Lefty Limbo

I was totally stoked to find these KLOS stickers inside a book I bought from a garage sale in the mid ’90s. They totally brought back golden memories of my childhood in the late ’70s and early ’80s, when KLOS 95.5 FM was one of the definitive stations of Los Angeles (alongside KMET 94.7 and the Mighty 690). One couldn’t drive around Los Angeles back then without seeing these adorning car bumpers and rear windows.

One could order stickers directly from the station by writing to them with a SASE. I remember sitting down and writing on notebook paper, “Dear KLOS: Please send me 3 large “TOO HIP” stickers and 6 small ones, and also 3 large “KLOS 95.5″ stickers and 6 small ones…” Within a day I’d receive a pack of shiny stickers which I would plaster on my Trapper Keeper, bedroom door, etc. I tripped out that their PO Box was “95.5!”

The best thing about finding these stickers are the band ones. Pat Benatar, Foreigner and Missing Persons are also early ’80s rock icons, and one could not get these from the station, but rather, you could only buy them at the concerts. So if someone had these, that meant they either saw the band live, or were lucky enough to know somebody who hooked them up with the stickers (killer!).

These days, some people tend to mistake the TOO HIP stickers as representing KMET 94.7, KLOS’ rival rock station in the early ’80s. KMET actually had equally definitive stickers of their own, and fans of the station back then would display them intentionally upside-down on their rear bumpers (reflecting the same marketing ploy of KMET’s billboards).

KMET had their own concert sticker packs such as the Van Halen one below, which I found on the net. “Whoo-Ya” was a popular slogan for the station, but bumper sticker-wise it was nowhere near as prevalent as the upside-down KMET 94.7 one.

October 1983.

My mom asked me what I wanted to do for my 13th birthday, and I couldn’t think of any place better to go than the urban wonderland that was Fox Hills Mall. It was perfect—we could have lunch at Round Table Pizza, then I could waste the entire afternoon on arcade games at the super-mega Sega Center on the second floor.

She agreed, and said I could invite some friends. Cool! So I carefully handpicked from my peers at Orville Wright Junior High…kids whom I thought were cool and would definitely dig video games like I did. The choices were easy:

• Dave: He was my best friend after all, so that was a no-brainer.
• Ernest: The quiet, smart nerdy kid who spent all his time studying…he needed a break!
• Doug: The ultimate Star Wars collector (he had every single action figure, vehicle and playset…in pristine condition—and still does)—he’s in!
• Brandon: The perfect G.I. Joe playmate who liked to build model airplanes (and set them on fire); I liked to spend the night at his house and stay up ‘til 3AM playing Defender on his Atari 5200…and we both thought Men At Work ruled!
• Aaron: In elementary school we both listened to The Mighty 690 religiously and always waited for Charlie Daniels to say “son of a bitch” in the Devil Went Down to Georgia song. I could’ve sworn it happened once.
• Lionel: The all-around mellow man who still sported his ‘70s coke-bottle glasses; his mom packed him killer Italian sausage sandwiches for lunch, which she wrapped ever so delicately in crisp wax paper…and he often shared them with me.
• Russell: The mild-mannered ace athlete whom I’d known since the 4th grade, whose fatal slicies in handball left us all in the dust.

Oh, and that’s my brother in the foreground, who was looking just as forward to the festivities as everyone else was…
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I’ve been a member of the Flickr group Growing Up Star Wars: 1977-1985 for some time now, sharing whatever personal pertinent photos and art that I can find in the rubble. My latest find, above, was yet another treasure I found at my parents’ house.

On Flickr, I commented that my Dad always told me to write the date on whatever I drew. As a kid, I did it dilligently, but as I grew older, I never really bothered. So he began to really reinforce the reminders, telling me as often as he could to date them, “Because when you get older, your memory will fade, and you won’t remember what you did.”

I used to laugh. But now that I am older, I cherish each and every photograph and drawing that has a date on it. Because, as my dad said, I really don’t remember what I did.

Now that I think about it, his reminders may have resounded so much, that I believe that’s the reason why I try so hard to preserve each and every fond memory I have, of my childhood, and now my own child’s childhood. The ability of our brains to retain and record information in vivid detail has always fascinated me…and their equal ability to haze over and forget has always been, for me, the ultimate tragedy.

Anyways, on a happier note, here’s me as Darth Vader in umm…geez. 1981? I forgot.