More blasts from the past

Last week nothing much earth shattering has happened, so I took the time to relax and not worry about writing. Considering nobody seemed to obviously miss me, I don't feel too guilty. :>)

A few days ago I received a smattering of emails from a couple of Dutch people. I had no earthly idea who they were, but one of them insisted he knew me way back when.
He wrote me via the Schoolbank website, kind of like the Class Reunion site. A site I found many of my old school mates on a few years ago when we had our 40th reunion.

So this fellow writes me that he knew me from the parochial youth organisation I was the treasurer of. We organised dance evenings in an old church/school building back in the late 1960s. I sat by the door and sold tickets and kept the books. I also booked the (ahem) bands.

He also told me he had a girlfriend named Irene and that we all played badminton together, and that I was getting ready, or at least talking about, emigrating to the USA.

God, I forgot all about that badminton.

Well geesh, Louise, sounds like he knows me alright, but I don't have a clue as to who HE is. Even his picture didn't ring a bell.

The other fellow also found me on the Schoolbank, but he is looking for an old flame of his, a girl who was part of my clique in high school.

I had a few pictures of her, which I sent to him, but even when we were trying to find her for the reunion, she wasn't to be found, and no one knew what happened to her.
I hope he still finds her. I wish him luck.

The picture below is of my group of friends, 3rd class MULO (9th grade equivalent)high school, during a 'schoolreisje' (fun day trip at the end of the school year)

All I remember of that trip was that the tall blond gal in the back and I took turns singing songs on the bus microphone until the rest of the gang started to get sick and tired of us and started boo-ing us and throwing sneakers :>)

That was me on the left. The girl John is looking for is the dark haired girl with the sweater and white blouse. She came from a very strict catholic home (we all did, really) her mom was from Sicily, did not speak Dutch, and did not allow her daughter to have a boy friend. (argh) (Mobsters?Sicily?Maffia?Godfather?)

The blonde became a good friend and we have kept in touch sporadically over the years. She lives in Canada. In 1972 she was chosen Miss Holland, and I recall sitting in front of the TV back in Belmont, very pregnant with my son, my parents were visiting, watching her compete on the Miss Universe contest. She didn't win, but it was a neat experience.



Anyway (It's a little complicated, so bear with me)

The fellow who is looking for his old flame also pointed me to a website about my old neighborhood.

(for those of you who dare to surf this site:)

www.oudmoerwijk.nl

It's all in Dutch of course, but the pictures are great, it really gives you a good idea of the place I grew up.

I clicked on the link for stories (Verhalen) and found much to my surprise and delight a story from two people I knew. A sister and brother who's father started a youth organisation in our parish that kept us younguns off the streets for years.

They wrote how their father would rent a projector and show movies for his kids at birthdays for them and their friends. It was such a success that he wanted to do this for more kids, so he rented bigger equipment and got to use the old church/school building.
He singlehanded started an entire generation coming to Saturday afternoon movies.
Then he got the idea of starting some sort of children's cabaret, and he sent home a letter to the parents, asking for members. They even showed a picture of the form, too funny! Plus a newspaper article WITH photo. God, I was almost famous!

Since I loved to be a ham and also kinda played the guitar, and since my mom probably needed me out of her hair for a few hours a week, I was signed up immediately.

This man, Theo, and his wife were amazing. She sewed all our costumes. We had a 'band', 5 melodicas, two accordions, a drummer(ette) and ONE aucoustic guitar (ME)
(first picture on top here)

We sounded like crap most of the time.
Once Theo invited a fellow from a radio station to hear us audition. The poor man took ten seconds and ran out screaming.
*lol*

BUT...we had a great show, we had a magician, we had two kids who were comedians (they really were funny) Pepino and Pepano, and we did little skits.

We performed mostly for the parishioners, and at special events, we also played in nursing homes, and even went on a trip by bus to entertain a group of women who were in a sanatarium.

