Spuds and Suds in 1985

The Summer of 1985 was a great era for a mild-mannered mobile disc jockey and a part time farmer. I was spinning the hits, throwing the bales, and courting. I owned my own d.j. business that kept me busy nights and weekends. Though I played hundreds of gigs, some do stick out. Just the other day I told our news guy, Todd, about a wild night at Stadele’s Supper Club (also known as the old Black Cat) in Richland Center. I was hired by the Richland Center class of 1985 for their Senior dinner and dance. When I walked in that night, I was cautioned by the owners that I should not turn up the music very loud because the class was already going crazy. It seems that one of the scholars had thrown a baked potato against the wall across the room. Todd says he knows who it was because it just missed him, but he is still not naming names. They were trying to recreate the Animal House food fight. The mystery of the flying spud still remains! There were other crazy things that happened that night and I did turn it up pretty loud under the disco ball that hung over the center of the dance floor at Stadele’s. There were plenty of hot hits that summer including Raspberry Beret-Prince, Glory Days-Bruce Springsteen, One Night in Bangkok-Murray Head, Some Like It Hot-Power Station, and You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)-Dead or Alive. It was an amazing year for movies and theme songs like View to a Kill-Duran Duran, Axel F-Harold Faltermeyer, The Goonies R Good Enough-Cyndi Lauper, Never Ending Story-Limahl, and Don’t You Forget About Me-Simple Minds. Do you remember the titles of the movies that those songs sprang from? I was courting a young recent 1985 graduate of Ithaca High School and there were plenty of movies to attend with June. This was a good opportunity to use my move. The stretch of the arm over my head and then I slowly laid my arm around her neck and on her shoulders. That was the extent of my smooth dating moves.

Saturday night we will take a magical mystery tour to the iconic year of 1985 during Those Were the Days. You can take the trivia challenge and request a song by phone or text. Last week we had a blast with a bunch of campers checking in and a wild party on the banks of Lee Lake in Cazenovia. Turn it up loud Saturday night when you listen to WRCO, WRCO.com, or hit the Civic Media app. Just don’t get wild and start throwing baked potatos!

Philip