Ode to Class of 1980

Class of 1980–Congratulations! It’s Your 40th High School Graduation Anniversary...And You’re Not Only Old But You Can’t Celebrate!

You survived two of the most tumultuous decades of our country and a damn virus has wiped out your 40th reunion! 

But don’t worry. 

At least we have Facebook! 

Except for all of those friends you un-friended!

At least now you won't have to face them...

And, hey. 

Know this:

We survived Vinny Barbarino’s mood swings!

But we survived more than Disco and John Travolta!

Born into the most tumultuous period of our country’s existence,  we also survived the Sixties!

And we had a name: Baby Boomers! (The Late Ones!)

As we entered the world, America was celebrating domestic bliss.

The heroes on television represented strong, male role models in Matt Dillon, Ben Cartwright and Andy Taylor. 

Everything was fine in Dodge City, Virginia City and Mayberry!

And it was all not in living color but black and white.

Our Greatest Generation parents had survived World War II and discovered suburbia.

The Eisenhower era had passed the torch to a new generation.

A new president asked what not and began a quest for the final frontier of space.

Our parents music, Frank, Elvis and Bing, was still on top.

And our war was a cold one.

It was an idyllic time to be alive and we were in the lucky sperm club!

Is this a great country or what?

Then shots rang out in Dallas and the nations’ mood changed.

Our nation’s collective souls were shattered.

We went from “Ask Not” to “Why?”

But just when our nation was mourning, searching for answers, four lads from Liverpool arrived and not only wanted to hold our hand but spread love and inspiration!

And soothed our souls.

Frank, Elvis and Bing had been replaced by John, Paul, George and Ringo!

The British Invasion soon followed with Mick and Keith, Roger and Pete and friends.

Suddenly the nations’ mood lifted.

Not to be out done, The Beach Boys were “Surfin’ USA”.

Annette and Frankie gave us “Beach Party Bingo!”

And The Turtles gave us “Happy Together”!

Our television shows reflected this mood shift.

We had a genie in a bottle.

A 

A magical witch who could twitch her nose and make things disappear.

A Gomer in the Marines.

And a shipwrecked crew of castaways stranded on an island after a three hour cruise in stormy weather (what the hell were they thinking?)

Fun, light-hearted themes.

And just when things had settled down...

Our nations’ mood changed again.

Civil rights protests.

Vietnam War protests.

More assassinations.

A counter-culture developed.

Flower Power emerged.

Peace, Love and Rock and Roll

John, Paul, George and Ringo had been replaced by Jimi, Janice and Jim!

And we got to see them every week in living color on "The Dick Cavett Show", "Sonny & Cher" and "The Smothers Brothers"!

Fittingly, the sixties came to a crashing thud that symbolized the decade in one lonely stretch of the summer of '69: 

Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. 

Another Kennedy made "Chappaquiddick" a household name. 

And a hippie family killed a movie star and six others.

The Final Frontier and “One small step for mankind” had morphed into “turn on, tune in and drop out.”

And we were watching it all unfold on television wondering “What the hell?”

By the time we were eight years old the new decade began with the National Guard murdering students in Kent, Ohio.

Neil Young was watching and David Crosby handed him a guitar:

“Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,

We’re finally on our own, 

This summer I hear the drummin’,

Four dead in Ohio.”

Our new peace president was socking it to our college students!

The Beatles were so disgusted they just said "We're Done!" and never returned.

But soon ABC gave us “Monday Night Football” and Frank, Howard and Don focused our minds on football.

And we watched the first Super Bowl and World Series played on artificial turf!

Then five guys in suits were arrested in Washington and suddenly “The Brady Bunch” had been replaced by The Watergate hearings.

And it wasn’t happening just in the U.S. of A. 

Jim McKay told us from Munich, “They’re All Gone!”

And we were still watching!

We watched as Americans were evacuated from the rooftop of our embassy in Vietnam in defeat.

Soon another new president was elected.

A peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia.