This picture show pretty much our entire group. The guy on the left of the polar bear is Theo, the lady way over on the right with the raincoat his wife.
I'm on the left, with a perm, dark long coat, gray pleated skirt. I couldn't wear pants/slacks that day because I had my period...Huh???!!! Hahaha...geesh

I guess we deserved this visit to the ZOO during this road trip. There are many faces I still remember so well, a few I've kept in touch with, some that have gone to the great stage in the sky, including Theo and his wife, and most of the adults in this picture.

Anyway, the last few days I've once again dug up the old pictures, and allowed myself to get nostalgic again. Like digging into another world, almost surreal. I just immersed myself in the time back then, did some time traveling if you will. Some stuff really comes back to you when you concentrate, and you remember things, people and places you have long forgotten, but are obviously still stored up in the attic of your brain.

Wheelie just rolls his eyes when I come storming into the room having found yet another familiar place or name. Oh well.


And here it's spring again. Even though we've had much rain the past week, and more to come, at least it's not cold anymore, and Boo loves the outdoors. She liked to swing, and climbs on top of the playthingie so she cam come down the slide herself.

Creeps me OUT!

The bad news is this. Wheelie's son finally had himself tested. He tested positive for MJD.

If it troubles Wheelie, he doesn't show it. Absolutely no reaction of any kind. Even his son didn't write about it in the accompanying letter (he sent us the copy of the test results), he just wrote about the weather and his daughter, our other grand kid.

Unbelievable. I married into a family with the emotions of a pile of bricks.

SGMKJ!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day y'all!!

I am just going to leave you today with a UTube of one of the most spectacular dance routine I have ever been lucky to see live on stage. Bugs and I saw Lord of the Dance here in Atlanta.
I have never seen her so enthusiastic about anything, the girl went absolutely NUTS!
Aside from watching her freak on stage at her brothers concerts, this took the cake. If was amazing.

And such a long time ago.

:<( You might have to copy and paste the url

Put it on full screen and turn up your speakers.

It's worth watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxTTjJtXDA&feature=email

Enjoy!

SGMKJ!

Ambivalence

This is a picture of Wheelie (left) with his half sister and half brother. All from a different daddy.

We have several pictures of this crew with grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles and mom. This one probably one of the last of them together.
Mom had little Johnny adopted by to her brother-in-law and his wife. It was war time, she was no longer married to his father, and times were very tough.

Mom worked on the docks, a real Rosie the riveter , short feisty gal with her boots, her helmet and her suspenders.

Wheelie pretty much lived with his grandmother during the war. He raised chickens and rabbits, and exchanged them for butter and meat. He did odd jobs, his chores at home were doing the laundry and the baking. Yes, 7-8 years old and baking bread and cakes. He also learned how to embroider, we still have a few pieces.

When his sister Lucille was a teenager, she got pregnant and Mom kicked her out.
Amazing, since Mom herself was only 17 when Wheelie was born, and had a shotgun type of wedding.

So around the time Wheelie finished UC Berkeley and went into the army, he lost sight of both his siblings.

He never saw his sister again, but he did see his brother, who lived in the neighborhood, and he thinks he had a pretty good life, compared to the hardships Wheelie suffered at his own home.

He can't remember when he saw Johnny last. They all completely lost touch.

Ever since we've been married I've been fascinated with this family.

Mom was married five times. The first four marriages were annulled by the church. How in the world she ever got THAT done is a true mystery. But we found all found all four documents when we went through her stuff after she passed away.

I found Lucille's social security card. So I did a search online. And low and behold, I found her. She sadly passed away in 1999 in Monterrey, California.
We do know what her married name was so we could try and find any children. I just want to know what she died of, whether she had MJD, whether she knew what she was suffering from if she did (it's a rare and pretty unknown disease).

But Wheelie wasn't close to Lucille, apparently Lucille was not the sweetest flower in the bouquet.

But he always told me that Johnny was a sweet kid. And that he was glad he had a better life.

So why in the world wouldn't he want to find him???

Again, why isn't he curious about finding out if Johnny also inherited the family curse.

