oh my gourd

Every fall my friend Laura paints gourds for Halloween. They are the COOLEST and they sell like hotcakes. How can you resist these gouly gourds? If you're in the Marlboro area, go buy some at Trombetta's Garden Center and have some delicious homemade ice cream while you're at it. These gourds look like evil friends. AWESOME!

1960s 45s

When I was a kid I played my sister's 45s (shown here) and LPs. They collected 45s from 1963-1966. Most of them were by The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five and other British Invasion groups. I played these records long after their heyday. Now with YouTube, I'm able to see tv performances of these groups and it's such a gas. I love all kinds of music but have a special affinity for this era. Shake it but don't break it!
Some of the other records they had: The Supremes, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Peter and Gordon, Chad and Jeremy, The Four Seasons, Diane Renay, The Searchers, Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, ? and the Mysterians, The Chartbusters, Ronny and the Daytonas, The Shangri-las, The Beach Boys, Bobby Rydell, Trini Lopez, J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, The Mamas and the Papas, The Association, The Electric Prunes, The Young Rascals, Glen Campbell, Sonny and Cher, Roy Orbison, Lou Christie, The Jefferson Airplane, The Fifth Dimension and Sly and the Family Stone.

Above are school pictures of Kathleen (Hopkinton High School class of '68)
and Mary (class of '69) from 1963, '64 and '65 at the height of their 45 collecting.

Above are Kathleen's and Mary's senior photos.

This is a Polaroid of Kathleen and Mary before a football game in September 1967.

Here I am in red knee socks with my siblings on Easter morning in 1968.

Here are my grandmother and sisters in May of 1965, one month before I was born.

excuse me...

... while I retire to my fur-lined sensory deprivation skull designed by Joep van Lieshout of Atelier Van Lieshout. I'll take one please.

Disc-O-Teen Halloween show, 1967

Disc-O-Teen was a local, afternoon, dance show from Newark, New Jersey that aired from 1965-1967. Here's a 1967 Halloween episode featuring Alex Chilton and The Box Tops. Alex died this year at the age of 59. He was only 17-years-old in this clip. Here's more info.

completely awful song...

...but excellent footage of The Buddy Deane Show circa 1962. Some chick is singing a horrible song that she wrote. This was at the beginning of the dance craze era that started with the Twist, The Pony and Mashed Potato. Where in the crowd is the Amber Von Tussle character? They all look like secretaries. Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!