on to make one of my favorite records of all-time while I was still living up here and would not be released until I moved back to Santa Clara. God Bless Harry Nilsson! The music world has not been the same since he passed away.
-Three Dog Night-""Mama Told Me (Not To Come)", "Joy To The World", "Liar", "An Old Fashioned Love Song", "Never Been To Spain"-These guys used to blow me out of my socks. I recall watching a t.v. special of them of a live performance and I was just stunned. I loved how hard they worked. For some reason, I have always loved the drumming of this band. It was very driving, steady and hard. "Joy To The World" was the one that would become the big anthem. Whenever my Mom and I would sing this together in the car, I would always sing "joy to the fishes and the deep blue tree" instead of "deep blue sea". My Mom had to convince me a few times. Well, you know how stubborn hearing impaired kids can be sometimes. If I had to choose out of these singles I heard up here, then I'd choose "Never Been To Spain". This Hoyt Axton song had the drums, the guitar and the world weary lyrics that really appealed to me. Three Dog Night would continue to keep going as the early '70s progressed.
-Bread-"If", "Baby I'm A Want You", "Diary", "Everything I Own": The voice of David Gates was the voice that opened doors for a lot of guys trying to start awkward conversations with girls back then. Bread won you points with them. Sadly, guys could not talk about them amongst themselves because you were considered some kind of sissy if you liked them. This is really too bad because this was a marvelous band. I never had that problem of having to keep my mouth shut about my like for them as I was in a basically isolated pattern anyway. Plus, I always was a little different in that I kept my openmindedness at the forefront of my sense of discovery. It would take for me to be an adult to learn that one of my favorite Monkees tunes, "Saturday's Child" was co-written by David Gates. If all of you recall, it was a rocker and not a ballad. It would also take me years to learn about why the late James Griffith was such an important element to this group. He was such a gifted guitar player. Bread would go on to make a song when I moved back to Santa Clara that would be a driving force in my life at the time.
-The Grateful Dead-"KC Jones", "Truckin"/Jerry Garcia-"Sugaree", "The Wheel": My first exposure to the music of The Grateful Dead and specifically Jerry Garcia came from 4 big ones. When I was a kid, I wasn't exposed to the crap that writers would later put into my head about the Dead and cause me to go on a very long and convoluted journey with them which would have its share of deep prejuduice and put-downs. But back then, I accepted The Grateful Dead with open arms. It was during a time when people were into the Dead because they loved the music. It was many years before the band became a franchise of sorts and the hanger's on and bad people got associated with the fandom. All of the later years bullshit was to be a continuing hinderance in my appreciation of the band.
What I can tell you though is that I think I am being fairly accurate in saying that I did hear Jerry Garcia's "Sugaree" and "The Wheel" being played on KEED at different odd hours. To this day (and I have not bothered to check official listings online), I am not sure that either were issued as singles. There were one or two djs at KEED who were big Dead fans. As a result, I honestly think they snuck in "Sugaree" and "The Wheel" when the station PD (program director) wasn't listening. I have to be perfectly honest here. I loved the two big singles from The Grateful Dead, but it was these two songs from Jerry Garcia's Jerry Garcia album which launched a brief fascination with Jerry before fate, circumstances and plain ol' bullshit got in the way.
This stuff was so different. It had a whole different feel to it. The pedal steel on "The Wheel" just floored me. Mind you, as a kid, I couldn't make heads or tails of what Jerry was driving at in the song. It didn't matter. His practically fragile voice (in a sense) and the music combined in a swirl that told me he was aiming for something.
I have to tell you that I still have to be in the right mmood to listen to The Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia nowadays. When I listen to the Dead, I focus on Jerry and Phil Lesh. Though the conditions have to be right, I'm still glad that I have made my way through to listen to them when I do. I will write more about them as time goes on.
-The Chakachas-"Jungle Fever": O.k., this song made me blush. Even I could figure out that there was ex going on in this silly little ditty.
-Al Green-"Let's Stay Together: Oh brother! This is it, baby. This is truely one of the greatest Soul singles to ever be released and I was there to hear it when it first came out. It knocked me out cold. It did so repeatedly. Long live Al Green!
-Edison Lighthouse-"Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes"-Great pop. It's another one of those great early '70s singles that seemed to come out of nowhere, made its run, and then faded into obscurity. They used to do that back then.
-"Smile A Little Smile For Me, Rosemarie": I'm too lazy to go and see who did this wonderful little single, but I loved it.
-"Jaggerz-"The Rapper"-Another in a long line of singles that made their run and then faded out.
-Cher-"The Way of Love" "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves": I actually bought the album that these two singles came from. It's weird though. Everybody remembers the latter song, but nobody recalls that "The Way of Love" made a big run back then. It got really heavy airplay. I'm really surprised oldies stations don't play this one more often given the impact it had back then.
-"The Resurrection Shuffle"- I can't recall who first did this. It would later be covered many years down the line by Clarence Clemons on a solo album of his with JT Bowen.
-"I Love You More Today Than Yesterday"-I can't recall the band. This was another quick riser that I loved.
-Lobo-"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"-This was a huge one back the day. You got to take roadtrip with Lobo as he described different parts of the U.S. as you experienced his adventures. Lobo would be big in the early part of my retunr to Santa Clara.
