The time of the Disco

As the 70’s came along, the disco scene began to thrive. The popularity of discos peaked during the mid to late 1970s. By the late 1970s most major U.S. cities had thriving disco club scenes, but the largest scenes were in San Francisco, Miami, and most notably NYC. The roots of the disco can be traced back to black, gay, psychedelic and other various communities mostly in in the NYC area. Disco was used as a reaction against both the domination of rock music and the beginning of dance music during this period. Women embraced disco as well, and the music eventually expanded to several other popular groups of the time.

Disco DJs played "a smooth mix of long single records to keep people dancing all night long.” Some of the most prestigious clubs also had elaborate lighting systems that throbbed to the beat of the music. The typical disco songs usually had a soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady four-on-the-floor beat, an eighth note or sixteenth note hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat, and a dominant, syncopated electric bass line. Various sounds and instruments such as strings, horns, electric pianos, and electric guitars were used to create a lush background sound. Orchestral instruments such as the flute were also often used for solo melodies.

In addition to the huge popularity of the disco, the increase in drug use and sex drastically increased. Disco goers would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights with various drugs such as cocaine “blow” and amyl nitrate which was known as “poppers.” To make the “disco” experience even better, disco goers would have sex in the clubs. While the dance floor was the central arena of seduction, sex usually took place in the “less crowded” areas of the disco such as the bathrooms, stairwells, and even the balconies. A perfect example of a club that would have these experiences on a “daily basis” was Studio 54. Studio 54 was arguably considered to be the most well known club in the world. It was so popular that it even played a major role in the growth of disco music and nightclub culture in general.


When the 80s rolled around, the popularity of discos in the United States declined markedly as a result of a backlash. Although it began to be quite unpopular in the United States, it continued to grow elsewhere in the world. The word “disco”was soon replaced by "dance music" and "dance pop.” In the decades since, dance clubs have remained highly popular and influential, and the disco beat has even informed the sound of many of music's biggest stars. The disco was not only a dance, but it was a music, a fashion, and a lifestyle.

sources-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco
http://www.saskschools.ca/~nlsd/grassroots/life/dance/docs/disco.html

The Return of the Festival

Large scale music festivals were a relatively new concept in the 1960's and 1970's. Although there have been smaller festivals for years all across the United States it wasn't until the 1960s when this scene exploded. The most notorious music festival seems to be the Woodstock Music and Peace festival. This took place in the small farming town of Bethel New York in August 1969. This festival drew an excess of 500,000 people to the small town. This monumental event sparked interest in music and art festivals across the World. Music festivals during the late 1960s and 1970s showed the world just how powerful musicians were. To draw such big crowds of especially younger people it showed how big of an influence music had upon their lives.

Although festivals and festival culture seemed to die off in the 1980s and 1990s it has made

an astonishing return within the last decade. It must be that the economy that is causing many music fans to go to festivals rather than seeing their favorite bands individually. For example a 3-day festival ticket could cost you about 200-300 dollars whereas a single concert ticket could range anywhere from 70-1000 dollars for a single show. This has caused an increase in the number of festivals in the US along with festival attendance. In the past few yea

rs concert attendance has declined but festival attendance has steadily increased. Many popular festivals in the United States include ULTRA, Bonnaroo, Coachella, Burning Man, SunFest, Lollapalooza, DMB Caravan, Bamboozle and numerous others. Each has their own interesting list of headliners and supporting acts. The interesting lineups keep bringing more and more young people to festivals every year.

I am actually going to the DMB Caravan festival in Atlantic City this summer. It's taking place at Bader Field which is actually an abandoned airport. The location reminded me of the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway. This is going to be my first festival experience and I can't wait to see all my favorite acts along with seeing some new ones. I think the amount of variety in festivals draws young people like me to them. Along with their bargain pricing its hard for a young person interested in music not to want to attend a festival. Festival culture has changed alot since the 1960s and 1970s. Festivals have been alot harder on illegal drug and alcohol use than they were back in the day.

