How about some tunes about radio? One of my fondest memories is listening to WLAC in the mid-70's when it was still a top 40 music station. As usual you need to be viewing the web version of the blog to see the embedded YouTube videos. There are many songs about the radio, some bands have multiple ones so if there's one you wish I had posted why not leave a comment. "The only time I turn it down is when I'm sleeping it off."
The Fortune Band - Airwaves
Autograph - Turn Up The Radio or is it an ad for Papermate?
I ventured up into our attic the other day and found a box full of old notebooks filled mainly with my college notes. There was lots of anthropology, history, German, and algebra. There was also one filled with setlist's from my old bands, a few stray song lyrics, and an episode guide to The Brady Bunch. But it wasn't just any old episode guide. This was one that D.D. Blank and I wrote out from memory one afternoon while we were hanging out at his father's office around 1992. Sure, the internet was a thing by then, but personal computer access to the internet was not a given. I know D.D. was into perusing his university internet message boards, but I wasn't yet. His father's office wasn't wired to it. What I'm getting at is that to come up with an almost complete episode guide to a television series which had 117 episodes is pretty cool. It was the kind of random fun that could be had in those days and while I remembered us writing down the information as we remembered the shows from its endless syndication I didn't think either of us had kept the papers with our episode summaries. So it was a pleasant surprise to find.
1st page out of just over 3 in the notebook
What we came up with isn't completely accurate. We would conflate some episodes and sometimes split multiple storylines into different ones. One thing is for certain though; we both had watched the series multiple times. I'm old enough to barely remember the last few seasons in prime time. When it first entered syndication I didn't get to see it often as I stayed with a babysitter named Mrs. Green who would only tune her television to the local NBC station with only exception when I first began staying with her. The exception was she would always watch The Waltons. I later managed to get her to let me watch the Donny and Marie show on Fridays. There was a girl who lived next door in a duplex (one side was her immediate family and the other was her grandparents) and I was able to to see The Brady Bunch every now and then with her grandparents if I was able to sneak away.
Years later I would finally be able to see The Brady Bunch often even without cable television during and after high school. I loved the show and still do. I'm an only child and it was interesting seeing a family full of children on television. I loved the house and the astroturf backyard. I really enjoyed the fashion and the bright colors (which were a staple of television in the late 60's as more and more people bought color television sets). I know many people feel the show was corny and unrealistic, but I beg to differ. While it would not have been unrealistic to have Greg become a hippie protestor who then gets hooked on heroin, it's also not unrealistic to expect him to be what he was on the show: a guy who gets in trouble for smoking and for shirking schoolwork, a guy who buys a clunker car and so on. Most people live lives much like the Brady family. There's nothing corny about that at all.
Besides, it was a television show. If you want real life, then look around and you'll find it. I still enjoy watching the show because it's relatable and fun. So, without further ado is a transcription on the episode list D.D. and I put together one evening way back in the 90's. It was probably inspired by The Real Live Brady Bunch show I had recently seen at Vanderbilt. I will list these as we wrote the episode up and then note the actual episode name. We'll get a star for each one we got right and no star if we've listed one twice or mixed it up. I know we won't get 117 stars, but we'll come close. Note: we were not attempting to list the episodes in order, but was just trying to remember each one. You can almost see the wheels in our mind spinning as certain clusters of shows based around certain characters show up periodically.
1. Pilot - "The Wedding" * We get a star. This episode is actually titled "The Honeymoon" and you'll see that we listed it twice in our attempt to compile every episode.
2. The hideout one - the boys don't want the girls in their hideout. * This was episode 6 "A Clubhouse Is Not a Home."
3. Mom gets laryngitis and Cindy asks Santa to cure her. * Episode 12 "The Voice of Christmas" which is a truly great one. Susan Olson is wonderful in her portrayal of Cindy in this one.
