1976

1976
The Bicentennial Year

Woodbine Avenue

Overbrook

Philadelphia, PA

      and

Long Beach Island, NJ (summer months)

My age: 20-21

School- Penn State University- senior year

• ·      I get my first apartment, a shithole on the edge of town.  My mattress is retrieved from a dumpster.  There is a protruding metal spring so I take a book and duct taped it to cover the spring. What seemed so resourceful back then now seems so repulsive.
• ·      I spend too much of my time at Zeno’s, the Rathskeller, The Phyrst, the Brewery, The Shandy Gaff and Café 210 and not enough time at the library.

Work  

• During the spring, I worked at the Lion’s Den at Penn State. This joint was a café for the day hop students. I worked three hours a week for $6 which was just what I needed to supplement my beer fund. I worked against the wishes of my father who did not want any of us to work during college.  He had two requests of us: study hard and get the most out of the college experience. “You have plenty of time to work in your lifetime”, he told us.
•  
• During the summer, I was a setup worker at The Mooring Restaurant in Beach Haven, NJ.  I set tables all summer long. The restaurant was always busy and we would turn tables over three or four times a night. It was a pretty dull job.

Music

·       Hejira  was released by Joni Mitchell. This album was very different from any other album she released.

·      Disco music was making its way on every radio station. Personally, I hated this genre.

·       Popular songs included:

•      The Bay City Rollers - I Only Want To Be With You
•      The Beach Boys - Rock And Roll Music 
•      The Beatles - Got To Get You Into My Life
•      The Bee Gees - You Should Be Dancing – awful song
•      The Bellamy Brothers - Let Your Love Flow
•       Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around And Fell In Love – awful song\
•      Boston - More Than A Feeling 
•      David Bowie - Golden Years 
•      Boz Scaggs - Lowdown – I loved every song on this album.
•     The Captain &Tenille - Muskrat Love – hated this song

•       Eric Carmen - All By Myself 
•        Eric Carmen - Never Gonna Fall In Love Again 
•       The Carpenters - There's A Kind Of Hush (All Over The World) 
•      Keith Carradine - I'm Easy – I think this was the only song he ever had.
•      Chicago - If You Leave Me Now 

•      Barry DeVorzon &;Perry Botkin - Nadia's Theme
•      The Doobie Brothers - Takin' It To The Streets – this was a great bar song
•      The Electric Light Orchestra - Strange Magic
•      England Dan  John Ford Coley - I'd Really Love To See You Tonight 
•      Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win) – this was a great song.
•      Fleetwood Mac - Say You Love Me
•      The Four Seasons - Oh What A Night- awful song
•      Daryl Hall &John Oates - Sara Smile 
•      Daryl Hall & John Oates - She's Gone
•      Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing
•      Engelbert Humperdinck - After The Lovin'
•      Jefferson Starship - With Your Love
•      Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word – I like most of Elton John’s songs.
•      Elton John  &  Kiki  Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart 
•      KC & The Sunshine Band - (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty
•      Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald 
•      Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. - You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show) 
•      Harold Melvin  - Wake Up Everybody 
•      Nazareth - Love Hurts 
•      Orleans - Still The One
•      Pratt & McClain - Happy Days – I’m tired of hearing tis song.
•      Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody -
•      Lou Rawls - You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine
•      Rhythm Heritage - Theme From S.W.A.T. 
•      Vicki Sue Robinson - Turn The Beat Around 
•      Linda Ronstadt - That'll Be the day
•      Leo Sayer - You Make Me Feel Like Dancing 
•      Seals &  Crofts - Get Closer 
•      John Sebastian - Welcome Back – this was the theme song for the TV show Welcome Back Kotter.
•      Neil Sedaka - Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 
•      Silver Convention - Get Up And Boogie- awful song
•      Paul Simon - 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover – he’s had better songs.
•    T  he Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight 
•      The Steve Miller Band - Rock'n Me 
•       Rod Stewart - Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)
•       Donna Summer - Love To Love You Baby 
•       Sylvers - Boogie Fever -
•       Tavares - Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
•       Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back In Town
•       Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music 
•       Wings - Silly Love Songs – awful song
•      Wings - Let 'Em In – awful song

Movies- I didn’t go to many movies in the theatres now because they were just too expensive and they cut in to my beer funds.  There were old movies shown on campus for 50 cents.  I’d go to them from time to time and catch a movie I didn’t see when it was in the theatres.

books

Television- I wasted my summer afternoons watching soap operas.  I don’t watch them at all when I am in school but once I start working my summer job, I get hooked on All My Children and General Hospital.

Travels- In March, we drove to New Orleans to see the Mardi Gras for spring break. It was a wild time.  Sharon, my sister, went with me. We went because our father frequently told us, “Everyone should go to the Mardi Gras at least once in his lifetime.”  So, we went.  Amid this wild trip, one of us turned to the other and commented, “Dad must not have like us if he told us to come here.  It’s dangerous.”

News Events

•  This was the Bicentennial Year: a year of national celebrations
• Jimmy Carter was elected President.

Family and friends

•  In February, my Uncle John died suddenly.  He was only 57 and he had a brain aneurysm.
• Jim, my brother, graduated from La Salle University in Philadelphia with a degree in English.
•  I am finally 21 and legally allowed to go to the bars.  No more fake ID for me.
• My sister, Sharon, runs for President of Penn State Student Government.  I serve as one of her campaign managers. She doesn’t win but we had fun disrupting the system.
• I voted in my first presidential election.  I voted for Gerald Ford because I appreciated that he took on the role of the President at a very difficult time for our country.  I wanted to give him more time to make an impact.  But he lost the election and Jimmy Carter stepped in.
• Kathy Flatley was my roommate.  At this point, we went to grade school, high school and college together.
•  My cousin asked me to be a bride's maid in her wedding.
•  I finally got my driver's license. A group of us were going to drive to New Orleans over spring break and I had to help with the driving.  I thought a driver's license might be helpful in this situation. I flunked on the first try but aced it the next time.
• I don't have a car so I have to bum rides from friends, hitchhike or take the bus through life.
• OK. I had one Bicentennial moment.  My sister and I were in the production of Be Glad Then America, an American opera conducted by Sarah Caldwell.  Sharon and I were responsible for helping the men put their costumes on.