-Donovan-"Atlantis", "Sunshine Superman", "Hurdy Gurdy Man": "Atlantis" was a single which came out that was still charting when I moved up to Eugene. It really fascinated me. This whole idea of being down in the bottom of the sea was a new concept to me. But for pure hippiedom and my attempts at passing myself off as one, I got the greatest attitude from listening to the old '60's singles "Sunshine Superman" and "Hurdy Gurdy Man" being played on KEED. Little did I know that the heaviness I was getting from "Hurdy Gurdy Man" was being supplied by none other than Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones and John Bonham. Yea. You know. Those guys from Led Zeppelin.
-Agrissi or Adrissi Brothers (I can't remember which-it's my hearing)-"We've Got To Get It On Again": I really loved this song. To me, it was very dramatic. I still love hearing it to this day.
-Looking Glass-"Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)"-This one was a huge hit. I will always identify this song with driving around with my Dad in his truck when we were down in Santa Clara before we moved back down there. They would eventually come out with another single that I liked even more when I moved back.
-Manfred Mann-"Living Without You"(I think that's what this was titled.) This is a song I always identify with my brother Mike for some strange reason. I remember hearing this song on the way up to the Mt. Angel basketball tournament to see him play when he was still at St. Paul.
-Smokey Robinson & The Miracles-"Tears of a Clown"-It was this song which made me a fan of Smokey. He's the man who was given a voice which need not have to pass any inspection. He's the envy of many great singers of different stripes because he's got the falsetto pipes. You can take that to the bank.
-Janis Joplin-"Me and Bobby McGee"-Her last single was my first exposure to her. She would grow on me as the '70s progressed. I am just so sad that she's gone. I wish more people would have been around to help her fight her addictions. We could still use her combination of vulnerability and feistiness today.
-The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band-"Mr. Bojangles", "House At Pooh Corner": These were two huge singles back then. I had the "House At Pooh Corner" single and my brother John had the album from which both songs sprang. It was beautiful stuff. I also didn't know at the time that there was yet another Jackson Browne coinnection being made by way of "House At Pooh Corner".
-"Fruit of the Universe" (was that the title?): Who did this really weird song that used to kind of freak me out?
-Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flak-"Where Is The Love": This is a great duet and a song about having an affair. Well, I didn't know that being as I didn't understand about things like that yet. But I did identify with the feeling of emotion expressed though. Why don't people make songs like this anymore? They all seem so flaky nowadays- the ones where you have these superstar parings and they end up falling flat on their faces.
-Eric Burden & War-"Spill The Wine": This was a cool song that made me wish I could be among all of the women Burdon was singing about.
-War-"Slippin' Into Darkness": This is one of the best songs to come out from this '70-'72 period. My God! It had feeling. It had a musicality that killed me. Was was to continue to knock me out as time went on. This song had so many elements being put together in it. It made for an undeniable power. That's what you get when you make a combination of Soul, Funk and Latin rhythm and get that stew going.
-Olivia Newton-John-"If Not For You"-I could swear that her cover of the Bob Dylan song came out when I lived in Eugene the first time around. Back then, I didn't know she was covering Dylan. I thought she was covering George Harrsion because of my being exposed to the All Things Must Pass album so much back then.
-Neil Diamond-"Cracklin' Rosie", "I Am I Said", "Song Sung Blue": This is the period where Neil Diamond had another big emergence. Because of moving for my first time, "I Am I Said" struck me in a way that I didn't realize it was going to. "Song Sun Blue" just got so much airplay. I remember my Mom singing to it occasionally when we were driving around.
-Tommy James-"Draggin' The Line"-This was one of those special songs that set my attitude at the time in place. Like I said before for other songs, this was one of those which justified my feeling that I was a hippie-a very young one. Whenever I hear it now, I'm never embarrassed. It tells me that there's still one way deep inside me even though I've gotten a bit weathered.
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Eugene Music-KEED 1970-1972

I'm guessing that it's going to take me at least 3 or 4 more posts to finish my list from this time period. I'm getting to a section of this particular period that I want to open up on.
-Bill Withers "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Lean On Me": I have mentioned Bill Withers in my last entry about the trip I made to Santa Clara before I moved back there in the Fall of '72. I will never underestimate the impact that this man has made on me. His voice and his delivery spoke to me directly. This is his great gift. "Ain't No Sunshine" just blew me away continually when I used to listen to it. "Lean On Me" is a song which should never be forgotten. I wish I could hear people singing this to each other in the times we are living in right now. Listening to it back then was like listening to the Gospel Truth.
-Malo-"Sauvecito"-There was somebody beyond Santana making Latin music for me to be exposed to (even though I think a brother of his was a member of this band).
-The Rascals-"People Got To Be Free": This single form the late '60s ('68 I believe) got a lot of airplay on KEED. It was almost as if it was a current hit. I loved the message and I carried it with me.
-Zaeger & Evans-"In The Year 2525": Here's yet another '60s hit that got heavy airplay by KEED again. Depending on my mood and where my imagination was taking me whenever I happened to listen to this thing, I would sometimes get a little scared thinking of my own mortality.
-The Temptations-"Just My Imagination "Running Away With Me"-This was a killer for me. This was the song which made me an Eddie Kendricks fan for life. He would come back in late 1973 for me in a big way. Production values? This one should be required listening at any school for future producers.
-Gladys Knight & The Pips-"If I Were Your Woman": This song was the start, for me, of a now lifelong love affair with Gladys Kinight & The Pips. This song has delivery to burn by Gladys. If you don't believe what she's singing, then you have icewater in your veins.
