For the SPOILED under 30's

A little tee hee---

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning

Uphill... barefoot...

BOTH ways

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,
there was no way in hell I was going to lay

a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had
and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of
thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my
childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you
don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, We had to go to the damn library and
look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write
somebody a letter, with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! No where was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to
steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!
There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone.'cause that's how we rolled, dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you
were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school,
your mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you
just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video
games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! Wehad the Atari 2600! With games
like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You
actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or
screens, it was just one screen
forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting
harder and harder and
faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was
on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off
your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! There was no
Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons
on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK
for cartoons, you spoiled
little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat
something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids
today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted
five minutes back in 1980or before!

Is there anything you can add to this list???

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by lyfenlyn on June 29, 2010 at 2:56am

@ FOUNDRY37
That's so funny. That reminds me of going to Cellophane Square when I was in college in 86, for the life of me I can't remember the name of the magazine, but it came with a 7' vinyl record in it ever quarter. It came out 4x a year and all the cuts on the record were unreleased tracks by english bands. I used to dig in a bin in the store to find these magazines, that by the time I got them were a year old or more. I guess it got too expensive to make the recorsds anymore because you don't see them around. I used to go straight home and transfer the records to tape so I could carry them around to class with me and to friends houses. I loved finding stuff nobody else had.

@ Betty
how eeeeerie. I went to art classes at the art insitiute when I was a kid too! In the summer once a week I would go and we would learn different art techniques. One week would be block printing, one week chinese paper making, one week sculpting, one week painting, and so on. I remember we were recycyling these cataglogs for some project and I started reading them. I asked if I could take a few home and they told me yes. They turned out the be CAAN FILM FESTIVAL catalogs. I read about the movies, and tried to imagine what they were like. I told myself when I got big I would watch these movies, and I have seen most of them. When I moved away to washington my mom didn't believe in buying me new clothes so thats when I started my DIY. The whole trashy downtown look was in then (1983) so ripped clothes were the fashion. I had clothes from 8th grade and the pants were getting short, so I turned them into mini skirts. ( I was a skinny thing back then) I would go through my friends closets to see if they had clothes they didn't want, and they would give them to me and I would take them apart and put them back together. Have a sweatshirt with cableknit sleeves. Sewing zippers down arms and leaving them open, and of course the flashdance look. As I gained weight over the years I did find there were no cute clothes for bigger sizes so I started sewing seriously. My neighbor was moving and gave me her sewing machine because she never used it and I was off to the races. I'd go to thrift shops and get giant mumus and cut them up and make cute punky skirts of them with straps across the back and sides, and even curtians and tablecloths and making lace motorcycle jackets and bellbottom leggins that hooked to your garter belts. I still have to go to the fabric store and get fabric to make what I want to wear. I just can't bring myself to buy off the rack on the budget Im on.

Permalink Reply by Kaminelana Cheatem on June 29, 2010 at 3:37am

@Foundry37 -- Hell, yes -- BLEECKER BOB'S!!!!! It's always sooo cool to run into folks who know that beloved spot. I mentioned in the other over30 thread where you brought up the CB's matinees that my best friend and I would save up our money from working our jobs during the school year to fly out and visit his uncle on the lower east side. We were in LOVE with NYC in the 80s. As soon as we'd get settled at his unc's, Bob's and CBGB were like beacons to us. We really would've been at CB's matinees every friggin' weekend if we lived there full-time. Bob's was so much like the Chicago record store I mentioned in my post below about the early punk scene in the city. Smart, laid-back guys who LOVED music and encouraged us kids to discover the radical new stuff that was coming out instead of the mindless pop-tart, major label "arena rock" shit of those times. Whenever I went there, I always felt at home. Over the years, I've wondered how they were dealing with the insane gentrification shit going on. I was so psyched to see them celebrate their 40th anniversary a couple years ago. I really hope they hang tough and stay around for another 40 -- and beyond.

It's good to hear from another old timer who remembers the old days (especially those of us over 40 types). I couldn't agree more with you on being grateful for being around for the early era of punk/hardcore we saw in the 70s and 80s. I don't know how much you know or have heard about the Chicago punk scene from 1977 to about '84/'85, but there's a great DVD called "You Weren't There" that chronicles the history of punk rock in Chicago during those seminal years. A lot of great bands (Strike Under, Articles of Faith, Negative Element, Rights of The Accused, End Result, The Effigies, Naked Raygun and others) are featured along with the punk clubs that exploded on the scene. That record store I mentioned (Sounds Good Records) along with another incredible record shop (Wax Trax Records) are featured nicely, too. It's not a bad look into what was happening in the first and second waves of punk in Chicago -- beware of the bitter grousing (like what else is new?) between some of the bands/musicians, though -- particularly the drama with Articles of Faith, The Effigies and super-ass Steve Albini.

