Lucky That I Escaped The Greatest American Volcano Eruption Ever in History—May 20, 1980

       Well, I do not exactly remember the time that my mother informed me that one of the mountains in Washington—which was a dormant volcano for a long time, showed signs of spewing magma and small eruptions---until ¼ of its 9,000-foot summit blew up in the most shocking massive explosion that you only often see in a blow-up of a bulk storage facility of a pyrotechnics factory….an explosion so massive that it seemed like somebody planted a nuclear bomb into the mouth of the volcano and then the nuclear bomb detonated and blew up almost the whole volcano.

        At the first seeing of the time-lapse photography of that fateful day—when Mt . St. Helens massively blows its summit and spew large amounts of ashy smoke up to 60,000 feet high that it even created its own weather (and because the volcanic ash was very hot and it cooled as it spewed up into the sky to the troposphere to temperatures as low as -40 to -50F); it created a cumulonimbus cloud great enough and an atmosphere so unstable enough to create enough separation charges to create thunder and lightning in that volcanic ash cloud. But I did not know about volcanic eruptions triggering lightning until I heard that Tom Skilling told me on WGN that it can happen.

          And I learned that even when the ash spewed upward and you think the eruption is going to be over when the smoke goes up….but I learned that just like in Amaro, Colombia, the top of the mountain of Mt. St. Helens—the icecap---melts from the intense heat and the resultant pyroclastic flows that came with it caused pounds and pounds of ash, water, and mud to spread towards a large area away from the mountain, uprooting trees and incinerating almost anything that went in their way.

         And the ash cloud itself moved 200 miles to Spokane, Washington as it spread away from the summit. I did not even know about it.

            I found out that 61 people died when all of the hell of the massive eruption was finally over, but we were lucky.

TV Commercials I Remembered in 1979

BUDWEISER

I found out that I remembered the famous words, “This Bud’s For You….for all you do, the King of Beers is comin’ through.” But I never drank even a sip of Budweiser because at that time I was too young to drink alcohol or beer. But my father loved that beer. I could also that there was a lone Clydesdale horse on the countryside in the middle of the commercial.

CATCH THAT PEPSI SPIRIT

In that Pepsi commercial, I remember that there was a scene on a cruise ship that lands on port to an arriving crowd that cheers and celebrates, and background singers saying “Catch that Pepsi spirit---drink it in, drink it in, drink it in.” I guess the end of the commercial featured a

Jewish couple celebrating front and center in a bar mitzvah party.

HAVE A PEPSI DAY

 I can remember that the commercial took place in the farm of a typical American family. I see a boy wearing a blue shirt and Denim jeans, and I also see galloping horses. The key was D major, and the Pepsi logo had the red, white, and blue colors.

PAN-AM AIRLINES

Well, this airline is now kaput, but I can remember the phrase “Say hello to a brand new world, say hello to Pan-Am”, and I also remember that the end of the commercial featured lady models in red and black going down on a floor in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

RAM TOUGH

I remember that this commercial for Dodge Trucks was often used in a lot of 1979 sporting events from college football all the way to Major League Baseball and more often, in the National Football League. I remembered those two rams clashing against each other several times, especially on the sung phrase, “Dodge trucks are ram tough!”. I remembered that the commercial was for the Dodge B-100 with its light brown on the top and the white on the bottom.  I understood the concept of “ram tough” – it means very, very tough. 

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.

Some of My Favorite Game Shows From The 1970s---Name That Tune and Wheel of Fortune

NAME THAT TUNE

       The house band in that game show was cheesy but it was sad that the credits did not acknowledge the musicians, but it was a setup similar to The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson—-technically a big band, with a brass section, a rhythm section with a drummer in the center, and a

keyboardist with a conductor. In my further research, this seemed almost like an Allyn Ferguson band setup—the band who released the “Barney Miller” theme song (as mentioned earlier).

       Tom Kennedy was famous as a host of the show from 1974-81, and I realized that the voice-over at the time was Jules Harlon (the man who mentioned the game prizes’ and some

of the end credits, etc.), but I did not care about both of these people.

       The structure of the game was a little bit like Family Feud with red

plunger buttons that set off an alarm sound effect just before the contestant answers. The Golden Medley, one of the structured final rounds in that game show, was a little bit like Beat The Clock on another game show, “The Price Is Right”. But what struck me about the game structure was the

vast variety of musical tunes from the pop, easy listening, swing, big-band, and jazz eras that I was exposed to, even if it was not done in the complete versions (some of the songs only lasted 3-15 seconds, and when the plunger sounds, the music stops—so it is a little bit like “musical

chairs”—the game I used to play in Beacon School).

