Sparks were doing two nights at the Santa Monica Civic, and I had to get decent seats, as my friend Dan and I got thrown out on our asses for lighting sparklers and running down the aisle with them as the band came out in May of that year. I got back in but he didn't. Our older friend, Brent Williams, offered to drive Mary, Trudie and me down to the Civic in the wee hours, and arranged for us to crash beforehand at Patrick Warren's place. Patrick was a professional musician who had also graduated the year before and I didn't know him that well but, as an aspiring keyboardist, I was in awe of him. I don't believe I saw him again in person until the mid 00s when he turned up playing keyboards for my friend Jim White.
Of course my parents would never have allowed this, so I had to pretend that I was staying at Mary's house, and she at mine, and Brent wrote my absent note to the school as my father. (From this point on my new dad took on this role a LOT.)
I have no idea who this Graham person was or what happened to him, though I seem to remember last seeing him at a Roxy Music gig where he told me he was a Gemini.
9 November
I couldn't believe it when Mom let me stay overnight at Mary's. Mary told her mom she was staying at mine. We went over to Kristi's to get her [ticket] $$, then Brent and Trudie picked us up and we went to Jade's. She had got her hair cut into a Bowie. When we left hers, Brent drove around her lawn twice - it was so funny!
We went to Patrick's. Never thought I'd be spending the night at his house! Trudie and I slept on the couch and Mary the floor. In the middle of the nite Trudie goes, "Don't! Please stop!!" I go, "What?!" and she goes,"Leave my hair alone! Leave it alone!!" So then I ask, "Are you asleep?" and she goes, "No!" But she was.
10 November
I saw Patrick get up and eat but I didn't say anything to him. Later I looked at the music on his piano and he had transcribed the music for "Firth of Forth." Brent was supposed to pick us up before 5:00 but he didn't come till 7:00! I was almost sure we were gonna have to go to school!
So we got to the Civic and who do we see but Bill Fucile! [He went to our school and in later years hung out at the Masque; sadly died in the 80s.] Mary and I went to Sambo's. I got in a fight with Trudie about taking cuts. [But at least I wasn't cutting her hair!] Dawn and Sharon came [two friends who went to the "alternative" high school] and I'd saved them a place. I fell in love three times and #3 was Graham. We were talking to his friends and they told him I wanted to take his pic but I didn't. I thought Graham looked so neat though with that scarf and everything. He was going to Sparks both nites and to 10CC too. I didn't see anyone I knew in line. That was weird - no one asked for the orchestra pit! [That was the Holy Grail and what we got!]
After we got the tickets we had to take Warren and that girl to court and it took so long and was so boring. I got really pissed. [Annoyed, not drunk!] Then we had to watch that Bill Cosby/Raquel Welch movie. [I think we went to Brent's house; he still lived at home so that's why we couldn't have stayed there last night.] I thought it was so boring! [Funny, if you had asked me yesterday had I ever seen Mother, Jugs and Speed, I would have told you no...] But I got to school in time for swimming. [My last class; my mom might have been picking me up from school that day.] Kristin [my sister] was suspicious for a while but Mom never found out; they goofed on my report card. I'm so glad.
Later Brent came over with Ronda (who was sick) to write my sick note. He said he wasn't gonna go to the taping of Don Kirshner's Rock Concert with Alex Harvey, but later I found out he did - without US! Grr...
Thursday, November 09, 2017
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Remembering 7/7 on its tenth anniversary
Ten years ago today was on my mind all day.
I wrote the following as an email to friends outside of London, and a year later, posted it as my first blog entry on MySpace. When MySpace went down the tubes I managed to harvest my blogs, and meant to repost this here. Well, I am finally getting round to it.
In 2007 I moved into the flat where I had been staying that day in 2005, and during my more than five years in that neighbourhood, I don't know how many times I rode the no. 30 bus, or walked by or came out of the part of Liverpool Station that had been hit.
********************************************
I was separated from my laptop, as well as (fountain!) pen and paper on the 7th, and I wrote the following a couple days later. I was a bit annoyed that I had forgotten some of the details I'd written in my head, and worried that the tone might be a bit bloggy; it's certainly not investigative journalism! I don't know anyone directly involved and did not seek anyone out who was, but anyway, I write so many things that I never finish so for once I'm sending something out anyway.
7.7: Okay, this is what it was like. I had been here four days but my jet lag's worse than ever. I'm sleeping on the famous crash couch in Liz's flat in Highbury. It's ten something in the morning and Liz comes in; she should be at work. She had gone to the bus stop but no bus ever came, and finally she learned what had gone down: eight tube stations bombed as well as the no. 30 bus.
(Yes, it wasn't eight, it was three, but in the first hours the news was very fuzzy.) Liz makes coffee and turns on the TV, News 24, and we're both glad we're not watching American news, with its constant commentary - theories, opinions, wafflers waffling on just to hear the sound of their own self-beloved voices. Mikes thrust down the gob of someone whose house just burned down - "So, how do you FEEL?"
Getting back to the point... Nothing much unfolds for a while and we stare at the gogglebox, transfixed. Liz walks to work in Clerkenwell, reports later that the streets were eerily deserted and that people stared suspiciously down at her from windows above.
I watch and I watch. Even watch the Shrub, who reminds me of a braindead tin soldier with his arms held rigidly out from his sides, and marvel at the fact that no grammatical errors emerge in his speech, or maybe my brain's on holiday and I'm not really listening, still thinking of his pal the panic-stricken (B)Liar's shell-shocked face.
Or maybe my brain is feeling guilty 'cause all the misspellt words on the crawling text are bugging me - Edgeware Road (it's Edgware!!), Oldgate for Aldgate...
The rumours start flying later, but only outside the TV news world; although the Beeb showed that map with the excess burning stations, they are cautious only to report the facts. Liz rings, says she heard that it was suicide bombers, jumping in front of trains; then she heard that the bombers escaped and that the bombs were set off by mobile phones. My mobile doesn't work on the Underground, even the shallow lines, so how could that be possible? Never mind, it all ain't true.
So. I'm stranded. Yesterday I took all my stuff to my new digs, then went back into town and crashed back at Liz's on the aforementioned couch after a late night drinking sesh - a lock-in at the Wenlock Arms, and there's no way to get back to Edmonton, where my stuff is. It's way way out there in the part of North London best avoided. I realise I need money and must get to the bank before it shuts as I have misplaced my cash card. (Days later, as ever, I find it exactly five minutes after the replacement card arrives in the post.) The bank is way down at the other end of Upper Street, so I hurry out.
We're not very far from two of the bomb sites and I expect to find all doom and gloom, but first of all it's a glorious day. It had been raining earlier but now the sky is blue, the air is washed and clean, the sun is shining but very gently, hardly ever had I seen such perfect weather. Everyone is smiling. Phoning people, saying, "It was just a matter of time." "I'm all right." Laughing about having to walk or being stranded. Smiling at passers-by, saying hello - now this is WEIRD! This is just not done in London. I overtake some Yank tourists who are walking too slowly and they apologise to me.
People are sitting in the outdoor cafes. The only things I see that are closed are one clothes shop, one betting shop (though a sign in the window assures customers that a branch not far away remains open) and all three branches of Starbucks have closed down early. (Perhaps the management were worried they might have to dole out some free water at some point.) And my bank. And just half an hour early, the bastards!
So I wander into Sainsbury's, where, even though there are the longest waits I'd ever seen at the checkouts (announcements over the Tannoy keep apologising for this), everyone remains happy and smiling. A woman, who was balancing her basket precariously atop one of those old lady shopping wheely things, sees the contents crash to the floor and immediately a dozen people surround her, picking up eggshells and cheese puffs, and others rally to find her replacement items (which she puts in her basket in the same dangerous position, forcing one of the good Samaritans to end up holding it for her). I'd never seen behaviour like this in London. Maybe oop north, where they'd probably be brewing oop a cooppa for the old dear and force-feeding some Tunnock's teacakes down her gullet too, but London?? As Pokey once said to Gumby (I had to stick a incomprehensible to non-Yanks reference in amidst all these Britishisms): "Weird, man, weird!"
Well, someone's not a happy camper. Way over on the other side of the store there's a lot of shouting, and some kind of security person was summoned to expel the culprit, but we (I say "we" because the people in my queue take turns to go over and try to find out what's going on but no-one has any success - it's a big store and difficult to get close or to see past the crowds at the tills) never manage to find out what the deal was.
Then, weirder still, the woman at the till chats to me, just like we were up north and this sort of thing is normal! About the weather, about the crowds of people stocking up with food, what time she started work and how she was getting home etc. This is getting to be very strange.
Now I'm hungry and I'm still cashless and living on plastic so I head for Pasha on the way back, but we're in the in-between hours when they have their doors open but they aren't serving any food, so it's La Petite Auberge; at first I'm the sole customer but it soon fills up with stranded folk; one man wants a table with enough light to read the paper and I've got the "Stan-dud" too - the only London paper is an evening one and aren't they happy about that! The morning rags with their blazing "We've Got the Olympics!" headlines now looked forlorn.
My phone keeps beeping with text messages; I go back to Liz's and ring my mother as she (Liz) had urged me to; she had only just heard the news. But had not thought of phoning me The buses are running and I go out to wait for one to Clerkenwell, but after half an hour I walk halfway. When one comes and I try to pay the fare the driver tells me buses are free "because of the troubles". (What - are we in Ulster?) I probably could have got all the way back to Edmonton now, but I don't feel much like being alone. Especially in those ultra dreary digs.
So I meet Liz and Sergio, who had walked from his work in Paddington to Clerkenwell - took two hours - in the pub next to Liz's office, and then we get a cab back to the Wenlock Arms in Hoxton. The cab driver is all chatty too, telling us how hungry he is - heading for McDonald's soon - and about deserted streets he had gone through a bit earlier. The streets are still unusually empty for this part of town. But in the Wenlock all is normal. It's quiz night, and nice to do something so normal and mundane. We come in fourth, pints all round.
14 July
Everyone has been full of "what if's", and all the newspaper columnists have written about the strange few days in which Londoners spoke to one another. That has pretty much passed and things are back to normal, although the tubes are less crowded and the buses more crowded. The other night I spoke to Vivianne in Leeds, who said she was glad she wasn't in London, and the next morning my old hometown was all over the news. Beeston, where I worked the (not so) better part of a year, and then Burley, the Hyde Park scrag end of Burley, and there's a TV reporter standing at the top of Vivianne's street!
Vivianne was returning from the shop when she was stopped and her house keys confiscated. The cops knocked on the door where Steve was working on the computer (in his underwear as it was quite hot); he was told he had 30 seconds to evacuate the premises; was allowed to get a pair of jeans but not to fetch his mobile phone or to take his car (finally, about seven hours later after several refusals, a cop drove it out for him.)
They were not allowed back for 48 hours and several hundred others were evacuated as well. If you had nowhere to go they put you up at the leisure centre (what fun), where apparently the old fossils - I mean dears - relived the war and sang songs throughout the night. Steve was interviewed by the local TV news (but naturally did not get to see it) and I should really do a proper interview with him as he made the story sound much more interesting when he told it to me than what I've just written here. But having spent many many nights in that house and neighbourhood (I lived round the corner) I wish I could have seen the faces of some of the white trash criminal neighbours (it's the kinda place where a two-year-old's first words are "fuck off!") being evacuated - wonder how they managed to get - and keep - them all out! I bet there was a lot of toilet flushing in those last few minutes ...
The bomb factory flat, which is just over the road, is one that belongs to Leeds Fed, the housing association for which I once worked. I'd also love to see that application form!
30 July
Arrests, stand-offs, shootings and of course the botched attempts by the Keystone* bombers on the 21st; this is said to have made both residents and visitors alike much more fearful, but not yours truly. Cops everywhere, everyone peering about, looking at one another with suspicion. and the tubes are still nicely uncrowded. The other night I had a train car to myself, and it wasn't even an odd time (it was about 8:45 pm) or a remote area (it was fairly central and a main line), and I noticed a carrier bag abandoned near one of the doors. I didn't investigate and it looked like it contained only an Evening Standard, but the deal is, you are meant to report ANYTHING unattended - so did I? Naah, I was getting off the train at the next stop anyhow.
*(credit - Richard R.)
And yesterday I was going to work from my new digs in Tulse Hill - yeah, commuting! - and as I got on the No. 2 bus I realised I was taking the same route at the same time on the same day of the week as Jean Charles de Menezes. There's a big tribute outside Stockwell Station and the questions are still buzzing (police still have not explained why someone they were convinced was a bomber was allowed to board a bus, or why he was not detained before entering the tube station - it's quite a long way from the bus stop to the station entrance and plenty of room for manoeuvering out on the sidewalk) and everyone I know is wondering why people are so accepting of this, and our mayor Ken is wobbling like a weeble, first alienating himself from Noo Labour (but endearing himself to us) by "mentioning the war", then defending the shoot-to-kill cops and passing the buck.
And that's that.
e/k/w
I wrote the following as an email to friends outside of London, and a year later, posted it as my first blog entry on MySpace. When MySpace went down the tubes I managed to harvest my blogs, and meant to repost this here. Well, I am finally getting round to it.
In 2007 I moved into the flat where I had been staying that day in 2005, and during my more than five years in that neighbourhood, I don't know how many times I rode the no. 30 bus, or walked by or came out of the part of Liverpool Station that had been hit.
********************************************
I was separated from my laptop, as well as (fountain!) pen and paper on the 7th, and I wrote the following a couple days later. I was a bit annoyed that I had forgotten some of the details I'd written in my head, and worried that the tone might be a bit bloggy; it's certainly not investigative journalism! I don't know anyone directly involved and did not seek anyone out who was, but anyway, I write so many things that I never finish so for once I'm sending something out anyway.
7.7: Okay, this is what it was like. I had been here four days but my jet lag's worse than ever. I'm sleeping on the famous crash couch in Liz's flat in Highbury. It's ten something in the morning and Liz comes in; she should be at work. She had gone to the bus stop but no bus ever came, and finally she learned what had gone down: eight tube stations bombed as well as the no. 30 bus.
(Yes, it wasn't eight, it was three, but in the first hours the news was very fuzzy.) Liz makes coffee and turns on the TV, News 24, and we're both glad we're not watching American news, with its constant commentary - theories, opinions, wafflers waffling on just to hear the sound of their own self-beloved voices. Mikes thrust down the gob of someone whose house just burned down - "So, how do you FEEL?"
Getting back to the point... Nothing much unfolds for a while and we stare at the gogglebox, transfixed. Liz walks to work in Clerkenwell, reports later that the streets were eerily deserted and that people stared suspiciously down at her from windows above.
I watch and I watch. Even watch the Shrub, who reminds me of a braindead tin soldier with his arms held rigidly out from his sides, and marvel at the fact that no grammatical errors emerge in his speech, or maybe my brain's on holiday and I'm not really listening, still thinking of his pal the panic-stricken (B)Liar's shell-shocked face.
Or maybe my brain is feeling guilty 'cause all the misspellt words on the crawling text are bugging me - Edgeware Road (it's Edgware!!), Oldgate for Aldgate...
The rumours start flying later, but only outside the TV news world; although the Beeb showed that map with the excess burning stations, they are cautious only to report the facts. Liz rings, says she heard that it was suicide bombers, jumping in front of trains; then she heard that the bombers escaped and that the bombs were set off by mobile phones. My mobile doesn't work on the Underground, even the shallow lines, so how could that be possible? Never mind, it all ain't true.
So. I'm stranded. Yesterday I took all my stuff to my new digs, then went back into town and crashed back at Liz's on the aforementioned couch after a late night drinking sesh - a lock-in at the Wenlock Arms, and there's no way to get back to Edmonton, where my stuff is. It's way way out there in the part of North London best avoided. I realise I need money and must get to the bank before it shuts as I have misplaced my cash card. (Days later, as ever, I find it exactly five minutes after the replacement card arrives in the post.) The bank is way down at the other end of Upper Street, so I hurry out.
