David Roth
I stopped by to joke with Jeff about his new Hip, and while reading these posts I mind turned uncharacteristically serious,
Forty-five years ago this day, most of us were probably getting ready for a family outing in two days for 4th of July. For my family that meant a cookout at one of the Aunts or Uncles on my Step dad's side, and then cramming all of us into the car to go to Opa-Locka to sit behind the concession booth at the the football/baseball/softball/soccer fields and watch the fireworks. All but me. This was the first of my two summer exiles to New Jersey to live with my grandparents for the summer for reasons I really wouldn't understand until much later in life. I watched the fireworks come off the foothills they call the Watchung Mountains in Somerville, NJ that year, and the next.
The summer before my - OUR - senior year. The top ten songs the summer of 1970 were:
1. MAMA TOLD ME (Not To Come) - Three Dog Night (Dunhill)
2. BAND OF GOLD - Freda Payne (Invictus)
3. BALL OF CONFUSION (That's What The World Is Today) -
The Temptations (Gordy)
4. THE LOVE YOU SAVE - The Jackson 5 (Motown)
5. (They Long To Be) CLOSE TO YOU - Carpenters (A&M)
6. MAKE IT WITH YOU - Bread (Elektra)
7. RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE - The Blues Image (Atco)
8. LAY DOWN (Candles In The Rain) - Melanie with The Edwin Hawkins
Singers (Buddah)
9. SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED I'M YOURS - Stevie Wonder (Tamla)
10. TIGHTER, TIGHTER - Alive And Kicking (Roulette)
Close to You is in at Number 5, but our senior class song, We've Only Just Begun, hasn't made the Billboard top 50 yet.
Some of us have already revieved letters of acceptance from college, some have signed promisory notes to the Military,most of us just wish it would all be over, and at least one of us would take her own life before graduation day came. Viet Nam raged on. Jimi Hendrix recorded his first studio session on July first, and died of a drug overdose 2 1/2 months later on Septemper 18th. the first Boing 747 landed at Shiphol airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Margaret Smith defeated Billie Jean King to win Wimbledon, Janis Joplin made her debut in Kentucky, Iraq's constitition went into effect - before either Dub'ya or his Dad were president, (Although I think his dad was head of the CIA), Hartford Ct had 6 consecutive days of race riots (July 23-29), and Chet Huntlet retired from NBC, marking the beginning of the end of the era that you could trust Network TV news Anchors.
And that's just some of July of the summer before our last year of high school. There were other sources and other events, and most of them sobering. Very sobering.
There were about 3.9 billion of us here on planet earth, a small insignificant little blue green orb located in the low rent districtrict of the western spiral arm of of an equally insignificant galaxy that the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy describes as "Mostly Harmless:, in 1970, and here are a few other random statistics:
Yearly Inflation Rate 5.84%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 838
Average Cost of new house $23,450.00
Average Income per year $9,400.00
Average Monthly Rent $140.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 36 cents
Shaefer Pen $9.95
First Class Postage Stamp 6 cents
Sports Illustrated 15 cents
AMC Gremlin $1879
1 Carat Diamond Ring $299
Chrysler Newport $3861
Apples 4Lbs 59 Cents
Dog Food 12 Cans $1.00
Head and Shoulder Shampoo 79 Cents
Car 8 Track Stereo Tape Player $38.99
Chair La-z-Boy Rocker Recliner $188.00
Mens Leather Shoes $6.99
Striped Ladies Flare Pants and Tunic $10.00
Back To College Typewriter $28.88
Barbie Doll $4.77
25" Cinema Screen Color TV $739.95
Lava lamp $19.95
Set Of Tube Furniture $59.99
6 Room Ranch Home Pennsylvania $12,900
Four years ago we celebrated our 40th Reunion. Next year is # 45. How many of us who attended tant reunion are no longer with us? I know at least one member of the planning committee is gone. Face it kids, with the exception of some of you ladies who seem to have discovered the fountain of youth and are holding out on the rest of us (or you're all Stepford Chiefs) we're not 17 any more and we're dropping like files.
I didn't intend for this to be so long but brevity was never a strength of mine. Think about those summers 40+ years ago, and the friendships and the memories. And the unique experience that was Carol City. We'll never pass this way again.
d.
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