Saturday, April 10th, 1976

Terry was away today but i made my rounds anyway. Got very few things even though I was in Cincy as well as out in Erlanger at the NKBS.

Got a massive headache, however, by not taking my pill. The worst part os the really terrible dizzy spell that hit me after I got home. Throughout the evening I could barely even walk!

Mom and Dad went to the grocery and she got me a beautiful Beethoven album--first in a series. Don't know about the rest, though.

NOTES: The "pill" to which I refer was a dramamine tablet. I had then only recently discovered them after a lifelong problem with motion sickness and they were amazing. They only left me sleepy if I was inactive. If I was on a bus or otherwise traveling, it was like I could suddenly enjoy the scenery instead of wondering how long it would be before I threw up on the person sitting next to me. A few years later, I actually rode the Racer roller coaster at King's Island on three dramamine... just to say I did it. I had never been able to ride amusement park rides my whole life!

The Beethoven LP my mother purchased that day was the first one in the series of Funk & Wagnalls Family Library of Classical Music. It was one of those series where you picked up a different volume at the grocery store every week. This first one was Beethoven's sixth symphony, the Pastoral. Oddly enough, I was familiar with the music because Edward G. Robinson had died to portions of it in one of the best movie death scenes ever, in 1973's SOYLENT GREEN! It became and has remained my all-time favorite classical piece. We would try other albums in the series but I just could never get into them and Classical has remained one genre of music that I respect...but have never particularly embraced.

Friday, April 9th, 1976

Not bad for a final day before Spring vacation. 31 days 'til school's out. Turned in my school journal to Mr. Spurlock. I hope he doesn't think it's too bad.

Dad won 10 bucks on Lottery last night!

I'm really enjoying DONNY AND MARIE. Marie is both pretty and funny. I used to think Donny was a bit of a loser but he's actually pretty cool, too. I remember Cindy Shorter going nuts over his record of "Puppy Love" in the 7th grade.

If Terry goes to NKBS tomorrow, I may forgo going to any movies until later in the week since I'll be off anyway.

NOTES: I thought I still had that journal but the one I have is from the following school year. Apparently I never got this one back after the final time I turned it in.

On Facebook recently, Mr. Spurlock said that after all these years I can call him by his first name now. No. No, I can't. Thanks anyway but you will always be Mr. Spurlock just as Mr. Krey remained Mr. Krey, Mr. Tucker is still Mr. Tucker and even my former 2nd grade teacher who lived near us for a while was always Mrs. Rettig. Look at it as a continued form of respect, sir.

Around this time, I actually traded Terry something or other for Marie Osmond's first two solo albums. I would eventually end up purchasing Donny and Marie's solo albums, too! I was developing very diverse tastes in music. That and I thought Marie was hawt!

Thursday, April 8th, 1976

Slightly better day at school. My sores were a little less painful, too, but the skin had reformed over the band-aids! THAT hurt like hell to get off! Also at school, I seem to have accidentally started a rumor that I would be going to the prom with Betty Dean (no comics readers in my class).

Lots of movies to see this weekend. We may all go see BUTCH & SUNDANCE.

NOTES: No memory of how I got that rumor started but I know where I got that name. Betty Dean had been a major supporting character in the Golden Age SUB-MARINER stories of the 1940's. In the early seventies, Bill Everett, the original creator of that series, had returned to the comic and brought back the now aged Betty. I was really enjoying those still newish stories and had been re-reading reprints of the old so the name stuck with me.

I was thinking the movie reference here was to BUTCH & SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS, the film for which the term "prequel" was invented. That picture, however, came out 3 years later. In spite of the fact that I was excited about all the new movies out this week in '76, it looks like my parents and I were considering going to see the original Redford/Newman BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID on re-release. Weird.

Wednesday, April 7th, 1976

This was slightly on the bad side of the scale. What with stinging pain every time I moved my leg from where I fell, losing twice at cards, the new Price Guide not being out yet and some slightly overcooked Wendy's.

I broke out my old record player to listen to Liza's "Happyland." I can't figure out how it does that.

Did my journal work at school today but still ended up with Creative writing homework.

I watched again what may be my favorite episode of BARETTA--the one with Mackenzie Phillips.

NOTES: I'm curious as to the line about losing twice at cards. I don't know any card games but Poker and I only learned that later from TV and movies. Must have been some sort of school thing in one class or another.

I still can't figure out that HAPPYLAND thing. It was a song on Liza Minnelli's first album from the late sixties. I believe it was written by her then-husband, Peter Allen. The rest of the album played normally on my stereo but that song was ultra-low sound with a tinny echo making it nearly impossible to hear and/or decipher. BUT...when I got my old record player out of the closet--a cheap little portable mono turntable with a stylus--it played normally! Weird. Not even sure HOW that could happen let alone why it would.