4. Alice doesn't allow Carol to be a real mommy one. * Episode 4 "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
5. Evil stepmother one so Bobby decides to run away, but mom is going to go too. * Episode 10 "Every Boy Does It Once."
6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves episode. * Episode 98 "Snow White and the Seven Bradys"
7. Oh my nose episode - Marcia's nose gets busted. * Episode 90 "The Subject Was Noses"
8. Mom said never play ball in the house. * Episode 37 "Confessions, Confessions"
9. Millicent one - mumps and skyrockets. Bobby's first kiss. * Episode 99 "Never Too Young"
10. Bobby finds a wallet and gives it back to old man. * Episode 32 "The Treasure of Sierra Avenue"
14. Greg's groovy pad - the den one "They're not sunglasses, they're shades" * Episode 43 "Our Son, The Man"
15. Greg's crush on his teacher. * Episode 17 "The Undergraduate"
16. Greg's bonus baby episode - Don Drysdale. * Episode 26 "The Dropout"
17. Johnny Bravo one. * Episode 96 "Adios, Johnny Bravo"
18. Stealing the mascot - everybody thinks Greg has a girl up in his room. * Episode 101 "Getting Greg's Goat"
19. Cyrano de Bergerac one. * Episode 77 "Cyrano de Brady"
20. The playbook one - Greg and Marcia fight over football. * Episode 104 "Quarterback Sneak"
21. Greg the star photographer. * Episode 60 "Click"
22, 23, 24. Hawaii one - Vincent Price voodoo idol. Do we get three stars? Yes, we do. *** Episodes: 73 "Hawaii Bound", 74 "Pass the Tabu", and 75 "The Tiki Caves" It was always a treat when the Hawaii episodes came up during syndication. I loved that it was shot in Hawaii and Vincent Price is a hoot.
25, 26, 27. Grand Canyon ones - family locked in jail - Bobby and Cindy are missing. *** Episodes: 50 "Ghost Town U.S.A", 51 "Grand Canyon or Bust", and 52 "The Brady Braves"
28. Cindy's lisping one. Peter beat up by bully then beats up bully. * Episode 33 "A Fistful of Reasons"
29. Good ship lollipop one. Cindy sings to Natalie Schafer. * Episode 115 "The Snooperstar"
30. Cindy thinks Bobby stole Kitty Carry All. * Episode 7 "Kitty Karry-All Is Missing"
31. Bobby is Jesse James. * Episode 89 "Bobby's Hero"
32. Joe Namath Bobby one. * Episode 97 "Mail Order Hero"
33. Bobby wants a trophy one because Cindy had just won one for jacks. Bobby loses the ice cream eating contest. * Episode 46 "The Winner"
34. Cindy's on a quiz show and she freezes. * Episode 94 "You Can't Win Them All"
35. Evil Juliet. Marcia's got an ego problem. * Episode 56 "Juliet is the Sun"
36. Peter's voice changes, but they don't kick him out of the singing group. * Episode 65 "Dough Re Mi"
37. Jan gets her glasses smashes picture. * Episode 62 "The Not-So-Rose-Colored Glasses"
38. Jan looks like Aunt Lucy. Ok, so we got the name wrong, it's actually Aunt Jenny, but I'm still giving us a star since the episode is about Jan looking like her Aunt. * Episode 66 "Jan's Aunt Jenny." So, I understand why Jan is spotlighted, but wouldn't Aunt Jenny be aunt for all of the children?
39. Jan wig one. Wears wig to Lucy Winner's party. Once again, we get a name wrong, but we were oh so close. The correct name is Lucy Winters who was played by the awesome Pamelyn Ferdin. This one also features the great Marcia Wallace too. * Episode 40 "Will The Real Jan Brady Stand Up?"
40. Peter joins glee club - singing canary. * Episode 41 "The Drummer Boy"
41. Desi Arnaz Jr. comes for a visit to see Marcia. * Episode 22 "The Possible Dream"
42. Davy Jones - Marcia gets Davy Jones to sing at dance. * Episode 61 "Getting Davy Jones"
I met Davy at the Real Live Brady Bunch show. He was awesome.
43. Marcia runs for president against Greg. * Episode 11 "Vote for Brady"
44. Marcia tries to get head cheerleader. Greg is chairman. * Episode 83 "Greg's Triangle"
45. Marcia turns goofy girl into my fair lady. * Episode 71 "My Fair Opponent"
46. Marcia nominates Dad as father of the year get's punished. Lots of crying. * Episode 14 "Father of the Year" If this one doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you're not human. It's just great television.
47. Marcia does driving test against Greg. Greg loses. * Episode 110 "The Driver's Seat"
48. Peter plays Benedict Arnold and tries to get out of it. * Episode 84 "Everyone Can't Be George Washington"
49. Greg and Bobby get trapped in Sam's meat freezer. * Episode 64 "Big Little Man"
50. Payphone episode. Mike installs payphone lands contract. * Episode 9 "Sorry, Right Number"
51. Peter's job at the bicycle shop. * Episode 91 "How to Succeed in Business?"
52. UFO episode. * Episode 111 "Out of This World"
53. Ice cream shop one. Eve Plumb horns in on Marcia's job. (I don't know why I wrote out Eve Plumb instead of Jan.) * Episode 102 "Marcia Gets Creamed"
54. Let's haunt Alice one. * Episode 78 "Fright Night" This one was one of my favorites. It's perhaps the first one I can vividly remember actually seeing when it first ran.
