CAN YOU DIG IT?!

alternate title: "The Orphans are a heavy outfit."

when i was in jr. high the movie "the warriors" came out on laser disc and probably played endlessly on cable tv. my brother & his wife had a laser disc player so i logged a LOT of hours watching "the warriors" and "the blues brothers."
this letter is from a girl i knew in jr high: corrine. we first connected over our shared love of cheap trick. in the two years we went to school together (1979 - 1981) she turned me onto the talking heads, the pretenders and b-52s. (that first pretenders album kicked so much ass. man.) you can tell by her choice of stationery, corinne had punk leanings at a tender age. :) i read a bunch of letters tonight from girls in knew when i was young. among the adolescent-dazed, confused, mad-crush letters this one was a bright bit of comedy.

notes for context:
- foo is my family nickname. for a while i tried to shake it. (it did not work. my family calls me foo to this day.)
-nylon shorts were VERY big in california in the summer of 1981
-i didn't want to attend the high school in my district and was campaigning with my mom to attend Lincoln High
-i was visiting my sister in Nebraska when corrine sent me this letter
-i had a boyfriend in 8th grade whose last name was Hoffman

here is her letter:
**********************

punk power!!
7/25/81

dear foo (just kidding),
Hi! How's life in Nebraska? I played Alien Invaders at Macy's. Space Invaders is way better. Well, life the slums is very boring. i got my shorts yesterday night: blue stripies, red & white 50/50's and the white nylon ones ( I found a large) I sure hope you're with your "new summer clothes," i'm not. (just kidding) Me & my mommy went to Beverly Fabrics. Guess who i saw there? No, not Sal, Michelle M!! YUKK!! It was a disgusting and riscue [?] sight. You know something? she looks like a bubba! i mean it!!!
Did you see any babes on the plane? You betta. I heard Dirty Deeds last night...done dirt cheap!!-->

RIFFS, YEAH RIGHT!!! Warriors, come out to play, Warriors, come out to play, WARRIORS COME OUT TO PLAY!! WARRIORS...
C'mon...C'mon...HAHAHAHAHAHA the baseball scene...the bathroom scene...Cyris...the baseball furies, Rogues, Riffs, the farmboys & the WARRIORS!!!!!! Why? Becuz you SSUCK!!!!
Well, any ways, guess what's happening (QUE PASA) next month? Their [sic] gonna have a Showtime Preview!! Guess what's playing?:
1. Brubaker
2. Cookie Goes To the Hospital
3. I'll Cry Tomorrow
4. No Deposit No Return
5. Laff-a-thon #3
6. Friday the 13th
7. Sensuous Nurse
8. Up the Academy
9. Running
10. Rascal Dazzle
11. The Forbidden Planet
12. Players
13. The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters #3
14. Blue Fire Lady
15. All That Jazz
16. Best of Bizarre
17. THE SHINING!
18. Mulefeathers
and that's all...
Maybe you could spend the night at my house that day and come with me to guard the next morning [she was going to be in Color Guard the next fall at Lincoln High]...that is, if you want to if not, it's cool. so tell me how Nebraska is treating you... I hope you can go to Lincoln even though your friendly friend Elizabeth is going, you just betta come to Lincoln. Have your mom call sometime in August. I'm sorry if this page is so sloppy but nobody's perfect. right? right?? Well, Guess who's on Kids Are People Too? BROOKE SHIELDS... "@%&#!!!!" Well... -->
I think that this is gonna be my sign-off page. so i will talk to you a little bit more...did you get any more clothes up in Nebraska? i got a pair on lay-a-way at the Pruneyard. They are really cute. they're gray corduroy straight let pleats. i like em!! I'm gonna buy some gray moccasins for school. i don't give a shit of what anybody thinks of them. Well, you know that really cute tube top you bought? i tried one on but it didin't look right on me. Well, i'd better be jamming now. try to get a flight home on August 9th ok? alright. well, i'd better sign off now...BYE!!

love, corrine flores

later mrs. hoffman..."baahaa"

ps. please write back!!!

pss Sorry about the sloppiness...