He never wanted to. I tried several times over the years.

Last week I brought it up again. I showed him a search I had done on the internet and came up with a list of pretty good possibilities.

Wheelie hmmm-ed and aahh---ed, and I got the feeling he was JUST a teeny tiny bit curious.

So I made prints of the picture and now I am wondering if I should just send some of the possibilities on that list a simple letter with the picture.

I wouldn't want to tell Wheelie. I just want to find out for myself.

I know one of the reasons he doesn't want to try is because of the disastrous reunion with his own dad after years.

I guess it's an iffy proposition. You'll never know what would happen.
And once you find someone, you cannot UNfind him again.

Still, WHAT if..........

Ambivalence...........

I love looking at Wheelie's childhood pictures. He was such an adorable little guy.


SGMKJ!

:>)

My birthday cards from Holland are finally trickling in. I don't know what the holdup was.
My mom even sent me cash, which is stupid, and I have a feeling it got "lost"

My sister sent me this one. I just love it.

That's me on the left with the polka dot bikini, she's the one on the right, and Mom in the middle.

*lol*

SGMKJ!

Photo box diving

Out of pure boredom I grabbed my old big photo box tonight, in the hope to come up with an idea for a blog story.

Well.....

I found this one. Taken in 1990. I was department manager at the Atlanta Macy's flagship store, china/crystal/silver department.

One of the china brands we sold was a line of Mottahedeh china (Motta whut?)
Along with all the other famous brands such as Lenox, Noritake, Villeroy & Boch, Portmeirion, Coalport, Haviland, Royal Doulton, etc etc etc.

So at one point, Mildred Mottahedeh invited our buyers, and the managers of the best selling stores (ahem) to come and visit her in New York, spend the day at her offices and have lunch at her apartment.

Now here was an interesting lady.

To make it easy on myself, check out this website:

http://www.onecountry.org/e114/e11415as_Mottehedeh.htm

or:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Mottahedeh

She died the year after we visited her. The day we visited her was an incredible experience for the few of us privileged to be invited.

The china her company produced was some of the most incredible stuff I had ever seen. Her showroom was finger licking gorgeous. We all were quiet and in awe.

Meeting this formidable woman in person was like meeting the queen. Her apartment was a museum. Some rooms had double walls, that opened up to show the most rare and beautiful and old pieces of china, figurines. Everywhere you looked there was stuff, undoubtedly very valuable and rare.

As you can see in the picture, we were all so enthralled with this woman. I'm second from the right, with the blue Laura Ashley dress on (groan!)...and weighing a ton less than I do now, and NO gray hair either.

The entire trip was paid for, flew first class, stayed overnight in a super hotel. What a treat!

I guess I can say that that job was one of the best jobs I ever had. I loved retail, loved china and pretty things, still do, but now the glamour has worn off, and we're in a completely different world now.

In the box I also found a stack of old negatives. Black & white, all Wheelie's old stuff, with pictures of his kinds when they were little. I'd love to send it to them, but....I'll wait....I wish I had a dark room so I could develop these old negatives....

Just love my pictures....just love 'em....and the memories they bring....

SGMKJ!

Blasts from the past

This has been one of these days that you can't just let go without writing about it.

I received an email from Wheelie's ex (we are still good friends, as you know)
She forwarded me a letter from a radio person in San Mateo, California. An old friend of us, a guy who Wheelie worked with a long time ago, was a famous record promoter and Jazz DJ (KJAZZ) for years in the SF Bay Area.

check this out to get some info on him:

http://www.afm6.org/archive_JohnRodgersInterview.htm


Apparently John broke his hip and he and his wife are not doing too well financially. So the radio station is asking people to send them money for their medical expenses, food, rent. etc.

I forwarded the request to some of our old friends, and replied to the radio station lady.

I also asked her (while I was at it) if she knew the whereabouts of another friend of mine from the record business, a fellow named Ralph Parsons.

Big bruiser of a guy, huge handlebar mustache, LOUD rough voice, BIG ego.