55. Haunt house so people won't buy the house. * Episode 23 "To Move or Not to Move"
56. Mike and Carol play role of grandparents. * Episode 93 "You're Never Too Old"
57. Bobby, Oliver, and Cindy are secret agents. Sam is a double agent. Not completely on the mark, but it deserves a *. Episode 114 "Top Secret"
58. Cincinnati trip to King's Dominion. Don't eat snacks. So it's King's Island. Everybody remembers this one. * Episode 106 "The Cincinnati Kids"
Lots of scenes featuring the Bradys on the rides
59. Green stamp one they get a TV in the end. * Episode 15 "54-40 and Fight"
60. Alice wins the stereo Cindy is a tattletale. * Episode 35 "The Tattle-Tale"
61. Carol and Marcia do the bum thing at the talent show. * Episode 79 "The Show Must Go On??"
62. Peter saves girl at toy store. * Episode 21 "The Hero"
63. Bobby's a pool shark. * Episode 116 "The Hustler"
64. Greg and Marcia fight over the attic. * Episode 95 "A Room at the Top"
65. Peter has two dates. * Episode 113 "Two Pete's in a Pod"
66. Peter has a double - similar show. No star for us here since it wasn't a similar episode but was the same episode as "Two Pete's in a Pod."
67. Three musketeers Ken Berry fails to get a spin-off show. * Episode 109 "Kelly's Kids" which was, indeed, a back door pilot for a series that was never produced. It wasn't bad.
68. Alice is Jan's secret admirer. * Episode "Lost Locket, Found Locket" This episode is delightful and is such a great use of Ann B. Davis's character Alice.
69. Alice's cousin played by Alice turns home into boot camp. * Episode 69 "Sergeant Emma"
70. Alice and Sam are going to elope one. * Episode 107 "The Elopement"
71. Marcia joins Frontier Scouts Peter joins Sunflower Girls. * Episode 44 "The Liberation of Marcia Brady"
73. Jan's imaginary boyfriend George Glass. * Episode 34 "The Not-So-Ugly Duckling"
74. The Brady kids appear as the Silver Platters. * Episode 88 "Amateur Nite"
75. Oliver arrives on the scene. His parents are anthropologists touring the world. * Episode 112 "Welcome Aboard"
76. Oliver is a bad luck charm. No stars for us on this one as it's the same as "Welcome Aboard" above. We somehow remembered Robbie Rist being in way more episodes than he really was.
77. My exact words episode. Frogs and concerts. * Episode 87 "Greg Gets Grounded" While the frogs jumping around are funny this is an episode I don't enjoy. Bobby is just a little jerk.
78. Greg loses chin up war with Bobby. * Episode 67 "The Big Bet" Never take Bobby to a drive-in movie in a convertible.
79. Bobby and Cindy try to break the see-saw record to prove themselves. * Episode 63 "The Teeter-Totter Caper" This is another one of my favorites.
80. Greg doesn't want to be an architect one. * Episode 81 "Career Fever"
81. Carol and Mike switch roles. He cooks, she plays with the boys. * Episode 24 "The Grass Is Always Greener"
82. Peter the volcano one. Marcia tries to get into every club. * Episode 76 "Today, I Am a Freshman" This is one I always enjoy, but I still don't understand why Peter is making a volcano during the first week of a new school year. Those snooty Boosters had it coming.
83. Greg's first day at high school he tries to impress the chicks. No star here. This is the Greg gets the den episode we listed before 43 "Our Son, the Man"
84. Bobby's a hall monitor. * Episode 86 "Law and Disorder"
85. Marcia joins every club at high school after horrible first day. We missed this one as this is episode 76 "Today, I Am a Freshman" again.
86. Bobby sells hair tonic to Greg turns hair orange. Last episode. * Episode 117 "The Hair-Brained Scheme"
87. Greg buys his first car junker mobile. * Episode 53 "The Wheeler-Dealer"
88. Greg needs money for a surfboard works for Dad as a gopher. It's not a surfboard (that's actually in episode 64 "Big LittleMan") but close enough to earn the coveted star * Episode 31 "Call Me Irresponsible"
89. Cindy tries to back out doing a play because she can only invite one parent. * Episode 3 "Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy"
90. The commercial the family gets free stuff. * Episode 57 "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor"
91. Peter is a press guy. * Episode 68 "The Power of the Press"
93. Bobby overflows washing machine trying to wash pants. No star here as this is the hall monitor episode 86 "Law and Disorder" again.
94. Alice gets sick, kids pitch in to do chores. She doesn't get sick, but a sprained ankle is kind of sick so we're taking that star for this one. * Episode 19 "The Big Sprain" Don't leave your Chinese checkers game on the floor.
95. Thanksgiving episode. Family builds set in backyard. * Episode 29 "The Un-Underground Movie"
96. Bobby's locked in the closet. Peter lets him out. * Episode 103 "My Brother's Keeper" Another episode where Bobby is a total jerk.
