Cities
“I been around the world, and I-I-I, I can’t find my baby”
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In Berlin I became quite familiar with the U-Bahn system and the many stations.
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The Aachen Cathedral - a source of great consternation and drama in my family.
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Lipari - where my family and I spent five great days in the summer of 1978.
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The “alternative” high school where I embarrassed myself multiple times: Community High School.
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You may not be able to go home again, but Ann Arbor was a pretty good place to grow up.
Click here to see a YouTube slide-show of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Click here for a satellite photo of my neighborhood and school (the back of the arrow is my home from 1970-1977), and Mary Mitchell Elementary School is the building on the right of the photo)
And Click here for a more detailed map of Michigan.
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Movies
We've both been sound asleep, wake up, little
Susie, and weep
The movie's over, it's four o'clock, and we're in trouble deep
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For reasons whish are wholly indefensible, I chose to skip Return of the Jedi for Wholly Moses. |
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During an early birthday, my family scored this coup. |
Skipping school to go watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was really the beginning of my group of friends. |
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Hmmm. Maybe it wasn't as good as the epic Boston College and Miami showdown, but Buckaroo Banzai was a lot of fun in it's own right. |
Seeing the sting with my father is one of my very first memories. |
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My Mom gave me a fake excuse so I could skip class and watch this movie with her. |
The Two of Steve provides a road-map to success with chicks. Or does it? |
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Television
Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
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I couldn't find a clip of Meredith Baxter-Birney on the Battle of the Network Stars, unfortunately. Scott Baio and Charlene Tilton will have to do. |
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Sunday mornings growing up meant one thing; Abbott and Costello. |
During "Monster Week" on the 4:30 Movie, Gamera was the monster for kids. |
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My favorite Saturday morning cartoon was Hon Kong Phooey! |
I never missed the Bugs Bunny and Road Runner Hour either! |
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Way before The Lion King Kimba was the king of the jungle. |
Can he swing? On a thread. Take a look. Overhead. |
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To be fair, even though I was unfamiliar with the concept of "camp" in 3rd grade, I think I would have known that Ultraman qualified. |
Holy clip on youtube, Batman! |
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I once knew the Prince Namor song by heart. |
And Thor's. |
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And Iron Man's. |
And Captain America's. |
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And Hulk's. |
"You thought Saturday morning TV was hokey back in the 1970s? SHAZAM!"
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This was on TV when I was in Germany...
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 This was not.
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I always loved when they speeded up the Six Million Dollar Man to make him run fast instead of having him run in patronizing slow-motion. |
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Strange, now, to imagine Saturday night being "Must See TV" night back in the 1970s. |
But it was. |
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And this show, watched with popcorn and a glass of cola while my Mom folded laundry, finished it off. |
I assume television "events" like this are a ting of the past.
But if there was a person living in the U.S. at the time who didn't watch the "Roots" miniseries on TV, I haven't yet met him. |
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Sports
Today you won a ticket to see Doctor J
Front row seat (in free!) no pay
Radio in hand, snacks by feet
Game's about to start, you kickin' popcorn to the beat
You finally wake up, Doc's gone to town
Round his back, through the hoop, then you scream "Touchdown!"
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Believe it or not, eight-year-olds like me were riveted to the TV in the summer of 1976 because of one teenage girl (okay, and because of Bruce Jenner). |
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The famous 1979 NCAA Basketball Championship Game, with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, which I watched on my Reverend's sofa in West Berlin. |
Come on. You know you want to know how to keep score in baseball. Here's one way. |
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I have so many good memories of Tiger Stadium, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. |
The 1984 Detroit Tigers were the defining team of my childhood, and my life. |
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The site of Doug's infamous puck theft: Yost Ice Arena. |
Saturdays. Fall. Football. Michigan Stadium. |
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Meeting Cookie Lavagetto was, ultimately, a bittersweet experience. |
Luckily, even Michigan's famous collapses haven't eclipsed this as the most famous finish in the history of college football — though I was at the movies with my Dad at the time. |
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There are, really no good clips of Anthony Carter's last second tD against Indiana — in my opinion the most memorable play in Michigan football history. This wil have to do. And maybe Bob Ufer's screaming will convey some of the emotion. |
The Victors. Absolutely. Now imagine 100,000 people singing it. |
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Friends
People,
people who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world
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Susie Stiles — who helped me with the cover of my book — had remarkable artistic talent 25 years ago. She still does — and now she's teaching too! |
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Doug Karsch is a major Detroit sports personality. But ask him about Gretzky playing on a team of All-stars sometime. |
Radio
So you had better do as you are told.
You better listen to the radio.
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Fibber McGee and Molly. |
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George Burns and Gracie Allen. |
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Gunsmoke. |
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Games
Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games
Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names
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 I used to play Weltreise and/or Deutschlandreise with my father every night before bed, while we listened to the old radio shows.
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The rules of Strip Poker were (and remain) a mystery to me. But an intriguing one! |
Spin the Bottle was easier — but the implications were much more complex. |
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Wildlife i like. "Wildlife" I hated! |
Did you ever wonder how well soccer would translate to a static game played with inch-high plastic men on green felt? Now you have your answer. |
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Strat-o-Matic Baseball was the source of more hours of distraction and excitement (heaven help me) than I can count. |
Miscellaneous
Это все,
что
останется
после меня.
Это все, что
возьму я с
собой.
That's all that is left behind me. That's all that I take with me.
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 I saw half of Fidelio at the Berlin Opera House before faking illness to get my father to take me home. It wasn't easy to draw the red spots covering my face in the dark, by the way. |
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 Christine, our au pair in West Berlin, got me the Queen "Jazz" album for Christmas 1978, which included the fold-out poster of 100 beautiful naked women on bicycles. She became my favorite Swiss acquaintance immediately. |
I got a lot of this kind of books in 1979 and 1980. Needless to say, I was always delighted. |
