Visit With Liz, Donovan's, Trivia, Saylor Mick's, Kent State, Star Wars and a Movie

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3

Visited Liz at Cole Cemetery and then went to Donovan's Reef in Twin Lakes,Wisconsin, as we so often did.  Played live trivia with Uncle Jeffie.  Stopped at Saylor Mick's in Spring Grove for the wing special and those great retro $1 Hamm's pints.

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THURSDAY, MAY 4

Today was the 53rd anniversary of the killings at Kent State in Ohio.  That set off rioting and troubles in college campuses across the United States, including at NIU where I was a freshman.  I thought I was seeing the end of the United States.

On a lighter note, today, being May the 4th, has a play on words "May the Force Be With You" so it is an "Star Wars" day.  All of Bob Stroud's Ten at Ten had to do with space.  I wrote them down earlier in this blog.

Went to the Fox Lake Theatre and saw "Renfield."  That Nicholas Cage makes a fine Dracula.

--RoadDrac

Songs of 1970-- Part 2: Breaking Up and Arriving on Stage

"Given so much unrest, everyone was exhausted," says author David Browne.  "It is no coincidence that the top songs of then year were as much hymns as pop songs."

But, if such anthems brought people together, the bands that created them were, at the time, falling apart.  Both Simon & Garfunkel and the Beatles broke up in 1970, as did Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Meanwhile, great new musicians and groups rose to take their place, including Elton John, the Jackson Five, the Carpenters and James Taylor, all of whom released breakthrough songs that same year.

Whole new genres emerged as well, making 1970 a unique year that will live forever in musical history and in our memories.

Of course, 1970, was a college year for me, so these songs really strike up the old memories.  I pledge Delta Sigma Phi at NIU and moved out to the frat house in the fall after living freshman year at Lincoln Hall dormitory freshman year.  That spring was also the Kent State Riots when I really thought I was seeing the end of the United States.  Those were some scary times, I tell you.

I was looking out my dorm window when the rioting came to DeKalb and NIU as a confrontation between students and police took place right below me.  With all the police lights flashing, the campus radio station, WNIU played "Lay Down (Candles in the Wind)" by Melanie and any time I hear that song anymore it takes me right back.

1970 Was Quite a Time.  --RoadMusic

May 2020, Coronavirus, May 1970 Kent State Riots Fifty Years Later

Fifty years ago, college campuses across the country went up for grabs when the news got out about the four students killed at an anti-Vietnam War rally at Kent State University in Ohio.  Some of the protests were violent, others somewhat peaceful.

I was a freshman at Northern Illinois University living in the Lincoln Hall dormitory at the time.  Things were peaceful at NIU at first, but several days later, violence erupted and arrests were made.  I personally thought I was watching the end of the United States back then, especially when we had a confrontation between the police and students right outside the dorm which moved to the other side of Lincoln and then we heard explosions and the fire alarm went off.

Believe me, it was scary.  To read more about it, click on my Cooter's History Thing blog to the left of this, then click on the NIU Kent State Riots label.

Now, of course, fifty years later, colleges are canceled because of the virus.

--RoadDog

WLS Top 40 for Week of May 11, 1970-- Part 1: "Lay Down (Candles In the Wind)"

Here we go again, with the Top 40 songs in Chicago fifty years ago according to super station WLS 890 AM.

(D) means a Debut song.  The number after the artist refers to how high the song got on Billboard Hot 100 chart.

40.  UNITED WE STAND--  Brotherhood of Man    #13    (D)  Good song for these days.  Back then, it would be Kent State.  Their biggest hit.

39.  QUESTION--  Moody Blues        #21    (D)   Love the guitar solo at the beginning.  Wonder how his fingers didn't fall off.  Especially a good song to listen to on your earphones.   From Birmingham, England.