97. Mike and Carol go to dinner and leave the children alone with Greg and Marcia. * Episode 27 "The Babysitters"
98. They all go on honeymoon together. Mike and Carol miss the kids so they invite them too. No star as this is the pilot episode which was called "The Honeymoon" which we listed first. Somehow we managed to turn it into two episodes in our memories.
99. Greg and Peter double date. Peter wears a phony mustache. * Episode 100 "Peter and the Wolf" That Phil Packer is a player!
Phil Packer is a babe magnet
100. Jan decides she'd like to be good at something, but she sucks at everything. She tries out for a play and finds out she can paint. * Episode 105 "Try, Try Again"
101. Peter's big party one. All of the kids trick Peter into thinking he's getting a party. Mom and Dad find out so they give him one. * Episode 58 "The Private Ear"
102. The trip to Hollywood. Take part in screen test. Oliver is there. Well, we managed to turn the first Oliver episode 112 "Welcome Aboard" into three parts somehow. No star for us.
103. Cindy's boyfriend episode. She wants to be grown up like her sisters. Bobby sends her secret admirer notes. * Episode 70 "Cindy Brady, Lady"
104. Save the park episode. The kids try to save park while Mike's company wants to destroy it. * Episode 47 "Double Parked"
105. Measles episode. The whole family gets measles. * Episode 13 "Is There a Doctor in the House?"
106. Earring episode. Jan or was it Cindy loses an earring of Carol's. Peter helps find it. He's a Humphrey Bogart type. We get a star for the earring, but have obviously conflated the Humphrey Bogart bit with a episode 55 "The Personality Kid." * Episode 92 "The Great Earring Caper"
107. Carol gets into accident in parking lot. Jackie Coogan takes her to court. * Episode 72 "The Fender Benders"
108. Jan runs for president and promises favors for constituents. She actually ran for the title of Miss Popularity so we're off on that but close to get a *. Episode 108 "Miss Popularity" This is another one that I don't like. Jan can be flighty, but I think it was way out of character for her to behave the way she did in this later episode.
109. Alice leaves to take better job. She's a waitress. * Episode 82 "Goodbye, Alice, Hello" This is not one I care much for either. The children are really mean to Alice for much of the episode. It does feature the funny gag of the vase leaking water at supper though.
110. Marci's diary gets sold. No star for us as this is Episode 22 "The Possible Dream" featuring Desi Arnaz Jr. coming to visit.
111. That darn Charleston episode. No star. This is episode 99 "Never Too Young" where Bobby gets his first kiss which we listed earlier.
112. Painting the bedroom one. This is episode 103 "My Brother's Keeper" which we mentioned before.
113. Missing ring episode? This is most likely episode 25 "Lost Locket, Found Locket" so no star.
114. Marcia tries to cook food, but it's terrible. No star as we were probably thinking of episode 24 "The Grass Is Always Greener" where Carol and Mike swap roles.
That's the end of our attempt to list each episode. We fell short of 117 episodes and we had several that we listed multiple times so how many did we get and what did we miss? We remembered 102 episodes off the top of our heads. That's a solid 87% we got right or almost right in some cases. I don't know how we didn't remember some of these iconic episodes, but here are the ones we missed:
Episode 2 "Dear Libby" Everyone sends letters to advice columnist Libby after seeing a letter that mirrored their new living arrangements.
Episode 5 "Katchoo" Jan's allergies might be because of Tiger.
Episode 16 "Mike's Horror-Scope" A strange woman is supposed to come into Mike's life per his horoscope.
Episode 28 "The Slumber Caper" Marcia's slumber party is off and on again after an unflattering picture of her English teacher is attributed to her.
Episode 30 "Going, Going...Steady" Marcia falls for bug boy Harvey Klinger.
Episode 36 "What Goes Up..." Bobby is scared of heights.
Episode 38 "The Impractical Joker" Jan starts playing practical jokes which leads to science experiment mouse Myron getting loose.
Episode 42 "Coming-Out Party" Both Cindy and Carol get tonsillitis which means they may miss a chance to ride on Mike's boss's boat.
Episode 45 "Lights Out" Cindy is scared of magic.
Episode 48 "Alice's September Song" Alice's old boyfriend shows up to rip her off.
Episode 49 "Tell it Like it Is" Carol writes a magazine article about the family.
Episode 54 "My Sister, Benedict Arnold" Marcia dates Greg's school rival. Sub-plot is the school carnival and the Brady's build a dunk tank.
Episode 55 "The Personality Kid" Peter thinks he's dull so he tries various personas including Humphrey Bogart. "Pork chops and applesauce."
Episode 80 "Jan, the Only Child" Jan wishes she was an only child so her siblings act like she's not there.
Episode 85 "Love and the Older Man" Marcia falls for her dentist.