We had gone from JFK and Camelot to Jimmy and Billy!

Soon he would give us gas shortages, cardigan sweaters and hostages!

But hey, our movies were smokin’!

The Godfather I & II

Jaws.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

Rocky.

Our television shows, too:

M.A.S.H.

Saturday Night Live.

Welcome Back, Kotter.

Happy Days.

Starsky & Hutch.

As was our music.

The Eagles gave us Hotel California.

Fleetwood Mac gave us Rumours.

Steely Dan gave us Aja.

Jackson Browne gave us Running on Empty.

And, Billy Joel gave us The Stranger.

And we’re still listening to them today!

And later our television shows had segued from Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle into Three’s Company and Charlie’s Angels.

We were hitting our middle teenage years and life was about to become one big disco ball!

Around this time we found ourselves entering high school.

And culturally we experienced some rapid changes.

In four short years, Vinny Barbarino transformed into Tony Manero, Danny and Bud right before our eyes.

Suddenly a new form of music arrived called Disco!

We replaced our older siblings bell bottoms with polyester leisure suits!

And on Sunday nights, we gave up “60 Minutes”, “The Wonderful World of Disney” and “The ABC Sunday Night Movie” for line dancing to The Bee Gees at Twentieth Century! (Tulsa peeps will know what I’m talking about!)

Soon the calendar would turn and our second decade was over.

It was a tremendous whirlwind of experiences growing up in the 1960’s and 70’s.

We went from vinyls to 8-tracks, three television stations to cable and were the first generation to grow up with FM radio and color television!

We had lived through five President’s, a music and cultural revolution, political assassinations, a war we lost, protests, civil rights, equal rights and the first president to resign from office.

We began the previous decade watching students burning our flag and losing a war in disgust.

And started a new decade watching a U.S. Olympic student hockey team draped in our flag and chants of “U.S.A, U.S.A., U.S.A.”!

America was back!

And just as we were exiting the stage, so was our music.

Old friend Paul McCartney reminded us he wasn't dead and had a #1 hit with “Coming Up.”

Billy Joel was no longer a stranger and gave us “Glass Houses” and his first #1 hit: “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”.

And yet, through all of this sensory stimulation, after all of those years of life, by the time we graduated around this time 40 years ago, one song stands out in my mind.

From another old friend.

They had told us to “Take It Easy” a few years before but now The Eagles were telling us,

"I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot,

I used to stay out till the break of day,

Oh, that didn't get it,

It was high time I quit it,

I just couldn't carry on that way.

Oh, I did some damage, I know it's true,

Didn't know I was so lonely, till I found you.

You can go the distance,

We'll find out in the long run (in the long run),

We can handle some resistance,

If our love is a strong one (is a strong one).”

“The Long Run” peaked at #1 in 1979, went platinum in 1980 and was their last album before they tired of the 70's and just left the stage.

For the Class of 1980, we left the stage 40 years ago this month, too.

It certainly was a long run!

That Time I Met Don Shula

So, here’s my Don Shula story.

I spent the summer of 1967 with my Aunt in Miami, Florida.

She took me to all the fun spots Crandon Beach on Key Biscayne (pictured), Miami Seaquarium, Parrot Jungle, Cypress Gardens, The Orange Bowl and Key West.

So that was quite a memory for a 5-year old!

At that same time, my favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys, were coming of age. After years of futility, the Cowboys soon made Super Bowl V in 1970. 

After losing to Baltimore, Dallas returned to Super Bowl VI, against an upstart Miami team led by Don Shula. 

Shula had left the NFL's Baltimore Colts in 1969 to lead the new Miami franchise which started in 1966. His offense was a power run game featuring fullback Larry Csonka, speedy Mercury Morris and Jim Kick.

Of course I was intimately familiar with the Dolphins because of my aunt. It didn't hurt that Howard Twilley, All-American at the University of Tulsa, was a star receiver for Miami, too.

The Cowboys beat the Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl VI.

