70’s and 80’s

@torunn said
Do Americans often focus on money?

My dear,
Money is power! How do you think Donald Trump became POTUS?

BTW: You do understand I am not American, I'm Canadian. Money is important here also. Is it not important in your Country?

-VR

@very-rusty said
My dear,
Money is power! How do you think Donald Trump became POTUS?

BTW: You do understand I am not American, I'm Canadian. Money is important here also. Is it not important in your Country?

-VR

It is now, but I wasn't brought up with the perspective and ambition to earn much money. We settled for 'enough' living in a country with social-democratic values.

@very-rusty said
Appears it worked!

Ya know, According to Celebrity Net Worth, Neil Diamond has a net worth fortune of around $200 million (£149m).Nov. 26, 2020. How about you? 😉

-VR

My net worth? A wife 14 years younger than myself and two daughters. Beats 200 million bucks any day.



Of course, if I had the wife and daughters and 200 million, I wouldn't complain.

@torunn said
It is now, but I wasn't brought up with the perspective and ambition to earn much money. We settled for 'enough' living in a country with social-democratic values.

I grew up in a large family and was the oldest, times were hard and money was very tight. We grew our own vegetables enough to do us through the winter. I worked very hard to be able to retire early and live comfortably. I think one enjoys it more when you were not born with silver spoon in your mouth as the expression goes. I found out in my early 20's that Money was power. I also help those less fortunate than myself and do what I can. Many are worse off than I was and we were considered poor.

-VR

@moonbus said
My net worth? A wife 14 years younger than myself and two daughters. Beats 200 million bucks any day.



Of course, if I had the wife and daughters and 200 million, I wouldn't complain.

LOL...of course you wouldn't complain if you had the 200 million to go along with it.

I hear you family is more important, but you do need the money to care for them.

-VR

@very-rusty said
I grew up in a large family and was the oldest, times were hard and money was very tight. We grew our own vegetables enough to do us through the winter. I worked very hard to be able to retire early and live comfortably. I think one enjoys it more when you were not born with silver spoon in your mouth as the expression goes. I found out in my early 20's that Money was powe ...[text shortened]... ate than myself and do what I can. Many are worse off than I was and we were considered poor.

-VR

VR, thank you for this post. I completely get what you say about appreciating things more if you have to work for them. It's something I have thought about regarding my own life, where by Grace or happenstance I was able to drift through life and do okay without trying too hard -- which of course was not the best training or refining experience.

Songs and circumstances:

Sweet Caroline: during a family road trip from Michigan to Florida on vacation when I was young -- one of the first songs I remember.

American Pie: My friend Mike in 7th grade (1972) bothering his friend Lewis with it on the bus to school in Michigan.

Age of Aquarius: We learned the lyrics in art class in 7th grade, same art class where we learned to tie-dye t-shirts, and where the teacher complimented me on my eyelashes (which of course would probably not happen nowadays).

Bowie's Fame: High school, St. Petersburg (Florida, not Russia). Noticeably often when I went in to the cafeteria on break between classes, that song would start to play. Omen, coincidence, mockery, or appreciation? I do not know.

Another great song from those high-school cafeteria days: Black Water by the Doobie Brothers.

Oh Very Young: I voted for that to be the theme song for the senior prom, but Stairway to Heaven won, dammit!

Almost forgot about this very important one from that time: "The Raven" by Alan Parsons Project, heard on the radio in my parents' home in St. Pete.

And the first chords from Manilow's "Could It Be Magic" and Parsons' "Wouldn't Want To Be Like You" got me interested in playing the piano (to little effect).

Later in life, on the last day of my month in the U.S. Army (too nearsighted), I left with a harmonica and the album Turn of a Friendly Card.

Life During Wartime (Talking Heads): Painting my parents' house in Mankato, MN.

In Mankato, MN, I bought R.E.M.'s Murmur based on a little one-column-inch or so review in Stereo Review (very early 80s), and also Sound Affects and The Gift by The Jam.