38.  LAY DOWN (CANDLES IN THE WIND)--  Melanie      #6   (D)      Actually, this was not her biggest hit.  That came in 1971.    What a beautiful voice. This song takes me right back to the campus of Northern Illinois University after Kent State.  I listened to this on the campus radio station, WNIU, while I watched protesters line up outside Lincoln Hall and the police attack them..

I thought I was watching the end of the United States.

37.  RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE--  Blues Image    #4    (D)    From Tampa, Florida, in 1961.  One-Hit Wonders.

36.  RED RED WINE--  Vic Dana   #72    Cover of a Neil Diamond song.  His last Top 100 song.

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "Seventy-Three Men Sailed Off To History."  Answer below.  --RoadDog


"Ride Captain Ride"

My Vietnam War Experience-- Part 5: The Cambodian "Incursion" and Kent State

Protests against the Vietnam War continued at Northern Illinois and across the country.  Some of the other schools had their protests turn quite violent, but not so much in DeKalb.

However, on April 30, 1970, President Nixon went on TV to say we had had an "incursion" into Cambodia to cut off supplies the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were receiving in South Vietnam.  The Ho Chi Minh Trail.  Well this set off a powder keg of protests at colleges all across the country, including at Northern.

It all came to a head on May 4, when National Guardsmen opened fire on students protesting at Kent State University in Ohio and four were killed and several wounded.  Some of the students had been protesting, others watching and some walking by on the way to and from classes.

Things got violent at campuses all over the country, although NIU was tense, but there was no violence.

That is until Father Groppi, a noted civil rights activist from Milwaukee, was going to come to campus.  That is when we started hearing that the anti-war people were planning some really big things.

If you want to read all my previous posts on this, hit the My Vietnam War Experience label below.

Things Really Heating Up.  --RoadDog

40th Anniversary of Kent State-- Part 2: NIU Got Violent

I will be continuing this story on my Cooter's History Thing Blog http://cootershistorything.blogspot.com.

I had thought that the violence at Northern Illinois University had started within a few days after Kent State. There was unrest, but the real frightening times didn't erupt until almost two weeks later.

I definitely thought I was witnessing the end of the United States at the time. I'll never forget watching the students and police clash by Lincoln Hall, where I lived, and then the explosions that took place west of the dorm by the physical plant.

Quite a Scary Time to Live Through. --RoadDog

OXYMORONS: Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?

40th Anniversary of Kent State Today

On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guard troops at Kent State University opened fire on an Anti-Vietnam War rally and killed four and wounded eleven others. This ignited protests and violence at college campuses all across the United States.

I was a freshman at Northern Illinois University at the time. I didn't like the war, which I thought was never going to end. It started when I was in 7th grade and went on all through high school and showed no signs of letting up. Actually it was getting worse. A few days earlier, President Nixon had announced that the US was attacking Cambodia to cut off supply routes.

This set off a new wave of protest and marches.

The war was particularly looming for males my age because of the draft. There was a lottery where every year boys turning 18 had their birthdays placed in a drum and pulled to give a number. The lower your number, the more likely you were to be drafted.

I was too young for the first lottery and was #31. I was hoping that since this was very low, I'd get a high number for when it counted. Not with my luck. I was #22. That meant go to college or Vietnam. Since I wanted to be a teacher, college was definitely already in my plans. But a lot of boys were there to avoid the draft.

To Be Continued. --RoadDog



My wife said, "Whatcha doing today?"
I said, "Nothing."
She said, "You did that yesterday."
I said, "I wasn't finished."

Kent State Anniversary Tomorrow

Today Bob Stroud Time Warped back to May 3, 1970 for part of his Rock and Roll Roots show. I was a freshman at Northern Illinois University and pledging Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity. I was trying to remember if May 3rd was before or after the shootings at Kent State.

Liz said she thought it was May 4th and looked it up and was correct.

The aftermath of Kent State, with all the riots at college campuses across the country, including a rather bad one at NIU. I thought I was witnessing the end of the United States.

Mighty Scary Times. --RoadDog