-Chicago-"Colour My World", "25 or 6 To 4", "Beginnings", "Does Anybody Know What Time It Is? "Saturday In The Park. I thought Chicago was a great band. I still do. I can't over that some critics have roasted these guys alive. All of these great late '60s and early '70s singles from the Terry Kath Era of the band were marvelous. By the way, who didn't want to be as hot a guitar player as Kath? The guy was a scorcher. Chicago was another band that you learned about arrangements from. They would keep up the great work when I moved back down to Santa Clara.
-Rod Stewart-"Maggie May" and "You Wear It Well": Here's where I got introduced to Ronnie Wood. This was when he was at his best and not with The Rolling Stones. Rod and the Faces material was to grow in importance to me as the '70s wore on.
-Jethro Tull-"Aqualung": This was my first exposure to Jethro Tull. The person who was to really drive home Tull's music was my brother Mike. He got hooked on them up here. Then, I would eventually get hooked on essentially the first four albums.
-Jackson Five-"I'll Be There", "ABC", "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save". For me, "I'll Be There" was the one that I felt the most. They were a great singles band. Strangely enough, over time, I feel like the Jacksons were overhyped in their importance in some regards. In later years, I would hear The Five Stairsteps and their song "Ooh Child" as part of a CD package that I have of their best material and I think they were far superior to the Jackson Five in the musical department. They were essentially the same age, but they were coming up with more sophisticated arrangements than the Jackson Five and the Motown people.
-The Free Movement-"I've Found Someone of My Own": This is a great little single about breaking up and moving on with your life. This was really mature stuff for a kid like me to be listening to.
-Chi Coltrane-"Thunder and Lightning": The thing I always remember about this song is her unbridled forward delivery.
-Betty Wright-"Clean Up Woman"-Simply put. This song is the real deal. There's no b.s. in this song whatsoever.
-Free-"All Right Now"-This was the start of my association with Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke. They would later form Bad Company. It would take for me to be an adult to fully appreciate this band the way they should be. My God! The late Paul Kossoff was one hell of a guitar player. People, do yourself a favor and pick up the import U.K. Deluxe Edition of Fire and Water on the Universal label. The album is pure Blues influenced Heaven to me.

In Tribute: Robert "Squirrel" Lester of The Chi-Lites

In writing about my time living in Oregon the first time around from 1970-1972, I have written a bit about The Chi-Lites. It is with sorrow that the news has begun to leak out that the great lead vocalist who gave voice to the great inspirational musical ideas that the late Eugene Record gave us has passed away. His name was Robert "Squirrel" Lester.
I have mentioned this before. It bears repeating again. but it is my firm belief that one of the greatest outro lines I've ever heard in a song is the one during the last bit of fadeout in the great single, "Oh Girl" where Lester intones with all heart-felt anguish "Have you ever seen such a helpless man?/ Oooh no."
It was Lester's voice which gave me the full o.k. to believe that it was o.k. for a guy to show his vulnerable side. This was an important element that was added to early '70s Soul music. It wasn't always the stereotype of bravado and machismo.
I think of the great 3 singles I grew up on here in Eugene (Have You Seen Her?", "Oh Girl" & "The Coldest Days of My Life") and I think to myself of how utterly important this element of thinking, through music, was to my early development as a person.
When you take a musical genius like Eugene Record and combine it with the sincerity of the vocals of a Robert Lester, it was inevitable that you would achieve musical immortality. I wrote over on a Rolling Stones webboard just a short while ago that Mick Jagger has mentioned every once i a super great while that he loved the music of The Chi-Lites. I hope that people like himself and others who are of his musical strata will take the time out over the next few days to dig out their Chi-Lites records and CD's and recall the greatness of Lester and the Chi-Lites. They all shared company together on the charts back in 1971 and 1972 and we were all made the better for it. I just read s hort while ago that there is apparently only one member left of the original Chi-Lites left. This is just so sad. But hey, just think of how great it's going to be to hear them again in the enxt life. I want to see tons of gigs of theirs and back in their prime once again.

1970-1972 Eugene: More To Recall

Whatever happened to Robbie Pietros (I think that's how his last name was spelled-perhaps with a u instead of the o towards the end)? Do any of you St. Paul people remember him? He was a really nice kid. He and I got to know each other during 3rd and 4th Grade. I think there are always kids like a Robbie in all our lives who pass through and then go on to obscurity and are lost to time. I have no idea if he's alive or dead. I have no idea if he's still in Oregon or if he's somewhere far off.
What I do remember about him is that he alwas talked to me like I was an equal. He never teased me. He just spoke like a regular guy. When you asked him a question, he would answer it. He used to ask me questions and I always enjoyed telling him whatever he wanted to know. I remember that he used to wear his Cub Scout uniform top to school fairly frequently in lieu of when he didn't have a regular shirt to wear for the day. I kind of recall that he came from a broken home in regards that his Mom and Dad were either separated or divorced. They were also living in a rental of some kind. I can't recall if they were living in a house or an apartment. He had a sister that he would mention. He rarely spoke much about his Dad (with whom he was living with). Now, I don't know if you recall this or not, but Robbie had a birth deformity on his hand that he had to deal with and that we spoke about. We used to discuss how people used to react to noticing it or not. He was just such a cool kid. For his age, he was very real. On one hand, he had (I think) two fingers that were essentially fused together which never grew out. They were the middle fingers on that hand. But the thing of it was that he used his other perfectly normal hand to draw. He loved to draw things. Amazingly enough, I am the proud owner of one of the drawings he made for me as a surprise. He drew me a couple of characters out of one of his Dr. Seuss books he had that he was very fond of. I have kept it stored away all of these years. Every couple of years or so, I'll dig it out and look at it and smile while I admire that I had a friend like that who would share something like that with me. I really hope he's doing o.k.