When I lived in Gainesville, FL, there were some songs I heard when out and about that I asked the DJ or someone at the shop about, to ID the song:

Drive by R.E.M.
Strange Kind of Love by Peter Murphy
Mighty Joe Moon by Grant Lee Buffalo

I was able to see many live shows by Emperor Moth there back in the day. The First Night and Three Will Weave are standouts for me.

The first two record albums I bought in Gainesville were on a trip to visit friends before I eventually moved there: "Hounds of Love" and "Lodger".

A few years later I asked a long-haired employee of a local record store if he could recommend some psychedelic music. He kindly suggested "Screamadelica" by Primal Scream and "The Aunt Winnie Album" by Bevis Frond.

In Gainesville I also got some albums by Screaming Trees and The Waterboys, and Mental Jewelry by LIVE.

And one night, long ago during a UF Homecoming show (the night before the homecoming game for the University of Florida Gators, an American Football college team), one could hear, miles from the stadium, Steve Miller's "Fly Like an Eagle".

@very-rusty said
My dear,
Money is power! How do you think Donald Trump became POTUS?

BTW: You do understand I am not American, I'm Canadian. Money is important here also. Is it not important in your Country?

-VR

Stupid Americans, already deathly afraid of Hillary Clinton, buying into the narcissistic claims of a rich old white man.

That's how Trump became president.

Stripping millions of PoC off the voter rolls a month before the election certainly helped.

@suzianne said
Stupid Americans, already deathly afraid of Hillary Clinton, buying into the narcissistic claims of a rich old white man.

That's how Trump became president.

Stripping millions of PoC off the voter rolls a month before the election certainly helped.

Suzie Q, One thing no one can fix is stupidity!

-VR

Something I enjoyed about the 80's was the DIY self-published zines one could find at local record shops, and the art on the local band flyers.

I have some queer zines by Bruce La Bruce of Canada, in one of which is a handwritten LSD trip report which was somewhat influential in my understanding that words can be put together to produce an effect, even by someone not under an influence. Stipe's lyrics and Gibson's "lunar concrete" also contributed to this understanding, as well as the juxtaposition of words in band names and song titles.

On a side note, I think it was in the 80's when I visited my parents in California (we've all moved around -- I come from a family of nomads) and we went into a record shop at Laguna Beach where albums from Circle Jerks and Butthole Surfers were right out front in the bins. I was somewhat embarrassed, but perhaps my parents were less observant or more indifferent.

@torunn said
It is now, but I wasn't brought up with the perspective and ambition to earn much money. We settled for 'enough' living in a country with social-democratic values.

I was raised Catholic in southern Michigan and I remember economic modesty as well as modesty about talents being part of my upbringing. At 61, some might look at my shabby, cluttered house and think I'm on the edge of poverty, but I feel lucky and wealthy and as if I have more than enough.

@kevin-eleven said
I was raised Catholic in southern Michigan and I remember economic modesty as well as modesty about talents being part of my upbringing. At 61, some might look at my shabby, cluttered house and think I'm on the edge of poverty, but I feel lucky and wealthy and as if I have more than enough.

About modesty, successful Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård used to remind his sons: 'Remember you are no less than any other individual and no more either.' It's a good thing to keep in mind when you choose a career that could lead to fame. All his sons are actors.

@kevin-eleven said
I was raised Catholic in southern Michigan and I remember economic modesty as well as modesty about talents being part of my upbringing. At 61, some might look at my shabby, cluttered house and think I'm on the edge of poverty, but I feel lucky and wealthy and as if I have more than enough.

Go North, say to Detroit, and take a gander at what has happened to so many neighbourhoods there, since the late 70s. Sad sights indeed in a city that once thrived. 😢

@great-big-stees said
Go North, say to Detroit, and take a gander at what has happened to so many neighbourhoods there, since the late 70s. Sad sights indeed in a city that once thrived. 😢

oh, detroit was a great city, yes. but they have fallen to not so good times. mismanagement.
They had US auto manufacture all to themselves. Oh well. time to share