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Post by kds on Jun 6, 2023 14:21:35 GMT
We're pretty early in the Summer of 2023 (meteorologically at least), and I'm back to listening to my summer playlists on Spotify. Each song has a way of bring up summer's past. In that spirit, since I no longer have a Best / Worst Thread to commit myself to, I'm going to do my most self indulgent thread yet, a tribute to my love of summertime, with the music that goes with it. Apologies ahead of time.
1980-1988
I was born in 1980. And, for as long as I can remember, I always loved summertime. Granted, with these early years, I can't always place the memories with the specific years, but I have very fond memories of my Dad lighting up the old Weber grill (the same exact kind that I use today), running around with friends, waiting for the ice cream truck, getting snowballs, picking steamed crabs outside, getting our pool installed (that was 1987, I do remember that, the same year we got invaded by cicadas), church carnivals, trips to the beach, and just being outside and enjoying the sunshine and warm / hot weather.
A lot of my memories from this time period includes sunshine sounding pop tunes from the 1980s, including Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears), Caribbean Queen (Billy Ocean), Red Red Wine (UB40), Walk on Water (Eddie Money), Don't Worry Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin), Boys of Summer (Don Henley), Steppin' Out (Joe Jackson), and Touch of Grey (The Grateful Dead). Of course, not all of these songs are about summertime specifically, but to me, they all have a summer feel, and bring back those early memories of running around the neighborhood, and endless days of sunshine.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 6, 2023 14:34:03 GMT
While I've got about four years on you age-wise, a lot of my childhood summer memories are also from the '80s.
The music of summer was at first whatever my family listened to: I think of the sing-alongs when my family would go camping along with my mom's side of the family, so it would be my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all in tents or campers side by side, maybe up to half a dozen different families. My dad always brought his '50s Martin acoustic and took it out in the evenings for singing of folk and some classic pop songs.
There was also the music I'd listen to while we were home alone more, my older siblings and I, once my mom went into the workforce somewhere around the mid 80s. This sometimes (depending on our status with cable TV) meant watching MTV for hours on end, catching up on music that was otherwise unavailable to me.
And then as we got into the mid-late 80s, once I was 10 or 11, there was an independence. My next-closest brother in age is about 18 months older than me, and being in a small town, we had a lot of friends in common. So in the summer, we would ride our bikes all over town with our friends, going house to house, or to the parks, or to the pool. We'd pool allowances, lawn-mowing or paper-route money, etc., and stock up on licorice, Doritos, and soda. Our soundtrack by 1986 or '87 was the kind of thing I've mentioned many times here, mostly the popular hard rock and rap of that era. I think of Poison in particular as maybe my primary summer music, the first two albums having been played again and again and again (and again). Whether we were playing our boomboxes or stereos at home, or bringing those boomboxes all over town with us on our bikes (which we definitely did), we had music on most of the time. These years were fantastic, because we were really free to roam. Our parents didn't know where we were at any given moment unless we were home while they were home. But we were always on the move, just so long as we were home by supper. It was fantastic.
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Post by kds on Jun 6, 2023 15:30:11 GMT
Yeah, good call on Poison, and hard rock of that era in general. I should've mentioned, but I do tend to associate their music, Crue, Van Hagar, KIX, etc with summertime. My folks would almost always have the active rock station 98 Rock on in the car when we've make trips to the fruit stand, the pool supply store, or the grocery store or deli in the summertime.
It's appropriate that from 2009-2012, I would attend the M3 Festival, a day long (which is now a full weekend) festival devoted to those late 80s glam era bands, so that was a great way to kick off summer those years.
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Post by kds on Jun 6, 2023 15:49:51 GMT
1989
The summer of 1989 is probably the first really memorable summer for me, in that I can tie a lot of memories to a specific year. And it was memorable for several reasons.