However, the Dolphins would go undefeated the next year and  play the Cowboys arch-rival the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

Memorable because the Dolphins, leading 14-0 with a little more than two seconds remaining, were about to cap off the NFL’s only perfect season by a score of 17-0 on a field goal attempt by 5’ 7” kicker Garo Yepremian. 

Instead of sealing the win, the kick was blocked, Yepremian tried a pass that went straight up in the air then he futilely batted the ball up in the air on the rebound. It was intercepted by Mike Bass who returned it for a touchdown. The Dolphins held on to win 14-7 and become the only undefeated team in NFL history. As documented by Al Levine's book in 1973 which arrived just in time for Christmas!

Yepremian would ride his notoriety to produce ties in a Miami shop and retired in 1981. Yep, in addition to the t-shirt, I had one of Garo’s ties, as well.

About 30 years later, I met Don Shula at a Dallas All-Sports Banquet. He was being honored and was on the dais along with other notable athletes.

I was a last-second fill-in for former Houston Oiler and Dallas Cowboy receiver Mike Renfro (second from right), a colleaque at Lone Star Park.

Mike's dad Ray had played wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns from 1952 to 1963 winning NFL championships in 1954 and 1955. His NFL career overlapped with Shula in 1952. He was also the quarterbacks and wide receiver coach for the 1971 Dallas Cowboys who had beaten Shula's Dolphins in Super Bowl VI.

I also had actually seen Shula's Dolphins play Dallas on Thanksgiving Day in 1993 at Texas Stadium. It was played in a drizzling sleet storm that hit Dallas. The Cowboys were leading 14-13 when Miami lined up for a game-winning 41-yard field goal that was blocked by Dallas and should have ended the game if not for Leon Lett.

Anyone remember?

Leon Lett tried to recover and kicked the ball to the Dolphins who recovered at the one yard line. Pete Stoyanovich made the 18-yard field goal on the next play for a stunning 16-14 Miami victory! Not sure if the NFL keeps these kind of records but Coach Shula was involved with two of the more bizarre field goal attempts in NFL history!

So I had enough background in case I ran into the coach.

It was a black tie affair but I didn’t own a tux so my best navy suit would have to suffice on my way home from work to change.

Backstage, I found myself being introduced with all of the other "celebrities" and seated on the dias between Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Don Shula.

Not only under-dressed but way, way out of place.

So afterwards wanting to meet Coach Shula, I extended my hand and introduced myself.

As I was saying “I'm filling in for Mike Renfro...my aunt lived in Miami...”, Coach Shula turned and began talking to another athlete on the stage.

Not only was I under-dressed but he had no clue who this guy was trying to talk to him about Mike Renfro, his aunt and Howard Twilley!

Don Shula retired in 1995 as the winningest coach in NFL history. He died today at age 90.

The 1972 Dolphins have a champagne ceremony at the end of every NFL season that ends with the last undefeated team losing preserving their record undefeated season.

Today, we'll raise a toast to an NFL legend, Don Shula. Well done coach.

Thanks for the memories...on and off the field that began for me that summer of 1967 in Miami.

Crandon Beach, 1989.

My Top 10 Albums

I chuckle when I see these Top 10 album challenges floating around social media.

You know them.

The ones that start out with a wordy post-challenge by a friend to post a photo of an album that has influenced them.

No words or descriptions. 

Just a photo.

As if...

I laugh because most of my Facebook friends are fellow baby boomers.

Meaning we came of age relatively during the same time period of the 1960’s and 70’s.

And my laughter isn’t at the albums they post but rather that one would be so naive to think that they could sum up their musical influences with just 10!

After growing up in the most turbulent time period of our existence.

Just 10 to show your influence seems somewhat insufficient.

It’s like asking Babe Ruth to list his favorite home run from 714 of them.

But I’m here to help.

Because as a fellow baby boomer I’ve researched the subject some , had my own radio show in college and consider myself a “musicologist”.

