Top 100 records

I remember the first time I discovered that radio stations did end of year lists featuring the top records of the year I was a passenger with my brother driving the Ford Fairlane. We were listening to WABC and were trying to guess which Beatles record would be no. 1. I guessed She Loves You because it was the no. 1 record for several weeks in March. It was quite a surprise when Louis Armstrong's Hello Dolly came out to no. 1. 

1965 was also an interesting year, I predicted Downtown by Petula Clark and much to my surprise Satisfaction was no. 1 that year. Apparently, millions of kids bought the record to hear the dirty lyric that was supposedly censored from radio play that summer. Ballad of the Green Berets was no. 1 in 1966 and Lulu's To Sir With Love got the honor in 1967.

By 1967 though, the hip kids were listening to albums and hearing album cuts on FM. The era of teenagers and AM radio was coming to an end. Woodstock killed classic AM radio. 

The town drunk

 

When I was eight years old the folks took me to a football game at Hathenrock High School. My older brother played clarinet in the band, so in the support of him and the local high school we all sat in the bleachers and watched Hathenrock play Paramus High. 

It was a fun game, highlighted by the Paramus half-back who ran the wrong way and scored a safety for our team. At the game an older man kept standing up and shouting "Rah rah Paramus" in the middle of the home team stands. I asked my mother who he was. 

"Oh, he's just the town drunk. Don't pay any attention to him",   I was informed by dear Ma ma. For the first time in my life I met up with a town drunk. I was so proud of my home town. We had a swell hospital, a swell high school band, a winning team, and our very own town drunk. 

The bicycle rack was good

 Here's an anecdote from my other blog which is about my time as a Junior Leader in the 6th grade. 

I missed Woodstock

https://hardtimesmrmustache.blogspot.com/2019/08/i-missed-woodstock.html

Mr. Leech

On rare occasions as a high school student my father would invite me to go the museum where he worked. Perhaps my mother wanted to get rid of me during my school vacation or perhaps my father wanted to instill in me the joys of being an adult in the working world.

I did get a walk around the place and got to see an expert art restorer, Mr. Leech, at work. He had a painting and he was working with a cleanser and seemed to make the colors much brighter.

On snowy days when the buses weren't running I remember him calling the house. He lived in the Garden State like us and he was probably calling to ask dear old dad for a ride. He must have been in his eighties and I could hear his raspy German accent. Like all people who answer the phone and realize it is an unwanted call I had a distinct joy in my voice as I said, "Dad, it's Mr. Leech!"

Mr. Leech had a special cake he gave us every year. It was called a "poor man's cake" and apparently it was a vestige from the war when butter and eggs were not available. We ate it every Christmas.

I asked the old man why he gave us this treat every year. "It's because I always give him his check the day before pay day". The advantages of being an accountant.

Editor's note: Now available is my first Kindle book.

Snow days

Here is a post about being a kid and getting a snow day.

The man who knew Huncke

This is a blog I wrote for my Hard Times blog but I thought some of you might find entertaining, although it is definitely 1970s. It is an embellished version of how I moved to Denver.