I'd started to get interested in sharks after seeing all the movies in the Jaws franchise during my 3rd grade (1988-89) year. When I made the honor roll at the end of the year, my reward was my very own VHS tape of the original Jaws. That was a big summer for movies. The biggest being the Tim Burton directed Batman. But, also on my radar were Ghostbusters II and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
Most notably, it was the first summer that my family and I did a full week in Ocean City, MD, thanks to my father getting access to a condo owned by his boss at the time. Up until then, we did some long weekends, but not a full week. This is a tradition we would continue every year until I was 21. On this particular trip, I remember stopped to where my uncle and aunt were staying, and my uncle loaned by father a greatest hits tape of The Beach Boys that we played in the car during the tip.
Speaking of The Beach Boys... My mother worked that summer, so sometimes, she'd drop my sister and me off at a friend's house. One such friend had a VHS tape filled with episodes of Full House. The first episode on that tape was none other than "Beach Boy Bingo." Until seeing that episode, my little brain did not make the connection that those guys on those 1960s hits my parents listened to were the same guys who had that hit on the radio about Aruba, Jamaica. I also didn't realize that the song in question was called Kokomo.
While I do remember hearing the music of The Beach Boys prior to 1989 (oddly enough, I mostly remembered hearing their Christmas music back then), I think this was the first time I really made the association with summertime and their music. But, it was still a while before I fully embraced them.
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Post by kds on Jun 7, 2023 13:47:11 GMT
1990-1992
When people mention the 1990s, they often paint a picture of young people in rather drab clothes and flannel. But, I remember the early part of the decade was very much an extension of the late 80s, and there was a lot of neon and bright colors.
1990
In the summer of 1990, I was still wearing a lot of bright clothes. For achieving honors all four quarters in 4th grade, I was gifted by very own Sony Walkman. I hadn't yet started to collect proper albums, as I didn't really know who was singing those rock songs on the radio that I enjoyed. But, I liked movies, so I collected movie soundtracks. One such soundtrack was the Batman Soundtrack by Prince.
I have very vivid memories of our family vacation to Ocean City in 1990, listening to that tape as darkness fell, and we drove over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Looking back, I thought I did this multiple times, but that's not possible. At the most, I listened to that tape on the way to the beach three times. And, the next two years, we drove down during the day. But, I guess that one time just stuck. Years later, in the late 00s, I found a used copy of that soundtrack on CD, and listened to it on a trip to the beach, and it instantly made me remember being nine years old. I still listen to that album at least once a year.
I also remember there was a big jellyfish outbreak at the beach that summer, and I was afraid to go into the water. I remember my mother saying if I wasn't going to go into the ocean we wouldn't bother coming to Ocean City anymore. Being a child, I took this literally, and remember buying an Ocean City postcard towards the end of the trip in fear that I'd never see my beloved beach town again. I wish I still had that postcard.
1991
Baltimore had an usually warm April as I recall. Some days, my father would come home with Slurpees from 7-Eleven for my sister and me. At the time, the cups came with baseball hologram coins on the bottom. Somehow, this ignited an interest in baseball for me. That May, I attended my first Orioles game at Memorial Stadium. I was hooked, and the summer of 1991 was all about baseball.
I remember going to the baseball card shop with friends to get new packs of cards. When I went on my only week long camping trip with the Boy Scouts that July, I remember the first thing I wanted to do when I got home was go to the baseball card shop to get the new Beckett magazine.
Ballads and power ballads were all over the radio that summer, in particular Extreme's More Than Words, Bryan Adams's Everything I Do, and Scorpions's Wind of Change. But, the stand out summer of 1991 track for me was from...an alternative rock band from Athens, GA?
When my family and I did our annual trek to Ocean City in August 1991, REM's Shiny Happy People was everywhere. That song just screams summer to me when I hear it now, and it's a mainstay on my summer playlists. Oh, I'd shaken by fear of jellyfish, and spent a ton of time in the ocean on this trip.
1992
Another summer dominated by baseball. This season, the Orioles moved from Memorial Stadium to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and I think I went to about 20 games that summer. And, unlike the previous summer, the Orioles were actually good. They battled for the AL East with the eventual WS Champion Toronto Blue Jays. They cooled with the weather in September and finished in third.