.NET Magazine Interview

Tuesday, April 6, 1976

A very bad day. Too involved in Physics, had a sub and said and did things I didn't like. Wasn't just me, though. Everyone seemed to feel bad today. I came within 25 points of winning in that Spanish game but lost when another guy just quietly won.

The worst thing all day was when I fell running for the bus. I was up before I even finished falling and kept running. Made the bus but got a terrible, bleeding skinned up place on my knee, skinned up both hands badly and ripped my pants quite a bit! My good jeans, too! Didn't really feel any pain, just stinging.

Mr. Shoemaker had a baby girl on April Fool's Day--Sara Dawn.

Jay's brother, our insurance man, talked with me a moment tonight about my comics.

Later I watched one of the last episodes of BEWITCHED I remember seeing from when it was on new. Tonight on HAPPY DAYS was a good episode with Richie and Joanie acting so much like real brother and sister--the way i think I'd act if I had a sister. Sometimes I really wish I did.

NOTES: Jay's brother? Not sure. There was a Jay I knew from school. He went on to become a reporter and later the City Manager. Perhaps it was his brother who was our insurance man.

In those days, the insurance men would actually come around to collect their premiums. While there, they would inevitably attempt to sell you more insurance. My dad had actually been one of these types of insurance agents for a brief period in the sixties. For awhile, his territory included areas of Newport, Northern Kentucky's one-time "sin city." As he used to tell people who asked what he did for a living--"I'm an insurance man for the Mob."

Mr. Shoemaker was my 3rd year Spanish teacher.

That fall was a mess and things ended up getting infected which dragged it all out for quite awhile.

Normally I was content to be an only child. I never really wanted a brother because I usually had at least one close guy friend who was like a brother to me. Every once in a while, though, I really wanted a sister. I was always a little jealous of friends who did have sisters, even though they often bickered back and forth whenever I'd see them together. In later years, I would unofficially "adopt" my own choices in sisters such as Brittany Rose, seen above. We fight, we argue, we're there for each other when we need to be. My sister. At last.

Monday, April 5th, 1976

Dreamed about Mary W. last night--a very INTERESTING dream! Don't know why, though. Haven't even seen or thought about her in months.

A fair day at school for a Monday.

Got most of my order from Bob G except for one item. Guess he was out.

Learned that Steranko will be doing his first new graphic story in five years! Can't wait!

The mysterious zillionaire Howard Hughes died today. After all the stories I've heard about him my first thought was that this could be some kind of trick. But I doubt it. I guess.

Just watched a very good Hollywood special with Dick Cavett interviewing--of all people--Mae West!

NOTES: Mary W? I have wracked my brain. I got nothin'. Mary W....Hmmm...a fellow student, a neighbor, a TV actress? None seem to fit. Oh, well. Must not have been THAT good a dream or I'd still remember it!

Jim Steranko remains one of the most influential comics artists of all time. He came along suddenly and quickly in the mid-sixties but stopped working in comics to write 2 volumes of an excellent history of the medium. Although his design sense remains amazing, his few attempts at returning to graphic storytelling since 1970 have been stunningly disappointing to me. A year after this, I would meet Steranko at a comics con in Columbus, Ohio.

I had heard about Howard Hughes my whole life--he was a genius, a daring pilot, an amazing inventor, a pioneering filmmaker, a reputable ladies man and, by the time I came along, an eccentric recluse used most often as a punchline to bad jokes. Just a couple of years earlier there had been a big scandal about a fake "authorized" Hughes biography. In this case, however, Hughes was really dead and the sad details of his demise and his longtime illness would soon enough come out.

Dick Cavett was the thinking man's talk show host. Here he hosted a prime time special for which the aged "sex symbol" Mae West was done up and trotted out for viewing as she began what would be her final film--and one of the worst ever made--SEXTETTE. Barely released in 1978, SEXTETTE was an embarrassing sex farce with an all-star cast that mixed actors like George Hamilton and Timothy Dalton with rock stars like Ringo, Keith Moon and Alice Cooper for some reason!

Sunday, April 4th, 1976

Pretty good day. I went to see ROBIN & MARIAN over at Newport and it was marvelous. Best picture I've seen so far this year. Lots of new movies to choose from next week!

I caught up on my school journal entries today and practically wore out my new Wings album while doing it. So far, I've written about writing, depression, war, Debbie and the Beatles.

Tonight I watched Lowell Thomas's 1939 show.

I've been hearing and reading a lot about the Dawn concert, too. Can't wait!

NOTES: I remember being very disappointed in ROBIN & MARIAN, actually. Perhaps here I was trying hard to convince myself it was better than it was because it STILL seems as though it should have been. It was the lovely Audrey Hepburn's first picture in years and it was during a peak post-Bond era for Sean Connery. I just don't think they had any real chemistry as a couple.

