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Nineteen seventy seven
1977
| January was cold and windy, just like the beginning of every other
year. But this year was special. Two months ago I had
turned 18, and in five more months I would graduate from High
School. The world was waiting to be explored.
January 3, 1977
|
1976 was an excellent year. I was doing great in school. I had a good social life and all my cousins were still in Piedras Negras, Coah., Mexico. We had thrown a great New Year's party at my cousin Juan's house (his parents found out about it 25 years later). 1977 was going to be better. 1977 On January 17, Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad. I believe it was his choice of execution. He was the first person executed in the USA since 1967. On January 20, President Carter issued a presidential pardon for most of the Vietnam draft-dodgers. Freddie Prinze quit "Chico and The Man" by putting a gun to his head.
|
Rod Stewart was still going strong with his
album, "A Night On The
Town." Jimmy Carter was our President and the times
they were a-changin'.
January 13, 1977 Rod Stewart, just like Mick Jagger, could sing but not dance. They looked like they were fighting the urges of diarrhea when on stage.
|
| Elfida was still seventeen and had made her first big move from
Barstow, Texas, to Austin, Texas. It would be a little less than a year before I saw her for the first time.
She
had moved in with
her cousin, an Austin police officer, and his family.
Elfida left her hometown for the first time and in reality for the last time. It would cease to be her home. Austin was the first stepping stone to the rest of her life.
Elfida and Manuel
|
In February, American Bandstand celebrated its 25th anniversary, and Dick Clark refused to get old.
Barstow, Texas - Elfida's home town
|
|
|
My nephew, Daniel Mauricio, was about a year old and it was great seeing him explore the world. That's Daniel, my dog BoBo, and me. My dog was supposed to be named Savage but he kept running into things, so my family members started calling him BoBo and it stuck. He was put in the dog pound three times, but I only managed to get him out twice. When he was picked up on the third time, I was already in El Paso. He never made it out again.
I made it through the last year of High School in violation of our dress code. I had long hair!! I managed to do this by getting a layered hair cut and tucking the long end under my shirt collar while at school. In 1977, long hair was no longer a big item, so the teachers paid very little attention to it.
|
Hotel California was released in December of
'76. On November
4, 1976, Roger Uballe and I skipped school, hitched a ride on the bus
that took the students to the Jr. College in Uvalde, which promptly broke
down 25 miles outside of Eagle Pass. We hitched a ride with another
student who was late for classes. He had a '68 or '69 Camaro and our
speed never dropped below 90 mph until we hit the Uvalde city
limits. From Uvalde we rode to San Antonio with Dora and Mary
Jane. That night we were in San Antonio watching the Eagles in
concert!!!
It was great. That night we heard "New Kid in Town" and "Hotel California." The Eagles announced that they would be releasing a new album and that these two songs were from that album. In February 1977 they released the song "New Kid In Town."
|
OK, this was the year that I missed
watching most of the TV shows. I
was spending more time away from home. Afternoons were spent in
other places. I had a drivers license and more important, I had a
car. My brother Carlos had given me a 1965 Chevy Biscayne. It had a six cylinder engine and it was a two door.
Mom was spending more time in San Antonio with my father. I had the house more to myself on the weekends. Dora was now living in Uvalde and Rojelio was married (still living at home). We had little contact with each other so we were getting along better. February was uneventful. The cold weather moved on, and we were left with dusty, wind-filled days that were hell on long hair.
Even though this album was from '76, it was still spawning hits in '77.
|
|
March issues of Rolling Stone
|
||
|
Elfida was spending her first spring in Austin. Going out to see the town with her cousin's wife, Janie.
|
March came and with it Spring Break. I headed to
Lubbock with Dora and Mary Jane. We spent the week there with
my cousins, Carlos and Rudy. Carlos and his friend, Junior, came
back with me to Eagle Pass. Carlos drove his '68 Camaro. That car is NOT built for long distance travel.
We listened to
Rose Royce - Car Wash and Wild Cherry - Play that Funky Music White Boy,
all the way to Eagle Pass.