The early part of that summer was also all about the most anticipated sequel to Batman - Batman Returns. I remember all the merch, and the McDonald's tie in. In late June, I attended a big baseball card show at the Baltimore Convention Center, and wound up getting a complete set of Batman Returns trading cards. That same weekend, I got a Cass-single of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which was re-released due to the push from Wayne's World. That Cass-single start a fascination with Queen that, by the end of 1992, would be a borderline obsession, and the real start of my music geekdom.
I remember watching a lot of MTV and Vh1 that summer. Grunge was really starting to blow up, but videos by Metallica, Megadeth, and Guns N Roses were still in heavy rotation. I also remember more random stuff like Tom Cochrane's Life is a Highway and Shakespear's Sister's Stay. But, again my summer 1992 anthem was somewhat unlikely, a song from an aging prog turned pop rock band.
The video for Jesus He Knows Me by Genesis was the one I remember seeing the most. And, maybe it was Tony Banks's keyboards, or the reggae tinged middle section that coincides with a pool party in the video, but that song felt summer-y to me. I remember hearing that song, and waiting, and waiting to find out when we were going to Ocean City.
It was getting to be late August, and we had no hook up this summer. So, my resourceful mother, not wanted her kids to miss our summer tradition, called some hotels, and we got a long weekend down there at the tail end of August.
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Post by kds on Jun 9, 2023 14:18:25 GMT
1993-94
The summer of 1993 was probably my absolute peak as a baseball fan. I'd starting playing rec ball. I played a lot of pick up. My friends and I really never had enough for a full game, but there was one afternoon we were able to gather enough kids to have an actual game. If I wasn't playing baseball, I was watching baseball. Baltimore hosted the All Star Game that summer, which I got to attend. As part of a week long celebration called All Star Week in July 1993, the Orioles had Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades of Damn Yankees play a short acoustic set after an Oriole game. That was my first exposure to live music from a prominent artist. I remember Silence is Broken was in heavy rotation that summer on the radio. I was disappointed they didn't attempt an acoustic version. The Orioles were in another pennant race, but like the previous season, fell off in September.
1993 was also a really hot summer. That's not too unusual in Baltimore, but I seem to recall an unusual amount of days where the air temps got into the triple digits. Perhaps it was a coincide that Jackyl had just released When Will It Rain to active rock radio that summer.
In August 1993, my family and I went back to doing a full week in Ocean City. This year marked a major first. It was the first year my parents let my sister and me bring friends with us. I bought one of my best friends. We had that luxury because we had a place to stay at a family friend's trailer. We would stay in that trailer for the next ten summers. At the age of 12, going on 13, this was the first time I ever got to experience some freedom at the beach where my friend and I were allowed to roam the Boardwalk at night so long as we met up with the folks at the set time. That was a new and exciting aspect to this summer trip.
A few weeks later, I would do with my friend with his family to Myrtle Beach, SC. I vividly remember hearing Billy Joel's River of Dreams a ton on the radio down there.
1994
I was fresh off graduating from the 8th grade, and amount to start high school.
I went to Myrtle with my friend again, this time in late June. Ace of Base's Don't Turn Around and Elton John's Can You Feel the Love Tonight were in the background a lot.
That summer, I got my first taste of pro football. In summer? Yes, Baltimore had a new team in the Canadian Football League, whose season began in late June. So, in July, I attended my first ever pro football game, at Memorial Stadium and watched as Doug Flutie and his Calgary Stampeders rolled over the Baltimore CFLs (the team had to go without a name after they received a cease and desist from the NFL when they tried to call the team the CFL Colts). The CFL team filled the void when baseball abruptly stopped on Aug 12 when the MLB players went on strike, a strike that would end the 1994 season.
