Update 10-07-03


Hi,

To help clarify the history of South's Rock & Roll, from Alan Finder: I've been seeing references to the Belmonts, or Dion and the Belmonts, on your weekly updates lately. While there's lot about junior and high school that I can't remember anymore, I can set the record straight on this one. We contracted for the Belmonts only; Dion had already split with them, I think, and anyway, the Belmonts without Dion were a whole lot cheaper. They were late that night, maybe even very late, but they did show. And they were actually pretty good.
I'm pretty sure our class sponsored this, and I assume it was supposed to make us money. Don't recall what for, of course, or whether it did make us money. But it was a pretty good evening, and I think there was a large crowd.
Anyone remember when this was?

Similarly, but different, from Eric Hilton: After reading Barbara Blitfeld Pech’s comments on Rock & Roll, I just wanted to comment about Claudia Walker, Class of 66, who was my next-door neighbor on Avondale Street and now here in Sarasota, Florida. Her son, Keith Kane, has just released his new album on RCA, and I thought we should all support a South High mom with a rock star son.
Keith's band is called Vertical Horizon, and its previous album went platinum. His web site is: 1. http://www.verticalhorizon.com/ I have known Keith since he was born and he has grown to be a talented and unpretentious, nice young man. Now that the album is out, and he and the band are touring the country, you will be seeing them on VH-1, Jay Leno, and David Letterman again.
Being an ex-musician myself, and growing up with a musician brother, it
makes me proud to hear of someone close to me who's doing well in an industry
that is so hard to be successful in. Since most of you are my age, your children should know, or have heard, of Vertical Horizon. I think you should listen to their music and buy their new CD. (I’m working on free concert tickets and back stage passes for myself, so don’t blow this for me!)
Congratulations to Keith and his parents, Claudia & Charlie Kane. Should anyone want to contact Claudia, e-mail me at: the_photomaker@yahoo.com

Other art notes, from Mary Sipp Green: Thanks so much for the nice mention of my upcoming New York City solo exhibition. I hope you can do me a favor. If anyone else would like to get the invitation or be on future mailing lists for any of my shows they should e-mail their regular street mailing address, and their e-mail address, to me at: bstudio@berkshire.net. Also, as you already mentioned, if anyone would
like to come to the opening reception on October 9th (5:00 PM to 8:00 PM) they
should RSVP to the Multiple Impressions Gallery at (212) 925-1313.

Travel notes, from Peter Rosen: I will be in NYC 10/10--10/12, and I will plan on stopping by to see Mary Sipp Green's exhibit.

Party notes, starting with Steve Cahn, Class of 1970: Forest Road School is having its 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday, October 18, 2003, at 11:00 AM. For more information, either go to the Forest Road website at: http://www.forestroad.com/ or the South Class of '70 site at: www.geocities.com/vssouth70. More than 100 former students and teachers have already decided to come. My contact in the Forest Road PTA got a call from Marilyn Clarke today, and she said that she has confirmed as coming: Mrs. Stalb, Miss Bendin, Ms. Lande, Mr. Cid, Mr. Kauffman, Miss Ritzenthaler, Miss Butler (Mrs. Gibson), and Miss Beethoven. Mr. Sortino and Miss Cafiso are "maybes" and Miss Clarke's not sure yet about Miss Perrich. She said they all hope that lots of alumni are coming! Hope to see you there.

To save you a trip to the Forest Road website, here's what it has to say: Forest Road's 50th Anniversary! Get Ready, Here Comes The Party!
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2003. Times: 10:30 AM Early Festivities begin. 11:00 AM Formal Program begins on the Playground
Plans are well underway for a fabulous family celebration for the 50th birthday party of Forest Road School. The day's agenda: the children will perform during the Program, and there will be tons of guests, alumni, neighbors, and all our Forest Road Family. We are going to dedicate our new addition, and recognize our school board. We hope your bring your entire family and enjoy the music, fun, and a giant Forest Road family picture. So, don't be missing! We've even invited George W. Bush and the Governor!
After the program, there will be tours and activities everywhere. Food will be for sale, and there'll be lots of games, races, arts & crafts, displays of neighborhood history, and a wonderful program of music from across the decades provided by the fine group Sister Act -- that will be from Noon to 1:00 PM. If it rains, we will move our celebration indoors, with a few less races, but still loads of things to do. Who knows if we will be around for the 100th celebration, so don't lose out on being part of history!
We do need volunteers to help with the activities during the afternoon. There will be a school flyer going out soon to ask for help from set-up and clean-up to presiding over the hula-hoop contest. If you have ideas or want to volunteer to help, call Julie Olson at 516-792-9629, or email us at: olson_family@hotmail.com. We'd love to have help from our high school students who have graduated from Forest Road. If you know of families who have left the area who would like to be invited, please give us their addresses, or call them yourself.
And what do you know about hula hoops, pet rocks, Curtiss Air Field, oxford shoes, and the Sunrise Drive-In Theatre? If you'd like to share your memories so they can be collected into a history, please write them down and e-mail them to us right away! Encourage your neighbors who have been here a long time to come and share their memories.