We're not very far from two of the bomb sites and I expect to find all doom and gloom, but first of all it's a glorious day. It had been raining earlier but now the sky is blue, the air is washed and clean, the sun is shining but very gently, hardly ever had I seen such perfect weather. Everyone is smiling. Phoning people, saying, "It was just a matter of time." "I'm all right." Laughing about having to walk or being stranded. Smiling at passers-by, saying hello - now this is WEIRD! This is just not done in London. I overtake some Yank tourists who are walking too slowly and they apologise to me.
People are sitting in the outdoor cafes. The only things I see that are closed are one clothes shop, one betting shop (though a sign in the window assures customers that a branch not far away remains open) and all three branches of Starbucks have closed down early. (Perhaps the management were worried they might have to dole out some free water at some point.) And my bank. And just half an hour early, the bastards!
So I wander into Sainsbury's, where, even though there are the longest waits I'd ever seen at the checkouts (announcements over the Tannoy keep apologising for this), everyone remains happy and smiling. A woman, who was balancing her basket precariously atop one of those old lady shopping wheely things, sees the contents crash to the floor and immediately a dozen people surround her, picking up eggshells and cheese puffs, and others rally to find her replacement items (which she puts in her basket in the same dangerous position, forcing one of the good Samaritans to end up holding it for her). I'd never seen behaviour like this in London. Maybe oop north, where they'd probably be brewing oop a cooppa for the old dear and force-feeding some Tunnock's teacakes down her gullet too, but London?? As Pokey once said to Gumby (I had to stick a incomprehensible to non-Yanks reference in amidst all these Britishisms): "Weird, man, weird!"
Well, someone's not a happy camper. Way over on the other side of the store there's a lot of shouting, and some kind of security person was summoned to expel the culprit, but we (I say "we" because the people in my queue take turns to go over and try to find out what's going on but no-one has any success - it's a big store and difficult to get close or to see past the crowds at the tills) never manage to find out what the deal was.
Then, weirder still, the woman at the till chats to me, just like we were up north and this sort of thing is normal! About the weather, about the crowds of people stocking up with food, what time she started work and how she was getting home etc. This is getting to be very strange.
Now I'm hungry and I'm still cashless and living on plastic so I head for Pasha on the way back, but we're in the in-between hours when they have their doors open but they aren't serving any food, so it's La Petite Auberge; at first I'm the sole customer but it soon fills up with stranded folk; one man wants a table with enough light to read the paper and I've got the "Stan-dud" too - the only London paper is an evening one and aren't they happy about that! The morning rags with their blazing "We've Got the Olympics!" headlines now looked forlorn.
My phone keeps beeping with text messages; I go back to Liz's and ring my mother as she (Liz) had urged me to; she had only just heard the news. But had not thought of phoning me The buses are running and I go out to wait for one to Clerkenwell, but after half an hour I walk halfway. When one comes and I try to pay the fare the driver tells me buses are free "because of the troubles". (What - are we in Ulster?) I probably could have got all the way back to Edmonton now, but I don't feel much like being alone. Especially in those ultra dreary digs.
So I meet Liz and Sergio, who had walked from his work in Paddington to Clerkenwell - took two hours - in the pub next to Liz's office, and then we get a cab back to the Wenlock Arms in Hoxton. The cab driver is all chatty too, telling us how hungry he is - heading for McDonald's soon - and about deserted streets he had gone through a bit earlier. The streets are still unusually empty for this part of town. But in the Wenlock all is normal. It's quiz night, and nice to do something so normal and mundane. We come in fourth, pints all round.
14 July
Everyone has been full of "what if's", and all the newspaper columnists have written about the strange few days in which Londoners spoke to one another. That has pretty much passed and things are back to normal, although the tubes are less crowded and the buses more crowded. The other night I spoke to Vivianne in Leeds, who said she was glad she wasn't in London, and the next morning my old hometown was all over the news. Beeston, where I worked the (not so) better part of a year, and then Burley, the Hyde Park scrag end of Burley, and there's a TV reporter standing at the top of Vivianne's street!
Vivianne was returning from the shop when she was stopped and her house keys confiscated. The cops knocked on the door where Steve was working on the computer (in his underwear as it was quite hot); he was told he had 30 seconds to evacuate the premises; was allowed to get a pair of jeans but not to fetch his mobile phone or to take his car (finally, about seven hours later after several refusals, a cop drove it out for him.)
They were not allowed back for 48 hours and several hundred others were evacuated as well. If you had nowhere to go they put you up at the leisure centre (what fun), where apparently the old fossils - I mean dears - relived the war and sang songs throughout the night. Steve was interviewed by the local TV news (but naturally did not get to see it) and I should really do a proper interview with him as he made the story sound much more interesting when he told it to me than what I've just written here. But having spent many many nights in that house and neighbourhood (I lived round the corner) I wish I could have seen the faces of some of the white trash criminal neighbours (it's the kinda place where a two-year-old's first words are "fuck off!") being evacuated - wonder how they managed to get - and keep - them all out! I bet there was a lot of toilet flushing in those last few minutes ...
The bomb factory flat, which is just over the road, is one that belongs to Leeds Fed, the housing association for which I once worked. I'd also love to see that application form!
30 July
Arrests, stand-offs, shootings and of course the botched attempts by the Keystone* bombers on the 21st; this is said to have made both residents and visitors alike much more fearful, but not yours truly. Cops everywhere, everyone peering about, looking at one another with suspicion. and the tubes are still nicely uncrowded. The other night I had a train car to myself, and it wasn't even an odd time (it was about 8:45 pm) or a remote area (it was fairly central and a main line), and I noticed a carrier bag abandoned near one of the doors. I didn't investigate and it looked like it contained only an Evening Standard, but the deal is, you are meant to report ANYTHING unattended - so did I? Naah, I was getting off the train at the next stop anyhow.
*(credit - Richard R.)
And yesterday I was going to work from my new digs in Tulse Hill - yeah, commuting! - and as I got on the No. 2 bus I realised I was taking the same route at the same time on the same day of the week as Jean Charles de Menezes. There's a big tribute outside Stockwell Station and the questions are still buzzing (police still have not explained why someone they were convinced was a bomber was allowed to board a bus, or why he was not detained before entering the tube station - it's quite a long way from the bus stop to the station entrance and plenty of room for manoeuvering out on the sidewalk) and everyone I know is wondering why people are so accepting of this, and our mayor Ken is wobbling like a weeble, first alienating himself from Noo Labour (but endearing himself to us) by "mentioning the war", then defending the shoot-to-kill cops and passing the buck.
And that's that.
e/k/w
Sunday, November 02, 2014
On that day in 1977 - 31 October
About time I resumed this thing! I had just moved into the Tiger den on La Cienega. Trudie, Helen and Mary had apartment-sat (or office-sat? Tiger's apartment was actually a unit in an office building) for Tiger over the summer and after that had cobbled together some money to get their own place in West Hollywood, the Plunger Pit near the Starwood. The year before, Jerry Satinsky had taken some photos of them holding plungers, and they were thereafter known as The Plungers. However, just to confuse you, Jerry called us all "the weirdos" - not to be confused with the group of that name - and I will retain my references from the time.
I can't remember if the Mumps/Devo gig was at the Whisky or Starwood; perhaps the latter? For a while I was automatically always on Devo's guest list. And Rodney DJ'd at the Starwood; not that he didn't go to most shows at the Whisky too.
The "giant guy" who won the Halloween costume was a 7-foot aspiring actor, Carel Struycken, who later turned up playing the Giant on Twin Peaks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carel_Struycken.
Shame about my cleaned-out purse; I was thinking I probably wouldn't have had more than a couple bucks at any one time in those days but since I said "all my money", maybe I lost the $20!
31 October 1977
Well, today after classes I went home. And they [the 'rents] were really nice to me and gave me $20. I stayed for dinner but then I had to go back. And I was so homesick and stuff I started crying on the way back, how embarrassing.
I didn't know what to be for Halloween so I put on that black dress and went to the weirdoes'. Trudie was gonna wear these red pajamas but she decided not to so I wore them. Took them long enough to get ready and we missed the first band!
The Mumps were great!!!! They all wore masks and stuff and Lance wore orange and black, a shirt with a Jack-o-lantern with a safety pin through his nose. Oh, but first he came out and did the first song with a sheet on!
Devo - it was so crowded I could hardly see. I saw their film though and it was FANTASTIC!
Oh, I'd thought that Rodney had forgotten who I was, but no such luck. This night he remembered. And - I'm sure! - tried to talk me into ditching my boyfriend and moving in with him! He said he'd support me and I could be the cohost of his show - oh sure! Barf barf barf!!!
What else happened that night... Well, everyone went upstairs and left me down there alone. and they had a costume contest and I think Rod should have won but he was booed offstage!!! But it was neat that the giant guy won... He wasn't even wearing a costume!
Afterward the weirdoes had a party again but I only stayed for a few minutes. Till I found who had my purse - took long enough - and then all my money was stolen.
I can't remember if the Mumps/Devo gig was at the Whisky or Starwood; perhaps the latter? For a while I was automatically always on Devo's guest list. And Rodney DJ'd at the Starwood; not that he didn't go to most shows at the Whisky too.
The "giant guy" who won the Halloween costume was a 7-foot aspiring actor, Carel Struycken, who later turned up playing the Giant on Twin Peaks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carel_Struycken.
Shame about my cleaned-out purse; I was thinking I probably wouldn't have had more than a couple bucks at any one time in those days but since I said "all my money", maybe I lost the $20!
31 October 1977
Well, today after classes I went home. And they [the 'rents] were really nice to me and gave me $20. I stayed for dinner but then I had to go back. And I was so homesick and stuff I started crying on the way back, how embarrassing.
I didn't know what to be for Halloween so I put on that black dress and went to the weirdoes'. Trudie was gonna wear these red pajamas but she decided not to so I wore them. Took them long enough to get ready and we missed the first band!
 |
| Soo Catwoman/vampire Helen, me in Trixie's PJs, Trudie as Vampira in the Plunger Pit |
Devo - it was so crowded I could hardly see. I saw their film though and it was FANTASTIC!
Oh, I'd thought that Rodney had forgotten who I was, but no such luck. This night he remembered. And - I'm sure! - tried to talk me into ditching my boyfriend and moving in with him! He said he'd support me and I could be the cohost of his show - oh sure! Barf barf barf!!!
What else happened that night... Well, everyone went upstairs and left me down there alone. and they had a costume contest and I think Rod should have won but he was booed offstage!!! But it was neat that the giant guy won... He wasn't even wearing a costume!
 |
| The costume that should have won was booed offstage! Mary as Twiggy on the right. |
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Africa Part One
MySpace removed my old blogs so I am moving them here. This was the beginning of my write-up on my first trip to Africa in 2004. Here's part one; two to follow soon, and then maybe I'll somehow attempt to finish it... (I never did, and it's been nearly ten years!)
**************************************************
Sunday, 18 July: Nairobi
Two days of air travel (Note to self: never do two overnight flights in a row again) and endless waiting but I'm finally in Africa. For those of you who aren't aware, my brother, Kurt, lived in Kenya for a year in the mid 80s (attending the University of Nairobi) and Tanzania for two years in the late 80s (in the Peace Corps and working in Jane Goodall's headquarters), then in the 90s he started leading wildlife safaris in East Africa every year or two. I housesat for him in the desert (because I couldn't afford to go) during the previous two in '99 and '00, and then the following year, slaving away at (No)Futurekids, I finally saved enough money to go, but for various reasons "Baobob V" was postponed until this year.
With twenty in all, this is Kurt's largest group ever, and always on the lookout for new recruits, he has persuaded Helen, our 84-year-old "fake relative" (she's a friend of the family, she grew up next door to my mother with no living relatives left on the planet) to be my "roommate", warning me with a slight smirk that Helen's memory ain't what it used to be. (The thing is, it never was what it used to be; she's one of those people who, although kind-hearted and well-meaning, constantly asks you loads of questions yet dizzily, never pays attention to the answers.) I am happy not to pay a single supplement and decide not to worry.
Helen flew on her own from Phoenix and joins our flight from London to Nairobi. As we get off this second overnight flight, Helen requests a wheelchair as she is feeling rough. This turns out to be a plus for Candice (my brother's girlfriend) and me: we push the chair and get to breeze through Immigration with no waiting.
It's early in the morning and here we are at our luxury hotel (I'm not really expecting this and I'm not accustomed to places that give you bathrobes and slippers) on a hill above the city, the Nairobi Serena. Helen dons the dressing gown and crashes as soon as we're shown into the room and I struggle to stay awake. After channel surfing (the only local television channel seems to be an East African MTV with a lot of tedious booty-shakin going on, and there seems to be a very wide range of trashy American "Lifetime television for women" biopics (inside joke to those who know him: no Ramsay sightings unfortunately) available at all hours) and sitting in the Jacuzzi for a while (it's way too cold to go swimming), I end up guzzling coffee at the poolside bar, mildly pestered by a sunburnt builder from Reading (his hols: a two-day "Big 5" type safari followed by a fortnight on the beach at Mombasa) who accuses me of being unfriendly because I'm trying to read my book. (He shuts up when I tell him I'm hoping to see some bats, probably thinks I'm some kind of goth freak.)
Finally it's 2 PM and five of us are taken to the Nairobi National Museum. It's adjacent to Nairobi Snake Park! We must go in. I believe we're the only tourists in there. Relieved to see that there are large enclosures in this vivarium/aquarium, though it could do with more frequent cleaning - we see some quite enormous boa turds.
The museum is wonderful and although it's much bigger, it brings to mind the sorely missed (at least by me) Leeds City Museum (which also had a very small vivarium/aquarium, wonder what happened to those mud puppies!), as well as the very Victorian Dublin Natural History Museum. I'm drawn to the Leakey skulls (Homo Habilis!!), although the hall of dead birds was very useful for future identification, and the hall with local art was amazing.
We stop off for a drink on the veranda of the Norfolk Hotel (Nairobi's oldest), where I have my first Tusker lager.
Dinner that evening at the hotel restaurant is a four-course affair, the first of many. Helen has slept through it, and consequently is up all night, noisily pottering about.
Monday, 19 July: Nairobi
Helen finally emerges from the room for breakfast. She decides not to go on our first game drive however, saying she plans to spend the day sitting by the pool. At any rate there is more room for the five of us in our pop-top minivan.
We have about a half hour wait outside the gates of Nairobi National Park, and are encouraged, for the first of many times, to visit the gift shop. I ask if I can go into the Animal Orphanage instead, and they arrange for us all to go in. (Note: Richard Leakey was once head of the orphanage, and this is where Jane Goodall worked when she first came to Africa.) This is not something they normally do so everyone is quite pleased that I suggested it, as we get to frolic with cheetah and lion cubs.
The cheetahs are teenagers, about the size of a German Shepherd (though more the shape of a greyhound of course), and they purr as you scratch them under the chin and like to lick your face.
The lion cubs are much younger and play roughly just like kittens:
climbing up your leg, grabbing your arm and sinking claws and teeth into
it - only they're about twenty times the size of kittens with a
corresponding twenty times larger teeth and claws. I manage to
disentangle myself and merely receive a surface scratch but poor Sandy's
leg is kind of a bloody mess, requiring an application of iodine.
Not as exciting, but still very cute, here's a dik dik:
Nairobi Park is a good introduction to African game drives as it encompasses so much in such a small area; beyond every corner is a different kind of terrain, from forest and bush to swamp and savannah. At certain points you can see the skyscrapers of Nairobi behind herds of giraffe. Giraffes are everywhere; we drive ten feet past the gates and about a dozen are blocking the road.