In August, we did our annual week in Ocean City.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 9, 2023 15:06:36 GMT
I had great summers growing up. I loved the hot, summer weather. I would play sandlot or Little League baseball. I listened to Phillies' baseball games on my transistor radio at night. Nobody I knew had a pool in their backyard so my three sisters and I went to the local, community pool. My Dad and I would wash the car in the driveway. I would go to the corner store and buy baseball cards or snow cones - both for 5 cents a piece! I would catch my own nightcrawlers in the yard at night and go fishing with my buddies in the morning. My Dad taught me how to play golf. I rode my bike everywhere. School was out and I would lay on the living room floor and watch TV show after TV show. Our family would go to the Jersey shore for a few days. There was the local street fair and church festivals. Summers? It was great a time to grow up in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Oh, and the sounds of summer? Either at Christmas or the beginning of summer, I would go to Pomeroy's department store to purchase a transistor radio. They ranged in price from $5.00 (the one I usually bought) to $15.00 (they had an antenna and FM radio). The radios themselves didn't last very long, and the batteries even less. You had to be careful not to fall asleep at night with the radio on or the battery would be dead in the morning. But the music? That great AM radio music of the 60s and 70s...Even as a little kid, the music was important to me. It contributed to my summer happiness and memories. One of the earliest music memories I have, or just earliest childhood memories at all, was going to Lion's Lake in the summer of 1964, buying a small paper cup of chocolate milk and a pack of orange, Lance peanut butter crackers - which I had to share with my sisters - and this loud radio blasting from the concession stand, playing Beatles' songs. Even though it was an AM radio station, it seemed like every other song was a Beatles' song!
So, my Sounds Of Summer mix is largely comprised of songs from the 1960s and 1970s. Radio songs. Fun songs. Summer love songs. Water songs. Some are just personal likes (Ringo's "It Don't Come Easy") and wouldn't mean anything to anybody else. I occasionally tweak it, but the nucleus remains the same. Some 80s songs eventually found their way in (ha ha). I do listen to it in the house, but it works best in the car or out on the patio. It just makes me feel good. It not only makes me reminisce to simpler, happy times, but it's darn good music to boot!
The Sounds Of Summer
01 Beach Boys' Radio Spot - Wonderful KOMA 02 It's OK - The Beach Boys 03 Holiday Road - Lindsey Buckingham 04 Twisting By The Pool - Dire Straits 05 Hot Fun In The Summertime - Sly & The Family Stone
06 Dancing In The Streets - Martha & The Vandellas 07 1-2-3 - Len Barry 08 Tighter, Tighter - Alive N Kickin' 09 Up, Up And Away - The 5th Dimension 10 More Today Than Yesterday - The Spiral Staircase 11 Happy Summer Days - Ronnie Dove 12 Saturday In The Park - Chicago 13 Lazy Day - Spanky & Our Gang
14 Laughter In The Rain - Neil Sedaka 15 Baby, Now That I've Found You - The Foundations 16 It Don't Come Easy - Ringo Starr 17 Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey - Paul McCartney 18 The Warmth Of The Sun - Willie Nelson 19 Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johnny Cash 20 Morning Of My Life - The Bee Gees 21 Islands In The Stream - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
22 Ride Captain Ride - Blues Image 23 Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) - Looking Glass 24 Shannon - Henry Gross 25 Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts
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Post by kds on Jun 12, 2023 17:03:34 GMT
1995-96
The summer of 1995 was my first following high school. It was also my last "free" summer where I didn't have a job. And, I spent it like it was my last free summer. I played pickup baseball a ton. I stayed up late, and slept in just about every day.
This summer marked the third entry in the Batman franchise - Batman Forever. Unlike the 2nd movie, this movie had some music tie ins. U2 contributed Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me. The more enduring song, which survives on my Spotify Summer playlists was Seal's Kiss From a Rose.
August 1995 in particular was exciting. Instead of Myrtle Beach, my friend's family decided to go to Ocean City, MD for a week. This meant that I got to spend two full weeks in Ocean City that August.
The summer of 1995 was also memorable as in Baltimore, we were counting down the games when Cal Ripken Jr would break Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played, which would occur on September 6, a game that I attended the day before school resumed.