Television in the 1960's

Despite the popularity of dramas like Gunsmoke and game shows such as Password, comedies were still the most prevalent and popular programs on television. Two such sitcoms in particular -- The Dick Van Dyke Show and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In -- were incredibly popular and very well-received by American TV audiences and critics. Presented in times of strife and struggle, amid tragedies such as the assassination of President Kennedy and the prolonging of the Vietnam War, these shows often appealed to the public desire to escape from trouble by seeking laughter. Indeed, these programs saw particularly stellar ratings during especially trying times for Americans. The Dick Van Dyke Show earned the #3 spot in Nielsen ratings in the 1963-64 season, a time mired by JFK's assassination, while Laugh-In rose quickly to #1 in the ratings in the 1968-69 season, a time marked by the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention. This reality is seemingly part of a broader pattern in American television history. When times become tough, Americans typically turn to laughter as appropriate medicine. In fact, during the Iran Hostage Crisis and stagflation of the Carter era, the sitcom Three's Company was the #2 most popular show on TV (1979-80) while Friends became the most popular program in the 2001-02 season amid the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath.

Rising to a high spot in the ratings by the time a similarly terrible tragedy struck, The Dick Van Dyke Show was a critically acclaimed sitcom focusing on a pictureesque suburban American family. A winner of 15 Emmy Awards, the show focused on Rob Petrie -- played by Van Dyke in spite of an original inclination to give the role to Johnny Carson -- who was the chief comedy writer for The Alan Brady Show, a fictional TV variety program. In the sitcom, Rob is married to Laura Petrie, an independence-craving, stay-at-home housewife - played by Mary Tyler Moore - and works alongside the jocular Buddy Sorrell (Morey Anderson) and the sexually frustrated Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) at his office. By the second season of the show (1962-1963), the sitcom jumped to #9 in the ratings, catapuled to #3 by the next season, #7 in the 1963-64 season, and #16 in the 1964-65 season. Although popular throughout its tenure, producer Carl Reiner insisted that the show end after five seasons as his vision of the program consisted of Rob Petrie spending the entire run of the show writing his memoirs for five years and then submitting them to be eventually turned into a variety show at the end of the series. Featuring much physical comedy from Van Dyke and mocking 60's cultural staples like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Beatles in numerous episodes, the sitcom was very popular.

Similarly popular was Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, named for comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, the hosts of the popular variety program. Premiering on January 22, 1968, amid the rising unpopularity of the Vietnam War, the show popularized comedy sketches that skewered politicians and included sexual innuendo. The subject matter of these sketches and skits - the main thrust of the program - clearly earned the adoration of viewers and critics alike. From 1968 to 1972, the show never fell out of the coveted echelon of the top 20 highest-rated TV programs, even earning the #1 spot in the Nielsen ratings in both the 1968-69 season and the 1969-70 season. At the height of its popularity, nearly 19 million Americans tuned in to the show. The program also won several Emmy awards, including for Outstanding Musical or Variety Series. Such an 'outstanding' variety series included Rowan and Martin offering an opening monologue where they played in character, a segment mocking the evening news (an early precursor to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), a segment featuring bizarre talents, and an extremely popular segment featuring actress Judy Carne ravished with water after she said, "Sock it to me." In fact, in the course of TV history, the singular phrase that is often associated with and will often define Laugh-In is "Sock it to me." The show even featured President Richard Nixon, then the Republican nominee for the White House, saying the line, "Sock it to me?" - as a question - during the 1968 campaign. Ultimately, the show was both controversial -- a 1971 episode mocking the FBI was thoroughly investigated and reviewed by the bureau -- and groundbreaking, helping lead to the success of Saturday Night Live, The Gong Show, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

PICTURES:

1. http://www.welshgrl2.com/

2. static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laugh-in.jpg

Just Skatin' Bro

Skateboarding history can be traced back to the 50s and 60s, where the sport evolved as a fun activity for the younger crowd and teens in California. In these early days of skating, skateboards were all homemade and made of wooden planks that were attached to roller-skate trucks and wheels. Skateboarding was not even known as skateboarding yet, but instead as “sidewalk surfing.”



