1978 Leisure

In the spring of 1978, I graduated from eighth grade. My mom hauled me to Murly’s Men’s Wear in Boscobel, and she picked out a leisure suit. I am sure that the young ladies in my class were stunned and breathless when they saw me walk up the aisle in the old Ithaca gym. I quickly outgrew this suit by the next year, and the pants would have been great in a high-water situation. My dear mother suggested until the day I got married that I should be wearing that suit to funerals, proms, weddings, snowball dances, homecomings, and church on Sunday. “I spent a lot of money on that suit, and you never wear it” she would say. Somehow, she did not remember that she bought that for me during the late days of my 8th grade year in school (the best 4 years of my life).

This Saturday night on WRCO’s Those Were the Days, I will dig some of those records from the spring of 1978. It will be a great playlist with such favorites as Dust in the Wind-Kansas, Love is Like Oxygen-Sweet, Sweet Talkin Woman-ELO, Roll with the Changes-REO Speedwagon, Runnin with the Devil-Van Halen, and Stayin Alive-Bee Gees. That era was prime time for my mix tapes. Music relieved some of the future freshman anxiety for me that summer.

I hope you will be able to tune in and hear the memories this Saturday night between six and midnight. Make some new memories, request a song for your mom, win trivia, and have some fun with your radio during Those Were the Days. It is very rewarding to hear from young people that tune in. That might mean that the best music ever cut on vinyl will live on for more generations.

Phil Nee #27 g.p.a. out of 28 Ithaca eighth grade 1978