The summer of 1996 was one of those rare Baltimore summers where we didn't get a lot of hot weather, and it rained a lot. It was my first summer working, as I had a part time job assisting a contractor friend of the family. Having my own spending money made me feel a bit more grown up.
I wound up buying some CDs with my own money, as I'd starting building my CD collection the previous Christmas. One of which was Don Henley's recently released Actual Miles compilation. I got it late in summer, and played Boys of Summer a lot.
That summer saw my Baltimore Orioles back in playoff contention. Also, that summer, the Baltimore Ravens had their first training camp and preseason. I remember the excitement of listening to the first preseason game on the radio on the ride back from Ocean City. That's one of the only times in my life that I can use "excitement" and "preseason game" in the same sentence.
Once again, and for the final time, I was able to do two full weeks in Ocean City. Although, the one with my family was cut short a day as we opted to come home early due to bad weather.
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Post by kds on Jun 13, 2023 13:34:15 GMT
1997
The summer of 1997 was a much hotter and sunnier summer than the previous year. The weather was great, and the Baltimore Orioles fielded the best team that I've ever experienced in real time (to date), a team that went wire to wire.
But, there was a bit of a shift that I recall from that particular summer. I was never really a social butterfly. I'm still not. But, 1997 was the first year that I really began to fell a disconnect with my peer group. I'd completed by third year of high school, but I just didn't identify with many of my classmates. I had some class chums, but nobody that I hung out with outside of school. It didn't help that I didn't drive yet.
But, there also seemed to be a shift in pop culture. For the first time, I would watch MTV, and think "what's the deal with these kids?" Kids my age. Guys were frosting their hair. Suddenly, guitar rock gave way to stuff like Smashmouth and Sugar Ray. Meanwhile, I was diving deeper into classic rock, and I just didn't understand what other 16 year olds were doing. My attending an all boys private school and having limited socialization with girls my age surely didn't help my disconnect.
Also, my circle of friends seemed to dwindle. I saw less and less of friends I hung out with in my elementary and middle school years. I was basically down to two good friends. JD, who is the friend with whom I vacationed from 1993-96, and CE, who was the McCartney uber fan I'd mentioned before.
I was working Part Time as a Park Attendant in a County Park that was a five minute walk from my house. And, I also took Driver's Ed that summer.
The most devastating thing that happened to me in the summer of 1997 was when I found out that JD and his family were flying to Florida for their vacation, and thus, JD would not be going to Ocean City, MD with me and my family. At this point, it had been five years since I went to OC without JD, and just my family. There's a big difference between 11 and 16 when you're a kid. I honestly didn't think it would be any fun. I really, for the first time in my life, felt like my childhood was slipping away.
Luckily, I was wrong. Going to the beach for a week in August with just my parents and sister turned out to be far more fun than I expected. It felt like those trips from 1989-92 again. This was also the first year that I really began to get interested in the history of my favorite beach town. Before the conclusion of the trip, I bought my first book on Ocean City, a Pictoral History. I thumbed through that book a lot during the remaining weeks before school resumed.
As an end of summer bonus, I would wind up going to OC a couple times with JD after all. In mid September, my mother took the two of us down for a weekend. The following weekend, I went down with JD's family. They were just weekend trips, but they were a blast. I remember on the trip with his family, introducing him and his future brother in law to a new show I'd just discovered called South Park.
So, despite some of my angst at the time about lost childhood and alienation, I look back fondly at the summer of 1997. While I may not enjoy the music, I do feel a slight tinge of nostalgia when I hear some of that pop music from the day. Oddly enough, one of the ones I most remember is by The Spice Girls. They had a ballad called Two Become One that I remember liking. And, I think it's because it sounds a little bit like Prince's Arms of Onion from the Batman Soundtrack.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 13, 2023 13:37:42 GMT
I'm amazed at how specific your memories are. I'm not THAT much older, but mine are more vague. Even very specific memories I have, I rarely can place them into a particular summer.
One exception is 1988, which I remember because it started with a week-long class trip around the state at the end of our sixth grade year. I was 11, to turn 12 later that summer.