The great Sylvain Sylvain Mizrahi passed away on January 13, 2021 after battling cancer for two and 1/2 years. He was a founding member and heart of the awesome ground breaking New York Dolls. I go by Wally Bangs in tribute to Lester Bangs since this is filled with my writing, but when I performed musically I went by Wally Thunders in tribute to the Dolls's Johnny Thunders whose anarchic guitar style I loved. It way Sylvain that taught Johnny guitar. I didn't really discover the Dolls music until after I graduated high school in 1985 even though I had heard of them due to their connection to the Mercer Art Center which I knew about because I was a huge Kiss fan in elementary school. I had seen photos of the band in rock magazines and while their glam look was intriguing their music wasn't played on mainstream radio when I was really young nor was their old catalog getting any airplay on the local hard rock station. Interesting to me that Sylvain moved to Nashville in 2015.
The first album of theirs I bought was the Night of the Living Dolls compilation in the fall of 1985 and that hooked for me good. The first verse and chorus of "Personality Crisis" made me a fan for life. It was like some amped up chaos version of the Stones. I found the debut and Too Much Too Soon in used record stores and still play them often. I wrote my own tune called "Born To Lose" in honor of Johnny years after he died. Crazy to think David Johansen is the only one left now. Time passes on. Sylvain Sylvain left an incredible musical legacy with the Dolls and with his own stellar and criminally underrated solo work. Time can't erase that. The thing I've thought of even more after learning of his passing is just what a great person Sylvain was during his life. I, somehow, happen to know a few people that actually knew the man. These people didn't happen to talk to after a show or bump into him on the street. They really knew the guy and they are grieving not just as fans, but as his friends. He was such a positive presence in their lives and that makes me happy. Godspeed Sylvain Sylvain. One of those people I know that knew him has this awesome blog post from 2017 with an interview she had done with him in 1993. It is essential reading if you want to learn more about this visionary rock and roll icon.
Looking For A Kiss
get it while it's hot!
Who Are The Mystery Girls?
Formidable
Teenage News
I Can't Forget Tomorrow
Godspeed Sylvain Sylvain we won't forget you today or tomorrow.
My first big time rock concert! It was incredible. Eddie lives forever in my heart.
A couple of department store music ads from December 1980. The first is from Clarks and the second one is obviously from Kmart. Clarks usually had a great record selection and was a stand alone store.
During the 80's and early 90's I wrote lots of letters to people. I had friends who had gone away to college and I also had penpals I had made through a mutual love of the Manic Street Preachers and due to my fanzine Anti*Society (tooting my own horn alert: that fanzine received national praise from Flipside magazine and the Beastie Boys magazine Grand Royal). I would say for every letter I sent there are probably 2 or 3 more I didn't send. Some of them even made it to addressed envelope stage, but I either forgot to mail them or more likely the information enclosed had changed so a new letter had been written and sent.
My recent post about visiting Washington D.C. and staying at the American Motel in Crystal City led me to look through some boxes trying to find the photo of me in front of the White House. I finally found that photo in a box of old tape cassettes under my bed. Before I found it I found a trove of old song lyrics (look for the tune "Nobody's Perfect" on my YouTube channel soon) and old letters never sent. One of those letters never sent was from the end of 1987 maybe into 1988 some and it serves as an addendum to the July 1987 D.C. trip. Hope you enjoy this brief look back in time.
I believe this letter would have been meant for D.D. Blank who was well into his 3rd year of college. The first page is missing so forget the salutations and whatever was on that first page.
1987/8:
I learned some more guitar from Drocam. We watched some Super 8 home movies one night at J.D's. Lots of old basketball footage. J.D.'s moves haven't changed since he was a little kid. Then the projector started burning through the film. I took Jethro B. to see Rocky Horror at MTSU. He wasn't too pleased. What else? I went to the Al Gore satellite hookup with M.D.. What trash. Al's a walking quaalude. Drocam and Fannblade went too. I found out I got along fabulously with Fannblade. He's not a shallow scenester like I originally thought. I read The Reivers. It was excellent, you'd like it.
Dalai Lamai's Death Squad (DLDS) is closing in on reality. Gonz saw an F.U.C.T. show and has seen the power in punk. $$$$ We're going to be working on some punk tunes this weekend after we go see Intruder and Mr. Zero. Life is, indeed, wild. I'm working at Cummings Sign from 3:00 to 11:30 weeknights. It's not too bad. Ace's Pizza folded. My manager there had played drums with Luck London. He was a great guy though. He didn't even get mad when I told him we thought Luck London stunk.
I have nothing else to say so GOODBYE,
Wally Wastoid
I don't ever recall being on night shift at Cummings Sign. Weird how one forgets everything.
