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Back in 1971, I was being bullied, stalked, and beaten up on a regular basis. It was all because a large rooster named Speckled Pete was patrolling the farm. He would sometimes chase me to the school bus in the morning and wait for my return home so that he could chase me to the house. The kids on the school bus loved the Phil follies. People have asked me why mom and dad didn’t serve the great speckled bird for Sunday dinner. My guess is they felt it was justice served for my misbehaviour. I was finishing up at Loyd elementary that spring. Recently I returned to that school as the main speaker for the ADRC sponsored Men’s Shed for men over 60. That day I told of some of my experiences in that building. Mrs. Peckham would tune in WHA radio out of Madison for a music appreciation classroom of the air. That helped fuel my young interest in radio. The Ithaca district purchased a video recorder that year and it was brought to each elementary classroom for a demo. I was amazed at the blurry, black and white technology. There was controversy on the bus ride. Some young scholars thought that the lyrics to a popular Lobo song were ‘me and you and a dog named Blue’. They would not listen to reason that the dog’s name was Boo. Even after another bus rider brought a Fisher Price record player with a copy of the 45 RPM record, they would not believe it. I had lyric problems of my own. After hearing the new Three Dog Night number one record, Joy to the World, I thought they were singing ‘joy to the preachers in the deep blue sea’. This brought ridicule to me by my sister and her friends (the correct lyric is fishes by the way). You have to understand that we did not have digital technology and we were listening to AM radio mono on a 4-inch speaker. To this day I still learn of actual lyrics that I have been singing wrong for 55 years!
Some other hits from the spring of 1971 include What’ Going On-Marvin Gaye, Another Day-Paul McCartney, She’s A Lady-Tom Jones, Eighteen-Alice Cooper, Proud Mary-Ike and Tina, Temptation Eyes-Grass Roots, Love Her Madly-Doors, Oye Como Va-Santana, and What Is Life-George Harrison. I will spin a few of these during our Those Were the Days rock and tribute on Saturday night between six and midnight on WRCO FM 100.9, WRCO.com, and the Civic Media app. You will be able to request a song and play trivia. Last Saturday I was playing the good grandpa at grandson Kamari’s birthday party. It was great to spend the night with the kid’s and the grandkids, although I missed our loyal Saturday night listeners! I hope to hear from you this weekend. Please give me a call or text if you have time and then join the fun.
Phil-Rooster Abuse Survivor