The best skaters of the time, such as Torger Johnson, Woody Woodward and Danny Berer, were guys who simply imitated the styles and moves of the top surfers. Slalom or freestyle were some of the popular skateboarding tricks practiced during those times. These styles of the skaters were more simple and not very adventurous.



As the 60's progressed, skateboarding began to really take off. There were now skateboard manufacturers such as Hobie and Makaha, which were actually top surfing companies. Much of their products were very similar to surfboards of the time. Skateboarding became so popular that even a magazine was created dedicated to following it. This magazine was known as Skateboarding Magazine. There was even an international skateboarding championship in 1965 that was telecast on national television. Skateboarding was doing so good that the growth of the sport during this period can shown by the sales of Makaha boards. Nearly $10 million dollars worth of boards were sold in a 2 year span. Skateboarding was really "taking off." Although this is remarkable, skateboarding began to take a huge dip in the coming years. By 1965, the skateboard fad was over and began to rapidly decline. Experts of the time pronounced that skateboarding was very unsafe. They urged stores not to sell them, and parents not to buy whatsoever. Due to this, all sales dropped significantly and the only skateboarding magazine was disbanded. This hit was considered to be the biggest hit in skateboarding history. The 1970's would experience some popularity, but not until the 1980's was when the popularity of skateboarding went off the charts. A whole new era of skateboarding was about to begin..

The Amazing Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt Chamberlain was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was one of nine children raised by William and Olivia Chamberlain. They lived in a racially-mixed middle class neighborhood, so Wilt enjoyed a relatively pleasant childhood. Wilt began to play basketball at Shoemaker Junior High School. He also played at the local playgrounds with the older kids who would teach him a lot about the game. Wilt would later say that "I still think you could pick up a team from the street corners of Philly that would give most colleges a real hard time." Wilt attended Overbrook High School in Philadelphia beginning in 1952. At that time he was already 6'11" tall and had already developed a "deep love for basketball."

Chamberlain's high school basketball career was more than astounding. In just three seasons he scored more than 2,200 points. As a result there were more than 200 colleges recruiting Chamberlain. Wilt had always wanted to get away from the cities and move to the Midwest so he commited to the University of Kansas to play for the legendary Hall of Fame coach Phog Allen. At Kansas Chamberlain continued to dominate on the basketball court. In his very first varsity game he scored an unbeleivable 55 points. He lead the Jayhawks to the NCAA championship his first year where they would lose to the North Carolina Tarheels in double overtime. During his college career he averaged over 30 points a game and was selected to two All-American teams. Following his Junior Year Chamberlain decided to quit college and go professional.

Because Chamberlain did not play his final season at Kansas he was not eligible to play in the NBA just yet so he decided to join the Harlem Globe Trotters. He later claimed that his year with the Globe Trotters was his most enjoyable season of basketball. In 1959 Wilt joined the Philadelphia Warriors and made an immediate impact on the league. He could score almost at will. Opposing teams gave up trying to stop him and instead just tried to contain him. His scoring average in his first season in the NBA was 37.9 points per game. This is more than 8 points per game higher than anyone else in the history of the league had ever scored. He was named Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player of the Year, the first person to ever do both in the same season. For the next six seasons Chamberlain led the league in scoring. In the 61-62 season he averaged 50.4 points a game and scored 100 points in one game. These are both NBA records which still hold to this day. Chamberlain was simply one of,if not the greatest scoring machines in the history of the NBA.