No big cats or elephants yet, but we also see zebras, impalas, gazelles, bushbucks, elands, hartebeests, wildebeests, buffalo, vervet monkeys, warthogs and loads of birds.
I have an eye to eye brief encounter with a malachite kingfisher, who flies away as soon as I notify others of his presence.
Lunch is at a restaurant called the Verandah, owned by an American woman. It's very nice and I'm relieved that we didn't have to dine at the Carnivore Restaurant (with a selection of "bush meat") up the road.
Afterward we visit the Langata Giraffe Centre. It houses three tame Rothschild's giraffes which you may feed:
you climb up a tower in order to reach the level of their mouths and they'll take the food, which is like rather large rabbit pellets, off your hand or out of your mouth (several young boys get very into this!)
A giraffe tongue is quite soft but not wanting to get covered in giraffe spittle, I mostly toss the pellets as one would toss fish to a seal.
They're greedy buggers too! Way down below, some warthogs are eating the pellets that have fallen on the ground, but there aren't many of those.
Apparently for some extortionate sum you may stay in the giraffe towers on the premises, and they, the giraffes that is, will stick their heads in and wake you up in the morning. I'm sure if they were given free rein they'd be happy to wake you up in the middle of the night too!
Next we travel to the district of Karen and visit Karin Blixen's house and museum. All I remember about Out of Africa is that I wasn't impressed by her taste in men - going for those macho big game hunters. I guess she did a lot for the locals, or at least gave them work on her plantation, but she actually only lived in Africa for fourteen years or so. You'd think if you thought of somewhere as your spiritual home and had nice digs (as this house was, and what a view too!),
that you would want to spend the rest of your days there, but no, she went back to dreary Denmark and never returned to Africa! Not once!! In Denmark she died of malnutrition. I reckon she wasn't getting enough fresh vegetables. But back to that fourteen years thing - I lived that long in Leeds! Will Meryl Streep play me someday in Out of Headingley, working the door at the Warehouse (turning away cranky ligging journalists who want us to subsidize their dates), buying cheese & onion pasties at Stanley's Bakery, doling out cash advances on wages to stage crew at the Playhouse, riding my bike across Woodhouse Moor and driving Bob (my old Mini) through the dales? Will the "district" of Hyde Park be renamed in honour of me? Only time will tell.
Back at the hotel we learn that Helen called for a doctor and was later taken to Nairobi Hospital! I won't go into the details but it wasn't anything life threatening. Okay, she was just a little stopped up, if you get my drift. Kurt goes to fetch her and later all is well; he says she's fine to travel tomorrow though she seems a little cranky. Again she's up all night so again my slumber is disturbed.
**************************************************
Sunday, 18 July: Nairobi
Two days of air travel (Note to self: never do two overnight flights in a row again) and endless waiting but I'm finally in Africa. For those of you who aren't aware, my brother, Kurt, lived in Kenya for a year in the mid 80s (attending the University of Nairobi) and Tanzania for two years in the late 80s (in the Peace Corps and working in Jane Goodall's headquarters), then in the 90s he started leading wildlife safaris in East Africa every year or two. I housesat for him in the desert (because I couldn't afford to go) during the previous two in '99 and '00, and then the following year, slaving away at (No)Futurekids, I finally saved enough money to go, but for various reasons "Baobob V" was postponed until this year.
With twenty in all, this is Kurt's largest group ever, and always on the lookout for new recruits, he has persuaded Helen, our 84-year-old "fake relative" (she's a friend of the family, she grew up next door to my mother with no living relatives left on the planet) to be my "roommate", warning me with a slight smirk that Helen's memory ain't what it used to be. (The thing is, it never was what it used to be; she's one of those people who, although kind-hearted and well-meaning, constantly asks you loads of questions yet dizzily, never pays attention to the answers.) I am happy not to pay a single supplement and decide not to worry.
Helen flew on her own from Phoenix and joins our flight from London to Nairobi. As we get off this second overnight flight, Helen requests a wheelchair as she is feeling rough. This turns out to be a plus for Candice (my brother's girlfriend) and me: we push the chair and get to breeze through Immigration with no waiting.
It's early in the morning and here we are at our luxury hotel (I'm not really expecting this and I'm not accustomed to places that give you bathrobes and slippers) on a hill above the city, the Nairobi Serena. Helen dons the dressing gown and crashes as soon as we're shown into the room and I struggle to stay awake. After channel surfing (the only local television channel seems to be an East African MTV with a lot of tedious booty-shakin going on, and there seems to be a very wide range of trashy American "Lifetime television for women" biopics (inside joke to those who know him: no Ramsay sightings unfortunately) available at all hours) and sitting in the Jacuzzi for a while (it's way too cold to go swimming), I end up guzzling coffee at the poolside bar, mildly pestered by a sunburnt builder from Reading (his hols: a two-day "Big 5" type safari followed by a fortnight on the beach at Mombasa) who accuses me of being unfriendly because I'm trying to read my book. (He shuts up when I tell him I'm hoping to see some bats, probably thinks I'm some kind of goth freak.)
Finally it's 2 PM and five of us are taken to the Nairobi National Museum. It's adjacent to Nairobi Snake Park! We must go in. I believe we're the only tourists in there. Relieved to see that there are large enclosures in this vivarium/aquarium, though it could do with more frequent cleaning - we see some quite enormous boa turds.
The museum is wonderful and although it's much bigger, it brings to mind the sorely missed (at least by me) Leeds City Museum (which also had a very small vivarium/aquarium, wonder what happened to those mud puppies!), as well as the very Victorian Dublin Natural History Museum. I'm drawn to the Leakey skulls (Homo Habilis!!), although the hall of dead birds was very useful for future identification, and the hall with local art was amazing.
We stop off for a drink on the veranda of the Norfolk Hotel (Nairobi's oldest), where I have my first Tusker lager.
Dinner that evening at the hotel restaurant is a four-course affair, the first of many. Helen has slept through it, and consequently is up all night, noisily pottering about.
Monday, 19 July: Nairobi
Helen finally emerges from the room for breakfast. She decides not to go on our first game drive however, saying she plans to spend the day sitting by the pool. At any rate there is more room for the five of us in our pop-top minivan.
We have about a half hour wait outside the gates of Nairobi National Park, and are encouraged, for the first of many times, to visit the gift shop. I ask if I can go into the Animal Orphanage instead, and they arrange for us all to go in. (Note: Richard Leakey was once head of the orphanage, and this is where Jane Goodall worked when she first came to Africa.) This is not something they normally do so everyone is quite pleased that I suggested it, as we get to frolic with cheetah and lion cubs.
The cheetahs are teenagers, about the size of a German Shepherd (though more the shape of a greyhound of course), and they purr as you scratch them under the chin and like to lick your face.
The lion cubs are much younger and play roughly just like kittens:
climbing up your leg, grabbing your arm and sinking claws and teeth into
it - only they're about twenty times the size of kittens with a
corresponding twenty times larger teeth and claws. I manage to
disentangle myself and merely receive a surface scratch but poor Sandy's
leg is kind of a bloody mess, requiring an application of iodine.Not as exciting, but still very cute, here's a dik dik:
Nairobi Park is a good introduction to African game drives as it encompasses so much in such a small area; beyond every corner is a different kind of terrain, from forest and bush to swamp and savannah. At certain points you can see the skyscrapers of Nairobi behind herds of giraffe. Giraffes are everywhere; we drive ten feet past the gates and about a dozen are blocking the road.
No big cats or elephants yet, but we also see zebras, impalas, gazelles, bushbucks, elands, hartebeests, wildebeests, buffalo, vervet monkeys, warthogs and loads of birds.
I have an eye to eye brief encounter with a malachite kingfisher, who flies away as soon as I notify others of his presence.
Lunch is at a restaurant called the Verandah, owned by an American woman. It's very nice and I'm relieved that we didn't have to dine at the Carnivore Restaurant (with a selection of "bush meat") up the road.
Afterward we visit the Langata Giraffe Centre. It houses three tame Rothschild's giraffes which you may feed:
you climb up a tower in order to reach the level of their mouths and they'll take the food, which is like rather large rabbit pellets, off your hand or out of your mouth (several young boys get very into this!)
A giraffe tongue is quite soft but not wanting to get covered in giraffe spittle, I mostly toss the pellets as one would toss fish to a seal.
They're greedy buggers too! Way down below, some warthogs are eating the pellets that have fallen on the ground, but there aren't many of those.
Apparently for some extortionate sum you may stay in the giraffe towers on the premises, and they, the giraffes that is, will stick their heads in and wake you up in the morning. I'm sure if they were given free rein they'd be happy to wake you up in the middle of the night too!
Next we travel to the district of Karen and visit Karin Blixen's house and museum. All I remember about Out of Africa is that I wasn't impressed by her taste in men - going for those macho big game hunters. I guess she did a lot for the locals, or at least gave them work on her plantation, but she actually only lived in Africa for fourteen years or so. You'd think if you thought of somewhere as your spiritual home and had nice digs (as this house was, and what a view too!),
that you would want to spend the rest of your days there, but no, she went back to dreary Denmark and never returned to Africa! Not once!! In Denmark she died of malnutrition. I reckon she wasn't getting enough fresh vegetables. But back to that fourteen years thing - I lived that long in Leeds! Will Meryl Streep play me someday in Out of Headingley, working the door at the Warehouse (turning away cranky ligging journalists who want us to subsidize their dates), buying cheese & onion pasties at Stanley's Bakery, doling out cash advances on wages to stage crew at the Playhouse, riding my bike across Woodhouse Moor and driving Bob (my old Mini) through the dales? Will the "district" of Hyde Park be renamed in honour of me? Only time will tell.
Back at the hotel we learn that Helen called for a doctor and was later taken to Nairobi Hospital! I won't go into the details but it wasn't anything life threatening. Okay, she was just a little stopped up, if you get my drift. Kurt goes to fetch her and later all is well; he says she's fine to travel tomorrow though she seems a little cranky. Again she's up all night so again my slumber is disturbed.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
On this day in 1978 - April 1st
The Quick were my favorite local band in the mid 70s; they had a party for their fan club members at which they played their final show. The set list was determined by fans' votes too.
They had played their first or second ever show in Mary's living room (her mom was away) two years earlier; this had been arranged by their manager, Kim Fowley and I had missed it as it was spring break and I was on a family vacation. But I had seen just about every Quick show since then, at least all the ones in So. Cal.
1 April 1978
I waited for Gary [Tonda, my latest flame] to call - he never did. So I went to the Quick's party with Ava and Cathy. Ava had been worried that I was going to go off and leave her on her own at the party - hardy har har!!! She went straight from Davy to Ian to Mark Hammill [Yes, Luke Skywalker had gone to school with some of the Quick], with some other dork in between!
The party was really boring at first. Then the Quick played - that was great! I couldn't believe how many of the winning songs I had voted for! It was good hearing the older songs but they sure didn't do them too well... Danny had to read the words! He joked: "This is the last time we're gonna play; we're breaking up after tonight..." and everyone was saying, "Oh sure..." Little did they (or Danny?) know it was no April Fool's joke but the TRUTH! [I wrote this account a few weeks later.]
They really hammed it up... Rolling on the floor and everything. Mark Hammill (what a geek) ran in in front of everyone like he's a hero or something. And I think it was the first and only time I ever saw the Quick NOT do Over the Rainbow!! (And it even came in top of the poll!)
Afterward it was pretty boring till I discovered all the food and free beer and Coke. The cookies Ian's mom had made were great. By now Ava was trying to pick up on Mark Hammill (barf!) who had a pretzel hanging from his nose and kept going, "Pretzel rock! Pretzel rock!" Yuk!
Ian was messing around on the piano playing cocktail music so I took a styrofoam cup and stuck a dollar in it... But I didn't really wanna give it to him [stingy bitch that I was!] so I took it back when he wasn't looking... Later he had a tizz: "Where's my dollar?! Karen put a dollar in there!!"
Then Cat told me to play something... So I began playing my latest song with the Todd-like progression and Danny said, "Who wrote that?!" He kept making me play it over and over then asked me to play something else, so I started to play "Too Late '68" but he stopped me cause it was time to go and he wanted to hear the first one again, though he said that both of them were good and he could tell I was influenced by Eno, just like him. He and Ian kept raving about the new song though and asked if they could use it. [But then the Quick broke up and Danny went on to co-write the Friends theme song...]
Mark Hammill still had a pretzel in his nose when he left.
They had played their first or second ever show in Mary's living room (her mom was away) two years earlier; this had been arranged by their manager, Kim Fowley and I had missed it as it was spring break and I was on a family vacation. But I had seen just about every Quick show since then, at least all the ones in So. Cal.
1 April 1978
I waited for Gary [Tonda, my latest flame] to call - he never did. So I went to the Quick's party with Ava and Cathy. Ava had been worried that I was going to go off and leave her on her own at the party - hardy har har!!! She went straight from Davy to Ian to Mark Hammill [Yes, Luke Skywalker had gone to school with some of the Quick], with some other dork in between!
The party was really boring at first. Then the Quick played - that was great! I couldn't believe how many of the winning songs I had voted for! It was good hearing the older songs but they sure didn't do them too well... Danny had to read the words! He joked: "This is the last time we're gonna play; we're breaking up after tonight..." and everyone was saying, "Oh sure..." Little did they (or Danny?) know it was no April Fool's joke but the TRUTH! [I wrote this account a few weeks later.]
They really hammed it up... Rolling on the floor and everything. Mark Hammill (what a geek) ran in in front of everyone like he's a hero or something. And I think it was the first and only time I ever saw the Quick NOT do Over the Rainbow!! (And it even came in top of the poll!)
Afterward it was pretty boring till I discovered all the food and free beer and Coke. The cookies Ian's mom had made were great. By now Ava was trying to pick up on Mark Hammill (barf!) who had a pretzel hanging from his nose and kept going, "Pretzel rock! Pretzel rock!" Yuk!
Ian was messing around on the piano playing cocktail music so I took a styrofoam cup and stuck a dollar in it... But I didn't really wanna give it to him [stingy bitch that I was!] so I took it back when he wasn't looking... Later he had a tizz: "Where's my dollar?! Karen put a dollar in there!!"
Then Cat told me to play something... So I began playing my latest song with the Todd-like progression and Danny said, "Who wrote that?!" He kept making me play it over and over then asked me to play something else, so I started to play "Too Late '68" but he stopped me cause it was time to go and he wanted to hear the first one again, though he said that both of them were good and he could tell I was influenced by Eno, just like him. He and Ian kept raving about the new song though and asked if they could use it. [But then the Quick broke up and Danny went on to co-write the Friends theme song...]
Mark Hammill still had a pretzel in his nose when he left.
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
On this day in 1977 - April 1st
Ratso is Mary Rat; Killer is Hellin Killer, and Tiger is Steve Tigerman.
I had a pair of pet rats, Bromo and Alka, who had a few litters. (They were in seperate cages but kept escaping.) I found homes for most of them but had to give or sell several to pet shops.
I have absolutely no idea where this POP! gig was. It must have been in the South Bay but it could not have been the Smokestack (later called the Fleetwood) as they didn't have two rooms where bands played; did that place on Redondo Pier?
1 April 1977
I set my alarm and put the phone by my bed... Trudie called at 8:00 and said she would take a bus and be there at 11:30. But they woke me up when they all came at 10:00, Trudie, Ratso and Killer. We took my rats. That one does look like Johnny Rotten! There were six boys and two girls. I gave five to the pet shop. They have some monster rats!
We picked up Tiger and went to Hollywood Boulevard but first we had a big fight about going to Todd's old house. [In the Hollywood hills - I just wanted to see it!] I got super pissed that Tiger and Killer came, cause Trudie said she didn't mind going. I finally found that book! [No idea what this book was...] We got mad at Tiger cause he was being impatient. Then we had to go to the sex shop [jewelry for Killer] and the Aardvark [used clothes]. Then Tiger went to school [UCLA] and we ate his Top Ramen [presumably at his place on La Cienega] and we went home and got in a gigantic traffic jam.