LOWELL THOMAS REMEMBERS was a PBS series in which the aging veteran newsman presented compilations of his own historical newsreels from certain years, tonight's episode being from 1939.

***My Grey Hair***

It occurs to me that my talking about my grey hair in high school might throw a lot of folks based on that big ol' senior picture of me at the top of the page. Earlier today, I also questioned whether the Grecian Formula 16 was doing any good in 1976. Well, apparently it was because here's me noticeably greyer just 5 years later in 1981 (on a TV game show) after I finally completely stopped using that greasy stuff.

Saturday, April 3rd, 1976

Terry called this evening and we talked for 90 minutes but there was really nothing good on TV tonight anyway.

I helped out with a little yard work this afternoon but not much. I went back to NKBS and got a few new things, a few old things and most important, FF Annual # 2 for only five bucks in what I would call Near-Mint condition! Wow!

Thought I might have seen Debbie getting off the bus I was on today with two other girls. They got off at the stop where I think Debbie's house might be near. If it was her, she didn't recognize me or didn't see me. Made me very nervous the rest of the day.

I also picked up WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND.

Just realized I'm two days behind in my hair stuff.

NOTES: FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL # 2 was and is one of THE great comics of the Silver Age. This was a big deal! As a collector, I like to actually read them so I've never been all that much on condition but near-mint! This was cool!

Ugh! Debbie again! Move on, kid! You're wasting your best years pining over someone you haven't seen since both of you were children!!!

WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND would be the most group-like album Wings ever did. Rather than feature Paul McCartney and the rest of the folks as simply a back-up group, here each member was given a chance to be highlighted and the result was quite good. Makes me wish there had been more actual Wings albums.

The "hair stuff" was Grecian Formula 16. The grey in my hair didn't bother me. I never saw it except when I looked in a mirror. It seemed to bother everyone else at school, though, so I started using that stuff that was supposed to gradually turn your hair back to its original color. If it worked, I never noticed. Just made my hair feel greasy all the time. Yeah. Chicks loved that. Ugh.

Friday, April 2nd, 1976

Fair day at school. Maybe slightly below average. Everyone was talking about HELTER SKELTER while I had watched SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5 and I'm sure liked it much better. A particularly good ending. To me, if the ending's great it makes the whole picture better. The whole thing was cut but still almost too R-rated to be shown on TV. I'm surprised they did.

Saw Karen Valentine on DONNY & MARIE tonight as well as on a good ROOM 222 rerun.

Had a sore throat all day. Hope it gets better by tomorrow. Terry already hit the NKBS and says there are four new books out. Going to be a tighter schedule than last week but at least I won't need to wait on him since he's already gone.

NOTES: HELTER SKELTER was the TV movie about the prosecution of Charles Manson. Being obsessed with the sixties, I eventually did go through a period where I became interested in his bizarre, murderous odyssey but this wasn't it.

The movie of SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5 is, in retrospect, not really all that good but then it's one of those books perhaps best left unfilmed. It does, however, have some moments of genius and was most folks introduction to the voluptuous Valerie Perrine. For a few years, Ms. Perrine would go on to become a fixture of the seventies, adept at comedy and yet heart-wrenching in roles such as her acclaimed role as Honey Bruce in the 1974 film, LENNY. In real-life she was widely known to be one of the in-crowd. She had been the first star to appear nude on American television (in 1973's PBS production of STEAMBATH with Bill Bixby) and is generally remembered today for her role as Lex Luthor's "moll" in the Christopher Reeve SUPERMAN.

Thursday, April 1st, 1976

No April Fool's jokes pulled on me today. Guess that's one benefit of being invisible.

I heard Paul McCartney's new single on the radio this evening and will begin looking for the album this weekend if I find time.

Creative Writing may be harder than I thought, especially if I want an A and I've had nothing but A's in English so far.

I heard that Stefanie has her own series coming this Fall and that CHARLIE'S ANGELS is going to be a series, too.

NOTES: The McCartney single in question was SILLY LOVE SONGS which would be Wings' biggest song in the US and top the charts twice later in the year when McCartney first toured the US without the Beatles.

Not sure exactly why I was so intimidated by Creative Writing at this point. Eventually I would get the only award I received throughout my high school years--an unexpected plaque as Outstanding English Student. I always felt it was based largely on my performance in Creative Writing.

Stefanie Powers' new series almost didn't make it on the air at all come Fall. Originally entitled FEATHER AND FATHER, they added the word "GANG" at the end during a long delay that saw it finally hitting the airwaves in December. Briefly. It dealt with an attorney and her con man father, played by Harold Gould, solving crimes. Her real TV success was another couple of seasons away with HART TO HART.

Meanwhile, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, a titillating TV movie about sexy detectives that had just aired for the first time two weeks earlier, went on to become one of THE big TV successes of the seventies. It spawned the Farrah phenomenon as well as later feature films and, in 2011, an upcoming remake series.