Also, from Robin Feit: I happened to read in today's Newsday that Forest Road School is planning a fifty year reunion for October 18th. All alumni and faculty are invited. There were also two other Valley Stream reunions mentioned. One is an Alumni Association Scholarship Foundation, including a Class of 1953 Reunion on October 11th. The second has already been noted here by Emily Kleinman Schreiber -- the Class of '61's Big Birthday Bash. That takes place here in Oceanside, at the Knights of Columbus, also on October 18th.

Other news, reported by Barbara Blitfield Pech from the October 2, 2003 Miami Herald back page "5 Minute Herald" new quick read feature. Quote of the Day: "I like to be left alone by the government. But I need my trash picked up. I need police protection" -- Dennis Pizzimenti, a Concord New Hampshire resident on Libertarian plans to take over state.

Finally, golf notes, from my traveling friend in Singapore, Melody Myles Eckart: Ken and I were so golf-starved last week that we made arrangements to go to a golf club that has reciprocal arrangements with the American club here. We were told that the club is about a half hour over the border of Malaysia. No problem. Cross the border, head north, and make a right turn, down on the left. Thank goodness, we are early birds and decided to give ourselves some extra time. 2 hours for a 1-hour trip sounded right to us, and we got to the causeway and customs with no problem. But in Malaysia... well, we took every wrong turn possible. One of the problems we had was -- stupid us -- we bought a map in English, but all the street signs in Malaysia are in Malay! So Ken kept saying, "Where are we? Do you see anything that looks familiar?" as the car is zooming by the signs we couldn't read. By the time I would try to decipher it, (and I didn't know if I was reading a street name, a welcome sign, or a sign that said we were about to run off a cliff), we were already past the road where we had to turn. Every time! We ended up in downtown Johor -- which looks like a bombed-out war zone -- at one point, on a one-way back road street behind a garbage truck.
We finally got going in the right direction and passed house villages that are impossible to describe, but are what I would imagine Singapore looked like back in the 50s before all the shanties with squatters were pulled down and the HDBs were built here. 2 hours and 45 minutes, 3 phone calls, 1 petrol stop, a number of horn honks, and many near misses in accidents later we pulled into the parking lot. Then, the skies let loose with a thunderous rainstorm, so we sat around and waited for it to let up -- this was after I had discovered that the bag drop guy had put our clubs in a spot that was allowing the rain to drench them. Oh, well, they had plenty of time to dry, but I wasn't sure I had the energy or the nerve endings left to play!
The club was a modernistic, 50s-looking place, but fairly beaten up, and I was so sorry that my camera was not working (dead batteries) because the golf carts were like individual stand up commercial Toro lawnmowers! You stood on the back, there was a shelf for your clubs on the front, and the handlebars were like those on a motorcycle, with the brake and the gas on either side. Right below the handles, at your knees, was a basket for your towel, extra balls, etc., and on either side of the basket was a tube where you could store a club if you wanted to wait to put it in your bag later or use it again. But the device that just cracked me up was on the right side over the wheel hub. It was a feed bag-type container that had sand, and the divot repair scoop was a coconut shell! Think of all the money the Riviera could save.
These little motor/lawnmower/bikes were OK until you actually drove them, or went over a bump, or had to go up or down hill and of course, I was laughing the whole time (I was picturing some of the people I know trying to drive one of these). You also cannot sit down, and there was no roof to get out of the rain. We also did not have to worry about running out of balls, because people were coming out of the woods, or riding up to us on motorcycles while we were on the tees, asking us if we wanted to buy bags of balls!
2 hours later, we arrived at the 5th hole! We had played in the mud, and in the rough (oops, no, I guess that was the fairway), and as we arrived to tee off at the 5th, there is an 8-some in front of us. I guess they were just having fun, but we had had enough for the day. I was so glad to get back to Singapore, to roads that are marked, to beautiful landscaping and to places I'm learning to know. Next time we go, it will be with a group, and someone else will drive!

Happy New Year, to those who celebrate.

The home page: http://hometown.aol.com/falcons1965a


Rich