I was listening a lot on a walkman to cassettes of the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill, Ace Frehley's Frehley's Comet, Kiss's Crazy Nights, GnR's Appetite for Destruction, and Poison's Open Up and Say...Ahh while we were riding on crowded school buses, sleeping on gym floors in far-off schools, and roughing it in rustic cabins in the north woods. So that music always reminds me of summer, but of specific, "activity-based" summer things, basically a long field trip.
There were probably only about half a dozen boys--or less--who were into music at all, and so we'd trade tapes along the way. There were more girls into music, but their taste was more along the lines of Madonna and other, lighter pop. Probably Bon Jovi was the only place the genders' tastes crossed, though they tolerated power ballads from the other hair bands.
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Post by kds on Jun 13, 2023 13:51:47 GMT
I'm amazed at how specific your memories are. I'm not THAT much older, but mine are more vague. Even very specific memories I have, I rarely can place them into a particular summer. One exception is 1988, which I remember because it started with a week-long class trip around the state at the end of our sixth grade year. I was 11, to turn 12 later that summer. I was listening a lot on a walkman to cassettes of the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill, Ace Frehley's Frehley's Comet, Kiss's Crazy Nights, GnR's Appetite for Destruction, and Poison's Open Up and Say...Ahh while we were riding on crowded school buses, sleeping on gym floors in far-off schools, and roughing it in rustic cabins in the north woods. So that music always reminds me of summer, but of specific, "activity-based" summer things, basically a long field trip. There were probably only about half a dozen boys--or less--who were into music at all, and so we'd trade tapes along the way. There were more girls into music, but their taste was more along the lines of Madonna and other, lighter pop. Probably Bon Jovi was the only place the genders' tastes crossed, though they tolerated power ballads from the other hair bands. Yeah, I feel like for me, ever since 1989, each summer has a bit of a distinct feel. Granted, as I get older, some things do blur together a bit.
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Post by kds on Jun 14, 2023 12:25:10 GMT
1998-99
In late May 1998, I graduated high school. For me, my high school experience doesn't really bring up any real nostalgia. But, my graduation meant that I got to participate in a Maryland rite of passage - Senior Week. Each May and June, graduating HS students flock to Ocean City. I went with my friend JD, his sister, her boyfriend, his sister, and her friend. It was my first taste of freedom. A full week at the week without anyone's parents around. That was such a fun week. Each year, in early June, I commemorate the week with a Bud Ice while listening to The Way by Fastball.
Not too long after Senior Week, I got my drivers license. I also got my first job with a full time schedule, working under the table for my uncle. The previous summers, I just had part time gigs that have me a little pocket change.
Since I had a license, and some money in my pocket, on the weekends I'd borrow my mother's Buick LeSabre and my friend CE and I would go to the movies, or go buy CDs, or just drive around.
That August, I went to Ocean City for a week with my family again, as per tradition. But, those family trips never really felt the same again after going down the ocean untethered.
I capped the summer of 2018 with getting my own car in September, a few weeks after my freshman year of college started. In late September, CE and I did a weekend trip to Ocean City, as he was joining the Air Force soon.
The summer of 1999 would begin in a similar way. Just a few days after concluding my freshman year, CE, another friend of ours from elementary / middle school, and I went to Ocean City. Leading up to that trip, I'd really started to get used to using the internet on a more regular basis. For some reason, I remember listen to Rush's Subdivsions a lot as I dialed into our 28K connection to look for beach deals.
I spent most of the summer of 1999 working at Circuit City. I picked up some extra hours since school was over. I actually managed to make some friends at that store. Something I was unable to really do in high school (for the most part) or my first year of college.
Still feeling that same disconnect with pop culture and my peers, I immersed myself in the music of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters as a countdown to Roger playing Baltimore in August 1999.
My family went to Ocean City again in August 1999. Unfortunately, nothing really sticks out in my mind from these late 1990s trips.
I saw less and less of JD and CE that summer. I spend most of my time working. When I was off, I'd surf the primitive internet or listen to music. I was on a major Floyd kick for most of 1999. Not really the most summery music in the world.