So follow along...if you will bear me the time because times, well they are a changing!

So most of us were born into the early 60’s.

Ah, the Eisenhower era of our parents was transitioning into the Camelot years of JFK.

It was a tranquil, peaceful time of our society.

Our Best Generation fathers had returned from war and began suburbia living.

And we were the tail-end of that suburbia.

Our decade began with the torch being passed to a new generation of Americans.

We were being asked to forge a new frontier by not what our country could do for us but what we could do for our country.

Hope, inspiration and a “Fly Me to the Moon” mentality existed.

In fact, our music consisted of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby.

Holdovers from our parents generation.

But we wanted more.

And we got it like a sledge hammer to the head.

November 22, 1963 in Dallas shattered our suburbia innocence.

Our world had been rocked.

We went from inspirational words of “ask not” to asking “why?”

The new generation of Americans dropped their torches and were left seeking answers.

And we got a few from a group of English lads calling themselves The Beatles.

The fresh-faced, young lads from Liverpool led the British Invasion in June of 1964.

Just three short months after Dallas.

Their fresh faces and mop tops inspired us with juicy, lighter lyrics of love, hope and inspiration.

Our collective pain was soon lifted from bullets and violence and soothed by lyrics wanting to hold our hands.

We quickly forgot Frank, Elvis and Bing and replaced them with John, Paul, George and Ringo!

Soon others followed including The Animals, Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones and Herman’s Hermits.

Not to be outdone, America countered with surf music and everybody was “Surfin U.S.A.” when The Beach Boys had their first #1 hit in 1964.

And Frankie and Annette captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of teenagers with “Beach Blanket Bingo” on the big screen.

Suddenly life seemed better. Happier. Together.

The Turtles wrote a song about that, too!

What inspiration we didn’t get from our music we got from that new box in our living room called television!

Soon the airways were full of fun and light-hearted “sitcoms” featuring storylines of a live-in-the bottle Genie, a Gomer in the Marines, a witch who had magical powers by twinkling her nose and a bunch of castaways stranded on an island.

Suddenly the heavy social mood of the times had been lightened. 

Or so we thought.

The civil rights movement of the sixties suddenly boiled over and the lighthearted mood was replaced with marches and movements.

Peaceful at first they eventually became violent.

A new generation of American music groups sprung up and began noticing.

Suddenly “Happy Together” morphed into America’s new generations’ first protest song “What It’s Worth”.

You know the words,

“Something’s happening here,

What it is,

Ain’t exactly clear,

There’s a man with a gun over there,

Telling me I got to be square,

It’s time to stop children,

What’s that Sound,

Everybody look what’s going down.”

While all of this was percolating the Vietnam War had escalated to over 500,000 American troops.

JFK’s brother got involved and suddenly the civil rights movement morphed into a peace movement.

But the powers that be responded by killing Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy in hopes of stifling the dissent.

However the movement continued through song.

As the hair began growing longer and the pant bottoms got wider,  a new generation of American songwriters responded.

David Crosby was so pissed off following RFK’s death he wrote “Long Time Gone” to protest.

“Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness,

You got to speak your mind if you dare,

But don't, no don't, no, try to get yourself elected,

If you do you had better cut your hair.”

The next year, the long-hairs assembled in upstate New York for their own protest.

Soon Peace, Love and Rock and Roll were born.

The “Ask Not” generation suddenly became the “Make Love Not War” movement.

The torch had been replaced with a flower!

Jimi, Janis and Jim replaced John, Paul, George and Ringo!

And guess what?

We could not only listen to them but we could see them nightly on the television, too!

Thanks to Sonny and Cher, The Smothers Brothers and Dick Cavett!

We also had a new listening device.

FM radio. (One of My Favorite groups later wrote a song about that!)

Soon our entire albums were played in their entirety until wee hours of the morning.

The New Frontier landed a man on the moon at the end of the decade and things began looking up (pun intended)!

But as the new decade began we couldn’t be satisfied with happiness and hope.

