Castlebar.News      
    From The West of Ireland
    Go to Castlebar | Photo Gallery | Castlebar Directory | Nostalgia Board
General : Columns Last Updated: 2, Apr 2018 - 10:02


A 1970s Summer
By yellowbud 1968
22, Jul 2002 - 08:54

Email this article
 Printer friendly page
A 1970’s summer

Lush, green, humid, rainy day, incense, background music of Crosby Stills Nash and Young, 4 Way Street, smell of freshly painted walls, smells of a very clean house. Sitting listening to music touching my soul, my lost teenage soul, music to ponder, there is something much larger out in the world, wanting to break out of my upper class shell, get dirty, help people, the cause, be free, be cool, be loved, something bigger out there. Loving, controlling parents, conform have to break out! Wanting so desperately to be a part of it all, the changes, the movement, the tail end of the revolution, hanging onto the coat tails of the generation ahead that paved the way for freedom. So confused and lost, where am I? Eric Clapton’s Layla, Lou Reed, Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull, Yes, Eagles, so many, but yet so young, but yet holding onto those coat tails hoping to be carried away to another space a helping space, a cool space a space to be a part of something helping. Endless humid Kansas City nights, music 8 track in the car and albums on the stereo, the vehicle to dream to go on, to live, to explore the world! Smoking blueberry cigars at the creek, listening to music on and on, Cat Stevens, rain, taking trash bags sliding down our hill in the rain, I miss Liz, I miss Anne, I miss those days. Mary Gilday, Mary Sue Mulhern, what a trip, life lasted forever and a day, long days baking at the swimming pool, frying our skin, smoking pot, and being stupid. Bread “It don’t matter to me” Dave why? I miss you! Tice what happened? I miss you! Endless days with Liz and laughing so hard we would wet our pants! Where are we all? Where is our 70’s summer? How long would we keep it alive? Beatles “Here Comes The Sun" running across Liz’s pool cover just to see if we could do it. Fourth of July a coffee can full of black jack firecrackers endlessly lighting them off. Beatles "Dear Prudence" listening with friends hot summer afternoons, relax nap. But the ever-present deep sadness buried very deep, hidden deeply from friends and family. Escape, music. Being cool hanging out at the pool at the club or friends private pools, leather bands made into knotted bracelets, wrist and ankle, POW bracelets, cut-off jean shorts, tan a must, long hair parted in the middle, army fatigue jackets, defiant! Listening to the Moody Blues in Anne’s older brother's room on their record player, raining, just listening, relaxing, thinking, dreaming of life ahead, dreaming of wanting to meet really cute guys, laughing, dreaming! Laughing at our past styles go go boots and having a desire to dance in a cage, new style boots to the knees and hot pants, tight blue jeans, clogs, halter tops. Friday nights watching midnight special at EDS initials Eastland, Danner, and Shull. Makeshift Nightclub in the Danner’s basement. Two have gone before I miss them! Such crazy times surrounded by concerts, hot humid summer nights, sunbathing, sleepovers with girlfriends, hoping that one special guy would call, taking life for granted, constant state of change, evolution revolution, LBJ, t-shirts mocking Spiro T Agnew, Nixon. Cold War, civil rights movement, riots, burning of cites and looting curfews, looting, drugs, the world was moving so fast around me. I was not old enough to jump on, frustrated, lost, suicide, I found a place finally a volunteer for a suicide hot line, I got to be a part of the changing world. I started to find me, always a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Breaking away from my affluent family, considered less than, I wanted to role my sleeves up and just get in their, right in the middle of it all, I fit in the trenches. A 1970s summer so very long ago.



© Copyright 2002 by © Contributor(s) and Castlebar Web Pages 1997 - 2018

.. Top of Page


Columns
Latest Headlines
End of an Era in Africa
Christmas in Bria
Africa Supports Mayo for Sam 2017
Greetings from Deepest, Darkest Africa!
In the Central African Republic
A Life Less Ordinary
Beat Stress in the Workplace Are you Ready for the Stress-Free Challenge?
The Holy Sites of Jerusalem
Crusaders and Castles of The Levant.
Join Alan Dillon
Sixty Years of Accident Free Driving
From Lebanon and Israel
Quick Look At Castlebar History
Following the Phoenicians Back to Lebanon
Ice Challenge at 40°C
Family Fun Day at Clogher
Canton Hall Athenry
History Tours
Final Tribute To Castlebar Inventor
Christmas in Mali
Mali - Week 13
Mali - A Return to Africa
Clogher Community Gathering
C'mon Mayo from Mali
A Day on the Bog
Mayo Heritage Tours
Historic Tours of Castlebar
Way Of The Cross Máméan
Winter in Western Sahara
Laherdane Pride of Place
Four Months Gone
Three Months Gone
Western Sahara - Close to Six Weeks
Up Mayo Crocs in Western Sahara
Patrolling the deserts of Western Sahara
Mayo Titanic Cultural Park
Can We Read Minds?
End of Mission - Final Countdown from Chad
Mayo Men Serving in Chad
Week 13 in Chad
Another Week in Africa
Week 10 in Chad
Soccer Match in Chad on St. Patricks Day
Chad - Three Weeks Gone!
Illustrations, Au Pairs and Prince Charming
What did Darwin ever do for us?
On a different kind of Beat
The Lighter Side of Gravity
Stand with me, stand by me
To See or Not To See
Magical Transformation
A Novel with a Twist
Argghh! It’s Argon!
Mozart Hit List
Catastrophic Chlorine
A Lament for Coffee
This Old Dog
Escape to Mayo
Reflections on the Mayo v Cavan outing
I’ve Got It All, Almost!
Columnists Wanted
Arthur and I
Sulphur – A whiff of Hell?
A Jewel in the Centre
‘Tis Pressie Time
Years of Mondays
Phosphorus - a piddling little element
Heritage in schools - What do my surroundings mean to me?
Hopeful Author
"Auf Wiedersehen" Friend
Belfast Anti-Racism Rally 27 Jan 2004
The Lighter side of Roundabouts?
Review of the Year 2003
Children's Liturgy Christmas Story
Leprechauns and four leafed clover
How I long to feel that summer in my heart
Sheep Damage Causes Mayo Landslide
One-off Housing Killed My Cat
How hard can it be to post a letter?
We should build our station before we start getting ideas above it
Squeezing through the Technology Gap
Throwing out the baby with the baptismal font
Why the election system should be more like the Lotto
BeLIEve
The Land Question still haunts modern Ireland.
A Viewpoint on the War in Iraq
Why Didn’t the Iraqis Welcome their Liberators?
What are we fighting for?
The Prospect of War with Iraq
Crime Prevention Corner
Travel To The Wild
Sea Of Sad
Broken Spirits
A dream come true
Sending up Silicon
Back to School on September 11th
Turlough Park Book Review
Sounds of the past and what is to become
A 1970s Summer
Amazing Aluminium - Unlucky 13