Disco Fever

Having another night when I couldn't sleep, I was listening to my MP3 player in the wee hours and had some Bee Gees, among others, to keep me company.

In the summer of 1976, I became a 26 year old,single woman again.  I had a 2 year old daughter and a job to support her.  That year Dorothy Moore's Misty Blue came out, along with The Manhattan's Kiss and Say Goodbye.   But the one that made the most impact, I think, was the Bee Gee's You Should Be Dancing.     That big mirrored ball started spinning.

In 1977, Saturday Night Fever hit the movie screens and Disco hit the dance floors. 

                                         ( I could watch John Travolta dance all day long.)

I worked 8am - 4:30pm, Monday through Friday for a non profit organization.  We got paid every other Friday.  On "Pay day Fridays" about 20 people would go to the club/bar that had one of these lighted dance floors.  I could only go once in awhile and when I did go, I could only stay a couple of hours.  I was paying a babysitter.  Of course, the rest of them would close the bar.   But, there were rare moments when the music would be going and the floor would be covered with dancers like this.  I loved it.  I could never go enough to learn all the steps, but I did learn enough to blend in and it was great fun.  It's where I learned the phrase" If you hoot with the owls, you have to fly with the eagles".  I was a Mom. so I didn't get to hoot with the owls very much.

I can only imagine how much polyester was on that dance floor.  I know one of the guys I worked with had polyester suits (not the leisure suits either, regular, suits) that he could put through the washer and the dryer.  They even looked bad back then.

I don't have a photo of my Disco days, but I do have one of Terry's.  He's permed, wearing his open collar, that moustache and his zodiac sign necklace.  No, I didn't know him then, but I'm sure I would have been dancing with that guy.   The funny thing with this picture is that it is about 2 feet by 3 feet and hung in his parents living room for years.  Only when his Dad sold that house in the early 2000s, did we get the picture.  His brothers and his daughters have never let him live this one down.

Let's Boogie.......Do ya dig it? 

Ouchy!

This is the third day of a migraine run so please forgive me for not reading and commenting lately.  I really am missing you all.  

I have gotten migraines since I was 11 years old.  My mother got them  and, fortunately, only one of my three daughters gets them, but rarely.   My mother's stopped after menopause so I was hopeful, but that was not my case, unfortunately.  So, I do have prescription medication for them.  Over the years I have tried all kinds of stuff.  Some of the prescription medications have such a small amount of dosages, like Imitrex has only 8 tablets in a script (they may have more now, I don't know. ) that I would delay using them until it was too late to help.

So I have learned to work through a lot of  head pain.  I spend years in florescent lighting and working on computers, both of which trigger headaches in "normal" people. 

I did want to make a comment today though, so bare with me typing with one eye closed and the headache above the other one.  (Only half kidding there.) :)

I just saw that "Soul Train's" Don Cornelius died at 75, due to a self inflicted gunshot.  I was a Soul Train girl.  It used to come on, in my area, after American Bandstand, in the early 1970s.   Don Cornelious was a sharper dresser and could "bust a move", although, he generally didn't.

It got me thinking that we also lost Don Kirshner in January of 2011,   He was hugely instrumental in getting the Monkee's television program on the air,but what I knew him for, was "The Midnight Special " that came on at 1:00 am.     I want to say it was on Saturday night,  but it may have been Friday. 

This is an infomercial (really? on Youtube?) but it does show how many huge performers Don Kirshner was able to book for this program.  You can just check out a few in your memory banks.  My dear husband is 5 years younger than me, so he is swearing he was too young to stay up this late but maybe his babysitter watched it.  Give me a break!  Of I was 21, he was 16.  I told him he read too many Playboys at 16 if he thought he had a babysitter then. Men!

We've lost 2 big icons of our generation.  Dick Clark is still hanging in there after his stroke.  I can't tell you how many hours I watched Amercian Bandstand.

I texted my husband at work and he texted back.... Casey Kasem?  He's still with us.   Casey and his "long distance dedications"  was radio but he, along with these gentlemen of television, entertained our generation.  They were the voices and the venues of our youth. 

I have fond memories of both the Dons.  Thank you for  the music.

You Can Admit It

I've done it.  You may have done it too.   Raise your hand if you have ever done the Limbo.

Chubby Checkers was extremely popular when I was a preteen.  Most of his hits were in the early 1960's with The Twist, Pony Time, Limbo Rock and Let's Twist Again.

I'm sure I Ponied around the world at least once.  Those dances and songs may have started in the early 60s but they stayed around all that decade, and maybe into a wedding reception or two much later.

When I was in Junior High, (Middle School now) our High School had dances in the gym every Friday night, during the summer.  I could get in once I was in the 7th grade.  It was soooo exciting to watch the older high school students dance.  There were rumors of one very pretty blond that would dash off to the girl's bathroom to loosen her bra straps so that her Shimmy had more shimmy, so to speak.  That was pretty hot stuff back then.