That was the first time we took Carlos to Boys town. When we were in Lubbock, he took me to a topless bar called "The Body Shop". Oh, we had a ball. These were the last day we would spent together as single men.
|
TV Shows Some of the old TV shows like Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Six Million Dollar Man, and the Bionic Woman were getting stale and really starting to suck. Some of the new shows were: Threes Company, Lou Grant, Soap and CHiPs. ROOTS - the mini series started showing and no one missed an episode of it. Even in Eagle Pass where there were no African Americans, everyone watched. That was the topic of discussion in school, at work, and at home...
|
|
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
|
Fleetwood Mac's album, Rumours,
came out this year. Oh man, I love this album. I bought the cassette later
in the year.
Many dreams and a few fantasies became reality this year. Dreams - "Well here you go again, You say you want your freedom...Oh man, that was so cool!
|
Kunta Kinte
|
|
1. 1. What Can I Say 2. Georgia 3. Jump Street 4. What Do You Want The Girl To Do 5. Harbor Lights 6. Lowdown 7. It's Over 8. Love Me Tomorrow 9. Lido Shuffle 10. We're All Alone
|
Silk Degrees
While this album was released in 1976, most of the songs were hits in 1977. Its one of my favorite romantic albums. This was good dancing music as well as good listening music.
|
|
| On April 24, the movie "Saturday Night Fever"
was
released. The Bee Gees made their third comeback as recording
artists.
The days of being able to go to a disco and seeing only people who could dance and who were still young had come to an end. The discos were invaded by hordes of non-dancing fools. They would kick, punch and point...and they thought they looked like John Travolta!!! The movie was good, but the sound track was most excellent. Disco began it's slow death.Eagle Pass had the Holly Inn lounge and on Saturday Night they had disco dances. When it opened up there were only a few of us regulars that went there. After the movie came out, it would get so packed you couldn't dance. Two years later the discos were flooded with middle age men and women trying to act young.
|
On April 26, 1977, Studio 54 opened its doors in New York City.
|
Disc 1 1.
Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees)
2. How Deep Is Your Love (Bee Gees)
3.
Night Fever (Bee
Gees)
4. More Than A Woman (Bee Gees)
5.
If I Can't Have You (Yvonne Elliman)
6. A Fifth Of Beethoven (Walter Murphy)
7. More Than A Woman (Tavares)
8.
Manhattan Skyline (David Shire)
9. Calypso
Breakdown (Ralph McDonald) Disc 2 1. Night On Disco Mountain (David Shire) 2. Open Sesame (Kool
& The Gang)
3. Jive Talkin' (Bee
Gees)
4. You Should Be Dancing (Bee
Gees)
5. Boogie Shoes (K.C.
And The Sunshine Band)
6. Salsation (DavidShire)
7. K-Jee (M.F.S.B.)
8. Disco Inferno (The
Tramps)
|
| May finally came around along with the Eagle Pass High School
Class of '77 Graduation. 360 seniors graduated. I had plans to go to
The Southwest Texas Jr. College in Uvalde, Texas, in the fall. I
spent 8 hours a day looking for work for the next three weeks.
One day I was sitting at the employment office when I was told that there was a program in El Paso that would get me a job and I could take summer classes at the University of Texas. I told them to sign me up. When I went back later that day to get more information on the program I was handed a bus ticket and told that the bus would leave at 08:00 pm. I left Eagle Pass that night. I would return only as a visitor after that day.
|
On May 25, 77 Star Wars was released. I waited until August to see it.
|
Elfida Was still in Austin, enjoying a summer in the Big City
far from the little town she had grown up in. She would return only
as a visitor to Barstow again.
Weekends were spent at the mall and visiting the Capitol grounds.
|
|
Eagle Pass High School Class of '77 |
||
|
June came and I found myself riding a bus to El Paso. I only had $26 and a phone number. The bus ride was 11 hours of complete darkness. I arrived in El Paso at 7:00 AM to an empty bus station. The people that were suppose to pick me up over slept.
