POST BOOMERS/PRE X - finally, a thread just for us - Thread 5

[WIMom]

Last night, there was an anti baby boom thread that started with a rant, and before some disruptor trashed it, some of us who were born at the tail end of the baby boom - from 1956 to 1964 - were having some nice recollections. The things that we seem to have in common are the following:

1. We were too young to serve in Vietnam, but remember the news.

2. As far as we're concerned, the music, television and popular entertainment and heroes of the 60s were and still are a matter for personal taste, and don't represent the shining apex of all civilization, icons to be revered by generations to come - in short, the Beatles were just a band that some might not like, and old Trek was cheesy and not well written.

3. Old boomers came into adulthood at the ideal economic circumstance - we've had to work for ours.

4. Our clothes and music tended to be lighthearted, and we are more conservative/libertarian as a whole than the older boomers.

So post your memories of tunes, movies, shows, fashions, school stuff, etc.

And enjoy yourselves!

---

Thanks to one_particular_harbour for the fantastic idea!

[eggman]

Ah... growing up in Cleveland in the 60's & 70's. A mayor that lit his hair on fire (Ralph Perk), a river that burned (the Cuyahoga), and a lake that was... Erie. And of course nickel beer night at the stadium where the crowd got a little out of hand.

Thankfully the city turned around and things are much better now. I grew up in Brooklyn Heights, Ohio just south of Cleveland. Went to Cuyahoga Heights (class of 77). Smallest school district in the area (there was 70 in my class). My nephew is a senior this year and I think there is only 65 in his class.

Some Cleveland memories from the past: going downtown at Christmas to see the Sterling Linder Christmas tree and Mr. Jingeling on Halle's seventh floor, and watching Barnaby (Linn Sheldon)and Friends and Romper Room on TV.

Haven't seen anyone mention the family super 8 movies and the old Betamax VCRs. Or those 70 TV shows: Emergency (with Gage & Desoto) and Starsky & Hutch. And one of my favorite bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd. I was lucky enough to have seen the the original band in 76.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

I REMEMBER

Raquel Welch

[Bryan]

I was born in 1959, my brother in 1956 and my sister in 1961. Yes, we were there. We do not feel a sense of guilt by association for everything that went sour in the 1960s. Like most new generations, we tried to pick and choose the best of what was offered by previous generations and we abandoned the rest.

I think that in response to the excesses of the Baby Boom generation, those born between 1956 and 1965 showed a substantial swing of the pendulum back toward traditional values. There were some new twists to be sure, and the music on the radio didn't sound the same, but I think that culturally, we have a lot more in common with the WWII generation than with the Boomers or GenX.

I was arguing with some GenX kid on one of these threads about comparing the merits of our generations. Now I can't find the thread and I wonder whether it was deleted. This kid was getting pretty irate. He ranted, then I ranted. He was blaming our generation for just about everything that went wrong in America over the past 40 years.

[mountaineer]

You mentioned Ford Pintos on the last thread. We had a 1971 "grabber lime" four-on-the-floor Pinto (sticker price $1815) that served our family for about 150,000 fuel-efficient miles. It never exploded in a rear-end collision and did yeoman's work, on one occasion transporting three teenagers and a full-size Christmas tree (all inside the car). What a great car that was. After my brother decided to paint it gold, it lost a little of its grooviness, but I'll always remember the car in which I learned to drive with great affection.

[Gothmog]

I've got to say -- Bacardi 151 -- as a wrestler, my excuse was thta I couldn't drink beer, so... I pyut that stuff in everthing, ha ha ha.

How about Christy McNichol or the brunette from Family Ties?

[The Right Stuff]

I went to an Aerosmith concert at the Forum, in LA. Very cool, but not to be compared to the Beach Boys at Anaheim Stadium.

BTW, I am still annoyed that no one else has mentioned James Bond. My high school boyfriend and I went to at least 3 Bond movies together and I thought Roger Moore was the best thing going until I saw Sean Connery a few years later!

[Maven]

In reference to my saying I was an Art Linkletter kid, Luvya Dubya said:

Ok, Fess up, what was the question??? lol

There were three questions in all. The first one was, "How did your parents meet?" And, since I was not quite 6 years old, I messed it up. I said they met in a bathroom in a campground in the Catskills (they were both counselors) because my father didn't know how to work the equipment. The truth is - they met in a phone booth at the camp. The phones were the old crank kind, and my father didn't know how to work them (he has many marvelous qualities, but mechanical skills ain't one of 'em ). My mother showed him how, and the rest is history - they've been married for 44 years (and Mom still does all the fix-it jobs).

The second question was: "How does your mother get her spending money?" My answer: She plays gin with my father every morning before he goes to work.

The last question was: "How do you get your spending money?" My answer: I play Mom after Dad leaves.

I was a little on the precocious side.... LOL!

Maven

[Maven]

I went to an Aerosmith concert at the Forum, in LA. Very cool, but not to be compared to the Beach Boys at Anaheim Stadium.

Omigosh - *I* saw Aerosmith at the Forum, too! Maybe it was the same concert? They had two opening acts - AC/DC and Thin Lizzy.

Maven