In the Summer of '72, there took place a sort of transition period that I did not even realize was taking place and it stood out to me, in hindsight, as a preparation for my return to Santa Clara. I did not have much of an idea as to how serious my Dad was being convinced by his brother and sisters to come back home in order to keep the peace among themselves. I didn't realize that my vacation was actually my Dad's serious house-hunting venture for a move back. I knew he was doing it, but it didn't sink in that it was actually going to happen.
This trip was very memorable for me. Dad took me to my first Oakland A's game. This was the Summer where the A's put everything together to make their run twoards the first of their 3 straight MLB championships. We went to see the Chicago White Sox play the A's. What a game! We never got to see the end of the game. The game went into extra innings and lasted so long that the game had to be suspended because it went into the curfew that the American League or the City of Oakland had in place. The game was continued the next day. I nearly got nailed by a foul ball at that game. What I'll never forget was seeing the sight of the famous (or infamous-depending on your view of him) Dick Allen, the first baseman of the White Sox playing tic-tac-toe on the dirt in between pitches and batters during the game. He was notorious for doing this. He was also a great player as well. I came away from my first game at the Oakland Coliseum very impressed. My interest in baseball had grown more since those early Giant games at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara and the double-header I saw at Candlestick. It helped a lot that the Ems games my Dad had been taking me to had been really holding my interest. I can still remember the couple of bomb scares at Civic Stadium I lived through as well as the drunk people in the stands really getting into the games. I had no idea during that Summer of '72 that I was to visit the Oakland Coliseum many more times when I moved back down there and how singnificent it was going to be to me.
Another thing which happened to me when I was down there during that trip was that I discovered Bob Wilkins and his Creature Features movie show. Now, I got hooked on horror movies when I lived in Eugene. But I really got hooked on Bob Wilkins because he was just too damned cool. I mean, this guy became a legend for us kids down in the Bay Area. Plus, he was the weird Uncle you always wanted to have. He knew so much about the movies and he passed along the information to you so that you could learn and contextualize what you were watching. Plus, he always smoked these nice big fat stogies while doing his presentations. And wouldn't you know it? I caught him on an especially cool night. In the little den area next to my late Aunt Mary's dining table where people used to eat, I sat and watched the original Bela Lugosi Universal Horror Film of Dracula. My interest during that late Saturday night shot up like a rocket because I knew that this guy just absolutely wiped the floor clean of the hostess who did the horror movie show here in Eugene. Bob Wilkins was just the coolest, man.
The other big thing from this trip is that I got to visit my first friend, Tom R. again at his new house over on Stevenson. He had a new baby brother. The addition forced them to sell their house on Franklin Street. Anyway, we reconnected. We got really tight as good buddies again. I recall when we were driving around in his Mom's VW Bug (Nancy R.), she ahd the radio on and I really caught on to a couple of tunes which made me immeditaly identify them with California instead of just Oregon. I recall very specifically being really in tune with Bill Withers-"Lean On Me" and Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band-"Garden Party". By the way, I should mention that that A's game I went to with my Dad always makes me think of "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass because I recall hearing it while Dad and I were driving around.
It was during this trip as well that I heard two other songs which I would identify only with California. This was the Summer when "Burnin' Love" from Elvis Presley and "Come Together" from The Who made a huge impression on me. Along with the other songs I have mentioned, there was a fullness to the music I was hearing which was making everything I was listening to a constant soundtrack to my present life. And the songs were so full of life. They were breathing so full of healthly vitality.
When it came time that I had to leave Tommy's house. My parents really took notice that I was really sad to leave. I have a funny feeling that little bit that they observed helped to put the icing on the cake for my Dad as far as deciding to go ahead with the purchase of the Camino Drive house that was to become my golden house.
And then I went back home to Eugene and thinking I was going to start 5th Grade at St. Paul. I got back into the groove that I was used to when I got back home. But one of the songs that I heard towards the end of that Summer was to foreshadow, in a weird way, what was to come. After Elton John had released the "Rocket Man" single from what would be the Honky Chateau album, he followed it up with "Honky Cat".
To quote a few lyrics, "Get back Honky cat/better get back to the woods/Well, I quit those days and my redneck ways/Oh hoo hoo hoo ow change is gonna do me good"
-"They said Stay at home. Boy you gotta tend the farm/ Living in the city boy is gonna break your heart/But how can you stay when your heart says no a-ha/How can you stop when your feet say go"
And so, I really believe the template was set. I did have to undergo some changes back in Eugene that I was sad to have to let go of. For starters, we sold the big Lorane ranch that Summer as well. For some strange reason, I had a big sentimental attachment to the two tractors we had on the ranch. We had a huge green John Deere and one grey Ford. When we sold the ranch, I got choked up watching my Dad ride them for the last time.
It's very fuzzy as to when I got the announcement from my Mom and Dad. But I got it. Steve, we're moving back to Santa Clara and you are going back to St. Clare's. Wow! When I got the announcement, we were at a point in the Summer when we started getting a heat wave that apparently lasted quite a while. So much so that it went to the point beyond when I left.
And then the day arrived. Mom and Dad hauled me off to the then Mahlon Sweet airport. I got a ticket to fly a big yellow bird called Hughes Airwest. My brother Mike flew with me. I saw him and I knew he was really bummed out because he was leaving the hunting and fishing of Oregon. He also really liked our next door neighbor (the late Carl Lay) at lot.
