More Things I Can Remember in the 1970s

       My first introduction to a house party was going to Alexis' house,

1739 W. 106th St. My favorite remembrance was hearing a remix of

the famous Chic song, "Good Times", in the bass line. So much the

better was that the sitcom, "Good Times" sprung up in the 1970s,

a comedy supposedly shot in the Cabrini-Green projects in

Chicago.

***

     My first love for music started immediately at that time (say, around 6 or

7 years old, in 1976-1977), and it grew. For instance, I can remember the song

 "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" by Tony, Orlando and Dawn. I loved it, even if I didn't 

even know the words--I adored the music. Even their short-lived TV variety show, 

supposedly made to look like something out of the Ed Sullivan Show, was very

 interesting to me. But this set the stage for a laid-back version of the Ed Sullivan 

show--the Lawrence Welk Show, in the next decade. I was introduced to the 

Lawrence Welk’s orchestra that brought great Broadway classics, and some vintage 

pop and jazz classes, and some great ballroom dance classics as well.

     With music came jazz, and I was introduced to the sounds of George

Benson, when my father Joseph put on "Weekend in L.A." on his old

stereo system. The album he had was an 8-track--passe right now,

but I can remember the 8-track indicator with the red lights moving on to

the next song. But I realized that there was more than just George Benson

on the guitar. There were some drums, too.I didn't even know the drummers 

from the George Benson band until about 20 years later. They turned out to

 be Harvey Mason (on drumset) and Ralph Macdonald (playing Latin 

percussion). And like theEd Sullivan show, I remember that "American 

Bandstand" exploded n the 1970s with the latest 70s hits, especially when 

the show rode along the 'disco wave'. Barry Manilow's theme song to the

program made me want to swing, but I did not have the knowledge

to swing dance yet. Too bad...

***

Emma introduced me to the sound of public transportation. I can

remember taking a ride on the CTA train many times with her. I

can remember the rattling, the loud wind-like sound, the screeching of the

train when it made its banks (or "turns"), and the squeaking of the doors 

as it opened and closed.

***

Grandma's house on 6940 S. Peoria (in the neighborhood of West

0hatham) was still there even though we moved out around 1975.

Naomi Smith, my grandmother, used to baby-sit with me as my mother or

father dropped me off to go to their jobs. I can remember the

very old piano in the living room--often out of tune, and the ivory keys

seeming to look like teeth being yellow from tobacco

stains. I can also remember holding a Raggedy Ann doll in one of

her bedrooms, as if I was holding another person. At other times,

I was hooked to the TV, watching such programs as "Sesame Street"

or "The Price Is Right". Naomi is now deceased.

       One thing I really was unable to bask into in the 1970s was the

disco craze. The reason: both parents were quite conservative, and

Emma was conservative because she was a Christian, even though I

was able to see images on TV regarding the stuff related to disco…

the disco clubs, the colored moving lights, and dance floors

featuring moving color patterns. I was about 6 when the craze started

with its sensual, promiscuous music that may be good enough to attract

Jezebel, and about 9 when fireworks, dynamite, and Steve Dahl’s DJ

antics at Chicago’s Comiskey Park on July 12, 1979 on “Disco

Demolition Night”, brought an explosive end to the craze.  Finally,

I was too young to go to any of those disco clubs.

   Well, while disco was temporarily “the king”, the ultimate zenith

of disco I had experienced indirectly---seemed to be “Saturday Night

Fever”, and I got the first tastes of John Travolta (who played Tony

Manero) and Karen Lynn Gorney (who played Stephanie Nagano). I was

about 8 at that time so I could not even get the story line down pat

but I can remember the lighting in the Apollo 2000 disco club scene

and all of that dancing…that is, I focused on the lights and the

dancing. But its mixture of disco-twinged pop and rock music also

turned me on.

     I can remember when WLS AM radio was popular, the disco super group,

The Bee Gees, made fame with this movie and I can remember

the several times the radio station put on “How Deep Is Your Love?”

I never have known the Bee Gees at that point but that song with its

beautiful, laid-back music with its pretty good chordal changes seem

to be the hook of the song. I was not in love at that point even though it 

was a romantic song, but this slow, ballady music is quite incarnating.