So Killer got in trouble and almost couldn't go out that night. Trudie stayed here and we called Furruzie [Peter Furru]. His sister [Teddi] said he was sick and couldn't go to Pop! Then later Robert Marlow (who wanted us to give him a ride to the Santa Monica Civic - I'm sure!!!!) said Peter was having a party! That asshole liar!!!
So anyway Killer came and I had to go get Ratso, and in a while we went. There were SO MANY SURFERS!!! I never saw such a surfed-out place!! They were all saying stuff like: HollyWEIRD!, Hollywood Swinging! Motorcycle Mamas! Da FONZ (???!!!!) and junk, and they would shove their friends into us and ask where we came from and touch us. GEEKS!!!! They asked Ratso if she had a knife - some surfers said we had been threatening them!!!!
We had to wait in this long line and when we got up there they said there was no guest list. So Trudie and Helen paid, and Ratso was going to but I didn't have any $$. [Like usual...] I didn't want to borrow any from Killer. Finally the guards said, "You're holding up the line! Just go on in..." So we got in free!
DD [Faye], Audrey [Pavia] and Don [Waller] came. POP! were going to be playing in this almost empty room and we went to the bathroom.
I came out and told Roger [from POP!] what had happened and he tried to get Trudie and Killer their money back but they never did. Then all these geek surfers started dancing to POP! And they did all these cover versions. At least they were slightly original cover versions, even Get Off of my Cloud and Under My Thumb. But they didn't do them very well. They played so long. About five sets with 15 minute breaks. I got so tired (and thirsty!!!) so fast and Trudie got mad cause she wanted to have a spaz and we were all falling asleep! I didn't even know who the band in the other room was. That room was twice as big, twice as crowded and twice as hot. I would have been super pissed if I had paid!
When Ratso and I walked to the car some surfer pinched her butt and she said, "Fuck you!" and they started making noises and I imitated them and said all this junk like "Catch a wave, man!", "Later toad!" etc. When Trudie came she was yelling "Fuck you, surfers!" out the window and "Surf out!" and stuff and they all flipped us off.
I had a pair of pet rats, Bromo and Alka, who had a few litters. (They were in seperate cages but kept escaping.) I found homes for most of them but had to give or sell several to pet shops.
I have absolutely no idea where this POP! gig was. It must have been in the South Bay but it could not have been the Smokestack (later called the Fleetwood) as they didn't have two rooms where bands played; did that place on Redondo Pier?
1 April 1977
I set my alarm and put the phone by my bed... Trudie called at 8:00 and said she would take a bus and be there at 11:30. But they woke me up when they all came at 10:00, Trudie, Ratso and Killer. We took my rats. That one does look like Johnny Rotten! There were six boys and two girls. I gave five to the pet shop. They have some monster rats!
We picked up Tiger and went to Hollywood Boulevard but first we had a big fight about going to Todd's old house. [In the Hollywood hills - I just wanted to see it!] I got super pissed that Tiger and Killer came, cause Trudie said she didn't mind going. I finally found that book! [No idea what this book was...] We got mad at Tiger cause he was being impatient. Then we had to go to the sex shop [jewelry for Killer] and the Aardvark [used clothes]. Then Tiger went to school [UCLA] and we ate his Top Ramen [presumably at his place on La Cienega] and we went home and got in a gigantic traffic jam.
So Killer got in trouble and almost couldn't go out that night. Trudie stayed here and we called Furruzie [Peter Furru]. His sister [Teddi] said he was sick and couldn't go to Pop! Then later Robert Marlow (who wanted us to give him a ride to the Santa Monica Civic - I'm sure!!!!) said Peter was having a party! That asshole liar!!!
So anyway Killer came and I had to go get Ratso, and in a while we went. There were SO MANY SURFERS!!! I never saw such a surfed-out place!! They were all saying stuff like: HollyWEIRD!, Hollywood Swinging! Motorcycle Mamas! Da FONZ (???!!!!) and junk, and they would shove their friends into us and ask where we came from and touch us. GEEKS!!!! They asked Ratso if she had a knife - some surfers said we had been threatening them!!!!
We had to wait in this long line and when we got up there they said there was no guest list. So Trudie and Helen paid, and Ratso was going to but I didn't have any $$. [Like usual...] I didn't want to borrow any from Killer. Finally the guards said, "You're holding up the line! Just go on in..." So we got in free!
DD [Faye], Audrey [Pavia] and Don [Waller] came. POP! were going to be playing in this almost empty room and we went to the bathroom.
I came out and told Roger [from POP!] what had happened and he tried to get Trudie and Killer their money back but they never did. Then all these geek surfers started dancing to POP! And they did all these cover versions. At least they were slightly original cover versions, even Get Off of my Cloud and Under My Thumb. But they didn't do them very well. They played so long. About five sets with 15 minute breaks. I got so tired (and thirsty!!!) so fast and Trudie got mad cause she wanted to have a spaz and we were all falling asleep! I didn't even know who the band in the other room was. That room was twice as big, twice as crowded and twice as hot. I would have been super pissed if I had paid!
When Ratso and I walked to the car some surfer pinched her butt and she said, "Fuck you!" and they started making noises and I imitated them and said all this junk like "Catch a wave, man!", "Later toad!" etc. When Trudie came she was yelling "Fuck you, surfers!" out the window and "Surf out!" and stuff and they all flipped us off.
On this day in 1976 - April 1st
After a little break (seven months! I don't know what happened...) I return with an entry that has the potential of being even more embarrassing were I to reveal the band I was trying to see. (I only figured it out from references in previous entries.)
I had seen this English band the year before at the Santa Monica Civic with Jade; I think her step-father drove us. But since then I had started taking the bus to Santa Monica after school when there was a show, so I could hang out on the lawn beforehand, to meet the bands or people I had met at other gigs. I got the bus this time with Susan Richards.
Someone, I think Danny Benair, told me that you often could get the best seats - orchestra pit - if you waited in line for the box office to open just before the show. This worked a couple of times but not tonight! So we got the bus home as well.
April 1
Fortunately Susan got home just in time. Bill Wood was there so I talked to him. [No idea who this person was!] Then I was talking about Sparks and stuff to a lot of people. We were in line from 5:30 till 7:30, and were the second people in line but there were no tickets! We found a couple of scalpers with them but $15 each????!!! [Tickets for the Civic that year would have run from $3.50 to $5.50, maybe $6.50, so 15 bucks was a lot!]
I was looking and waiting for Robert [Williams, my objet de crush] and then I saw him inside! He was facing the other way though and I ran around to the other side and he disappeared. I kept running around - finally he was near the door but facing the other way but this guy got his attention and he came out to talk to me. He said to stick around, he was sure I'd get a ticket... He burped ... I said I liked his shirt but that it wasn't worth $30 and he got mad. He squeezed my hand then he blew a kiss as he went back inside.
We heard them do "School", then went home. That bus driver was totally loony! Coasting, putting his feet up, those looks, the way he talked, waiting at lights... WEIRD!!!
I had seen this English band the year before at the Santa Monica Civic with Jade; I think her step-father drove us. But since then I had started taking the bus to Santa Monica after school when there was a show, so I could hang out on the lawn beforehand, to meet the bands or people I had met at other gigs. I got the bus this time with Susan Richards.
Someone, I think Danny Benair, told me that you often could get the best seats - orchestra pit - if you waited in line for the box office to open just before the show. This worked a couple of times but not tonight! So we got the bus home as well.
April 1
Fortunately Susan got home just in time. Bill Wood was there so I talked to him. [No idea who this person was!] Then I was talking about Sparks and stuff to a lot of people. We were in line from 5:30 till 7:30, and were the second people in line but there were no tickets! We found a couple of scalpers with them but $15 each????!!! [Tickets for the Civic that year would have run from $3.50 to $5.50, maybe $6.50, so 15 bucks was a lot!]
I was looking and waiting for Robert [Williams, my objet de crush] and then I saw him inside! He was facing the other way though and I ran around to the other side and he disappeared. I kept running around - finally he was near the door but facing the other way but this guy got his attention and he came out to talk to me. He said to stick around, he was sure I'd get a ticket... He burped ... I said I liked his shirt but that it wasn't worth $30 and he got mad. He squeezed my hand then he blew a kiss as he went back inside.
We heard them do "School", then went home. That bus driver was totally loony! Coasting, putting his feet up, those looks, the way he talked, waiting at lights... WEIRD!!!
Monday, September 02, 2013
On that day in 1978 - 27 July
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| Mick, my pen pal in Liverpool |
He lived at home in the suburb of Allerton, and his parents thought their house was too small for a house guest (though I later stayed there for a couple more weeks) so had booked me into a hotel for five nights. This place bore somewhat of a resemblance to Fawlty Towers.
Mick did not know my real name so I had been booked in as Kari Bromo; hence the "Miss Bromo" references, which usually made me giggle.
I must admit, I probably wasn't their typical sort of guest and they must have thought I kept weird hours but jeez! I should have made my own Do Not Disturb sign!
I have driven by the hotel a few times in the years since and used to see it on Internet listings when I was looking for accommodation for my ex boss, but I just learned that the Grange Hotel has now closed down. Good riddance!
27 July 1978
I had set my alarm for 8:15 so as not to miss breakfast, but when it went off I didn't feel like getting up so I went back to sleep. That didn't work... at 8:45 I was awoken suddenly by a loud obnoxious BEEP BEEP BEEP!!! I turned the intercom thingie on. "Miss Bromo, you had better hurry down to breakfast!" Click. Can't win!
So after breakfast I went back to bed... it was hot so I took off my clothes... The maid kept barging in, without even knocking! So finally I gave up and got up.
Mick had said he'd be round to collect me around noon. I was reading when the intercom buzzed again: "Miss Bromo, there's a young gentleman here to see you." I pressed the button to speak and said, "Send him up!" but they pretended that they hadn't heard me and repeated, "Miss Bromo, there's a young gentleman here to see you..." So I went downstairs and found him on the couch in the main lounge. He said he had just begun to head up the stairs [he had been in my room the two days previous to this] when a leg came out and blocked his passage: "May I help you?"
We went by that pub and had a drink, then went to Mick's house. My feet were killing me from those black shoes! [What price vanity! I tried, without success, to find a photo of those shoes; they were pretty great. But not for trekking through the suburbs of Liverpool!]
Mick's aunt and cousins came over - they were funny. The older one winks at me, and I could never understand a word the little one was saying! They love Elvis and were fascinated by Mick's guitar, but they wouldn't sing.
So later Gary and Gaz came round (oh, Andy had come over earlier but left) and then Rob arrived and we went in his car to Eric's. [Gaz was the bassist in Mick's band, Crash Course; Andy (Eastwood) was the singer and Rob (Jones) the drummer.] It was empty and big and underground and a little like the Masque.
We sat in the first room till the bands played - then in a booth while they were playing - all of Crash Course. The bands stunk, especially the first one which was just like surfers/hippies trying to be a punk band. [I was jaded already - a tough one to please! I am pretty sure the headliner was Those Naughty Lumps, of "Iggy Pop's Jacket" fame. I guess I wasn't impressed enough to even mention them, but they were better than the support, and I can still picture the gangly singer. I just googled and I learned they reformed recently and played in Liverpool last month! More info on Those Naughty Lumps here]
But I had a really good time cause I was so drunk. If I wasn't the drunkest I'd ever been, it was almost the drunkest... Mick had told his mum he was staying out till 2:00 so he said we could leave at 12:30 and then we could have an hour alone in my room... So we did just that - we all got a taxi - took it to a few blocks from the Grange Hotel. Mick said he'd come up the fire escape - how romantic. He didn't kiss me good night or anything cause naturally I'd see him in a couple minutes.
So I opened the front door and no one was up - Mick could have just come in the front door after all! I was just about to shut the front door when a car drove up... Being considerate I held the door open and it was a really drunk middle-aged man who tried to convince me that I should have a drink with him (at 1:00 am in England?!) [I was still green, i.e., I didn't know about lock-ins or that hotels could serve after-hours.] "Just one drink?" Yikes! No way!!
Then he follows me up to my room and when I was opening the door he takes the key away and tries to open it for me... I managed to get it back, got the door open, and slammed the door in his face. I was terrified, especially cause I was so drunk, and I couldn't wait till Mick got there. I opened the fire escape door, went to the toilet, looked out, waited. And waited. I went and sat out on the fire escape and waited. Finally I went down to the garden, walked around, petted the cat, and waited.
I was going to go out to the front but I noticed I would have to pass by a lit window. I wondered if that was what had put Mick off. Went back to my room and waited. But by now I was really getting worried so I went down to the garden again. I crouched down and ran under the window so that no one could see me. Then I crept through the car park so that no one would hear me. I was almost out onto the street when all of a sudden all these people came running out: "Stop! Thief!" I was so drunk I didn't know what the hell was going on. When they saw it was me they said, "Oh, Miss Bromo! If you're looking for your boyfriend, he's long gone. He ran off like a lightning bolt half an hour ago - scared out of his wits, he was..."
Then they took me in through the front door, and I went up to my room and suddenly remembered that it was locked, since I had gone out the fire escape door. I didn't know what to do... I didn't know where the people were and I sure didn't want to see them again! And I wasn't about to spend the night in the lobby. I was too drunk to think about the burglar alarm [obviously, both Mick and I had walked through a beam which triggered it] - I assumed it was off now - [lame, drunken reasoning] so I slipped out the front door and crept through the car park again - and for the third time that night, all the people ran out: "Stop! Thief!!" What jerks!
They all started yelling at me and saying that my boyfriend was home by now. On the way back one of them said, "You should have just let him in the front door - we could have booked you in as Mr and Mrs..." (What? Mr and Mrs Bromo?!)
So they let me in my room. I was so angry and depressed and drunk and disappointed... I threw off all my clothes (had nothing else to throw!) and cried and cried. I hadn't cried so hard or for so long in ages.
When I finally stopped, I put on a T shirt and started writing a letter to Dan. Just as I wrote to Dan: "I wish the door would open and Mick would come in" the door opens! I couldn't believe it!! But in that split second I realised, Duh! Mick doesn't have a key ... It was the old owner pervert!! I'm sure, he doesn't even knock, just barges in at 3:00 am, one and a half hours after they had let me in - and five minutes earlier I had had no clothes on!! The nerve!!! Wish there was some way I could sue them!! [There probably was, but I was young and ignorant... Can you imagine if this happened today?]
Well, anyway the old perv says, "Have you got your boyfriend in here?" and he looks all around (what if Mick were in there?!) then he just stands there for what seemed like for ever just leering at me - the old pervert... I was too drunk to be 100 per cent sure, but he did bear an amazing resemblance to the old pervert who had followed me up the stairs! [But of course; it was the same geezer!]
Well, I had a horrible night. I just wanted to get out of there!
I must admit, I probably wasn't their typical sort of guest and they must have thought I kept weird hours but jeez! I should have made my own Do Not Disturb sign!
I have driven by the hotel a few times in the years since and used to see it on Internet listings when I was looking for accommodation for my ex boss, but I just learned that the Grange Hotel has now closed down. Good riddance!
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| This is the only photo I could find of the Grange Hotel. |
27 July 1978
I had set my alarm for 8:15 so as not to miss breakfast, but when it went off I didn't feel like getting up so I went back to sleep. That didn't work... at 8:45 I was awoken suddenly by a loud obnoxious BEEP BEEP BEEP!!! I turned the intercom thingie on. "Miss Bromo, you had better hurry down to breakfast!" Click. Can't win!
So after breakfast I went back to bed... it was hot so I took off my clothes... The maid kept barging in, without even knocking! So finally I gave up and got up.