When I left, I did not have any realization of the history I was skirting or the enormity of what I was to encounter once I got off the plane. Here's the deal. When I left Eugene, there were a couple of singles and songs being played by the KEED guys by somebody and a band he was in that I was openminded enough to like as a kid. Little did I know that this band was going to be playing 2 shows in Veneta that were to be legendary right after I left to head back to Santa Clara to stay at my late Uncle Matt and Auntie Ann's house on Santa Clara Street. On two sweltering days in late August, Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead rolled in to play the 2 Creamery Benefit shows for Ken Kesey where the temperatures soared to the 100 degree mark. I was exposed to "Truckin'" and "Casey Jones" and I liked them.
Instead of being exposed to the big news of The Grateful Dead, I was to fly into to be exposed to KFRC San Francisco (said city, my lovely great one, was also home to The Grateful Dead) while down in Los Angeles, at almost literally the same time, an event was taking place that I would not hear about until many years later which would , by virtue of where I was, have more influence on me that The Grateful Dead. An event called Wattstax took place at the Memorial Coliseum. It was where a ton of Soul Acts, along with the Reverend Jesse Jackson held their version of Woodstock. You see people, it was meant to be that Soul Music was to continue to play a huge role in my life. There would be room for The Grateful Dead later on in my life. But it would come at a much later date and through a very long and circuitous route which would become a battle of sorts which I will explain at some point later in very thorough detail.
So, ladies and Gentleman. Armed with only the belongings in my suitcase and a transitor radio, I was to begin the period of my life that I refer to as the greatest I've ever lived through. The Golden period of the Fall of 1972 to the Fall of 1974 was to descend upon me. The true essence of who I am today was to begin shaping me when I stepped off that yellow bird onto the tarmac of San Jose airport.
I will finish off my discussion of the music I listened to during the '70-'72 Eugene period over thenext few posts before I dive into the '72-'74 period. I will likely post a few other things as well before I dive into it.

January 17-Happy Birthday, Mick Taylor

I just wanted to take a spell and send out my best wishes to Mick Taylor on his birthday. I hope he does not have any health issues he has to deal with this year. I hope that he decides to make a very deep plunge into leading a more healthy lifestyle. I also hope that he is lucky enough to have management ensure that he does not do long brutal stretches of one-nighters like he did when I saw him here in Eugene back in 2001. I checked his official website after I saw him and it was truely frightening to see that number of one-nighters in a row he was doing. On top of it, he was traveling by car to get to those gigs here in the U.S. for at least a good chunk of them. This is a guy who deserves better than that.
You are loved and the great majority of fans have your best interests at heart. I hope I get to see you again and that I get the chance to have a substantial talk with you. I always keep you in my prayers and hope that you will stay safe. Happy Birthday, Mick. Here's to hoping that you have many more and that Mick and Keith decide to throw some money your way.
Steve

In Appreciation: Teddy Pendergrass

It must be stated upfront that I don't consider what I'm about to say here in this appreciation to be the definitive (by any stretch) word or proper dedication to Teddy Pendergrass. There are those of you who have faithfully followed Teddy's career throughout all of his phases as well as what can only be tragically described as the pre-accident career vs. the post-accident career.
My appreciation of Teddy Pendergrass comes from his time when he was a member of Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes. This period covers the years of 1972 through 1974. It is the period before he broke away from Harold Melvin to start his own solo career. It is the period which I lived through that I worship so much. It is also the period from before I made the switch to listening to FM radio as my primary radio listening source for music rather than AM.
You know, there must be a conspiracy by history or by angels that I'm being forced to write about things from the '72-'74 period when I was living back in Santa Clara once again before I feel like I'm properly ready to. I haven't even finished the Eugene '70-'72 period yet. Yet, here I am.
If Teddy Pendergrass had not walked the Earth during his time with Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, I am quite certain that the return to Santa Clara period that I love so dearly would have turned out much differently. His voice was so powerful. His was the voice of Soul music being funneled through by way of Gospel influence. I mean, he was right up there and so upfront. He wasn't to be denied. All of us have been so blessed to have been given the masculine side of great vocal talents like Pendergrass. He was another one of those singers with whom I felt a great affinity for in that it was o.k. to show off your masculinity in expression. Plus, if I ever went to far in thinking that I was going overboard on the whole Soul singer as straong male role model type, I always had somebody like the late Eugene Record of The Chi-Lites to remind me of the vulnerability that could be expressed by males as well.
From that great first album of Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, there was a song like "I Miss You" to show that there was indeed another side to be shown by the band and by extent Teddy.
For me, as for a huge amount of people around the world, it was when Gamble & Huff decided to release "If You Don't Know Me By Now" that put them on my musical map with a huge splash in the Fall of '72. I desperately needed something to anchor me that Fall because I was in the fearful throes of my dread for our 5th Grade teacher at St. Clare's who ruled our class like a tyrant. Teddy's vocals for the song gave me something I could hold onto and give me a strong-willed sense of consolation based on the sheer vocal force of his delivery.
My Mother had to have sensed something concerning my love of this song when I heard the song riding around in the car with her or when she would hear me listening to and attempting to sing along to it at home on Camino Drive or else it was one of those beautifully coincidental quirks of fate on her part that made her do it. I didn't say a word to her about the song. I never directed anything at her. Yet, Mom came home one fine day and said she had something for me that she picked up over at the record store over at Valley Fair. She got me my first Philadephia International Records single and it was "If You Don't Know Me By Now". For this occasion alone, Mom helped to cement this song into a certain high strata with me. She managed to help careen something along further without her even knowing it.
