The Beatles "White Album" was long awaited and there were rumour mills about it long before it hit the stores. One story was that it featured "Hey Jude" and songs from an upcoming movie. Another story that a radio DJ repeated was that the second disc was a jam, similar to Grape Jam by Moby Grape. In gym class I learned that the cover featured John Lennon and Yoko Ono sitting on toilet bowls.Finally the album found its way to FM radio and Murray the K announced that he had, once again, gotten the album first and would be featuring it on his Saturday night program on WOR-FM. Homework done, chores done, I was looking forward to an evening listening to this historic album for the first time.
The radio was on in my room. Murray the K had just started the show and there was a knocking on my door. It was my father.
"Master Mustache, come on, Mr. Mills has the bed he's giving you and we need to bring it over before he changes his mind."
"Bed, what bed, I don't need a bed. I have a bed." Even then, I was resistent to change.
The rest of the night it was up and down Kaplan Avenue. We carried mattresses, box springs, bed boards. It must have taken ten trips. We disassembled the bed at the Mills bedroom and reassembled it in my bedroom. I got to hear snippets of the Beatles behind the grunts and swear words accompanying the bed assembly. My other bed was then removed and planted on the curb.
After the bed was set up, Mr. Mills brought a bottle of champagne which both families drank, sitting on my new bed. Thus the bed was christened.
Finally the Mills family went home and I got to hear the last two Beatles cuts, "the End" and "Good night".
Editor's note: We actually drank the champagne on the back porch.