        Kathie Lee Johnson was the most inspiring lady in the game show, setting up the buildup to what Vanna White did later on in another game show, Wheel of Fortune. She was born on August 16, 1953 and was formerly Kathie Lee Epstein, and she joined up with a group called

Pennsylvania’s Next Right before she earned a spot as a singer on Name That Tune.

           Being first raised in a town called Bowie, Maryland (her birthplace), I did not yet know at that time that Kathie was known as the “La La Girl”, on that game show, because when she sings with

the house band, the titles of the songs the contestants need to answer would be replaced by “la la” syllables. In my autistic mind, I secretly called her “The Little Jean” (not just the aforementioned “La La Girl”) —because to me, the name Jean is perceived to me as something with a sense of fullness and extroversion, but at the same time, a strong dose of gentleness. In other words, when she sings the songs, she strongly expresses herself as musically as she can, but in doing this, her dancing was controlled—she dances during some songs, but she doesn’t do it too wildly.  Her vocal style, overall, is a little bit like her being in the Keith Textor Singers and Band—her singing

with the house band was worthy of her being in that band that was famous on Sesame Street, even though she was not appointed to sing for that ensemble. She also reminded me of Karen Carpenter,

a singer and drummer who was famous at that time.

          Regrettably, after 1980, Kathie Lee Johnson was dropped from singing in future Name That Tune episodes, which made me a bit maudlin.

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

      In my perceptions, this game show was definitely based on the casino game known as roulette, and add a bit of a twist on solving crossword puzzles and you get the meat of what the game is all about. I have seen this show in the 1970s over 100 times already probably

because I loved all of the variety in it—from the colorful indications of money values on the spinning wheel all the way to that “Eeeeehhhh” buzzer when a contestant utters the wrong letter in the attempt to solve the puzzle. 

      In the movie “Rainman” (with more details in it mentioned later in the book), character Raymond Babbitt was known to recite perfectly the script of the opening mentioned by the voice-over at the start of the Wheel of Fortune game. But I had reluctance to recite the famous open for

the show—unlike the character. I usually wanted to feel much more introvert at that time.  Pat Sajak and Vanna White had run the helm of the show for over 25 years or so, but I do not know why they had been on for so, so long.

ANOTHER ASIDE - MY MEMORIES OF TELEVISION COMMERCIALS IN THE 1970s AND 1980s

ACE (HARDWARE STORE)

In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the most popular hardware store of all, competing with another hardware store brand called True-Value Hardware Stores. The most important thing I remember in

the Ace thing was the focus on red in their logo. In the early commercials, there was a focus on the “hardware man”, mainly because most people who are interested in hardware items were men, but then, about 2000, to prevent racial discrimination in the workplace, the commercial changed the phrase from “hardware man” to “hardware folks” in that decade of increased awareness in following political correctness.

BATTLESHIP

The famous phrase, “you sunk my battleship!”, was the common catch phrase I learned from a board game called “Battleship” when I played with Stan.

CONNECT FOUR

Of course, I can remember this Milton-Bradley classic board game, a game which is a cross between checkers, tic-tac-toe, and quincunx. The object of the game was to get four chips in a row of the same colors across, vertically, or diagonally.

IF YOU GOT THE TIME, YOU’VE GOT THE BEER (MILLER BEER)

Well, at that time, I was 2 years old, and it was a spinoff of that commercial in 1977 that I understood when my father loved to drink beer, but I was too young to drink at that time. It was used especially during the 1972 World Series…even though I never had any recollection of it at age 2 until I saw this

commercial on Youtube in 2013.

MEMOREX – THE ELLA FITZGERALD PHENOMENON AND THE SHATTERING GLASS

Scotch had its recording tape in a commercial that featured soul singer, Ray Charles, but Ella Fitzgerald’s wine-glass-breaking feat in the Memorex tape commercial was very memorable. I did not think at first that a wine glass can be broken without being dropped.

MIKEY AND “LIFE”

Well, I felt like a child with that commercial, but I had my eyes on Kellogg’s Corn Flakes instead.

REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE—ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE

Well, this jingle I heard a lot in the 1980s in the Illinois Bell Telephone TV commercials reminded me of the Diana Ross song, “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand”,  but this song was much different than

Diana’s. It was more of a 4/4 rock song than a ¾ pop waltz feel like the former song.

SEVEN-UP AND THE “UNCOLA”

Coming out of the 1970’s bubbles, the bubbles treated 7-Up like champagne. I believe at that point that the “Uncola” was because Coca-Cola was always caramel brown when you pour it into your

favorite cup or mug.