I would later come to know Teddy and his association with Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes through the great single in (I believe) 1973 with "The Love I Lost" and then in 1974 (again I believe) with "Wake Up Everybody". And that voice would stay ever so strong and so sure.
The great thing about great songs is that you don't remember them as just being fantastic songs. They become personalized in your life. I was to meet a woman at some point in either very late 1973 or early 1974 at a time when David G. and I would become friends for a good solid 4 years until the 5th shaky year when things began to fall apart. This woman was to become his Dad's wife (the third if I'm recalling correctly). For some incredibly strange and almost prophetic reason because they would later divorce, I would come to associate this wonderful person with whom I would (in combination) hold in my highest regard, respect and harbor a monumental crush that I've had on her that continues even to this very day to "If You Don't Know Me By Know". The single had passed its chart time by the time I met her and yet it seemed to come out of the air the very first time I met her and went for a ride with his gorgeous blonde Ann Margret named Pam with her very young son in a Lincoln Continental Mk IV that I would identify her with this song and her relationship to Gary. I have told her this. I told her back in the '90s and I think she just kind of shrugged it off because she tries to forget what she went through with Gary. I just don't think she realizes how accurately the song applies to her in the reverse. It is her who should have told him "what good is a love affair/ when you can't see eye to eye".
God! That song was so appropriate to listen to in the late Fall of '72 when the air was colder. It was also so appropriate for that day she and I drove around together from her house with Gary back over to my house on Camino. It was a cold, overcast foggy day. Plus, I would always view that relationship she had with Gary with the same coldness that sometimes seemd to show its face every so often when I would see the cracks in their marriage show throughout the '70s.
This is what I mean. Great music makes you see layers in life that you otherwise might never have noticed. Shit! I was seeing this kind of thing in 5th, 6th and 7th Grade. It became more obvious as I got older too.
To this day, it still amazes me as to how coincidental it was that I made the switch to FM radio in the Summer of '74 when I did and at the very subtle point in music history when a sea-change was about to occur that people were not going to notice right away. This changed happened just as Teddy Pendergrass made the decision to leave Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes to pursue his own solo career as a result of creative differences with the late Harold Melvin. I guess Teddy was fated to have a solo career. His voice was so powerful that people, myself included, would say something like "Hey man! There's Teddy" when a Harold Melvin song would come on. I have to be honest here and say this. I really miss the tension that was apparent in those old Bluenotes recordings. That's what made Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes so great. I didn't follow Teddy into his solo career because of my switch over to FM and my general tuning myself out of the danceable Soul music beginning to turn into what would become as Disco. I would hear Teddy later on and I would pine for the Bluenotes days. I will readily admit to that. This is going to be a terrible analogy, but my feelings towards Teddy Pendergrass are a lot like some cross-sections of fans of Janis Joplin have felt about her over the years. You'll get the people who'll say that Janis was at her best when she was part of a team when she was in Big Brother & the Holding Company. I have to admit, I really think Teddy was at his best when he was with Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes and he was a member of a team and winning a championship of sorts as a result. We all now about sports teams who won championships who had members who beat the shit out of each other in the locker room and still managed to win championships (like those Oakland A's teams of the '70s). Now, I don't know if it was quite like that between Harold and Teddy nor to what extent. I suppose only Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff truely know. I would like to think that they are both at peace with each other in all regards now that they have been reunited and that they have some fine plans ahead for the rest of us.
What I am greatly happy for the most for Teddy is that he is now out of his wheelchair. I am also happy that he no longer has colon cancer to go along with being bound to a wheelchair. Do you imagine the terrible ordeal this must have been for him even though he put on a good face? I really hope that he and the late Curtis Mayfield are trading notes on their experiences on having been bound to chairs late in their lives and I hope they are both celebrating thier freedom.
Like Curtis, I hope Teddy knows that he deserves the freedom he has found because he gave all of us fans so much freedom through his expression in music. Walk tall, Teddy. You made all of us walk tall. My God! Even God Himself must be overwhelmed to have both you and Levi Stubb singing in the same room together. Thank you so much for everything, Teddy. We love you.

Baseball: My First 3 Seasons 1970-1972

I have prided myself through the years on remembering a lot of specific things. For some crazy reason, my memory of when I played my first season of Little League baseball has played tricks on me. For a long time, I was under the impression that I first played in 1969, then skipped 1970 because of my pending move to Eugene, and then picked up again in 1971 once I got to Eugene. But I think I've had this information incorrect for a long time. I believe that I actually started in 1970.
My budding interest in baseball began with the San Francisco Giants while I was living on Franklin Street. Some of my earliest baseball memories are of listening to Giants games on the radio (being called by Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons while they were getting stewed on beer) with my brother Mike. In fact, I even recall listening to the Giants and Padres on the radio one very specific time with him.
In First Grade, I began the process of going over to Buck Shaw Stadium to begin the very special Spring ritual of where St. Clare School would be let out for the day so that the kids could go with their parents to see the Santa Clara Broncos play the Giants. Back then, this was the Giants team which had Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Hal Lanier, Gaylord Perry, Dick Dietz and Bobby Bonds among others. So, this was always an exciting thing.
I was also getting exposed to them on television. It was inevitable that I would eventually go up to Candlestick Park to see my first MLB game proper. That day came in 1969 when I went up to see a doubleheader between the Giants and the Atlanta Braves. The Hank Aaron led Braves lost the first game to the Giants. I got to see Juan Marachal pitch. We never got to see the end of the second game as my Dad was becoming concerned that I had taken in enough baseball for a day, so we left to go back home.