I borrowed this one from the city website.... In June 6, it was reported by the Washington Post that the US was developing the Neutron bomb. This bomb was made to kill people but cause little damage to property. Our priorities were getting skewed.
|
I spent the summer in El Paso living at Miner Hall. Most of the students there were getting their GED's. A lot of them were there as a condition of their probation or parole. My roommate, Cuco, was also from Eagle Pass. He was a nice guy who would get drunk, start a fight and then get beat up. The first day I met him, he had a swollen nose from the weekend fight. The days were HOT! 110° during the day and 50° at night. Miner Hall was not air conditioned and we would have all the windows open during the day. At night you would have to close the windows because it would get too cold. I worked at the university bookstore throughout the summer. I enrolled in H.E.M.P. (Higher Education Migrant Program) which got me the job and helped me enroll for the Fall semester.
|
|
| I spent most of June, July, and August
spreading my wings and on my own. I had changed my mind
about where to go to school in the Fall. I loved El Paso. There were five others from Eagle Pass and we spent our time and money
going to concerts, movies, clubs, and site seeing.
Redbone was an awesome concert band. "Tower Of Power" was the high light of the War concert. War really sucked. They played "Galaxy for about 40 minutes". It sucked.
|
We went to see Peter Frampton in concert at the El Paso Convention center. For a large city, El Paso had a very small convention center with very bad accoustics. The show was really good. This was the beginning of his decline. He sang his hits from "Frampton Comes Alive" and his new hit "I'm in You".
This was the best concert I ever went to!! The stage had a giant TV screen, and then someone came out and plugged in the TV and turned it on. A giant Alice Cooper was running. He got smaller and smaller and then he jumped out! The highlight was when they brought out the guillotine and cut Alice Cooper's head off.
|
|
|
Youth crime was still a large city concern. Small towns like Eagle Pass were where people still slept with their doors unlocked. Cars were still left in the backyard with the keys in them. The media still portrayed criminals as low lifers instead of celebrities.
I went back to Eagle Pass to get my High School transfer papers. I saw my parents for the first time that summer. I told them that I would be going to the University of Texas at El Paso. They supported my decision. My cousins Maike and Pepe were still working up north, Manolo had left for Houston, Ruben had gone to Midland to work, and Rafa was the only one left in Piedras Negras. Dora had transferred to A & I University in Kingsville.
|
We all remember Bob Seger's hit, "Night Moves". That was the anthem for every teenage boy in America. I remember laying down on my bed and looking out the cellar door into the night sky. I was home, but I was a visitor. Such a dark sky, such bright stars...and on the AM radio from a station in San Antonio, this song drifted out, into the cool night air, past me, out the door, up to the heavens..... I left again for El Paso during first week of August.
|
Night Moves Bob Seger I was a little too tall Could've used a few pounds Tight pants points hardly reknown She was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes And points all her own sitting way up high Way up firm and high Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy Out in the back seat of my '60 Chevy Workin' on mysteries without any clues Workin' on our night moves Trying' to make some front page drive-in news Workin' on our night moves in the summertime In the sweet summertime We weren't in love oh no far from it We weren't searching for some pie in the sky summit We were just young and restless and bored Living by the sword And we'd steal away every chance we could To the backroom, the alley, the trusty woods I used her she used me But neither one cared We were getting our share Workin' on our night moves Trying to lose the awkward teenage blues Workin' on out night moves In the summertime And oh the wonder Felt the lightning And we waited on the thunder Waited on the thunder I woke last night to the sound of thunder How far off I sat and wondered Started humming a song from 1962 Ain't it funny how the night moves When you just don't seem to have as much to lose Strange how the night moves With autumn closing in |
| Col. Tom Parker
confirmed that Elvis Presley died of a heart attack on August 16,
1977. Elvis was a changed man, no longer the young teen
idol. He died an old, overweight, middle-aged man. He had walked
the same road we would all walk. The long road that takes your innocence,
your youth, your dreams...but he walked it too fast and fought it too
hard. In the end, the road won. He died a dishonorable death.
Elvis' last picture
|
Elfida was at her cousin's apartment watching TV when they broke in with the news.
|
|
| Returning to El Paso, I found out that Franciso "Pancho"
Martinez was also returning. He had been one of the Eagle Pass
people that had also been there during the summer. He was my running
partner for the next two semesters.