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Post by kds on Jun 15, 2023 16:24:16 GMT
2000-01
2000
By 2000, I barely saw any of JD, and CE was in the Air Force. So, out of the blue, I contacted a guy, RM, I palled around with in HS, even though he'd never hung out outside of school. We got together, and started hanging out on weekends.
That summer, pretty much every weekend, RM and I hung out, and through him I wound up meeting SB and RB, and we became fast friends. We'd hang out and watch movies, or go check out record stores, go to Orioles games, or even just hang at the mall.
I did wind up taking a four day trip to Ocean City with CE when he came home for leave and another guy I worked with at Circuit City. That June trip marked the first time I ever got really drunk, and that resulted in my first case of getting sick from booze and my first hangover. I didn't even attempt another drink until Halloween.
I did another week with the family in Ocean City that August.
I was still working at Circuit City that summer, but thanks to my new friends, I remember having less feelings of isolation.
2001
I was still at Circuit City, and still hanging out most weekends with RM, RB, and SB. The year 2001 was really the only year I dabbled in marijuana. We'd get high while listening to music. RB was into Jimmy Buffett, and would sometimes play Son of a Son of a Sailor while we smoked. While I wasn't a Buffett fan, the vibe of that song felt right.
But, Buffett wasn't even close to my radar in the summer of 2001. That was the first summer that I really started to explore heavy metal. I had a couple Metallica albums, and best of collections from Sabbath, Priest, and Ozzy, but this was when I started to get into the catalogs of Priest, Sabbath, Black Label Society, and Iron Maiden. I was really exploring more Sabbath in particular because SB and I went to Ozzfest to see Black Sabbath headline in July.
I went to Ocean City for a full week with my mother, father, and sister in August as per tradition. Little did I know that this would be the final time that all four of us would be down there for a full week. I wish I had more distinct memories of those last trips. I'm sure we hit the beach and walked the Boardwalk, did our usual stuff. But, by this time, the trips I was taking with my friends were more memorable.
Speaking of, not too long after my family trip, I went for a long weekend with RM, RB, and SB. Since I'd had bad experiences with beer, my drink of choice was Smirnoff Ice. I'm not proud of this. Now, I was a month from turning 21, so RB and SB had to buy the alcohol. And, my and RM's drinking was limited to our motel, since we were both shy of 21. On the way from Baltimore to OC, we listened to a few CDs, one of which was the fairly new at the time solo debut from Tony Iommi. Somehow that CD became a staple on our summer roadtrips.
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Post by kds on Jun 16, 2023 13:01:25 GMT
2002
I graduated college with a BS in Electric Media and Film (a fancy new term for a Mass Communications degree) in May 2022. I got a job as a promotions assistant at Baltimore's Active Rock station 98 Rock FM. So, I spent a lot of the summer of 2002 doing onsite promotions for the station at Preakness, Orioles games, local bars, and concerts, and even got to meet a few rock stars along the way, most notably Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee from Rush.
Being on the low end of the totem pole in radio pays nearly nothing though. The perks are nice, but perks don't pay the bills, so I did keep my job at Circuit City.
Unfortunately, working in radio and retail takes up a lot of weekend time, so I didn't hang out with my friends as much as I would've liked, especially since this was my first summer after turning 21. Speaking of, this was the first summer that I really started to drink beer, mostly Bud Light since it's very easy to drink. Speaking of beverages, Pepsi rolled out Pepsi Blue that summer. I don't know what it is about blue frozen treats, sweets, and beverages that scream summertime to me, but Pepsi Blue became my go to soda that summer. Sadly, it was short lived, but Pepsi did bring it back a couple years ago just for the summer.
Through 98 Rock, I did get to work some promotions in Ocean City. We used to have Pro Beach Volleyball Weekends, where we'd go down there, sit on the beach and sell shirts. We had a free place to stay for the weekend too, and the evenings were free. That was pretty cool for a couple weekends.