I first met him during a promotion event for the pop star Melanie (I've got a pair of brand new roller skates) We sat next to each other at dinner. He was boisterous, drunk and loud and at one point I told him he was full of shit. I was fed up with the drinking and the rudeness.
Now mind you, I was a fresh import from Holland in 1968, green/shy/not a clue about this new 'record' world I was in.

But he looked at me, laughed, and we became instant friends. Along with a few other couples we hung out and went to other events and concerts for the next few years.

Then we all got divorces, pretty much all at the same time. I went back to Holland.

Ralph remarried and on a trip to Europe he and his new wife came to Amsterdam to spend the day with me. It was the last time I saw him.

When I was back in the states again in 1981, living with my son in Oakland (this is right before Wheelie and I got it on), I was listening to the local jazz station. The DJ sounded familiar.
Puri, who must have been visiting, looked at me and said: that is Ralph!

That...was the last time we heard his voice.

So the radio lady emails me back. She doesn't know Ralph, but will spread the word that I am looking for him.

I have been searching for him on the internet for years, and always found it frustrating not to be able to find him, or any information about him. Like he vanished from the face of the earth.

The next email I get is from a fellow who said this:

Hi. Melanie sent along your note,part of which had to do with Ralph Parsons. Ralph was one of my best friends of 30--40 years back. We had both been part of the jazz record/radio/club/media scene and at one time, 1981 I think, Ralph even subbed for me, while I was in Europe, on my KQED program, The Annals of Jazz. It was during these years that Ralph discovered that he was Jewish on his mother's side. My wife and I put together a Bar Mitzvah for him at our home. As a record collector Ralph was pretty serious: I think he may have had a complete Frank Sinatra collection! We spent wonderful times at parties tossed by Ralph and his spouse, Barb Hauser. Usually good jam sessions at those affairs.

I will call Barb and see if she minds giving out her phone number. I imagine she would love to hear from you.

Regards,


And then, the next email from the same guy:

Hello again. It just dawned on me that I left out something very important: Ralph Parsons died years ago, maybe in 1990 or so. Sorry.

Talk about shock!!!

Of course the memories started coming, how when I announced that I was pregnant with my son, Ralph's son Bret told me that if it was a girl he would marry her. And if it was a boy, he would just live with him. The kid was 8 or so, I'll never forget that, he was so sweet.

How Ralph had a huge record collection ( little did I know that I would marry a guy who had even more LPs than Ralph had)

His wife Bonnie was my role model when it came to clothing and home design/style. I loved their house, their stuff. So unlike the Dutch things and way of life I grew up with.

Of course in those day there was a lot of grass around, (not the kind you mow, he he) especially in the record business circles.

When Ralph found out I knew how to roll cigarettes, he handed me a brick of weed and told me to start rolling.

I remember getting a little high at one of his parties. How much fun it was to watch TV commercials stoned. How embarrassed I was another time when a famous photographer visited the party and all I could do was giggle and snort.

Ah the good old days. Ever seen the movie: Putney Swope? Stoned? It's very funny.

At one New Years party at midnight, he opened all the windows and turned up the speakers and played Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heartsclub Band. So loud, I'm sure the entire East Bay could hear it.

Ralph was the one who visited Puri and me in our little cottage one day and exclaimed:
Holy crap! Sirhan Sirhan has a bigger place than THIS!

Ohhh those were the days....meeting and dining with big stars like Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, sitting on a sofa with B.B.King at the Fillmore...meeting Cannonball Adderley at another couple's house, I had NO clue who the heck he was...and so many more wonderful evenings with music and friends and famous people.......

So here I am, overwhelmed by memories and thoughts of old friends and people we knew way back then.
How we're all getting old, and feeble, and needy.

A few years ago I jokingly suggested to Wheelie and Puri that we should buy a huge house for old and decrepit record people, so we could all be together.

I can't believe that we knew these folks 40 years ago.

A lifetime.........

SGMKJ!