1974
Overbrook
Philadelphia, PA
and
Long Beach Island, NJ (summer months)
My age: 18-19
School- Drexel University,
Philadelphia, PA- sophomore year. I was
a day student this year and it was hard to move back home after being away for
my freshman year of college. It seemed
like a flat experience. I didn’t like this academic year and decided to
transfer to Penn State for the next year.
Work- I was a
waitress at Howard’s Take-out, a seafood restaurant on LBI. Our signature dish was french-fried
lobster. OMG, it was great. People
called in orders and came and pick up their food. We opened at 4PM and worked non-stop until
10PM. He had to chase people away every
night. One night, it was 10:15 and 8
dinners had not been picked up. They were going to be thrown out. I asked my boss if I could take them
home. He was hesitant to let me have
them but then he agreed. I came home
with these lobster dinners and my family treated this moment as if we had won
the lottery.
Music
- o Court and Spark- just another great album from Joni Mitchell. Car on a Hill and Court and Spark and Down to You are songs that never get old for me.
- o "The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand was a sad love song from the movie with Barbara and Robert Redford.
- o "Bennie and the Jets by Elton John
- o "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do) by Aretha Franklin was lively.
- o "Midnight at the Oasis by Maria Muldar only had one hit but this song got a lot of air time.
- o "Sunshine on My Shoulders by John Denver was a song that captured all age groups. Everyone loved this song. Every orchestra and big band and one-man band played this song.
- o "Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede was a song that annoyed me.
- o "Billy Don't Be a Hero by Bo Donaldson was another song that did not appeal to me.
- o "Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings was yet another song that was of no interest to me. Once he left the Beatles, there were few songs of his that I liked.
- o "Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce was poignant as he just died when this album was released.
- o "Annie's Song by John Denver was a beautiful love song to his wife. We were all envious of her. Would our husbands ever sing a song like this to us? And we were all stunned when they got divorced some years later.
- o "Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot who was an underrated singer. He was prolific in his songs. But he never received the accolades he deserved.
- o "You're Sixteen" by Ringo Starr is a lousy, annoying song. Why was this adult singing about 16-year-old girls?
- o Smokin' in the Boys Room by Brownsville Station was a some about defiance. I wonder if we will ever go back to a time when smoking is the boys room is naughty.
- o "Living for the City by Stevie Wonder was hip.
- o "Rikki Don't Lose That Number by Steely Dan was a summer hit and played by every band in every beach bar.
- o "Mockingbird by Carly Simon & James Taylor was light-hearted and easy to sing along with the radio,
- o Help Me by Joni Mitchell was a radio hit. Most of her songs never made it to the radio waves. But that didn’t matter to her fans.
- o Tell Me something Good by Rufus & Chaka Khan was my introduction to funk rock
- o Rock and Roll Heaven by Righteous Brothers sang about every dead rock and roll song
- o Taking Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive was a big hit but I hated this song.
- o Oh, Very Young by Cat Stevens was a big hit as all his songs had become. This may have been his last release before he fell off the grid and moved to places unknown to become a Muslim and live a less complicated life.
- o Please Come to Boston by Dave Loggins was a sad love song.
- o Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John was also the title of his album which just sold millions. I got this album for Christmas.
- o I Shot the Sherriff by Eric Clapton was a remake and became a bigger hit than the original.
- o Jet by Paul McCartney is another boring song by him. He should have never left the Beatles.
- o Tubular Bells by Mike Oilfield was an instrumental song that captured our attention. It was probably the beginning of the New Age genre.
- o Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me by Elton John was yet another hit from the Yellow Brick Road album. He had one hit after another from this album.
- o Hello Its Me by Todd Rundgren was probably his most popular song but I liked Can We Still Be Friends. I thought this song was more soulful.
- o I’ll Have to Say I love you in a Song by Jim Croce was yet another hit by an artist who left us too soon.
Books
- We had to read Fountainhead by Ayn Rand in my Freshmen Lit course. Two of my 8 roommates were in class with me. But our discussions peaked everyone’s interest so all nine of us read the book. It was fun to read something that had so much commentary and response from all of us.
- Our Bodies, Ourselves was published and this book on women's health issues was considered bold, comprehensive and long overdue.
Travels- Spring-
I flew out to the University of Notre Dame to visit my sister. She was a
senior. And this was the first time I
had ever traveled by myself. I felt like quiet the independent traveler.
News events-
Richard Nixon resigned from office and it was a creepy announcement. I watched
the announcement with my father and his friend, both staunch republicans and I
could see that they saw him as someone who had become unglued. And suddenly,
Gerald Ford is our president. None of us
knew him and no one voted for him but now he was the leader of the Free World.
Family-
- My grandfather’s lung cancer was back and I was so filled with despair. He died on December 5th and every year, at 1:20 PM, something causes me to stop and recognize this sad moment.
- While we were at the beach, my mother was running back and forth to Philadelphia to tend to her dying father. This left us without a car much of the time. Once, there was a concern about how I would get to work and I told my mother that I would hitchhike. I was sort of kidding but she thought I was serious and she was desperate so she told me, “OK, that’s a good idea. And it’s safe here to hitchhike, isn’t it?” I told her “Yes.” But I was afraid. The first person to pick me up was a man, about my father’s age. I was hesitant but I got in. It turns out this guy was an old Navy friend of my dad’s. He came to the house a few days later to reconnect with my dad.
- Kathy, my sister, graduated from The University of Notre Dame. She was one of the first woman to graduate from this school.
- Kathy, my sister, and I joined the Columbia Record Club. For $1, we got 12 free albums and committed to buy thousands more in the next three years. We never bought any more records and I never understood how this record club ever made any money. Maybe some people fulfilled their obligation but I never did.HERE IS A JONI MITCHELL BONUS_- ONE OF MY FAVORITE COLLECTIONS
Miles of Aisles
Release date: November 1974
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