April 6, 1965

From 15 to 73 in a few short paragraphs

April 6, 1965

I'm Telling You Now - Freddie and the Dreamers

Another day racked up for history! Mr. W checked notebooks and guess who's wasn't complete?

Ah, well, the other subjects weren't so bad.

I just don't seem to care right now. I guess I really need that vacation. I want to quit school sometimes, I want to give up. But I can't.

April 6, 2006

There's the infamous Mr. W, again. He was shorter than I, with a raspy, screechy voice like Gilbert Gottfried's. He would eventually stop checking notebooks and go into real estate.

I may have seemed an unlikely candidate for high school drop-out, but my 16th birthday was coming up in May. For some kids, that meant being old enough to drive, but for me it was the age at which school became optional. (At least theoretically.) Sophomore year really was bad enough (in my mind) that I used to daydream about dropping out. Oddly enough, I had no idea what I would do AFTER dropping out.

Oh, and Freddie and the Dreamers! Geeky-looking lead singer and lively, pop novelty songs. "Do the Freddie" was the "Macarena" of its day.

Loved this description from Lester Bangs, courtesy of Wikipedia:

"... Freddie and the Dreamers [had] no masterpiece but a plentitude of talentless idiocy and enough persistence to get four albums and one film soundtrack released ... the Dreamers looked as thuggish as Freddie looked dippy ... Freddie and the Dreamers represented a triumph of rock as cretinous swill, and as such should be not only respected, but given their place in history."

April 6, 2023

Today 1965 feels so far away. I am feeling every one of my almost 74 years, and just got a cortisone shot in my left hip so I can walk comfortably again. It could be worse, though. Last night I watched “Still Alice”, a film about a college professor with early onset Alzheimer’s, starring a luminescent Julianne Moore. Beautifully done, very sad. Reminded me of a friend who suffered the same cruel fate. So what’s a shot in the butt, compared to losing your self?

Tonight I think I will choose lighter fare.