Mick had said he'd be round to collect me around noon. I was reading when the intercom buzzed again: "Miss Bromo, there's a young gentleman here to see you." I pressed the button to speak and said, "Send him up!" but they pretended that they hadn't heard me and repeated, "Miss Bromo, there's a young gentleman here to see you..." So I went downstairs and found him on the couch in the main lounge. He said he had just begun to head up the stairs [he had been in my room the two days previous to this] when a leg came out and blocked his passage: "May I help you?"
We went by that pub and had a drink, then went to Mick's house. My feet were killing me from those black shoes! [What price vanity! I tried, without success, to find a photo of those shoes; they were pretty great. But not for trekking through the suburbs of Liverpool!]
Mick's aunt and cousins came over - they were funny. The older one winks at me, and I could never understand a word the little one was saying! They love Elvis and were fascinated by Mick's guitar, but they wouldn't sing.
So later Gary and Gaz came round (oh, Andy had come over earlier but left) and then Rob arrived and we went in his car to Eric's. [Gaz was the bassist in Mick's band, Crash Course; Andy (Eastwood) was the singer and Rob (Jones) the drummer.] It was empty and big and underground and a little like the Masque.
We sat in the first room till the bands played - then in a booth while they were playing - all of Crash Course. The bands stunk, especially the first one which was just like surfers/hippies trying to be a punk band. [I was jaded already - a tough one to please! I am pretty sure the headliner was Those Naughty Lumps, of "Iggy Pop's Jacket" fame. I guess I wasn't impressed enough to even mention them, but they were better than the support, and I can still picture the gangly singer. I just googled and I learned they reformed recently and played in Liverpool last month! More info on Those Naughty Lumps here]
But I had a really good time cause I was so drunk. If I wasn't the drunkest I'd ever been, it was almost the drunkest... Mick had told his mum he was staying out till 2:00 so he said we could leave at 12:30 and then we could have an hour alone in my room... So we did just that - we all got a taxi - took it to a few blocks from the Grange Hotel. Mick said he'd come up the fire escape - how romantic. He didn't kiss me good night or anything cause naturally I'd see him in a couple minutes.
So I opened the front door and no one was up - Mick could have just come in the front door after all! I was just about to shut the front door when a car drove up... Being considerate I held the door open and it was a really drunk middle-aged man who tried to convince me that I should have a drink with him (at 1:00 am in England?!) [I was still green, i.e., I didn't know about lock-ins or that hotels could serve after-hours.] "Just one drink?" Yikes! No way!!
Then he follows me up to my room and when I was opening the door he takes the key away and tries to open it for me... I managed to get it back, got the door open, and slammed the door in his face. I was terrified, especially cause I was so drunk, and I couldn't wait till Mick got there. I opened the fire escape door, went to the toilet, looked out, waited. And waited. I went and sat out on the fire escape and waited. Finally I went down to the garden, walked around, petted the cat, and waited.
I was going to go out to the front but I noticed I would have to pass by a lit window. I wondered if that was what had put Mick off. Went back to my room and waited. But by now I was really getting worried so I went down to the garden again. I crouched down and ran under the window so that no one could see me. Then I crept through the car park so that no one would hear me. I was almost out onto the street when all of a sudden all these people came running out: "Stop! Thief!" I was so drunk I didn't know what the hell was going on. When they saw it was me they said, "Oh, Miss Bromo! If you're looking for your boyfriend, he's long gone. He ran off like a lightning bolt half an hour ago - scared out of his wits, he was..."
Then they took me in through the front door, and I went up to my room and suddenly remembered that it was locked, since I had gone out the fire escape door. I didn't know what to do... I didn't know where the people were and I sure didn't want to see them again! And I wasn't about to spend the night in the lobby. I was too drunk to think about the burglar alarm [obviously, both Mick and I had walked through a beam which triggered it] - I assumed it was off now - [lame, drunken reasoning] so I slipped out the front door and crept through the car park again - and for the third time that night, all the people ran out: "Stop! Thief!!" What jerks!
They all started yelling at me and saying that my boyfriend was home by now. On the way back one of them said, "You should have just let him in the front door - we could have booked you in as Mr and Mrs..." (What? Mr and Mrs Bromo?!)
So they let me in my room. I was so angry and depressed and drunk and disappointed... I threw off all my clothes (had nothing else to throw!) and cried and cried. I hadn't cried so hard or for so long in ages.
When I finally stopped, I put on a T shirt and started writing a letter to Dan. Just as I wrote to Dan: "I wish the door would open and Mick would come in" the door opens! I couldn't believe it!! But in that split second I realised, Duh! Mick doesn't have a key ... It was the old owner pervert!! I'm sure, he doesn't even knock, just barges in at 3:00 am, one and a half hours after they had let me in - and five minutes earlier I had had no clothes on!! The nerve!!! Wish there was some way I could sue them!! [There probably was, but I was young and ignorant... Can you imagine if this happened today?]
Well, anyway the old perv says, "Have you got your boyfriend in here?" and he looks all around (what if Mick were in there?!) then he just stands there for what seemed like for ever just leering at me - the old pervert... I was too drunk to be 100 per cent sure, but he did bear an amazing resemblance to the old pervert who had followed me up the stairs! [But of course; it was the same geezer!]
Well, I had a horrible night. I just wanted to get out of there!
Friday, August 30, 2013
On that day in 1976 - 27 July
I was taking various classes at the Dick Grove School of Music in Studio City; tonight I had Jazz Improvisation. Although we had some instruction - had to learn all the modes in all the keys - it was really more of a jam session; I switched between the acoustic piano and the electric Fender Rhodes.
Rod Stewart used to play soccer in Beverly Hills with some of our South Bay Scottish friends. I cannot for the life of me remember who the "Organic Tomato" was but I think Dan and I gave him (or her) that name. I was still depressed about not properly getting to meet Todd... If only I could tell my teenage self what adventures lay in store on that front!
Robert Williams and his band Radio were playing that night and we went to the show after my class; I think it was at Gazarri's though it might have been the Whisky. I have absolutely no idea why I gave him a chopstick. And he's still alive and well, Dan!
27 July 1976
This afternoon I was so tired I couldn't do anything. Listened to Faithful four times and talked to Audrey. Later I talked to Jade; she wants to go see Rod Stewart play soccer and to the beach tomorrow, and Dan; he said he was gonna take a Dick Grove course and wants to go tonight. Hope he does! Then Bill called and came over and I practiced my modes a bit. Then Ava called; got over her madness quickly. That was funny; she described the Organic Tomato perfectly. Cheryl went to Frisco yesterday. And I also talked to Mary today and I was crying cause I've met all these big stars, like Roger Daltrey, and I can't even meet Todd! And he's supposed to hang out with his fans. Wonder what he thought of my presents.
Later: Got my Nazz T shirts finally. And Dan wanted to go. So we did. His hair has gone all curly. He "hung out", said I bombed on the first one but did great on the second. I think it is easier to improvise on chord changes. Dumb Robert didn't even put my name on the guest list but Dan goes, "Is mine on it?" and they let us in! Radio were hot; the singer is a spazz. Whizz Kidz were OK too, typical rock stars though. Hardly talked to Robert; told him they were OK, that I had sort of but not really, met Todd; handed him the chopstick... He goes, "What's this for?"
Oh, I'm supposed to ask Robert if Dan can have his leather jacket if he dies in a car accident. (If he's not wearing it, that is!)
Rod Stewart used to play soccer in Beverly Hills with some of our South Bay Scottish friends. I cannot for the life of me remember who the "Organic Tomato" was but I think Dan and I gave him (or her) that name. I was still depressed about not properly getting to meet Todd... If only I could tell my teenage self what adventures lay in store on that front!
Robert Williams and his band Radio were playing that night and we went to the show after my class; I think it was at Gazarri's though it might have been the Whisky. I have absolutely no idea why I gave him a chopstick. And he's still alive and well, Dan!
27 July 1976
This afternoon I was so tired I couldn't do anything. Listened to Faithful four times and talked to Audrey. Later I talked to Jade; she wants to go see Rod Stewart play soccer and to the beach tomorrow, and Dan; he said he was gonna take a Dick Grove course and wants to go tonight. Hope he does! Then Bill called and came over and I practiced my modes a bit. Then Ava called; got over her madness quickly. That was funny; she described the Organic Tomato perfectly. Cheryl went to Frisco yesterday. And I also talked to Mary today and I was crying cause I've met all these big stars, like Roger Daltrey, and I can't even meet Todd! And he's supposed to hang out with his fans. Wonder what he thought of my presents.
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| My improv teacher |
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| The image on my new T shirts |
Later: Got my Nazz T shirts finally. And Dan wanted to go. So we did. His hair has gone all curly. He "hung out", said I bombed on the first one but did great on the second. I think it is easier to improvise on chord changes. Dumb Robert didn't even put my name on the guest list but Dan goes, "Is mine on it?" and they let us in! Radio were hot; the singer is a spazz. Whizz Kidz were OK too, typical rock stars though. Hardly talked to Robert; told him they were OK, that I had sort of but not really, met Todd; handed him the chopstick... He goes, "What's this for?"
Oh, I'm supposed to ask Robert if Dan can have his leather jacket if he dies in a car accident. (If he's not wearing it, that is!)
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
On that day in 1977 - 26 July
Continuing on the family road trip; the day before we had stopped in Leadville, Colorado, which redeemed itself with its thrift store. The $2 dress turned out to be a perfect fit and I wore it for many years; I'm actually about to try to sell it on eBay. My mother told me what it would have cost in the late 50s; it was by Ceil Chapman, a black lace cocktail sheath with a white chiffon insert in back. I'll find or take a photo to insert later. It does appear (on me) in a short I made in 1979 which I need to get transferred from Beta!
Wow, I've never got round to googling Ceil Chapman till now. I found out her dresses are worth much more than I expected and from this blog I learned she was Marilyn's favorite designer: http://www.pinupgirlstyle.com/profiles/blogs/ceil-chapman-the-female-dress-engineer However, I also learned that one could buy Ceil Chapman dress patterns, and I think my dress might have been handmade for one. It's got an embroidered CC label sewn in, but as I know that Vogue Patterns used to include designer labels (I made a Dior suit once). And although I know couture was all hand-sewn back then, on this one the stitches aren't as even as one might expect in couture. That's all on the inside though; the dress is impeccable and was barely worn when I got it for two bucks. Now the chiffon is stained from years of hanging in my damp childhood closet... :-( But I'd still wear it if I could fit into it!
(More info once I can see some information about the patterns; I'm on a slow computer which at the moment will not open any new sites...)
I would get carsick a lot when I was a kid, especially when reading (and I was always reading!) but I can't remember a time that I did after this. I guess I outgrew it.
The main reason I included this entry was for my comments about Aspen… And I claimed not to be a punk rocker!
26 July 1977
The next day we went around downtown. That Goodwill store was soooo neat and cheap! But no dressing rooms and we couldn't stay long and you couldn't buy Girl Scout dresses. I still haven't tried on the $2 dress I got (originally several hundred!!) Then I found the Tiger glasses! [I'm not positive, but I think these were tiger-striped sunglasses, which I would have bought as a present for Tiger.]
I got really carsick and we stopped in Aspen. I felt so gross. I don't like the people around there – too athletic and mellow.
We stayed in Basalt. That's weird that the restaurant had Chinese food. But the dumb waitress forgot to bring me my cookie!
Wow, I've never got round to googling Ceil Chapman till now. I found out her dresses are worth much more than I expected and from this blog I learned she was Marilyn's favorite designer: http://www.pinupgirlstyle.com/profiles/blogs/ceil-chapman-the-female-dress-engineer However, I also learned that one could buy Ceil Chapman dress patterns, and I think my dress might have been handmade for one. It's got an embroidered CC label sewn in, but as I know that Vogue Patterns used to include designer labels (I made a Dior suit once). And although I know couture was all hand-sewn back then, on this one the stitches aren't as even as one might expect in couture. That's all on the inside though; the dress is impeccable and was barely worn when I got it for two bucks. Now the chiffon is stained from years of hanging in my damp childhood closet... :-( But I'd still wear it if I could fit into it!
(More info once I can see some information about the patterns; I'm on a slow computer which at the moment will not open any new sites...)
I would get carsick a lot when I was a kid, especially when reading (and I was always reading!) but I can't remember a time that I did after this. I guess I outgrew it.
The main reason I included this entry was for my comments about Aspen… And I claimed not to be a punk rocker!
26 July 1977
The next day we went around downtown. That Goodwill store was soooo neat and cheap! But no dressing rooms and we couldn't stay long and you couldn't buy Girl Scout dresses. I still haven't tried on the $2 dress I got (originally several hundred!!) Then I found the Tiger glasses! [I'm not positive, but I think these were tiger-striped sunglasses, which I would have bought as a present for Tiger.]
I got really carsick and we stopped in Aspen. I felt so gross. I don't like the people around there – too athletic and mellow.
We stayed in Basalt. That's weird that the restaurant had Chinese food. But the dumb waitress forgot to bring me my cookie!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
On that day in 1980 - 25 July
I think I mentioned in a previous post from this year that in the spring I had been beaten up by some HB jock fake punk thugs at the Fleetwood in Redondo Beach. This girl from Huntington Beach - never found out her name though I later heard that she committed suicide - started it all; set the thugs upon me.
I was living at the Manor and at this time my housemates were: Shawn and Mark Stern, Elliot, Kevin, Jason... and I think Keith the Vietnam vet had not left in a huff yet, though I doubt he was around at the party. [Yes, just noticed his name a few days later when he evicts De De from the house...] I was the only girl for the first few weeks there. [Though a few days later I start mentioning a Laura... Who was Laura? LATER: Of course! I cannot remember her last name but she was Tiger's ex-girlfriend who had moved down from Portland and was staying with someone in the house.]
I think I was moping around and driven to drink too much to forget that I had not heard from Michael Murphy since the 13th (which I posted) - an eternity when you're that young! He did come to my rescue with a tire iron (I had to change a tire and he gallantly did it for me) a couple days after the party and all was back to normal, briefly. Both he and Michael Livingston joined Ella and the Blacks after the Mcdonalds were kicked out. The Michael I keep mentioning in the post is always Livingston; I had not yet started calling him "Mikey"...
The Misterrogers record I refer to was actually just an album cover, which I had hung on the wall. I recited the lyrics to one of the songs at Record Club a few years ago; I was about to go look for the thing but I found the lyrics online, of course. They have nothing to do with anything in this entry, but I shall give them to you anyhow, as they are the most fabulous set of lyrics EVER!
Parents Were Little Once Too
25 July 1980
Everyone kept calling and asking about the party at my house. Huh?!! At first I was a little pissed off cause I'd sort of wanted a "quiet evening at home", but then I thought, it might be kinda fun.
Well, had to pick up Jennie, and Gerber and Rob Henley, and we stopped at the Whisky. Some people were there; talked to Gloria and Critter. Then when I was crossing the street I saw her - the girl who started it all at the Fleetwood!!! Now that I saw the real person, how could I have EVER thought it was Gloria!!! I was gonna round up a bunch of people to get her but she left.
Jennie kept nagging to leave. Peanut Killer [Danny Shades, who lived in an apartment around the corner from the Whisky] told me that Cliff Hanger had knocked on his window and had passed out in the alley. Well, I had to go rescue him! I walked right past him at first... Then I brought him back with me and he kept wanting me to go have a drink with him but we talked him into coming to the party with us.
Everyone was hanging out in the street and parking lot. I went to talk to Dewey or somebody and never saw Paul [Cliff Hanger] again.