2020 is almost over. It's been memorable. It's been miserable with death never out of sight. It's a year that most will want to put in their rear view mirror. Yet, I know some people that got married this year. I know some people that had children this year. I know people that never ran out of toilet paper. My family and I got through it. I can't speak for all of them, but I plan on punching 2021 in the face. There will be blog posts, but perhaps fewer. There will be more music by me on my YouTube channel. I might even do some real live blogging at some point. I'm ending 2020 with lots of songs about years and time along with a bonus 70's section with either the title or a year in the 70's mentioned in the lyric.
Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year in 2021.
How many people here tonight believe in rock and roll
Come get up, my baby
Year one in society
stowin' away the time
time keeps on slippin' into the future
all is quiet on New Year's Day
don't you think it's sometimes wise not to grow up
parties weren't meant to last
Let's revisit the Seventies in song title or lyric.
The Crystal City, Virginia Americana Motel is closing. Which makes me slightly sad. Perhaps wistful is a better description. I stayed there once with a couple of friends back in 1987. It was a long drive to get there, but at least I was just a passenger. It was extremely hot and humid. I wasn't even 21 years old. So much ahead and so much behind. Sit back and I'll tell you a tale of subways, La Bamba, Ollie's Trolley, Royals, and Orioles.
I believe we left Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Thursday July 23, 1987. My friend JD's sister MD had been working for the then Senator Al Gore that summer in Washington D.C.. JD was going to drive up for a few days and then MD would return with him. So he invited myself and Drocam to accompany him up there. My favorite baseball team would be playing the Baltimore Orioles on July 25 so JD said we'd go to that game. So I got some days off from my job at Mazzio's Pizza and I was in. Plus, I had a crush on his sister at the time so it would be a chance to spend some time with her. I packed a few things, grabbed a couple of paperbacks on Zen Buddhism I was reading and off we went in JD's Ford Fairmont.
The Ford Fairmont was a mid-sized sedan. Not terribly comfortable for a long legged guy like me. That was the least of my worries though as JD insisted we only crack the windows while not running the air conditioner. The temps were in the high 90's and the humidity was typical for that time of year. It was beyond stifling. I wondered if perhaps I had made a bad decision to go on this journey.
We rolled through Knoxville and then made our way east. I had never been past Knoxville. When I was growing up other kids would go on and on about their summer vacation in Gatlinburg and I thought it was in another world. We got closer to Bristol and this got me excited. I knew that Bristol was in Tennessee and Virginia which I always thought was neat. I think the original plan (wait....there was a plan?) was to get to Washington D.C. in one day, but JD wouldn't let Drocam or myself drive so he ran out of steam somewhere just past Richmond, Virginia so we found some small motel and called it a day. This was the first time I can remember staying in a motel. It was okay.
We started out early the next day, which was probably Friday July 24, and found ourselves driving right across the Potomac River into D.C. before we even knew where we were. Traffic in D.C. was crazy so but JD managed to get us back over the river into Virginia where we began to look for lodging and luck was with us as the Crystal City Americana Motel appeared. They had a room with a two twin beds. Drocam said he'd sleep in the bathtub instead of using a cot and we were set. There was a Metro subway station just down the street from the Americana. It was part of a labyrinth of underground shops and it seemed like I walked for hours in there over the course of just 2 days all the while the Los Lobos version of "La Bamba" played. We wouldn't meet MD until later in the afternoon so we took the train into D.C. to see the tourist attractions around the Mall.
We walked from one end of the Mall to the other somehow not going to see the Lincoln or Jefferson Memorials. JD snapped a photo of me outside the White House. Ronnie wouldn't come out to say hey. Maybe it was the atrocious outfit I was wearing that day. The Capitol pool seemed mucky. The drinking age was still 18 in D.C. so I could enjoy a cold beer sold by a vendor on the way to the Smithsonian. It was insanely hot. Sweltering. We went to the Smithsonian just to avoid the heat, but timed it just right to see the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key. I was more interested in Fonzie's leather jacket, Dorothy's ruby slippers, and Archie Bunker's chair. I did fulfill a dream that day by going to the top of the Washington Monument.
I left JD and Drocam at some point and just wandered alone through the city. I found the Supreme Court by accident. I was stumbling around and there it was with lady justice and her scales. Street drummers were on every street corner beating on old industrial buckets. I made my way back to Crystal City and discovered this food stand called Ollie's Trolley where I bought my first curly spicy fries. It was the summer of Iran/Contra hearings and I found it amusing that I was buying grub from a place named Ollie's. Perhaps Oliver North owned them, I thought. JD and Drocam eventually made it back and it was time to fire up the Fairmont and go pick up MD and have some supper somewhere.
