Category: History

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The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

FLASHBACK with me to the Summer of 1978. It’s when Garfield made his debut in the comics section of daily newspapers everywhere. It’s when the world’s first test tube baby was born in England. It’s when Pope Paul VI died at the age of 80, and was succeeded by Pope John Paul I who died just a month later.

I turned 11-years-old on June 05TH 1978, and I successfully completed the 5TH grade at Magnolia Elementary School in Lanham Maryland. After all of these years it’s the 5TH grade that stands out above all of the rest as the most memorable of them all. It was memorable in a positive way – great teachers – great classes – great classmates. I really believe that the latter half of my grade school years (4TH, 5TH, and 6TH grades) were more influential and more valuable in molding my later adult life than the subsequent Junior High and Senior High school years. My writing skills today were conceived and developed during those latter grade school years.

On the radio during the Summer of 1978 Disco ruled, as it crossed-over in a big way from the big city nightclubs to mainstream pop, rock, and soul radio nationwide. The Bee Gees‘ younger brother Andy Gibb was only 20-years-old at the time, but he was one of the hottest solo acts in the world. Here’s his memorable Disco smash that spent most of June and all of July of 1978 at the very top of the national pop chart. It went on to become the # 1 song of the entire year here in the U.S. – as well as one of the biggest songs in American chart music history. Here’s “Shadow Dancing” on the ‘Disco Party’:

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Saturday Night Retro

17 years ago yesterday – on Friday February 26TH 1993 – I served my final day in uniform as an Active Duty USAF NCO (SGT). I did so at Andrews AFB MD just six months after Hurricane Andrew destroyed my previous duty station – the original Homestead AFB FL. The day was memorable for many reasons – a going-away luncheon in my honour, a snowstorm, and the first terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. A week later I moved back down to Florida (Melbourne) to start my new civilian life – which would eventually (and unexpectedly) take me back to the USAF in Tampa and then ultimately back to Homestead exactly a year later in March of 1994.

This year as I celebrate my 25TH silver anniversary working for the USAF (military and civilian careers combined) I look back fondly at those final six months in the Active Duty USAF from the end of August of 1992 through the end of February of 1993 up at Andrews AFB MD. It turned out to be the pinnacle of my military career. I certainly left on a high note, and that was truly a blessing in disguise that was unfortunately born out of the destruction and chaos that Hurricane Andrew left behind some 1,100 miles to the south.

Just a short trip down the road from Andrews AFB MD is the suburban bedroom community of Waldorf. Members of the punk-pop band Good Charlotte are originally from there, and they used to hang out as young teenagers at the sprawling St. Charles Towne Center Mall – the very same mall that I shopped at frequently while I was stationed there at the same exact time. Here’s their debut radio smash from a full decade later at the start of 2003. It’s all about those “Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous”.

This concludes another blogging week for me. It’s been a lot of fun getting back into the normal swing of things on here, and I can’t wait to do it all over again next week. Be sure to help me kick-off a fresh new week of blogging come Tuesday night when I present another new ‘Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’. Until then my friends – be safe – be good – and be reasonable.

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Blogging Bugs History Home Life Music Radio

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

It’s the start of another fun ‘Moldie-Oldie Music Weekend’ here on the big polyester and bell-bottoms blog. I kick it off with my fan-favourite ‘Disco Party’ on most Friday nights because that’s how I roll with it !

Flashback with me – won’t you ? – to the Fall of 1976. Back then I was a short and skinny 9-year-old in the 4TH grade. I walked to and from (public) school, as it was located right in the middle of my Lanham Maryland neighbourhood. After school and on the weekends I loved to play outside past the end of the street – into the woods – and down by the creek. That’s when I first discovered one of God’s Great Creations – mosquitoes. I was also in the Cub Scouts, as I, Christopher Day, promised to do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to help other people, and to obey the Law Of The Pack.

Life was much simpler then, and the world was a whole lot smaller for me back in 1976 – the year of our Bicentennial.

On the radio The Ritchie Family (all-female act, but none of them were actually related to each other) were hittin’ it big with a pop, soul, and disco smash titled “The Best Disco In Town”. It was a medley of disco hits from the era set to a fresh new beat. The group was created and run by the same French producer who also created The Village People. Let’s dance:

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Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Let’s not hold nothin’ back.
– Can we talk here ?
– Be reasonable – do it my way.
– A couple of nights ago I posted my weekly ‘Grab Bag O’ Thoughts‘.
– It was all about my recent vacation on the high seas and on exotic lands.
– It served as the ceremonial grande finale of my vacation of a lifetime.
– It was a lot of fun and a great change of pace all last week.
– I threw out my normal daily routine and lived on ‘Vacation Standard Time’.
– But that was then and this is now, as The Monkees once sang.
– This is not reality – it’s actuality !
– It’s back to the old daily grind.
– But this is a great Life that I am now living.
– I always look forward to going on vacations.
– But I also look forward to returning back home again after those vacations.
– I’m slowing easing back in to a normal day-to-day routine.
– My 5-day-a-week blogging schedule is back on-track.
– Tonight I’m rejoining my Life Group after taking last week off.
– I hope to walk around my neighbourhood in the frigid air on Saturday morning.
– That’s right – I’m ready for another cold early-morning ‘Walk-A-Thon’.
– I return to Life Pointe Church bright and early this Sunday morning.
– Incidentally I’m hosting the 9 AM service, so come and see me.
– I can’t believe that the month of March is less than 79 hours away !
– Where did February go ?
– Where did normal South Florida weather go ?
– Our coldest and wettest winter season in about a century continues.
– We’ve had wind chills in the 50s all day long today – RIDICULOUS !
– Tomorrow morning actual air temperatures could be in the upper-30s.
– But wind chills could be as low as the upper-20s !
– Remember that you lived through all of this when you complain in July.
– Oh yeah you know that you’ll be whining about the heat and humidity.
– We all do it, and it’s only natural to do so as we live here in paradise.
– As I stated earlier my blogging is back on its regular schedule.
– This Saturday night on the ‘Retro’ I’m flashing back all the way to 2003.
– And of course there’s the ‘Disco Party’ tomorrow night.
– I don’t blog anymore on Sundays and Mondays, but I still tweet.
– My last 7 tweets are always available here on this blog.
– Check the right-hand side panel just below this month’s calendar.
– Those are my ‘Mini Thoughts’ for this final Thursday night in February.
– Have a safe and peaceful evening my friends, my brothers, and my sisters.
– Come back tomorrow night ready to dance at the discotech.
– You won’t regret it pal.