Inside my house Aretha [Mary], Janice and Jeannie were playing jump rope and Michael Livingston was sitting there, looking like he was on acid. I told him to come and see my room [he had helped me move in, weeks ago, but had not seen it since I had painted it - all black, including the floor and ceiling]. We drank wine, and for the rest of the party, except the few times I ventured out (there were hordes of people!!!) we had our own party in my room: me, Michael, Aretha, Janice, Jeannie, Tyrone [Jeff], Frankie, Elliot, Bosco, Jennie, Jimmy [Brat], Tracy... (Not all at one time!) It was fun but later when I thought of it, what was the use of even having a party?! Oh well. Who cares.
Michael loved the Misterrogers record and the lyrics. [Greg, who Mike had replaced in the Mau-Maus, had given it to me.] I showed him a picture of Greg and he sat there and stared at it for about five minutes - like he fell in love or something. He said he liked his hair. Actually I think that from what he'd been told about Greg, he expected someone quite different looking. Cause he stopped putting him down after that!
No Crisis played [there was a stage in the living room right outside my door] - they were OK. In Kevin's room I saw Michael talking to Dede [Troit] and remembered what Jennie had told me.
Dewey was with another girl. [What a ladykiller!] The one who likes Todd. [???] [LATER: Oh, I think that was Roxie, who went out with Scott "Scunt", later of the Mau-Maus and a good friend of Dewey's...]
Some time later Michael and I went to Mayfair for a quart of Rainy [Rainier's Ale, The Green Death]. And we were just like we used to be... [I don't think we had been in a fight or anything; he had just been acting weird!]
When we came back I found out Frankie had told Jennie I'd gone home and she was all upset and Shaun was kicking everyone out but a few people came in my room for Tracy's birthday cake. I didn't have any; just drank more [next day's entry reveals a killer hangover] and then Michael said he was leaving and I can't remember exactly what happened except that I ran after him and said that he couldn't. Well, it's such a long walk! I guess I sort of made a fool of myself. And I went back in and almost everyone had left and i was sitting on the couch talking to Mark who had a black eye from Jason [???!!] and he put his arm around me and I was scared he was gonna try something and I didn't care. But then Elliot came in and laughed at my make-up being all smeared and I stalked off to bed.
I don't remember taking my contacts out or anything after that but Elliot said he knocked on the door and I let him in and yelled at him. Then Jennie said she and Bosco tried to cheer me up.
I was living at the Manor and at this time my housemates were: Shawn and Mark Stern, Elliot, Kevin, Jason... and I think Keith the Vietnam vet had not left in a huff yet, though I doubt he was around at the party. [Yes, just noticed his name a few days later when he evicts De De from the house...] I was the only girl for the first few weeks there. [Though a few days later I start mentioning a Laura... Who was Laura? LATER: Of course! I cannot remember her last name but she was Tiger's ex-girlfriend who had moved down from Portland and was staying with someone in the house.]
I think I was moping around and driven to drink too much to forget that I had not heard from Michael Murphy since the 13th (which I posted) - an eternity when you're that young! He did come to my rescue with a tire iron (I had to change a tire and he gallantly did it for me) a couple days after the party and all was back to normal, briefly. Both he and Michael Livingston joined Ella and the Blacks after the Mcdonalds were kicked out. The Michael I keep mentioning in the post is always Livingston; I had not yet started calling him "Mikey"...
The Misterrogers record I refer to was actually just an album cover, which I had hung on the wall. I recited the lyrics to one of the songs at Record Club a few years ago; I was about to go look for the thing but I found the lyrics online, of course. They have nothing to do with anything in this entry, but I shall give them to you anyhow, as they are the most fabulous set of lyrics EVER!
Parents Were Little Once Too
It's great for me to remember
As I put away my toys,
That mothers were all little girls one time
And fathers were all little boys.
As I put away my toys,
That mothers were all little girls one time
And fathers were all little boys.
My daddy seems so big right now.
He must have grown a lot.
Imagine how he felt one day
When he was just a tot.
He must have grown a lot.
Imagine how he felt one day
When he was just a tot.
My mother's not so big as Dad
But bigger than my sister.
I wonder if she ever had
A little fever blister.
But bigger than my sister.
I wonder if she ever had
A little fever blister.
Daddy didn't even have
A real electric fan.
He had to wait a long time, too
'Til he became a man.
A real electric fan.
He had to wait a long time, too
'Til he became a man.
My mother used an ironing board
And play irons that were colder.
She often wished for big folks' things
But she waited and got older.
And play irons that were colder.
She often wished for big folks' things
But she waited and got older.
So knives and plugs and hot things are
OK for Mom and Dad.
'Cause when they were a girl and boy
They played with what they had.
OK for Mom and Dad.
'Cause when they were a girl and boy
They played with what they had.
25 July 1980
Everyone kept calling and asking about the party at my house. Huh?!! At first I was a little pissed off cause I'd sort of wanted a "quiet evening at home", but then I thought, it might be kinda fun.
Well, had to pick up Jennie, and Gerber and Rob Henley, and we stopped at the Whisky. Some people were there; talked to Gloria and Critter. Then when I was crossing the street I saw her - the girl who started it all at the Fleetwood!!! Now that I saw the real person, how could I have EVER thought it was Gloria!!! I was gonna round up a bunch of people to get her but she left.
Jennie kept nagging to leave. Peanut Killer [Danny Shades, who lived in an apartment around the corner from the Whisky] told me that Cliff Hanger had knocked on his window and had passed out in the alley. Well, I had to go rescue him! I walked right past him at first... Then I brought him back with me and he kept wanting me to go have a drink with him but we talked him into coming to the party with us.
Everyone was hanging out in the street and parking lot. I went to talk to Dewey or somebody and never saw Paul [Cliff Hanger] again.
Inside my house Aretha [Mary], Janice and Jeannie were playing jump rope and Michael Livingston was sitting there, looking like he was on acid. I told him to come and see my room [he had helped me move in, weeks ago, but had not seen it since I had painted it - all black, including the floor and ceiling]. We drank wine, and for the rest of the party, except the few times I ventured out (there were hordes of people!!!) we had our own party in my room: me, Michael, Aretha, Janice, Jeannie, Tyrone [Jeff], Frankie, Elliot, Bosco, Jennie, Jimmy [Brat], Tracy... (Not all at one time!) It was fun but later when I thought of it, what was the use of even having a party?! Oh well. Who cares.
Michael loved the Misterrogers record and the lyrics. [Greg, who Mike had replaced in the Mau-Maus, had given it to me.] I showed him a picture of Greg and he sat there and stared at it for about five minutes - like he fell in love or something. He said he liked his hair. Actually I think that from what he'd been told about Greg, he expected someone quite different looking. Cause he stopped putting him down after that!
No Crisis played [there was a stage in the living room right outside my door] - they were OK. In Kevin's room I saw Michael talking to Dede [Troit] and remembered what Jennie had told me.
Dewey was with another girl. [What a ladykiller!] The one who likes Todd. [???] [LATER: Oh, I think that was Roxie, who went out with Scott "Scunt", later of the Mau-Maus and a good friend of Dewey's...]
Some time later Michael and I went to Mayfair for a quart of Rainy [Rainier's Ale, The Green Death]. And we were just like we used to be... [I don't think we had been in a fight or anything; he had just been acting weird!]
When we came back I found out Frankie had told Jennie I'd gone home and she was all upset and Shaun was kicking everyone out but a few people came in my room for Tracy's birthday cake. I didn't have any; just drank more [next day's entry reveals a killer hangover] and then Michael said he was leaving and I can't remember exactly what happened except that I ran after him and said that he couldn't. Well, it's such a long walk! I guess I sort of made a fool of myself. And I went back in and almost everyone had left and i was sitting on the couch talking to Mark who had a black eye from Jason [???!!] and he put his arm around me and I was scared he was gonna try something and I didn't care. But then Elliot came in and laughed at my make-up being all smeared and I stalked off to bed.
I don't remember taking my contacts out or anything after that but Elliot said he knocked on the door and I let him in and yelled at him. Then Jennie said she and Bosco tried to cheer me up.
 |
| This wasn't at the Manor; it was at Jennie's house, but it was around the same time. Photo by Jennie. |
On that day in 1977 - 25 July
Still on a family road trip; I was crabby! We had been staying in Littleton, Colorado, with my childhood friend Jill and her family. Tammy was my friend from elementary school who had moved to Denver five years ago; we did not manage to meet up.
My father was/is a moth and butterfly collector; hence we had to go to these out of the way places. My mom snored something awful; hence my relief at being able to sleep. Leadville was a miner's town. Pushbutton TV makes me think of old televisions in England, but I think I just meant the TV had a remote. We didn't have one of those at home yet, probably not till the 80s sometime. Yes, kids, we used to have to get up and walk across the room to change the channel!!
25 July 1977
So we had to get up early. I was really crabby all day cause of not being able to see Tammy, and having to leave Jill. I was pissed cause we always do and go what and where Mom and Dad want to and I have no say in the matter. When I was younger it didn't matter so much. But now my friends are all starting to go on vacations with friends (Dan and Peter, Suzanne and whoever...) - that's what I want to do!
Anyway, we got to that stupid pass and it was cold and boring and we had to stay there like three hours and I don't think Dad even caught anything! Then we drove and went through Vail and stayed in L(D)eadville, Colo., but at least we had a real neat motel room (a suite with pushbutton TV - my own double bed and no mom in the room!!)
My father was/is a moth and butterfly collector; hence we had to go to these out of the way places. My mom snored something awful; hence my relief at being able to sleep. Leadville was a miner's town. Pushbutton TV makes me think of old televisions in England, but I think I just meant the TV had a remote. We didn't have one of those at home yet, probably not till the 80s sometime. Yes, kids, we used to have to get up and walk across the room to change the channel!!
25 July 1977
So we had to get up early. I was really crabby all day cause of not being able to see Tammy, and having to leave Jill. I was pissed cause we always do and go what and where Mom and Dad want to and I have no say in the matter. When I was younger it didn't matter so much. But now my friends are all starting to go on vacations with friends (Dan and Peter, Suzanne and whoever...) - that's what I want to do!
Anyway, we got to that stupid pass and it was cold and boring and we had to stay there like three hours and I don't think Dad even caught anything! Then we drove and went through Vail and stayed in L(D)eadville, Colo., but at least we had a real neat motel room (a suite with pushbutton TV - my own double bed and no mom in the room!!)
On that day in 1976 - 25 July
Oh, Lord, can you say "em-bar-rass-ing"?!
E.W. = Edgar Winter; D.H. = Dan Hartman; I think I only used initials to save space
We knew where Rod Stewart lived because Trudie had found his Beverly Hills address in someone's book; she also had Bob Dylan's (in Point Dume) and quite a few others. Mary and I think Brent had once spotted Ron and Russ in their Thing! and followed them to an apartment building in Westwood. I have no idea who the E.W. fan was or what we did with him after he was picked up, nor why I thought that Mary was dumb. (Sorry, Mary!)
25 July 1976
Today I went with Cat to pick that guy up who had a spazz about me meeting E.W. He hates D.H.! Then Cathy, Mary and I went to H-wood, wandered around the Beverly Hilton, then tried to find Ron and Russ's in Westwood. Mary is dumb enough; then drove up that hill and down and then to Rod Stewart's. No one was home but we left the note. Robert [Marlow] says he played soccer with him and he's gonna do that every week. [I went to watch a couple times; Rod did not show up...] Oh, we called Earle too; talked for one second cause he had to go.
E.W. = Edgar Winter; D.H. = Dan Hartman; I think I only used initials to save space
We knew where Rod Stewart lived because Trudie had found his Beverly Hills address in someone's book; she also had Bob Dylan's (in Point Dume) and quite a few others. Mary and I think Brent had once spotted Ron and Russ in their Thing! and followed them to an apartment building in Westwood. I have no idea who the E.W. fan was or what we did with him after he was picked up, nor why I thought that Mary was dumb. (Sorry, Mary!)
25 July 1976
Today I went with Cat to pick that guy up who had a spazz about me meeting E.W. He hates D.H.! Then Cathy, Mary and I went to H-wood, wandered around the Beverly Hilton, then tried to find Ron and Russ's in Westwood. Mary is dumb enough; then drove up that hill and down and then to Rod Stewart's. No one was home but we left the note. Robert [Marlow] says he played soccer with him and he's gonna do that every week. [I went to watch a couple times; Rod did not show up...] Oh, we called Earle too; talked for one second cause he had to go.
Monday, August 26, 2013
On that day in 1975 - 25 July
A fairly short entry from my non-daily journal/commonplace book; well, short if I don't transcribe all the full lyrics that I wrote out! I had to google the first set as I did not remember the song ("Anyway"), and found that someone had blogged about it, even more enthusiastically than I did. See: http://www.zentastic.com/blog/2001/09/27/anyway-they-say-she-comes-on-a-pale-horse-but-im-sure-i-hear-a-train-oh-boy-i-dont-even-feel-no-pain/
Anyway, (sorry!), I shall not bore you with the complete lyrics, nor the mooning/musing over Robert, whose name appears all over the margins - jeez! And here's yet another Ella (Fitzgerald) reference!
25 July 1975
I love that song. But I could never learn all the words. I'm gonna figure out how to play it though. Wish I could have another creative period like I did in May-June.
All of a sudden I realized how great The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is. Keep playing it. Ondi adores it. Susan scratched it! Gave herself away yesterday: "Did you play side two?"
Had a dream last night that I called Dan to ask about Gentle Giant (as I really did last night - by the way, it was postponed!), and he said he'd go but only if Ella Fitzgerald went! And I said I'd ask her. Bizarre.
I'll call Jade tomorrow. Since G.G. is postponed, I have to go to the Sweet! [I never did see Gentle Giant - oh well! I had a very limited budget those days so couldn't go to half the shows I wanted to, until I figured out how to get in free...]
Got my hair cut yesterday. Looks the same.Wait till I get a Patti Quatro!!! [Suzi Quatro's sister was in Fanny and I had torn out a photo of her from Creem magazine. I never did find a hairdresser who could make me look as wild as her though.]
Anyway, (sorry!), I shall not bore you with the complete lyrics, nor the mooning/musing over Robert, whose name appears all over the margins - jeez! And here's yet another Ella (Fitzgerald) reference!
25 July 1975
I love that song. But I could never learn all the words. I'm gonna figure out how to play it though. Wish I could have another creative period like I did in May-June.
All of a sudden I realized how great The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is. Keep playing it. Ondi adores it. Susan scratched it! Gave herself away yesterday: "Did you play side two?"
Had a dream last night that I called Dan to ask about Gentle Giant (as I really did last night - by the way, it was postponed!), and he said he'd go but only if Ella Fitzgerald went! And I said I'd ask her. Bizarre.
I'll call Jade tomorrow. Since G.G. is postponed, I have to go to the Sweet! [I never did see Gentle Giant - oh well! I had a very limited budget those days so couldn't go to half the shows I wanted to, until I figured out how to get in free...]
Got my hair cut yesterday. Looks the same.Wait till I get a Patti Quatro!!! [Suzi Quatro's sister was in Fanny and I had torn out a photo of her from Creem magazine. I never did find a hairdresser who could make me look as wild as her though.]
 |
| That's Patti Quatro on the right. Funnily enough, I did obtain that hairdo, with bleached blond hair, when I sang with the HeeShees many years later! |
 |
| Here I am with the HeeShees in the summer of 1984. I think I outdid Patti Quatro! Photo by Gary Leonard |
When Dan saw my hair Toni goes, "It's a FEMALE, Dan!" [No idea what this means...] Dan hates pools. He asked me what I'd been up to; he went to Sequoia. He teased me about Todd. Told him about "Practically 17". [Also, no idea!] Remember: Ryan's Hope and The People Next Door and Teenage Zombies! [Well, how could one ever forget Teenage Zombies?!]
Sunday, August 25, 2013
On that day in 1978 - 24 July
I was back in London, staying at my friend Paul's in Kensington. The Clash were playing that night, I think at the Music Machine (later Camden Palace). It was the first time I saw them, as well as their support, Suicide. The latter got a lot of stuff thrown at them, but I thought they were great!