In 1967 Chamberlain was traded to another Philadelphia team the 76ers. The 67' 76ers finished their season with the best record in the history of the league. In the championship series the 76ers humiliated the San Francisco Warriors to win the first world title for Chamberlain. Several years later Chamberlain was traded again to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers have not won a championship since moving to Los Angeles in 1960 but in 1972 the Lakers seemed to be poised and ready enough to win an NBA championship. In the fourth game of the series Chamberlain suffered a fractured wrist. Although the Laker lead the series three games to one it seemed unlikely that they would win the series due to Chamberlain's injury. Despite understandable pain Chamberlain played the next game with football lineman gloves on each hand. He scored 24 points, grabbed 29 rebounds, and blocked 10 shots. The Lakers won the game and the series four games to one bringing the Los Angeles Lakers their first world championship.

Following the 1973 season Chamberlain left the NBA as the all-time leader in points scored with more than 30,000 and rebounds with over 22,000. He held four mvp awards and over 40 NBA league records. After retiring from basketball Chamberlain was involved in many activities. He sponsored several amateur athelete groups including volleyball teams and track clubs. He invested wisely through the years and spent his retirement years as a wealthy man. When this man would walk into a room or on to a basketball court you can feel the legendary presence.

www.notablebiographies.com

www.nba.com/history/players/chamberlain

L ucy in the S ky with D iamonds

The Beatles weren't the only people experimenting with LSD in the 1960's. LSD is a hallucinogen and was first synthesized in 1938 in Germany. Before the 1960's LSD was being used to treat a multitude of mental illnesses. LSD was legal in most areas during the 1960's. The first state to ban the drug was California in 1966 shortly followed by the rest of the United States. The drug began to be used recreationally in the 1960's by doctors taking it themselves and sharing it with their friends.

After the Beatles admitted to taking the drug, the drugs popularity skyrocketed. The Beatles were the "it" group of the time and since LSD seemed to enhance their songwriting skills others thought it would do the same to them. The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a very psychedelic song which seems to be about LSD as the letters in the name suggest. The drug is said to produce unpredictable results for each user. There are different factors such as mood, environment, and dosage that effect the results of an LSD trip.

Woodstock 1969-a weekend of music, love and peace

In August of 1969, one of the most celebrated music festivals in history took place in Bethel, New York. This festival was known as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music," or simply Woodstock. The three day festival was all about peace, love, understanding, music, and some serious partying. It was a historic event of the 60’s that changed many peoples view on life and was a big part of what is known as the hippie movement.

At a time when Americans were deeply divided, an unprecedented amount people from across the country gathered in the fields of Bethel to celebrate the "Three Days of Peace and Music." The three day festival was originally designed in order to make money, but that did not end up happening. The promoters only expected a showing of around 100,000 people, with a max of nearly 200,000. Shockingly, that was not the case. There were nearly 500,00 in attendance and because of this, the festival became free. By having so many people in attendance meant that problems were bound to occur. Problems such as traffic jams, lack of food, water supply, sanitation, and medical care all arouse. Although these challenges arouse, they did not stop the people of Woodstock from having fun.

When one thinks of Woodstock, they immediately think of drugs. Marijuana and LSD immediately come to thought as they were the most common drugs used at Woodstock. Although this may be the case, the usage of drugs brought people at Woodstock closer together. By taking something that was socially unacceptable and using it in such a blatant way to promote an even more unacceptable lifestyle, they believed that they had found a way to have fun and become closer together while protesting. Whether they used drugs to promote the peace and happiness, protest, or even just because they enjoyed it, drug usage was a huge part of the hippie sub-culture at Woodstock.

At the Woodstock festival, there were many influential musicians who performed. Musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and the Grateful Dead all preformed. It was considered a great honor to preform. Some musicians who rejected to show up soon regretted that decision. The Beatles and Bob Dylan are a few that declined the invitation to preform. They never thought that Woodstock would be so big and meaningful. They were wrong..

Woodstock 69 will never be duplicated. It has been tried multiple times, but nothing will ever to compare to the first and only Woodstock. The three days of legendary performances, unimaginable mud, and unforgettable experiences helped the Woodstock Music and Art Fair become a symbol of an entire generation.

sources-http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/jac/jac-ryan4.htm
http://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/museum/festivalhistory.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock_Festival