So many of the Chubby Checkers dances were popular then.  Everyone could Twist.

It was so much fun when dances had names....and my joints didn't pop and crack when I moved them.

Pajama Parties in the 60s

When I was in middle school, (Junior High to my generation) and in High School, pajama parties were very common.   I remember telling my oldest daughter about those girl parties and she did try a time or two, but they really never caught on.  She would have a couple of friends over, but not the dozen or so I had.  Maybe it was a generational thing. 

 Our PJ parties were usually on a Friday night at one of the girlfriend's houses.  In my case, we would have about a dozen girls spending the night. We ate chips and dip and made Chef Boyardee Pizza. We drank pop/soda.  I lived in the country.  It was 30 minutes to "the City" for McDonalds or the A & W.   We had no fast food available so it was all what we could buy at the grocery store.

No, I'm not in the top one.   The one below shows me with my head down.  This was the girl not seen in public without makeup since I was 12.

We never slept.  For hours we would sit in a circle, in the dark, around a candle, and play "Truth or Dare?".  One person starts by asking the question.  If you choose Truth, you have to answer the question truthfully.  ( Sure, who's gonna know right?)  or if you were afraid of what might be asked, you could choose Dare.  That's when you were given a task to do.  Back them it was something harmless like hang your bra on the tree in the front yard and leave it there all night.   I seem to remember that was how all of us ran up town, in our baby doll PJs. We ran up one side of the street and down the other, at the only stop light in town.  That was in the days when nothing was open after 6:00pm so at 1 or 2am, there was not a sole around.  Boy, did we think we were daring.

We played 45's and albums on the stereo.   Music was a huge part of our lives.  Garage parties ( with boys) were popular then as well, but we're still talking ages 12- 15 maybe. We danced for hours.  Oh, yeah, the guys did too. Then they would leave and the PJ party would start.    The Beatles, The Four Seasons, Beach Boys, and Motown were huge.  The music I most associate with those innocent boy/girl parties was Ronnie Dove.

As we got older, we girls still had our pajama parties.  The photos are from the time I was about 16. The guys always knew when a party was happening and usually threatened to raid it. We hoped they would, but it never happened.  Once in a while the boyfriends would drop us off after a date, but usually, we girls made time for each other. 

In the morning we would be bleary eyed and exhausted from not sleeping.  We would have cold pizza and Coke for breakfast and then call for a ride home.  Ahhhh, Good Times.

Mashed Potato Time

I was flipping through Youtube, going from one thing to another and stumbled across this.

I was chuckling to myself because this is the dance I would do in the kitchen when I was cooking dinner with my daughters when they were teenagers. Yes, they laughed at me.  If you watch the blond, she got moves I would have stolen, I'm sure.  The only dance contest I ever won was doing this dance with, probably the only guy that would dare.

I did catch an episode of "The Talk" when Leah Remini was complaining about her mother doing this dance at an Ozzy Osbourne concert they had all recently attended.  I say ....good for her!

I was looking for American Bandstand   and did find The Beach Boys.

My babysitter watched American Bandstand  in the 1950's when my mother was going to "Beauty School" and he (which was unusual I think) watched us 3 kids.  Maybe that is where I became interested in music.  I certainly became interested in the dances then.

The Beach Boys were huge in the mid 1960s.  They sang of summer, surfing, hot cars, and girls.

I lived in the cold north and had dark hair.  I wanted to live in California and have blond hair.  I wanted to be a surfer girl.  Didn't we all?
                                           

Looking Forward to Shag Time

Not being from the east coast originally, I too, was only familiar with the Austin Powers term of Shaggin.  Then, I spent 3 years in  South Carolina in the early 1990s.  Now living in North Carolina I can say it was love at first sight.  I fell in love with Beach Music and with the Carolina State dance The Shag.  It put a smile on my face.

Wikipedia defines Beach Music:

 " Beach music, also known as Carolina beach music, is a regional genre which developed from various musical styles of the forties, fifties, and sixties. These styles ranged from big band swing instrumentals to the more raucous sounds of blues, jump/jive, doo wop, boogies, rhythm and blues, reggae, rockabilly and old-time rock and roll.  Beach music is closely associated with the style of swing dance known as the shag, or the Carolina Shag, which is also the official state dance of both North Carolina and South Carolina. "

I can tell you, it's a good fit for this Motown lovin' lady

At every festival, that has music, there is a dance area full of Shag dancers.  I love it.   Our own Newport Pig Cookin' Festival starts Friday in the park.  There will be the fragrance of roasted pork all over town, but what I look forward to the most is the live music and Shaggin'.  No, this girl does not Shag.  If it had made it to Michigan, back in the day, or if I had traveled to the coast, I would have most certainly learned to Shag.  I do enjoy watching the dance floor full of dancers of all ages.  It looks like once a Shagger always a Shagger I hope it puts a smile on your face as well.