Here it was, the middle of 1978, and I still had long, wavy hair! I had been reluctant to go short as the last time I had - when I was 13 - it went ultra curly - blecch! And naturally I wanted it short and spiky. I thought maybe a proper Kings Road hairdresser could perform miracles.
As for the psychedelic power of my Syd Barrett badge, make of that what you will...
24 July 1978
I got up, got ready, put on my Syd Barrett badge, which I had not worn before, and set off for Kings Road.
Walking to the tube station I realised I felt really weird, really spaced out. It was like being on acid! I was just walking along without really thinking about it.
On the tube I got really freaked out - all the people bugged me and I wanted to get off!
Well, I did, at Sloane Square, and began walking down Kings Road. There were tons of clothes shops but I felt too spaced out to look in any - they weren't that great anyway.
They did have the neatest trousers in BOY - but I couldn't get into a 26. I felt fat... [I weighed about 98 pounds/7 stone then.] I think they were 24s...
I kept hearing songs that sounded different than normal - God Save the Queen - well, maybe it was a bootleg. Devo - that's understandable - the LP. But Rod Stewart's Hot Legs?!!
Seditionaries was closed. I found the Buzzcocks LP in a used record stall - the guy played a few tracks off it. That's when I felt ULTRA spaced out.
I went back to Seditionaries which was now open... They didn't have as good stuff as BOY did. I left a message for Helen in there.
I found a haircutting place and they said to come back in half an hour. I went and ate in Pizzaland.
I hadn't got my hair cut in a place in years. [For the past six or seven years I had been doing it myself or else Helen took care of it.] She gave me a magazine to read and it had the best picture of the Only Ones in it! I was gonna ask if I could have it but I decided I could just buy it.
So I wasn't paying attention to how much she was chopping off - she sort of got carried away! Well, at least I got my money's worth! Actually I didn't think it looked so bad till it dried and got all kinky. Oh well...
Then I had trouble finding that 19 Magazine - went all up and down by Notting Hill Gate and by High Street Kensington but no newsagent had it.
Bought some raspberries. And ate them all.
Back at Paul's I changed my Syd badge for the Clash one so I wouldn't have to remember later on. And later I realised that that was when I began feeling normal again... STRANGE.
Paul's friend Sheila came over and made dinner. They went to a film and I set out for the Clash.
Found the place OK and there was Mary, sitting out in front of the venue! Twas a joyful reunion...
It was sold out - neither of us had tickets - but we decided to hang out.
Finally met some London punks - but I never saw them again. Finally saw an English asshole policeman [I meant that every cop I had encountered so far had been nice, unlike their counterparts in the States] - tells me to take that drink back to the pub. Later I had just finished it and was answering that blond girl's question when he comes up again - asshole! Says I'm gonna throw it on the ground. Sure.
Some guy sold Mary and Brian tickets for £2.50 and this other guy kept bugging me - for £3.50 - and we kept arguing and arguing... I think I ended up giving him £3.25 and he kissed me on the cheek and said he'd buy me a drink later but I never saw him.
We went right down by the front. Danced a little to records. met this skinhead guy - he was really nice though but I kept making faces the other way when he leaned on me...
When Suicide came on there was too much shoving and stuff being thrown so I moved off to the side. I saw that guy I saw at the Radio Stars - weird. It was a pretty good place but I didn't wanna stand there for hours so I went out in the foyer. After a while I found Helen, and on the top balcony, the Dickies. I talked to Billy for a while.
Later I found Helen again downstairs. She told me the story about how she got in there (climbing in a window) and I "loaned" her a quid to get something to eat - I'm so generous!
For the Clash I stood in the back but I could see pretty well. I danced to some of the songs but it was so hot!! My feet didn't hurt as much when I danced. They were pretty good - I kept changing my mind. I loved them when they did songs I knew and liked; I thought they were overrated while they did the others... [Profound! I just realised this would have been a few months before Give Em Enough Rope came out, so they probably did a lot of those tracks.] At least they did all their good songs.
Afterwards I saw Brian while I was getting my coat but after I got it I couldn't find either him nor Mary. I looked all over - found all the Dickies and Kent [he worked for the Dickies and also the Quick] says, "Hey, aren't you from LA?"
But I finally found them and Mary talked me into walking even though it was late and my feet were now killing me. Brian was mad at her for talking to people and he disappeared so we weren't sure if we were going the right way. Then when he reappeared he would either walk really far ahead or really far behind us. What a geek. It was so FAR - four or five miles! I kept saying I was gonna stop and call a taxi but I'm glad I didn't - they take so long. And right when we were almost to their hotel, one drove by - what timing!
I wasn't tired when I got in. I had a cup of tea and wrote a letter and didn't go to bed till 4:30 or so. [And I had to get up at 8:00 to go to Liverpool the next day!]
Here it was, the middle of 1978, and I still had long, wavy hair! I had been reluctant to go short as the last time I had - when I was 13 - it went ultra curly - blecch! And naturally I wanted it short and spiky. I thought maybe a proper Kings Road hairdresser could perform miracles.
As for the psychedelic power of my Syd Barrett badge, make of that what you will...
24 July 1978
I got up, got ready, put on my Syd Barrett badge, which I had not worn before, and set off for Kings Road.
Walking to the tube station I realised I felt really weird, really spaced out. It was like being on acid! I was just walking along without really thinking about it.
On the tube I got really freaked out - all the people bugged me and I wanted to get off!
Well, I did, at Sloane Square, and began walking down Kings Road. There were tons of clothes shops but I felt too spaced out to look in any - they weren't that great anyway.
They did have the neatest trousers in BOY - but I couldn't get into a 26. I felt fat... [I weighed about 98 pounds/7 stone then.] I think they were 24s...
I kept hearing songs that sounded different than normal - God Save the Queen - well, maybe it was a bootleg. Devo - that's understandable - the LP. But Rod Stewart's Hot Legs?!!
Seditionaries was closed. I found the Buzzcocks LP in a used record stall - the guy played a few tracks off it. That's when I felt ULTRA spaced out.
I went back to Seditionaries which was now open... They didn't have as good stuff as BOY did. I left a message for Helen in there.
I found a haircutting place and they said to come back in half an hour. I went and ate in Pizzaland.
I hadn't got my hair cut in a place in years. [For the past six or seven years I had been doing it myself or else Helen took care of it.] She gave me a magazine to read and it had the best picture of the Only Ones in it! I was gonna ask if I could have it but I decided I could just buy it.
So I wasn't paying attention to how much she was chopping off - she sort of got carried away! Well, at least I got my money's worth! Actually I didn't think it looked so bad till it dried and got all kinky. Oh well...
Then I had trouble finding that 19 Magazine - went all up and down by Notting Hill Gate and by High Street Kensington but no newsagent had it.
Bought some raspberries. And ate them all.
Back at Paul's I changed my Syd badge for the Clash one so I wouldn't have to remember later on. And later I realised that that was when I began feeling normal again... STRANGE.
Paul's friend Sheila came over and made dinner. They went to a film and I set out for the Clash.
Found the place OK and there was Mary, sitting out in front of the venue! Twas a joyful reunion...
It was sold out - neither of us had tickets - but we decided to hang out.
Finally met some London punks - but I never saw them again. Finally saw an English asshole policeman [I meant that every cop I had encountered so far had been nice, unlike their counterparts in the States] - tells me to take that drink back to the pub. Later I had just finished it and was answering that blond girl's question when he comes up again - asshole! Says I'm gonna throw it on the ground. Sure.
Some guy sold Mary and Brian tickets for £2.50 and this other guy kept bugging me - for £3.50 - and we kept arguing and arguing... I think I ended up giving him £3.25 and he kissed me on the cheek and said he'd buy me a drink later but I never saw him.
We went right down by the front. Danced a little to records. met this skinhead guy - he was really nice though but I kept making faces the other way when he leaned on me...
When Suicide came on there was too much shoving and stuff being thrown so I moved off to the side. I saw that guy I saw at the Radio Stars - weird. It was a pretty good place but I didn't wanna stand there for hours so I went out in the foyer. After a while I found Helen, and on the top balcony, the Dickies. I talked to Billy for a while.
Later I found Helen again downstairs. She told me the story about how she got in there (climbing in a window) and I "loaned" her a quid to get something to eat - I'm so generous!
For the Clash I stood in the back but I could see pretty well. I danced to some of the songs but it was so hot!! My feet didn't hurt as much when I danced. They were pretty good - I kept changing my mind. I loved them when they did songs I knew and liked; I thought they were overrated while they did the others... [Profound! I just realised this would have been a few months before Give Em Enough Rope came out, so they probably did a lot of those tracks.] At least they did all their good songs.
Afterwards I saw Brian while I was getting my coat but after I got it I couldn't find either him nor Mary. I looked all over - found all the Dickies and Kent [he worked for the Dickies and also the Quick] says, "Hey, aren't you from LA?"
But I finally found them and Mary talked me into walking even though it was late and my feet were now killing me. Brian was mad at her for talking to people and he disappeared so we weren't sure if we were going the right way. Then when he reappeared he would either walk really far ahead or really far behind us. What a geek. It was so FAR - four or five miles! I kept saying I was gonna stop and call a taxi but I'm glad I didn't - they take so long. And right when we were almost to their hotel, one drove by - what timing!
I wasn't tired when I got in. I had a cup of tea and wrote a letter and didn't go to bed till 4:30 or so. [And I had to get up at 8:00 to go to Liverpool the next day!]
Saturday, August 24, 2013
On that day in 1976 - 24 July
I was still looking for someone to buy my Todd ticket; the gig was that night. It was at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, and before that I wanted to see Robert Williams's band, who were playing in Griffith Park. (I'm not sure where!) That was a gig under the umbrella title Radio Free Hollywood, put on by The Dogs, The Pop! and The Motels; mentioned in this blog: Radio Free Hollywood I think the band that Robert was the drummer of was called Radio. Several years later he joined The Pop! That was the first time I ever saw The Pop! and I really liked them so I'm surprised I didn't write anything about them. But of course my focus was on Todd that evening. He did not play the west coast very often in the mid seventies and I had been waiting impatiently nearly two and a half years for his return.
Strange that on my very first day of being able to legally drive that I would drive across the county, all over Griffith Park and the hills above Burbank, and chase Todd's limo in the dark! I remember freaking Mary out on the way to Griffith Park as I would make the car "dance" every time "More More More" (I hated most disco, but did love that song) came on the radio, which was very often!
24 July 1976
Well, it's past 3:00 but I have to write about today. At 9:00 [this morning] Ava still wasn't sure about going, talked to Cathy, talked her into going till she found out when the show was. [Tonight!] Talked to Brent and neither he nor Peter wanted to go; then Ava finally said she wanted to, but I had already promised Mary. We went to look for Hollywood Spectaculars. [These giant sunglasses; I'd gotten some a couple years ago but they had broken.] I got Todd a little rhinoceros that says "You make me horny". [Good grief!]
So we went to Ava's where she wastes enough time; now she hates me. So finally we leave; got to Griffith Park and there was a sign where the bands were playing. But some other band was on. I was looking for the restroom when I thought this guy looked like Robert from the back and I was gonna grab him but I went to the front to make sure but he saw me. Plans foiled again! He said it was good I had missed them [his band] cause they had been awful. He said this girl was his girlfriend and I gave him a dirty look and then he said that she was just a girl who always come to see them play and not to think anything of it. Later he said he felt guilty, that he should be spending more time with me, that he didn't want me to get jealous. He told his friend that I was his other girlfriend.
Oh yeah, that guy in white! Robert said he was just a friend of the band. Robert always wears that shirt - PAPS San Francisco – 10 – and those same jeans; now they have a hole in the back. For a while he changed into shorts. He loved borrowing my camera. He put his cowboy hat on my head. He kept staring at me with sunglasses on; it was driving me crazy! Then one time he kissed me; I was a little surprised, then he goes, "You're horny enough; all I do is give you one little kiss and you're ready to jump into bed with me!" But he said he felt the same. I wish we could have – I mean just be alone for a bit - I got so turned on! And I think if I [first] saw him now I wouldn’t be infatuated with him. It's only true love. He was talking to the bass player in the other band.
That one band was weird, weird like Jonathan Richman. [No idea who this was.] So finally we were gonna go and I told Robert and he just squeezes my hand and I look at him and he goes, "I can't kiss you goodbye, my lips are chapped." Ha! I was pissed enough, wait'll he gets his present Tuesday! [??? I looked ahead and there were no clues to what I was talking about there.]
So we stopped for film and junk; oh, forgot to say that I bought roses from a street corner boy, gave one to Robert. So we got there and Man were on. They weren't anywhere as good as I thought they should be. I was so dumb, I forgot the film (and later found out I couldn't get it [from the car] anyway) but it's good I did try to get it or I would have probably stayed to see more of Man but instead we decided to wait for Todd to arrive. That was weird; like in my dream, that girl didn't know who Todd was!
Finally, after Journey had gone on, a limo drives up. I almost died. Mary was in the bathroom. I ran over there, and saw him. I really don't remember much, except Bebe was there, he gave some girl an autograph (I almost got one), and some girl kept saying, "I love you!" and I remember saying, "I love you too!" and holding onto his arm for just a fleeting second. The guards said he had to go in. I called his name but one of the guards said he'd give my present to him. Then I had the spazz attack of the century! I screamed, jumped up and down, hugged Mary, ran around and cried. I made such a scene; I was hysterical! Then I saw Sharon and Dawn [friends from school whom I had recently met and who were Todd fans] who I thought must have met him or something but ha ha. [I guess they didn't!]
Well, I couldn't stop crying or calm down for about five minutes. Then we went to watch Journey. They were really good, [Eh?! Did I REALLY say that?] especially the guitarist. Saw Jeff Lester and Bill Wood (bald now) [Jeff was a friend from high school but who was this Bill Wood dude?] and the Queen caterer [???] with some chick from our school, next to Mary.
Well, finally Todd came on. At first everyone went wild but not for long. the audience just wasn't like last time; there was no international feel. [It was all prog rock Utopia; the last show I saw, which was more than two years ago, featured almost two hours of Todd on his own, prancing about in a leotard and singing to backing tracks before the band joined him.] Todd can still move around, even with a guitar. He did some split jumps, windmills and a lot of kicking and jumping around. I swear he reminds me so much of Robert Williams. [???!!!] I never realized it before! The way he acts, moves around, talks, his sense of humor, everything! Mary said I act like him; Trudie says I dance like Robert Marlow. But he's enough like Todd, I mean R.W.! [I am completely insane.]
So first Todd did a new song, then "When the Shit Hits the Fan" (I wish it would! And SOON!) [You would need to know the lyrics to get that…] I stood up and screamed before and after every song; I don't care about everyone else. When he did "Seven Rays" I went crazy! Then he did a "mellow" song ("one of those new words" he said)… Why didn't I bring a tape recorder?! They wouldn't have known… I started crying during "The Verb to Love". After Todd did "Black and White" he goes, "What is mankind's greatest invention?" and before anyone else I yelled out "Todd!!"
I missed Todd running around but it was still funny; at the end he played his guitar like a machine gun. [I then go on to describe every detail of every single song of the set, but I'll spare you. And I probably should have cut more above!] The first encore was "Do Ya" and the second, "Just One Victory"; I had a super spazz then. (Earlier I had yelled that out and the girl behind me said, "Good idea!")
I didn't want Todd to leave – I love him so much! After it finished they went and played "Cause We Ended as Lovers". [Jeff Beck's instrumental version of this Stevie Wonder song was the last song played at the Rainbow each night and therefore held much significance to me. It always made me sad!] Sob!