The traffic wasn't too bad and we made it to the place MD had stayed that summer. It was a ladies only dormitory of sorts. It had a The Facts of Life vibe to me. MD was a cute little curly haired pixie of a girl. I would actually take her on a sort of date either later that summer or the next. She was excited to see us and told us we should go to old town Alexandria to eat that night. We drove back across the river and went south. Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia is an historic district nestled alongside the Potomac. There was lots of people around and I have vague memories of walking around until we finally found a restaurant. I believe it was a seafood place, but I'm pretty sure I had chicken. We were walking back to our car and these 3 teenagers approached us, said they had lost ride and needed money for the bus and that would sing us a song for the dough. They claimed it would be so good they'd steal our girl. Drocam and JD weren't having it, but I told them to sing so they proceeded to harmonize a beautiful tune. I gave them $5. We went on and JD and Drocam were giving me grief for giving the teens money. "You know they were just hustling you, don't you Wally?" "Sure, but they were awesome," I replied. I could tell MD thought it was cool.
JD drove us all back into D.C. and we dropped MD off. The trip back to the hotel Americana became an adventure. JD's car had some issues. It had worn out bushings in the wheels for one. So the ride was not smooth. It also had been prone to just stop running at times due to an alternator issue. Then there was the fact that JD wouldn't let us roll down the darn windows. We leave MD's ladies home and find ourselves around the Capitol building trying to find the road to take us back across the river when JD goes the wrong way up a one way street. Keep in mind, it's well after midnight and there's no traffic now. But there is a Capitol Hill policemen who instantly hits his lights. JD is a nervous and jittery guy under normal situations, but he's practically bouncing around. If any drinking had taken place that evening it would have been just me so JD was clean, but he was from out of town. The cop was pretty much a jerk. We could hear the tags being run from the radio. Tennessee plates......and so on. JD gets off with a mouthy warning and we somehow make it back to the hotel. D.C. day one is done. But wait, there's more in day two.
We take the train early in the day when the temperature is at least tolerable. Our plan is to go to the zoo because JD wants to see the panda. I think MD was going to meet us there. We get off at Dupont Circle where the escalator seemed to take forever. I later learned it was one of the longest ones in the Metro system. The panda would not come out and the zoo bored me so I wandered off from JD, MD, and Drocam to find an African street festival happening. I bought a daishiki which I would wear for years afterward. I reconnected with the gang and we found ourselves at the old Washington D.C. post office which had been turned into various shops. There was a jazz band playing in the center which I completely dug. The movie No Way Out came out a few weeks later and it features a fight scene in the old post office. I saw the film in the theater and it made my day to see the scene shot in a place I had just visited weeks before. I believe the old post office is now a Trump hotel.
We left the old post office and Drocam gave a beggar some money after telling me I was wrong to give the teenagers money the night before. JD and I had a baseball game to attend that night in Baltimore. I believe Drocam and MD hung out that night, but I don't recall for sure. I've told the story about my love for the Kansas City Royals before, but here's a quick summary for you. The first team baseball card I got in a Topps pack was the 1974 Royals. Since there was not a major league team near me in Murfreesboro, Tennessee I decided the Royals were my favorite team. They proceeded to become winners from 1976 through the 80's with stars like George Brett and Bret Saberhagen leading the way. So I was super pumped up to see the Royals go up against the Orioles in Memorial Stadium.
Memorial Stadium was in the midst of a huge neighborhood and when we couldn't find any parking we ended up parking in the neighborhood several blocks away. We'd be lost trying to get out later, but at the time we just wanted to get tickets and get into the game before it started. We made it in and found our right field bleacher seats. Saberhagen had been on a tear so I hoped he would stop the Orioles who had been on a winning streak. There were 3 future hall of famers in the game: Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, and one of my all time favorites George Brett. Bo Jackson was also in this game. The Baltimore paper featured a nice photo of him arguing a called third strike. My friend JD snapped some photos of the outfield and shared one with me the other day.
The game was decent with the Royals getting the lead, but Saberhagen later grooved a pitch to Murray who slammed it about 6 rows or so behind us to give the Orioles a lead they wouldn't relinquish. I still remember the crazy shirtless old guy that caught the home run ball waving his arm up and down. I'm probably as old as that dude now. The best part of the game was sitting in the bleachers and flirting with this blond lady that sat next to me. She told us she was dating a Red Sox minor leaguer. She was only the second lady I'd ever met that knew anything about baseball. It was disappointing to see the Royals lose 4-3, but it was still loads of fun and only the second major league game I'd seen at this point in my life.