At this time, I was also beginning to watch the Oakland A's on televison as well. It was during this time that my Dad's best man (for one year) worked for the A's. He was responsible for having gotten Monte Moore recommended to become the broadcaster for the A's after Harry Carray left. As a side note, for those of you who think Harry was a lovable drunkard. That is a fable. The late Bob Freitas told me that Harry was an insufferable lout who drove everybody crazy and that he treated people like shit. He was fired from the Cardinals when it was discovered that he was having an afair with one of Augie Busch's relations. I can't remember if it was his wife or a Busch relative's wife.
With this backdrop, my Dad asked me if I was interested in trying out to play some baseball. I said I was. So I went to what would become Carley Field and tried my hand at fielding and hitting a ball. I discovered something very quickly. I could field pretty much o.k., but I was scared shitless of this really hard baseball whizzing by me when I was at the plate. After my tryout, I was assigned to a team. I don't have my team photo handy. Believe it or not, I can't remember if we were the White Sox or the Red Sox. I can't even recall if we were sponsored by anybody. To make matters worse, I don't even recall the names of the coaches I had. I do, however, remember my coach. We barely interacted with each other at all.
There is a hilarious incident from back in this season in 1970. I was at practice one day and I was up to bat taking my swings. Well, the pitcher that the coach was using was scaring the hell out of me by having no control that day. I was crouched very low in my stance. Finally, a ball came whizzing by me that was too close for comfort. What did I do? I ran off and hid in the bushes for the rest of practice. My Dad eventually came over and rescued me from practice. My coach had a talk with him and told him what happened. He told my Dad that the way the kid was pitching, he would have run into the bushes too.
One of my teammates was a kid named Albert Barcellos. Albert and I would become good baseball buddies. It got to be so much so that I would eventually get to go to his house a few times and hang out with him and his parents. I must say this. His late Dad, Manuel, was a prince of a human being in my eyes. He always made me feel comfortable and that I was accepted. He was just such a warm person. He always had the sun in his eyes. His smile was also one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It's no wonder that my Dad liked him so much. For some strange reason which I still can't explain to myself, I was always a little scared of his Mom even though she was friendly to me as well. She told me a few times that I was going to grow up to become a politician. Well, my Uncle was the Mayor at the time.
Anyway, the team that I was on started out great guns to begin the season. I was strangely placed in right field. I think I rarely ever had to make a play out there. The reason why we started out great was because we had a kid on our team with whom was evaluated incorrectly by the people at the tryouts (or else the kid was made to be a ringer). This kid was huge by our standards. We were squirts while this kid lumbered around like Boog Powell. He was enormous. What happened was that he started off by hitting monsterous shots-some being home runs. Us kids were giddy. All we had to do was get on base so that we could wait for him to bring us in. We were slaugherting other teams in the first half of the season by huge margins. Well, the league caught sight of what was happening and decided that he had been misclassified. They called him up to a higher level. And that's when our hopes of winning the championship for our division did a nosedive into the tank. We scraped out some wins. For the most part, we usually got our breakfast, lunch and dinner handed to us most of the time.
It was during this season that I also played against David G., my classmate at St. Clare's for the first time as opponents. When I came up to bat against him, we both smiled at each other. I'm pretty sure that he struck me out.
For my first year in Little League ball, I was scared of the ball when I batted. I walked on most of my at-bats that year. I did not get any hits. I would crouch so low in a stance that I didn't give an umpire a strike zone to speak of to call pitches. If the Westside Little League had kept stats on players back then for our division, I probably would have haeld records for two things-the most walks and the most steals. What I greatly excelled at was in stealing bases once I got on base. I had this knack of timing when a pitcher was at his apex of his pitching moment so that I could take off on him. This accomplishment of mine led to what may possibly be my favorite memory of something I did for my Dad.
The morning of Father's Day 1970 had dawned. I went over to the bedroom of my parents to go and see them for a breif spell knowing that I had a game to play that day. My Mom and Dad were still in bed and I made the following announcement to my Dad. It went something like this, "Dad, I know it's Father's Day except that I didn't get you anything for it. But I'm going to make up for it though. When I get on today (it was a given that I would walk because it happened so frequently), I am going to steal all of the bases for you as a Father's Day present, o.k.?" My Dad must have been thinking that I was nuts. Knowing him, after I left the room, he and Mom were probably laughing their asses off at my bold claim.
So, the game arrived later in the day. Lo and behold, when I got to bat, I got my usual walk due to my barely existing strike zone because of the crouch that I used to protect myself from that evil baseball. When I was on first, I told myself to remember what I had promised Dad. I carefully watched the apex of the pitcher's motion. I took off and I stole second base. I'm thinking to myself one down and two to go. I let the pitcher throw a few pitches as I still put out a lead from second just so I could keep him nervous. I knew I would head back to second after each pitch until I decided the time was right to make my move. And then he decided that I was going to stay there. He let himself get vulnerable during the apex of his motion for a fraction too long. I took off and I stole third base with no throw. Now I'm thinking that I just have one more left to fulfill my promise to Dad. I knew my Dad was at the game and in the stands watching me.