**********
that list of movies, etc. playing on the cable preview kills me. "sensuous nurse!" ha!
also, her last name wasn't Flores. clearly she had a thing for a guy with the last name Flores, but i can't remember who he was.

snacks of note: bottle of red wine (Rook from jill's fab wine shop on melrose...), boursin & pita chips (dinner of champions!)

Rad Thing of the Day

Brian P. of Northern Flicker Films has been recording "the last film i saw" podcast for a few months now. i was hoping to write up a clever, enticing description so that you might listen to it. however, it is almost 1 am and i'm less clever than i might have been 4 hours ago.

so.

i love this podcast. Last Film I Saw Podcast

fun fact: in episode 8 you can hear me being interviewed about the last film i'd seen, and wax technical about editing Brian P's short films.

man. i am going to rewrite this tomorrow.

i was here august 10, 2011

north shore river walk, pittsburgh, pa

31 years ago tomorrow

four months after my last blog post the topic that compels me to post again is the content of that letter box. i spent the summer alternately working crazy hours and road tripping so i never finished clearing out that box. tonight i took another crack at it.
a few years ago i read some entries in the diary that i kept from january 1979 - march 1981. much page space was devoted to the crushes that i had and which of my friends were getting along. dull stuff. but! there are some entries that pretty entertaining.
it's a Hello Kitty diary, so all the entries begin, "dear kitty."
here is my entry from september 2, 1980

Fair!
tuesday september 2, 1980
Dear Kitty,
today ASB [Associated Student Body - i was in student gov't in 8th grade] had a meeting at school. We have a new Vice-Principal (Mr. Butler). GET THIS! He came from Markham [another Jr. High School] and Mr. Jay got transferred to Willow Glen High! [the H.S. i wanted to attend.] When BC & I found out we were trippin' way out! he knows Pat M. very well! I would guess so! (cute kitd that he is!) We (BC, Mary & Me) walked to Mary's baby sitting job then Karen drove us home.
I'm beginning to dig my stereo. Its sound is cool! Pat Benatar sounds excellent on it! (courtesy KSJO! #1!) love it, love it, love it!!
Don & Mom took me & Biz to the show and saw "Smokey & the Bandit II". It was sooo excellent! Jerry Reed saves the day! He's sooo cool!
This school year is gonna be a trip. "Sailing" just came on. I almost changed it then didn't cause it sorta keeps thoughts instead of bringing back memories. It's been 1 day since we left. Uvas [campground] now seems like a super great dream & we woke up when we drove through the gates. I thought about me & Herb smoking a "j". I wonder what {all the guys we met while camping} thought of me. I mean: ok kid, pesty twirp, ugly but nice. stupid personality. or something else like that. I wonder. Good to know? Bad to know? (Where on Earth shall we go? Is there anyone on Earth who will care? Is anybody out there?)
No, yes, maybe, I don't know. Can't tell. (what's with all the poetry? huh?!) this is too strange for me. G'nite.
Rock Rules

**************
post script
--the Don who took us to the movies was a family friend. he was from Michigan, living with us while he was getting cancer treatment at Stanford.
--My dad is a truck driver (still at age 76!) so "Smokey & the Bandit" was a big deal around our house. Also, during the 1970's my dad was a dead ringer for Jerry Reed. Really.
--from the time i was a tiny kid, every summer my family camped at a place called Uvas Meadows near Morgan Hill. my mom and i would spend weeks and weeks there. my grandparents also had a camp spot there. the month before this entry was my 13th birthday. my parents let me take 3 friends to Uvas for a week of camping and carrying on. a boy i'd met the previous summer was there with his cousins. we girls spent a lot of time walking past their camp, etc. anywhoo, for my 13 yr old self, this was a BIG week. i didn't have sex or anything, i think i just got a taste of hanging out with guys without being a silent wreck (i've read those earlier entries).

here is a bit of another entry:
Tuesday, January 13, 1981
...Uvas Meadows was sold. That means I'll never go back there for vacation again. Just to move the trailer. It has to be out by Feb. 15th. I just hit me. All my memories, 13 yrs of them, all left behind. Just gone. I don't know what to do now. (I should go to bed.)...

a bit melodramatic, but i was headed straight into surly-teen territory. *shudder*