The drive back to Crystal City and American Motel was an adventure. We had completely lost our way coming in and it was a long walk back to the car. I think it took quite a while just to figure out which side street JD had parked it. It was, thankfully, still there, but now we had no real way of knowing how to get back to the highway. We had a map, but the detail was D.C. and not Baltimore. There was a general summary of Baltimore so we looked the map over and figure if we hit this one artery it would take us to downtown Baltimore by the Chesapeake Bay and from there it would be a piece of cake. This one street we took had us driving for miles and miles through a row house neighborhood that could have charitably been called rundown. JD's car was not the most dependable. It was still a million degrees out even near midnight and if we ended up stranded in a rough neighborhood it could get interesting. Mind you I wasn't scared, but I was nervous. It seemed like hours before we made it to downtown and then we still needed to get back to Virginia before dawn so we could get a little sleep before the trip back to Murfreesboro.
We found Drocam asleep in the bathtub when we finally got back to the Americana. I believe he'd been out with MD the whole evening. JD swears he was drunk, but I don't think so. We got a few hours of rest and then it was off to retrieve MD for the trip home. I tried to get her to tell us some good dirt on Al Gore, but she said there was nothing scandalous to tell. JD still wouldn't let us roll the windows down, but at least MD insisted we play rock radio stations. This meant more "La Bamba" by Los Lobos and lots and lots of U2. The Joshua Tree album was a mega hit record which I hadn't even bought yet even though I was a U2 fan. They had hit the point of popularity which tends to turn me off. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" won me over on that long car trip back.
The story of the Americana closing brought me right back to those few days in July of 1987 when new experiences, new places filled with history, baseball, and music shared with friends made for one wonderful outing destined for memories now bobbing to the surface. When I asked Drocam if he remembered anything about the trip he kept going on about how I had a favorite bridge or wanted to live under a bridge. Hmmmm, maybe JD was right all along. Perhaps Drocam was drunk the night we got back to the Americana after the baseball game.
Part 62 and the last one in the series listing every movie that played at the Marbro Drive-In once located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Today's post covers May 1984 through September 1984. This is it. All she wrote for the Marbro Drive-In which had opened with Thunderball way back on July 22, 1966. The Marbro would make it to its 18th anniversary, but would fall victim to the changing times like so many other drive-in movie locations less than 2 months later. The reason the sign and the article talk about 23 years instead of 18 is because there was a drive-in called the 4 Lane Drive-In located in almost the same spot that was also managed by Joe Tomlinson who managed the Marbro Drive-In. This was a fun little project for me to look through all of the old digital Daily News Journals to find the ads and then having to search IMDB to figure out some of the odd grind house movie titles. I managed to list almost every movie that played the Marbro, but fell a little short in 1977 due to really bad quality newsprint. I hope you enjoyed these posts. If so, leave a comment.
May 4 - 6, 1984
May 11 - 13, 1984
May 18 - 20, 1984
May 25 - 27, 1984
June 1 - 3, 1984
June 8 - 10, 1984 held over ad
June 15 - 17, 1984
June 22 - 24, 1984
June 29 - July 1, 1984
July 6 - 8, 1984
July 13 - 15, 1984
July 20 - 22, 1984
July 27 - 29, 1984
August 3 - 5, 1984
August 10 - 12, 1984
August 17 - 19, 1984
August 24 - 26, 1984
August 31 - September 3, 1984
September 7 - 9, 1984
List of movies that played the Marbro from May 1984 - September 1984
Cheech & Chong's:
Things Are Tough All Over
Nice Dreams
Up In Smoke
Still Smokin'
Flashdance
Footloose
Children of the Corn
Christine
Dirty Harry
Magnum Force
The Enforcer
Sudden Impact
Police Academy
Risky Business
Weekend Pass
The Last American Virgin
The First Time
My Tutor
National Lampoon's Vacation
Splash
Hard to Hold
Sixteen Candles
Angel
Private School
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th Part 2
Friday the 13th Part 3
Friday the 13th The Final Chapter
Star Trek The Motion Picture
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Romancing The Stone
Unfaithfully Yours
Breakin'
Hot Dog...The Movie
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Hooper
The Cannonball Run
Cannonball Run II
Streets of Fire
Conan The Destroyer
Rhinestone
Nine to Five
Where Death Lives
Zombies
Boogey Man
Halloween
Summer School
Girls on the Road
September 16, 1984 Sunday Accent cover story on the Marbro Drive-In closing
Part 61 of an ongoing series listing every movie that played at the Marbro Drive-In once located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Today's post covers January 1984 through April 1984. There's only one more post coming in this series.
January 1, 1984
January 6 - 8, 1984
January 13 - 15, 1984
January 20 - 22, 1984
January 27 - 29, 1984
February 3 - 5, 1984
February 10 - 12, 1984
February 17 - 19, 1984
February 24 - 26, 1984
March 2 - 4, 1984
March 9 - 11, 1984
March 16 - 18, 1984
March 23 - 25, 1984
March 30 - April 1, 1984
April 6 - 8, 1984 / April 13 - 15, 1984
April 20 - 22, 1984
April 27 - 29, 1984
List of movies that played the Marbro from January 1984 - April 1984