I was able to sneak in a four day trip in Ocean City with RM, RB, and SB too. In fact, it would be the last time all four of us would be down there together to date. It also marked the first time I got to have some beers at the Boardwalk bars. A little dive bar called The Dutch Bar (which closed in 2003) was where we'd drink. They have a mostly hard rock and metal jukebox, but since we were day drinking, I wanted something slightly more mellow, so I remember one afternoon, picking Metallica's Mama Said and Low Man's Lyric. Now, I always associate the latter in particular with summer, and sitting in a dank bar on a beautiful summer day, seeing the beach and ocean to my left.
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Post by kds on Jun 20, 2023 14:01:52 GMT
2003-04
2003
By the summer of 2003, I'd moved out of my folks' house and into a row house in Baltimore with my friends RM And RB. So, in a way, I got to experience my first summer of "freedom." But, in a more realistic way, I was very free as I was still working two jobs, and often would go weeks at a time without a day off.
I still did my best to enjoy the summer months, busy as they were. By late June, I was really jones-ing for the beach. I had such a tight schedule, I actually drove down for a day trip. Three hours there, and three hours back, just to enjoy about 6-7 hours of the smell of the ocean of the sights and sounds. I also had possibly the worst sunburn of my life after attending an Orioles day game without sunscreen the day prior. Not able to find a friend crazy enough to spend six hours in a car for a few hours in Ocean City, I had to pick out some music. One album I chose was The Who's Quadrophenia, which does have some beach references in the lyrics. That album became a go-to as, for the next several years, I wound up making the drive to OC solo, usually to meet my folks for a period of time.
That summer in Ocean City marked the end of an era. In mid July, I drove down there to meet my folks for a weekend trip (the only full weekend I had off that summer). It would be the final time we would stay at the trailer that we borrowed from a family friend, starting in the summer of 1993. The whole Trailer Park was sold. Sadly, 20 years later, it's just an empty lot, nothing has been done since all the trailer owners were displaced.
When I moved out, my father let me take the old Weber Grill as he "upgraded" to a propane grill. So, I had my first experience grilling that summer on the very same grill I grew up with. I didn't have many weekend nights free, but when I did, I'd often light up the grill for RM and RB, and SB would come over. We'd day drink some beers and I'd grill burgers, hot dogs, and sometimes steaks.
Overall, it was a very busy summer, but I squeezed in some fun.
2004
The summer of 2004 was unusually cool. In fact, we didn't even use our window AC units, and I rarely wore shorts all summer long. I had quit my job at Circuit City just prior to summer. Not that I was making sure at my radio job, but I was just tired of the CC job. Plus, I took one some extra summer hours that helped with the bills. And, the fact that my car was paid off helped. To celebration my liberation from retail, I splurged on a $50 bottle of Cabo Wabo Tequila. I had a cookout with RM, RB, and SB, and asked SB to make margaritas. He proceeded to use the entire bottle of tequila. I was a little annoyed, but it was good $12.50 drink we each had.
I did get to spend more time in Ocean City, thanks in part to a broadcast the radio station did down there. Although, 2004 was the only year to date that I didn't spend any time down there with family.
Speaking of family, early that summer, my parents bought a house down there, ensuring our family always had a place to stay. I used it the first time in September, when RM, RB, and I drove down there on Labor Day Saturday. We were going to go deep sea fishing, but a storm off the coast cancelled that plan.
I had a female intern that summer who was absolutely gorgeous. She happened to be in OC that same weekend, and texted to me if I wanted to meet up with two of her friends. So, my friends and I went to some clubby type bar, overpaid for some beers, and suffered through a mediocre covers band. We waited for what felt like an eternity, and the girls never showed. We decided to salvage our night and move on. We walked down the Boardwalk to a little dive bar with $2 Bud drafts and a drink I'd just been introduced to earlier in the summer called an Orange Crush. Most of the patrons had at least 20 years on us, but we felt more at home there than that other place. I was just a few days shy of 24. Of course, ten minutes after we left, the girls texted to see where we were. Oh well.
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