The NES were fucked; first they make us move back, then go all the way down the driveway, then across the street!! The one guy was OK; he said he'd give my roses to Todd and tell him my name. So we waited and waited; talked to those guys – one didn't like Earle [Mankey - ??!]; that girl had got her Runt album autographed; about ten people asked me where I had got my shirt [this would have been a shirt I'd got from an ad at the back of Creem Magazine in 1974; I wore it last month when I went to see Todd and I can't believe I used to wear it to school as it is quite a revealing photo!] – that's weird that I was the only one with one like it; there was no one with my yellow Todd shirt either but a few people with the blue one. [I do not have these any more and can't even remember what the blue one was!] So finally we got my car and waited; finally they came and we followed. They were going pretty fast. It was fun; everyone was yelling "Todd!!!" out the window. We went about four miles then at a red light I lost them. Oh well. Then we went home. When I got home it was after 2:00 but I didn't get in trouble!
Strange that on my very first day of being able to legally drive that I would drive across the county, all over Griffith Park and the hills above Burbank, and chase Todd's limo in the dark! I remember freaking Mary out on the way to Griffith Park as I would make the car "dance" every time "More More More" (I hated most disco, but did love that song) came on the radio, which was very often!
24 July 1976
Well, it's past 3:00 but I have to write about today. At 9:00 [this morning] Ava still wasn't sure about going, talked to Cathy, talked her into going till she found out when the show was. [Tonight!] Talked to Brent and neither he nor Peter wanted to go; then Ava finally said she wanted to, but I had already promised Mary. We went to look for Hollywood Spectaculars. [These giant sunglasses; I'd gotten some a couple years ago but they had broken.] I got Todd a little rhinoceros that says "You make me horny". [Good grief!]
So we went to Ava's where she wastes enough time; now she hates me. So finally we leave; got to Griffith Park and there was a sign where the bands were playing. But some other band was on. I was looking for the restroom when I thought this guy looked like Robert from the back and I was gonna grab him but I went to the front to make sure but he saw me. Plans foiled again! He said it was good I had missed them [his band] cause they had been awful. He said this girl was his girlfriend and I gave him a dirty look and then he said that she was just a girl who always come to see them play and not to think anything of it. Later he said he felt guilty, that he should be spending more time with me, that he didn't want me to get jealous. He told his friend that I was his other girlfriend.
Oh yeah, that guy in white! Robert said he was just a friend of the band. Robert always wears that shirt - PAPS San Francisco – 10 – and those same jeans; now they have a hole in the back. For a while he changed into shorts. He loved borrowing my camera. He put his cowboy hat on my head. He kept staring at me with sunglasses on; it was driving me crazy! Then one time he kissed me; I was a little surprised, then he goes, "You're horny enough; all I do is give you one little kiss and you're ready to jump into bed with me!" But he said he felt the same. I wish we could have – I mean just be alone for a bit - I got so turned on! And I think if I [first] saw him now I wouldn’t be infatuated with him. It's only true love. He was talking to the bass player in the other band.
That one band was weird, weird like Jonathan Richman. [No idea who this was.] So finally we were gonna go and I told Robert and he just squeezes my hand and I look at him and he goes, "I can't kiss you goodbye, my lips are chapped." Ha! I was pissed enough, wait'll he gets his present Tuesday! [??? I looked ahead and there were no clues to what I was talking about there.]
So we stopped for film and junk; oh, forgot to say that I bought roses from a street corner boy, gave one to Robert. So we got there and Man were on. They weren't anywhere as good as I thought they should be. I was so dumb, I forgot the film (and later found out I couldn't get it [from the car] anyway) but it's good I did try to get it or I would have probably stayed to see more of Man but instead we decided to wait for Todd to arrive. That was weird; like in my dream, that girl didn't know who Todd was!
Finally, after Journey had gone on, a limo drives up. I almost died. Mary was in the bathroom. I ran over there, and saw him. I really don't remember much, except Bebe was there, he gave some girl an autograph (I almost got one), and some girl kept saying, "I love you!" and I remember saying, "I love you too!" and holding onto his arm for just a fleeting second. The guards said he had to go in. I called his name but one of the guards said he'd give my present to him. Then I had the spazz attack of the century! I screamed, jumped up and down, hugged Mary, ran around and cried. I made such a scene; I was hysterical! Then I saw Sharon and Dawn [friends from school whom I had recently met and who were Todd fans] who I thought must have met him or something but ha ha. [I guess they didn't!]
Well, I couldn't stop crying or calm down for about five minutes. Then we went to watch Journey. They were really good, [Eh?! Did I REALLY say that?] especially the guitarist. Saw Jeff Lester and Bill Wood (bald now) [Jeff was a friend from high school but who was this Bill Wood dude?] and the Queen caterer [???] with some chick from our school, next to Mary.
Well, finally Todd came on. At first everyone went wild but not for long. the audience just wasn't like last time; there was no international feel. [It was all prog rock Utopia; the last show I saw, which was more than two years ago, featured almost two hours of Todd on his own, prancing about in a leotard and singing to backing tracks before the band joined him.] Todd can still move around, even with a guitar. He did some split jumps, windmills and a lot of kicking and jumping around. I swear he reminds me so much of Robert Williams. [???!!!] I never realized it before! The way he acts, moves around, talks, his sense of humor, everything! Mary said I act like him; Trudie says I dance like Robert Marlow. But he's enough like Todd, I mean R.W.! [I am completely insane.]
So first Todd did a new song, then "When the Shit Hits the Fan" (I wish it would! And SOON!) [You would need to know the lyrics to get that…] I stood up and screamed before and after every song; I don't care about everyone else. When he did "Seven Rays" I went crazy! Then he did a "mellow" song ("one of those new words" he said)… Why didn't I bring a tape recorder?! They wouldn't have known… I started crying during "The Verb to Love". After Todd did "Black and White" he goes, "What is mankind's greatest invention?" and before anyone else I yelled out "Todd!!"
I missed Todd running around but it was still funny; at the end he played his guitar like a machine gun. [I then go on to describe every detail of every single song of the set, but I'll spare you. And I probably should have cut more above!] The first encore was "Do Ya" and the second, "Just One Victory"; I had a super spazz then. (Earlier I had yelled that out and the girl behind me said, "Good idea!")
I didn't want Todd to leave – I love him so much! After it finished they went and played "Cause We Ended as Lovers". [Jeff Beck's instrumental version of this Stevie Wonder song was the last song played at the Rainbow each night and therefore held much significance to me. It always made me sad!] Sob!
The NES were fucked; first they make us move back, then go all the way down the driveway, then across the street!! The one guy was OK; he said he'd give my roses to Todd and tell him my name. So we waited and waited; talked to those guys – one didn't like Earle [Mankey - ??!]; that girl had got her Runt album autographed; about ten people asked me where I had got my shirt [this would have been a shirt I'd got from an ad at the back of Creem Magazine in 1974; I wore it last month when I went to see Todd and I can't believe I used to wear it to school as it is quite a revealing photo!] – that's weird that I was the only one with one like it; there was no one with my yellow Todd shirt either but a few people with the blue one. [I do not have these any more and can't even remember what the blue one was!] So finally we got my car and waited; finally they came and we followed. They were going pretty fast. It was fun; everyone was yelling "Todd!!!" out the window. We went about four miles then at a red light I lost them. Oh well. Then we went home. When I got home it was after 2:00 but I didn't get in trouble!
On that day in 1982 - 23 July
I was in Milan with Stuart. We had meant to be staying with my friends Nino and Rieko, but they did not have a telephone, and when we turned up at their place, a neighbor of theirs told me that they had gone out of town! I thought we had got our wires crossed. It turned out to be untrue (they were going away the following week) but we had no way of knowing that and they had no way to get in touch with us.
But we liked Milan and had found a cheap hotel, so ended up staying five days. On the third day we discovered there was a big music festival - totally free - in the city centre; that also was a reason to linger. We'd seen Jimmy Cliff the night before and had missed the Lounge Lizards. We knew it was still on today, but had no way to easily find out who was playing when.
It was very hot and muggy and therefore even a public swimming pool seemed inviting. Stuart had just bought a pair of those Euro Speedo style trunks - woo hoo!
23 July 1982
So we decided to stay another day; it was too hot to hitch. We found the pool okay. I'm sure we were the only foreigners! All the boys - every single one - had those suits! Lots of nice 13-14 year olds ... [No comment!]
It was too crowded to swim much. I kept losing Stuart. We kept going for snacks and drinks. I spent a lot of the time watching people underwater in the diving pool. (There were lots of windows - it was like a people aquarium!) Some boys' suits were falling off!
This time we took the right train and got to the festival early. We got off at antoher place down the road where some Milano punk bands were playing. We saw one do their sound check - they were sort of a Joy Division/Fall rip-off - they sang in English.
Then we went down the the main place to see the Mo-dettes... and they stunk! We found out we had missed: Siouxsie & the Banshees, Echo & the Bunnymen, Duritti Column and (sob! sob! sob!) [next to the Birthday Party they were my favourite band at the time and I never did see them] The Scars!!! [These bands had all played the first couple nights, before we knew about the festival.]
We went back to the first place and then left - needed to get some sleep - ha. On the way from the station it began to pour and it was really windy. I had left a bunch of clothes out to dry on the windowsill and I was positive they'd be all over the street! Thank God they weren't!
But we liked Milan and had found a cheap hotel, so ended up staying five days. On the third day we discovered there was a big music festival - totally free - in the city centre; that also was a reason to linger. We'd seen Jimmy Cliff the night before and had missed the Lounge Lizards. We knew it was still on today, but had no way to easily find out who was playing when.
It was very hot and muggy and therefore even a public swimming pool seemed inviting. Stuart had just bought a pair of those Euro Speedo style trunks - woo hoo!
23 July 1982
So we decided to stay another day; it was too hot to hitch. We found the pool okay. I'm sure we were the only foreigners! All the boys - every single one - had those suits! Lots of nice 13-14 year olds ... [No comment!]
It was too crowded to swim much. I kept losing Stuart. We kept going for snacks and drinks. I spent a lot of the time watching people underwater in the diving pool. (There were lots of windows - it was like a people aquarium!) Some boys' suits were falling off!
This time we took the right train and got to the festival early. We got off at antoher place down the road where some Milano punk bands were playing. We saw one do their sound check - they were sort of a Joy Division/Fall rip-off - they sang in English.
Then we went down the the main place to see the Mo-dettes... and they stunk! We found out we had missed: Siouxsie & the Banshees, Echo & the Bunnymen, Duritti Column and (sob! sob! sob!) [next to the Birthday Party they were my favourite band at the time and I never did see them] The Scars!!! [These bands had all played the first couple nights, before we knew about the festival.]
We went back to the first place and then left - needed to get some sleep - ha. On the way from the station it began to pour and it was really windy. I had left a bunch of clothes out to dry on the windowsill and I was positive they'd be all over the street! Thank God they weren't!
On that day in 1980 - 23 July
More memories of Bosco ... Not sure where the Flamin Groovies gig that didn't happen was, but UXA and the Gears were playing at the Troubadour.
23 July 1980
I didn't know what to do. I wanted to go see the Flamin Groovies and so did Bosco and he said to stop by the Troubadour cause UXA were playing first and he'd go with me afterward. So I stopped there and got in [free via] the back and they didn't go on right away and I kept thinking I had to leave but I didn't want to cause like EVERYONE was there; then someone said they didn't think the Groovies were playing and I called to make sure and it was true, they had cancelled or something. I was happy! I mean I had really wanted to see them, but on another night. I'm so glad I didn't go down there!
UXA were fantastic with Bosco! Especially that funky song he wrote. We [probably Elliot and I, or maybe Dez] sat on the side of the stage. I didn't watch the Gears, and Puke, Spit & Guts were disgusting. [I don't even remember that name; who were they?!]
Tracy [from Redd Kross] had brought her little brother and this mother just dropped off her kids, not more than 5 or 6!! [I guess the Troubadour didn't have an age policy!] Dez and I sat in the park and drank and fled when a cop car went by and luckily it was all still there when I returned later and I drank by myself.
It was just fun, talking to everyone. Jennie comes up talking about "the cutest boy in the world" and there was Michael Livingston, with his hair brown, [I can't remember it being another color!] and I say, "And there he is!" He was a bit nicer than recently but still ...
I wish I could've stayed longer but I had to get some sleep. [I was staying at the Manor in Hollywood and had to be at work in Gardena by 8 am - oy vey!] Bosco walked me to my car and kissed me goodbye - it seemed he liked me - I didn't know what I thought! He and Elliot said they were gonna wake me up when they came home but they didn't.
23 July 1980
I didn't know what to do. I wanted to go see the Flamin Groovies and so did Bosco and he said to stop by the Troubadour cause UXA were playing first and he'd go with me afterward. So I stopped there and got in [free via] the back and they didn't go on right away and I kept thinking I had to leave but I didn't want to cause like EVERYONE was there; then someone said they didn't think the Groovies were playing and I called to make sure and it was true, they had cancelled or something. I was happy! I mean I had really wanted to see them, but on another night. I'm so glad I didn't go down there!
UXA were fantastic with Bosco! Especially that funky song he wrote. We [probably Elliot and I, or maybe Dez] sat on the side of the stage. I didn't watch the Gears, and Puke, Spit & Guts were disgusting. [I don't even remember that name; who were they?!]
Tracy [from Redd Kross] had brought her little brother and this mother just dropped off her kids, not more than 5 or 6!! [I guess the Troubadour didn't have an age policy!] Dez and I sat in the park and drank and fled when a cop car went by and luckily it was all still there when I returned later and I drank by myself.
It was just fun, talking to everyone. Jennie comes up talking about "the cutest boy in the world" and there was Michael Livingston, with his hair brown, [I can't remember it being another color!] and I say, "And there he is!" He was a bit nicer than recently but still ...
I wish I could've stayed longer but I had to get some sleep. [I was staying at the Manor in Hollywood and had to be at work in Gardena by 8 am - oy vey!] Bosco walked me to my car and kissed me goodbye - it seemed he liked me - I didn't know what I thought! He and Elliot said they were gonna wake me up when they came home but they didn't.
On that day in 1976 - 23 July
I had failed my driving test two times. The first time I had been told I was too reckless, and the second time, too cautious. I guess third time's the charm!
Todd (Rundgren of course!) was playing at the Starlight Bowl. I think I had two tickets and I was trying to find a suitable taker for my spare. I also was determined to find out where the after party was and to go there. Geez, I was a bit melodramatic re my need to meet Todd! I had discovered a place that did iron-on transfers for any picture and was going to make some Nazz shirts. I still have mine somewhere. Anyway, Mary ended up going to the show with me.
Not sure what this advice was re my ex, Robert Marlow, but it was a drag that Jade was moving again, this time to the middle of Texas!
23 July 1976
Well, I made it. When I walked into the DMV I saw the bitch and almost croaked, but then the nicest one came on duty. He told me not to be nervous or run down any pedestrians; he was really nice and I had a feeling he was gonna pass me.
So Cathy doesn't have the money, Dan's not home, no one else has the cash – I hope Ava can't go and someone else can; not that I don't like Ava but I'd rather go with someone who likes Todd!! So after her, Cathy, Peter, Brent, Bill, Susan, Suzanne, Mary … I can't wait anyway. Mom says I'm not going to the party; that's what she thinks!!! I'm gonna die if I don't meet Todd!!!! The Nazz shirts weren't ready – they'd better be!!! Or I'll die!!!
So Jade and I went out tonight; it's weird how we go off and on like that. Now everything's back to normal and I like her a lot again and she's moving away – it's no fair! Went to her house, then the Redondo Pier, then Mary's. She was giving me all this advice about Robert Marlow. Well, we'll see about it. I still think he'd be offended if I cut him off. And I don't really know what he thinks of me. Oh, Robert Williams called while I was at my piano lesson; his band is playing at 2:30 in Griffith Park. I like how he tells me where!!!
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