I settled in and started attending classes. College courses were very different from High School classes. Some of the classes I took had 120 students and were held in auditorium-like classrooms. The instructors lectured, so studying and reviewing was all up to the student. I ended up with a 3.4 GPA in spite of all the partying.
I bought Elton Johns Greatest Hits Vol. II at the head shop on Mesa Dr. in El Paso. I paid $13.00 for it.
|
This was my ID. On August 10, David Berkowitz was arrested in Yonkers, New York. He was known as the "Son of Sam". Berkowitz claimed his neighbors' dog told him to kill. He was arrested for 6 murders.
I was staying at Barry Hall on the 2nd floor. My roommate was a Taiwanese student. He was about 24 years old. It was interesting to hear him talk about his home. I am sure he also found my home stories strange.
|
Hit tunes for this year
included Rich Girl by Hall & Oates, Dancing Queen by
Abba, Car Wash by Rose Royce, Evergreen by Barbra Streisand,
Hotel California by the Eagles, You Light Up My Life by
Debbie Boone and You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer. The
Grammy for Album Of The Year went to Rumours by Fleetwood
Mac.
|
|
This was the beautiful girl that I would meet. She was still in Austin, Texas.
This one beautiful woman who could really sing. Her music was a mixture of rock & roll and country music.
|
Simple Dreams Linda ronstadt 1. It’s so easy 2. Carmelita 3. Simple man, simple dream 4. Sorrow lives here 5. I never will marry 6. Blue bayou 7. Poor, poor pitifull me 8. Maybe I’m right 9. Tumbling dice 10. Old paint
|
Elfida returned home for a week. Just long enough to prepare for the trip to El Paso. She had decided to get her GED and give college a try. Her mother didn't want her to go because she was afraid she would marry someone from who-knows-where and move away.
|
| We
Will Rock You
Buddy
you're a boy make a big noise Buddy
your a young man hard man Buddy
your a old man poor man Everybody
we will, we will rock you
|
We
Are The Champions
I've
paid my dues, time after time We
are the champions - my friends I've
taken my bows, and my curtain calls We
are the champions, my friends We
are the champions, my friends
|
I had always been a big fan of Queen. Their music was different and aggressive. Their songs "We are the Champions" and "We will rock you". became anthems for the positive feeling we were getting about the future. Our country was at peace, the energy crisis was over, and the economy was looking very good. On Sept. 7, President Carter signed the treaty with Panama which would eventually transfer the canal to them.
|
|
Jaclyn Smith - My favorite Angel
And my favorite female singer. Linda Ronstadt made the cover of People magazine in October 1977.
|
September arrived and I was really enjoying college
life. Classes were easy, and I had a job. What else was needed?
Elfida arrived at UTEP. I was in Julian Encina's office when she came into Miners Hall. I never spoke to her until 1978. She had a bad attitude. ; )
|
We had concert tickets to Lynyrd Skynyrd's
concert in El Paso. Two weeks before they were to appear I heard
the news that their plane had crashed.
On October 20, 1977, three days after Street Survivors was released and instantly went gold, the band's private plane crashed in rural Mississippi, killing Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and his sister Cassie Gaines, part of the group's backup trio. The other band members were all seriously injured, some permanently. Eerily, the original cover of Street Survivors featured the band members surrounded by flames; it was changed after the crash.
Elfida was studying to get her GED and hanging around with her friends. I would see her once in a while, either at the Commons, where we ate, Miners Hall, or coming from one of the dorm rooms from the people from Pecos. I was working at the Technology Center, which was very boring. I did start listening to Jazz because some of the older guys that worked there were always bringing their albums and playing them. We would venture into Juarez, Mexico once in a while. Most of the time we were with Cesar, who was from El Paso, or Esperanza, also from El Paso. Some of the counselors would lend us their car so we could go out. The Iranian students started their protests on campus. They would shout anti-American slogans, which pissed me off. Here they were in one of the few countries that gave them the freedom to express themselves and they hated us for it. Well, they got what they wanted and deserved, every year that their country has suffered under an Ayatollah.
|
| Somewhere around this time my grandfather died. I
was never close to him, so when my Mother called and told me, I felt no
real loss. I didn't go to the funeral.