A new president had been elected on “peace in our lifetime” but soon his National Guard turned their sights on protesting students in Ohio.

Neil Young was watching and David Crosby handed him a guitar.

As our airwaves broadcast the images live on television we soon heard the words:

“Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming, 

We’re finally on our own, 

This summer I hear the drumming, 

Four dead in Ohio!”

Now you begin to see why 10 doesn’t even begin to answer the question!

We’re just getting started!

Soon after “Ohio,” Jimi, Janis and Jim checked out early.

Their flames burned too bright in the 60’s and well, they just couldn’t handle a new decade of music.

But they left us their hits which lived on in our cultural vast waste land.

“Foxey Lady”, “Hey Joe”, “Piece of My Heart” and “L.A. Woman”!

By the time Marvin Gaye brought MoTown into the protest movement with “What’s Going On” in 1971...

Soon the new president who gunned down students was “gunned down” himself by new bullets—tapes!

And a new wave of music began in Southern California.

All in one spot in West L.A.—“The Troubadour”.

Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young, James Taylor, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt all had their starts at The Troubadour. 

(Along with Elton John and Billy Joel and a few others.)

New protest music centered around leaving your restless troubles behind and searching for new answers.

Words like,

“Well I’m a runnin’ down the road tryin’ to loosen my load,

I’ve got seven women on my mind,

Four that want to own me,

Two that want to stone me,

One says she’s a friend of mine,

Take It Easy...

Well, I’m a standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona

Such a fine sight to see,

It’s a girl my lord in a flat bed Ford,

Slowin’ down to take a look at me”

The Eagles were born with that song to millions of teenagers.

They would respond in 1975 with “Hotel California” and end the decade with “The Long Run”.

In between we found other restless protesters like The Doobie Brothers “Rockin’ Down the Highway”, Jackson Browne “Running on Empty” and who could forget Terry Kath burning up the bridges in “25 or 6 to Four”.

That would be a good place to end this sojourn of music but we’d miss disco!

I know.

The generation that grew up liking Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison and morphed into Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young into The Eagles had found disco!

It wasn’t our fault.

A guy named Vinny Barbarino jumped out of our televisions into a white leisure suit and we became...Bee Gees fans.

Musical heresy!

What in the name of Jim Morrison had just happened.

But you have to admit. It was good stuff.

And the juxtaposition was telling.

“Stayin’ Alive” was a hit in 1977 when a bloated Elvis said, “I’ve seen enough!” and he left the building!

And just when the Bee Gees and John Travolta popularized disco we also discovered Earth, Wind and Fire, The Commodores, Donna Summer and K.C. and the Sunshine Band!

But we’re not done musically shape-shifting.

Just as we were grooving to a new beat, Vinny Barbarino does it again and puts on a Cowboy hat, Wranglers and boots and begats “Urban Cowboy”!

But it’s ok.

Because a lot of our old familiar faces are on the soundtrack.

The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, JD Souther, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Charlie Daniels, Jimmy Buffet.

It was all good.

And this is where my musical journey ends.

It’s not for me that the music stopped in 1980. 

But rather that seems like a good bookend to my life up until that point.

A decade that began in the 1960’s with Sinatra, Elvis and Bing ends with John Travolta!

I know.

I’ve skimmed over a lot of music.

And some I was probably inspired by along the way.

But this will have to be good enough.

Now you can see why I can’t do a Top 10 music list that inspired me.

Because I’m tired. 

By the end of the 70’s, we’d seen a young Michael Jackson on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand singing “ABC” with his brothers in the beginning to dancing with monsters in “Thriller” at the end!

Tom Johnston and “The Rockin’ Down the Highway” Doobie Brothers had morphed into Michael McDonald and “Minute by Minute”.

And by the time Terry Kath’s Chicago had become Peter Cetera’s “If You Leave Me Now”...

Well, just like Elvis, I’ve seen enough and I’m just done.

It’s been a “Long Run”!