SIMON

The four big buttons of blue, yellow, red, and green, would eventually become the Microsoft logo in the 1990s, but in the 1980s, this challenging mind game had the famous “wrong” buzzer, which reminded me of something out of a cheesy pinball game.

THE LOOP – FM 98

The commercial for that Chicago radio station known as WLUP was popular leading up to Disco Demolition Night of July 12, 1979. The commercial focused about a station that had less talk with no commercials. What I remembered was that the commercial’s visual concept focused on something

like art noir (black and white) to pay homage to some of the heavy metal rockers who focused on the colors black and white in some of their outfits. And there was Lorelei – the Loop Lady – I did not know

what she intended to do in that commercial. But wow…..that’s all I know.

VENTURE

This logo was only black and white lines, slanted. It was supposed to be a big retail store that would precede today’s Walmart.  My father used to go to such a store at 87^th and State St. just near the Dan Ryan Expressway.

VIRGINIA SLIMS

From my autism, I perceived the word “Virginia” as a lovely lady, and “slims” as the word “slams”, wanted me to make the gesture of folding my arms so that my hands are at the sides. I learned too late that it came from a 1971 television commercial for a cigarette brand called Virginia Slims, before

new laws banned cigarette smoking advertisements on TV and radio around the middle of 1971.

WHITE SOX PROMO – NA NA HEY HEY GOOD-BYE

In 1979, what I remember was very scary at the end of the commercial; the scariest thing was seeing the exploding scoreboard doing its explosive stuff and lighting up like a pinball machine gone crazy, as the

voice-over says “The Chicago White Sox…it’s more than a ballgame—come play with us!”

    The first part of the commercial, of  course, featured the iconic rock song used by the White Sox organization in the 1970s when homers were hit, when the starting pitcher of the opposing team leaves the mound, and when the Sox get a victory—of course, “Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” by Steam. It was a bit nice that Steam borrowed Jack Brickhouse’s home run call that ended with him saying “Hey Hey” and not end up being sued for this quotation. I didn’t care about the intercutting camera technique that shows shots of White Sox fans in different areas of the ballpark—and away from the ballpark—singing Steam’s well-known song. But the scoreboard I saw---even on TV---really made my heart race, and Isaid to myself “I will never go to another White Sox game.”

Details on My Electroacoustic Composition, "Synth vs. Synth", at Electronic Music Midwest October 2005

Exact Title of composition:

"Synth vs. Synth"

(Also okay to put title in caps (e.g., SYNTH VS. SYNTH))

Name of the performer (s):

Charles Joseph Smith, who will be the actual performer of the piece since it is a tape
composition. The actual improvisation in "Synth vs. Synth" was done beforehand on the
keyboard and a sequencer, which was transferred to tape.

Synopsis of "Synth vs. Synth"

 "Synth vs. Synth" started out in 1997 as an contemporary musical improvisation using a
 Kurzweil PC-88 synthesizer and a Master Tracks Pro (v. 4.3) sequencer, that lasts
 between 3-4 minutes, and at first, it was not composed out.

The piece uses three tracks: a trombone, Synth FX 1, and Synth FX 2 (the last two tracks
 being expansion sounds from the Kurzweil PC 88).
 As it was saved on a MIDI file, the same piece was played back using the Roland JV-35 and Roland

JV-40 synthesizers at the CAMIL (Computer Assisted Music Instruction Lab) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Playing it back, the Synth FX 1

and Synth FX 2 showed more of a white-noise distortion on the Roland synthsizer since
the types of preset sounds on that synthesizer were different than that of the Kurzweil PC-88.

The composer decided not to give up the composition....but realize that it can be a new form of the composition.The piece starts off with a key center in D minor. After the long notes, starting with two
octave Ds (which opens the piece), we hear the first theme, pointillistic and pizzicato in nature (on the notes A-G-F-E-F-A-D) in the bass line. Soon after that, arpeggiated chords on Gb-Bb-Eb and D-F-A create tension, and lead to a Gb-Bb-Eb-Gb/F-A-D-F/E-G#-C#-E, chordal pattern, in a style reminiscent of a film music featuring a mystery novel, which the chordal pattern creates tension.

A very brief staccato canon of only two measures takes place, and then two measures after that, a

crescendo appears. The tension leads to the E-Ab-Db-F chord, held along, depicting a certain person

having one's hair stand up on end, depicting that one saw something terrifying.

More detached chords come in the middle and lower registers, while another track

brings out longer notes decorated with dotted rhythms.
 
The pedal points in the bass comes afterward; first on an Eb-C, second on an E-D-F, and another on an E-C#-G reverberate as two open voices--one pointillistic and in a very high register, and the other, slightly lower in register and more melodic, permeate in a contemporary conversation.