At this point,I clearly remember that both the pitcher and the catcher were very nervous. They were really keeping an eye on me now. I didn't give myself much of a lead as well. The guy threw some pitches. I don't know if another batter had come up or not. All I know is that I was itching to get to home. Well, I had frazzled the pitcher. He eventually threw either a wild pitch or a pass ball because the pitch ended up in the dirt and flew by the catcher in the interim. This was my big moment. I took off. The ball slid almost to the backstop. The catcher went running frantically to get he ball while the pitcher came running up to the plate to take a throw in an attempt to get me out. I came charging in feet first like I always slid. The catcher came up to the plate and tried to tag me. Apparently, my feet made it before he applied the tag. I scored. I did it! I kept my promise to Dad. I tried to find him in the stands, but I couldn't see him as the crowd had jumped up in excitement. I saw him later on and he sure had a grin from ear to ear.
When I moved up to Eugene, baseball was going to be completely different for me. I tried out and was classified to play in tee ball in order to help me overcome my fear of the ball. In 1971, I had just got done being in Third Grade and my mind was filled with music to go with the baseball. I played for the team I would play on in both 1971 and 1972-the Cascade Lions. They were coached by a man with whom I would come to love and respect. He was Bob Straub. Mr. Straub was not a spring chicken. He was old even back then. But he was an exceptionally gentle person who was very encouraging. He took us kids to heart. We held our practices at the Meadowlark School. One of my teammates was somebody I would know later on at Marist High School. This would be none other than Charlie N. Charlie was a notorious prankster and troublemaker. He frequently loved to bring firecrackers to practice and set a few off before Mr. Straub would roll into practice in his red and white VW van (I guess it would be a mini-van today).
Mr. Straub apparently had a special thing for me. He noticed that I was different and that I carried myself a little differently than the other kids when I was at practice. He stunned me once. As I was standing beside my Mom one time either after a practice or before a game one time, he told my Mom that I reminded him of Joe DiMaggio in how I carried myself. My Mom and Mr. Straub had both seen DiMaggio play. My Mom got to see him and his two brothers play when all three brothers played in the PCL. Being from San Francisco originally, Mom got to see the San Francisco Seals a lot.
The tee helped me a lot. I got plenty of hits and I still got around on the basepaths. Because of the fact that kids were getting plenty of hits, I never had to steal bases. Mr. Straub did notice that I could field pretty well. As a result, I played second base. My best play of the the two years I played there occurred at Meadowlark. A kid on the oppsoing team hit a ball to right field and hit first base. He decided to try to stretch the hit into a double. The kid in right picked up the ball and threw it to me. The only thing was that I knew time was running out and that he was going to get in safe if I didn't do anything. I also knew our right fielder was a weak thrower. I think what happened was that he threw as hard as he could and ball rolled to me. I was smart enough to decide that I couldn't try to get this guy out by just standing there in the regular way. I stuck my right foot on the bag and then I stretched myself as long as I possibly could while holding on to the bag with my foot. The ball rolled to my glove just in the nick of time. When the kid slid in, it was as if time stood still. The umpire came over to see what had happened. The crowd was hushed in silence. I was crumpled on the ground but my foot was still on the bag. And then I turned up my glove and showed the umpire that the ball was in my glove. The umpire excitedly called the guy out. That's when I heard a roar come from the crowd. I was a hero for a small bit.
The 1971 season was a really fun one. Mr. Straub was our only coach that year. He had no assistants. I think we finished either second or third in our division. So, I was feeling good about things.
The 1972 season came around and things changed. Mr. Straub was still the wonderful human being he always was. He had decided to bring in an assistant coach. He was a fairly young coach. He had been to Vietnam and he was intense. In fact , he was too intense. He made everybody on the team feel way too jittery. As a result, we began to lose games frequently. Plus, we used to always go have an icecream cone after a good chunk of our games at the Dairy Queen on Coburg Road. We used to have fun there no matter if we won or lost. But this guy who was hanging out with us was just driving us nuts. About halfway through the season, Mr. Straub let him go. As a result, we started winning games again. Sadly, it didn't salvage our season.
Because of my baserunning andy my telling hims stories of my first season in baseball, Charlie N. bestowed upon me the nickname Roto-Rooter. Mr. Straub also knew I had speed on the basepaths and he wanted me to become a better runner. He noticed that I ran with my feet facing outward way too much. Little did I know what he had in store for me. I had no idea who he had connections with, but he knew people around town. He told me he was going to bring somebody over to the next practice to help me with my running and to make sure that I was there. I showed up for the next practice. Imagine my surprise when Coach Straub introduces me to none other than the famous University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman. Bowerman took time out out of his busy day to come over to teach me to not run like a waddling duck. He ahd me lean up against a wall with both of my hands and arms stretched out. Then he told me to look down at my feet and to force them to turn inward when I ran. I was to do this so that I could visualize myself keeping my feet turned inward and straight when I ran. When I go on walks with my dog on a daily basis and catch myself waddling (which I still do way too much), I will think of Bill Bowerman and those lessons he was trying to teach me and attempt to walk the correct way again.
I never saw Coach Straub again. Even after I moved back up here in 1978, I never saw him again. It is one of my great regrets. I loved this man very much. I was told by Charlie N. at one of our reunions for Marist that he lived to be a very old man even though he didn't know if he had passed on yet. I'm sure he's gone now. I miss him so much. He was my coach and he was a friend as well. I wish I could tell him how much he meant to me. I will have to wait until my time comes and I pass over to the other side.
My last year in baseball would occur back in Santa Clara in the Summer of 1973. I want to give it a separate entry as it falls in what I consider to be my favorite time period in my life. It would be a very special season during a very special time.