My dorm room window faced southwest. I could sit facing toward Juarez. The glass was thick and sound proof. Looking out was like looking at a TV with the sound off. On cold windy days you could see the papers and bushes getting blown around by the winds, but you couldn't hear or feel the wind or cold. I could sit there for hours and just stare. I knew that my care free days would end and that I would have to get a job and take on other life responsibilities. I can say that my years between 15 and 19 were the most care free years. I had no responsibilities and a lot of fun.
This was the cover of the Time on November 14, 1977, the year I turned 19.
|
Click on picture to see the whole class picture. (it will take you to a different page, click on your browser's BACK button to return to this page)
Elfida finished her classes and graduated from H.E.P. She enrolled for the Spring semester at UTEP and stayed in El Paso with her sister Josie. I had seen her a few times on campus and remember seeing her smile only once..
|
El Paso winters are dry and very cold. Your skin dries up and your lips crack after a few minutes
outside.
I don't remember going home for Thanksgiving Day. I probably stayed in El Paso. The trip was too long by bus. From my dorm window, the division between El Paso and Juarez was very distinct. Where the greenery ended and the brown dust started was were the weak and narrow Rio Grande flowed. You could see the dust clouds rise as the winds blew through Juarez. The ASARCO was still spewing smoke then. Every morning you would find a coat of yellow dust on everything that spent the night outside. You could even taste it in the air. The smoke stack was just Northwest of the UTEP campus.
|
December arrived and we spent some of the time helping friends, Thelma and Greg (Gregoria), decorate their hallway at Kelly Hall for Christmas. I was preparing for finals but worried little about the grades. I had no problem keeping up with my classes. I called the house one day and Rojelio told me that Shoppers World had their stereos on special. For $160 dollars I could buy a record player, cassette, 8-track, and AM-FM stereo system. I asked him to give the down payment and I would give him the money when I went home for the X-mas holidays. I would finally have a stereo in my dorm room!!
|
The fall semester had been a great learning experience and a lot of fun. 1977 was coming to a close. I had stayed in contact with my sister Dora, my brother Carlos and my cousin Martha through letter writing. I left El Paso on the 3rd week of December. I knew I had passed all my classes and was looking forward to seeing my family. I was going home with a beard! I thought it was so cool. My Mom did not like it, but didn't tell me anything about having to shave it off. I decided that long hair was out and opted for the short combed back style that my older brother had worn when they were teenagers. I wanted to look less like a kid. When I got home I found out that Rojelio had taken the tires off my car and was using them on his. I never got those tires back.
|
Disco was still going strong. The mellow rock was dying. Some Hard rock bands had managed to hold on but their audience was getting very juvenile or die hard. Kiss had built a following of 10 and 12 year olds and their parents. Rod Stewart had sold out to Disco and his music really sucked. This was the start of some of the big hair bands that would dominate during the 1980. That was a sorry decade for music.
Abba somehow managed to surpass the Beatles in record sales. Not one of my favorite bands and never really big in the USA, they had a huge following in every country in the world. They had a few good songs but most of their music was bubble gum music.
|
| Elfida spent X-mas at her sister Josie's
house there in El Paso. Elfida's family came from Barstow to visit
for the holidays.
She had picked her cousin, Stella, for her roommate and would be staying in Kelly Hall on the 7th floor when the Spring semester started..
Like the TV writers of that year, we to wrestled with our conscience. And like Bob Seger said in his song "Night Moves":
...We weren't in love, oh no far from it,
|
And that one special year ended. 1977 made way for two more decades and six loose years. For the first time in my life I had seen the girl I would fall in love with and I did not know it. It was one grain of sand flowing down in the hourglass of time that had gone unnoticed by her and me. | I got to Eagle Pass at about 08:00 at
night. I walked up to the back door and through the screen I could
see the kitchen. My mother was sitting at the table talking
to one of my aunts who was visiting from Lubbock. We talked but it
was very different from before. Home had changed or I had changed.