 Suddenly, a D-E-G-Bb-C# chord on the trombone track indicates an aura of fright, as if you were watching a more scary version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Then, the music relaxes a little as a partial reprise of the pizzicato, pointillistic theme in the bass heard in the beginning takes shape. At  the same time, long bass notes and long high notes linger at the point trying to make an almost pointless conversation.

Suddenly, a new part emerges, changing the key center to something like A minor. A haphazard

theme of pointillistic quality (toccata-like) occurs over a series of long bass

notes. At one point it is interrupted by 2 seconds of silence, with a lone note passage
F#-C#, in the trombone track. The toccata returns immediately, building up to a climax
on an E-C-G-F chord, and a Eb-Bb-F chord.

A brief quiet section with an ostinato-like pattern on the notes Eb-E, and after a brief

cascade in the upper tracks, staccato notes permeate and the key center is changed to
A minor as several bass drones on the fifths A-E add to the staccatos.

 This leads to the coda in A minor as the Synth FX 1 track does an running, haphazard

toccata, while the trombone and Synth FX 2, bring out chordal clusters in the mid-register and a staccato bass in the low register.

The final chords in the composition represent something like what I describe as "a white-noise type

of Armegeddon". It starts off with a G-A-B-Eb-G chord in the trombone track, finishing off with two bass chord clusters in Synth FX 1 and Synth FX 2 that depict something like someone trying to censor a radio program with indefinite noise so horrible that you feel like turning the radio off.

My List of Selected Idioms

barbecue(v.)--to let something set on fire; to be exposed

to extreme heat or fire. Also: be toast(v.)

baseline(n.)--the area where the end of the horizontal, long

boundary ends and the vertical, short boundary begins

blast(n.)--a great event; an explosive sight; a successful

happening

boogie(v.)--to dance swing-style in freedom

boogie down(v.)--to dance freestyle to dance or dance-mix music

break(n.)--a situation where an offender runs free of the

defense on the way to the other opponents' basket

bring someone to its knees--make someone pay attention

charge(n.)--a charging foul(basketball)

come clean(v.)--to free oneself from suspicion or reprehensibility

cry foul(v.)--protest that something is wrong or unfair

explode(v.)--to run hastily; to get angry suddenly

fast-paced(adj.)--hurried; quick-thinking

first-of-its-kind(n.)--brand new; original; something not seen before

follow(n.)--a back-up shot or second-effort shot that a

player attempts after a rebound(basketball)

field goal(n.)--a 2-point or 3-point shot(basketball)

general skinny(n.)--same as the word 'lowdown'

gully-washer(n.)--a heavy rainstorm; a downpour; a deluge

heads-up(adj.)--something done with a lot of attention or

concentration(basketball)

heartthrob(n.)--famous star young people admire or look up to

hoopla(n.)--haranguing; pandemonium; a lively craze; cheering

household name(n.)--a very famous name

hypercoaster(n.)--a roller-coaster that is said to reach new heights

in its use of thrills

jammage(n.)--refers to the word 'jam', a pitcher's technique

of throwing a bail so fast that the batter won't have time to

hit the ball with the meat of the bat at the right time, keeping the

ball in the ball park

jam sandwich(n.)--same as the word 'jammage'

kaplooie!(n.)--another way of saying 'kaboom!'

live large(v.)--to live overweight or obese

lowdown(n.)--events or anything else happening right now

make some noise(v.)--to become famous; to start being

noticed

make waves(v.)--to start being attractive or famous

nitty-gritty(n.)--basics

pump up(v.)--to shoot(basketball); to raise something

penetrate(v.)--to go through the defenders(basketball)

reach base(v.)--to go safely to a base by menas of a hit or a walk

run(n.)--a situation where a team is on a winning streak in

the game by shooting opportunistic baskets due to an op-

posing team's turnovers, missed shots, etc.)

run(v.)--to be ejected; to be thrown out

sacked(adj.)--referred to the bases being loaded, such as bases

sacked(baseball); also, a quarterback being tackled by a defender

way behind the former person's line of scrimmage(football)

schlew(n.)--crowd

skip(n.)--manager(baseball)

smoker(n.)--smoke grenade

suck(v.)--a disapproving reaction to bad or horrible conditions

three(n.)--a 3-point shot(basketball)

three-bagger(n.)--triple(baseball)

to hit the three(v.p.)--to shoot a 3-point shot(basketball)

to play by the rules(v.)--to follow rules or regulations

two-bagger(n.)--double(baseball)

upper tank(n.)--upper deck(baseball)