I went to see my cousins and we hung out and had a good time. I hung out with my cousin Maike and Rafa. We had grown up together like brothers. It was the last time spent together as single males. Eventually we, all the cousins that had grown together, would drift apart. I have not seen or talk to Maike in about 15 years. He moved to California after he got married. We have never been in Eagle Pass at the same time in 15 years. Rafa still lives in Piedras Negras but it's been 20 years since I have seen him. Ruben moved to Midland and it has been 25 years since I have seen him. I think it gets hard to reminiscent with cousins you use to get in trouble with. Too many of the stories we can't tell because we all have kids. We all hope our kids will have better sense that we did and avoid all the trouble we didn't.
|
| Dec. 25 - Charlie Chaplin died. | Dallas Cowboys were going to the Super Bowl!! | |
| Song Title |
Artist |
Chart Position |
The year is best captured by the music that we listened to. Each song brings back a different memory. Some sweet, soon bitter, some both. |
|
Barracuda
|
Heart
|
#11
|
|
|
Best
of My Love |
The
Emotions |
#1
|
|
|
Black
Betty |
Ram
Jam |
#18
|
|
|
Blue
Bayou |
Linda
Ronstadt |
#3
|
|
|
Brick
House |
Commodores
|
#5
|
|
|
Cold
as Ice |
Foreigner
|
#6
|
|
|
Come
Sail Away |
Styx
|
#8
|
|
|
Dancing
Queen |
Abba
|
#1
|
|
|
Daybreak
|
Barry
Manilow |
#23
|
|
|
Dazz
|
Brick
|
#3
|
|
|
Don't
Give Up On Us |
David
Soul |
#1
|
|
|
Don't
Let Me Be Misunderstood |
Santa
Esmeralda |
#15
|
|
|
Dreams
|
Fleetwood
Mac |
#1
|
|
|
Easy
|
Commodores
|
#4
|
|
|
Emotion
|
Samantha
Sang |
#3
|
|
|
Every
Time I Turn Around |
L.T.D.
|
#4
|
|
|
Feels
Like the First Time |
Foreigner
|
#4
|
|
|
The
First Cut Is The Deepest |
Rod
Stewart |
#21
|
|
|
Feels
Like the First Time |
Foreigner
|
#4
|
|
|
The
First Cut Is The Deepest |
Rod
Stewart |
#21
|
|
|
Float
On |
The
Floaters |
#2
|
|
|
Give
a Little Bit |
Supertramp
|
#15
|
|
|
Go
Your Own Way |
Fleetwood
Mac |
#10
|
|
|
Gonna
Fly Now |
Bill
Conti & His Orchestra |
#1
|
|
|
Handy
Man |
James
Taylor |
#4
|
|
|
Heard
It in a Love Song |
The
Marshall Tucker Band |
#14
|
|
|
Hotel
California |
Eagles
|
#1
|
|
|
I
Like Dreamin' |
Kenny
Nolan |
#3
|
|
|
I
Never Cry |
Alice
Cooper |
#12
|
|
|
I
Wanna Get Next to You |
Rose
Royce |
#10
|
|
|
I'm
in You |
Peter
Frampton |
#2
|
|
|
It
Was Almost Like a Song |
Ronnie
Milsap |
#16
|
|
|
It's
Sad to Belong |
England
Dan & John Ford Coley |
#21
|
|
|
It's
So Easy |
Linda
Ronstadt |
#5
|
|
|
Jet
Airliner |
Steve
Miller Band |
#8
|
|
|
Just
a Song Before I Go |
Crosby,
Stills & Nash |
#7
|
|
|
Just
the Way You Are |
Billy
Joel |
#3
|
|
|
The
Killing of Georgie |
Rod
Stewart |
#30
|
|
|
Lido
Shuffle |
Boz
Scaggs |
#11
|
|
|
Life
in the Fast Lane |
Eagles
|
#11
|
|
|
Looks
Like We Made It |
Barry
Manilow |
#1
|
|
|
Evergreen
|
****
My room at Barry Hall.
The poster on the wall
was given to me by my sister Dora.