Hope to see you climb back on top of that box again -- I've got some extra glucosamine, chondroitin and Sam-E you could have -- yes, crotchety Aunt BoweryBetty has crappy, creaky knees, too :o)

foundry37 said:

Them young'uns know nuttin about a good record store.
Going to Bleeker Bob's as a kid was my greatest joy. I remember picking up anything that was on clearance in the bins at the front of the store. I remember this one thing I picked up. It was a ziploc type bag and inside were 2 cassettes bundled with a zine. I payed my $1.50 left the store, got on the train and popped in the first cassette. The strains of Bahaus assaulted my ears and I couldn't have been happier.For the next 35 minutes I was digging on some awesome goth rock from different unsigned bands. I think Bahaus was the only one who got signed.. Honestly I do not think the genre even had a name yet. The next week I went back and found another zine with a cassette. This one was a Oi! comp. Man I was in heaven. The older dudes who ran the stortes were always happy to answer any questions I had about the bands I had read about in all the indie zines I collected or had heard about on the Sunday night radio shows hipping us to the newest suff coming from the U.K. A great education. I even ended up working in a couple of record stores over a span of 15 years. Including operating in a space inside Bob's.

I am a unashamed grumpy old man. Especially when it comes to kids today.Ther music is crap and the way everything is commercialized and marketed is disturbing. I am pretty sure the hippies who came before me were saying the same thing about us when we were eating up all the punk/new wave/ska/mod that was coming out back in 78-82. I feel very lucky to have grown up during a awesome time in music. Right now everything (music and pop culture in general) is recycled from the pretty much 70's to the late 80's. And it has been that way since the begining of the 90's.
Sad innit?

Standing on this soapbox has brouhgt the arthritis in my knees. I better get down. Thanks for listening and not throwing tomatoes

BoweryBetty said:
.

I have a deep, deep love for independent record stores. There was such a culture in/about them that I ADORED growing up in the 70s and 80s. Can anyone relate to what I mean about the SMELL of a great record store?? For me and my tween-age peers (10-12yrs old) watching punk rock take hold in mid/late 70s Chicago was an incredible time of discovery and challenges. Who the fuck knew what iTunes or Amazon would be??? We spent so much time in our favorite record stores -- and it wasn't always about spending money and buying stuff every time we were there. There was a time when you could pop a disc onto the store's turntable, put the headphones on and listen to the album you were interested in or strike up casual conversations about bands and other subjects with the staff. Thankfully, being underage and unable to go to the new punk clubs in the city didn't stop us from hearing about the newest punk music -- there was a great record store on the north side that was closely connected to one of the main punk clubs by an incredible staff member (Sparkle) who had originally asked to spin punk records there on a special night and soon after (thanks to him) the club became a full-time punk club. Nearly every time I went to this record store he fed my growing love of punk and my knowledge of politics and social justice. Sparkle was such a great guy and he was so supportive and proud as he watched us grow up. I don't care how deep people get into the social networking/myspace/facebook/kin culture....none of it will EVER be as real as having a face-to-face interactions with someone in the same effin' room.
,
Okay, I'm gonna go into crotchety Aunt Betty mode....but I really do feel today's youth are too coddled and catered to. When I think back to the awareness my tween peers and I had back in the 70s?? I know some of us were precocious snots, but we had proven ourselves to be mature enough at 10 or 11 yrs old to be able to take the buses, EL and subway on our own across town to our fave record stores and elsewhere. We were "latch-key kids" but we also knew how to have fun and come home when the street lights came on. There was also a strong sense that everything was not all about US (and I mean this in the way that we were aware of the world around us and not just self-obsessed like many of the young'ins of today). Thankfully, there were no vapid Disney Channel or Nickelodeon tween/teen shows streaming for hours and hours every day. There was no over-blown, over-exaggerated manufactured youth culture saturated by ads and marketing. We aspired to become adults. We read newspapers (do any kids even do this anymore??) and made ourselves aware of what was going on in the real world -- not the pop culture/tabloid world. Nowadays...I see so many tweens AND OLDER TEENS having tantrums and behaving like frickin' 5 yr. olds. They don't have an ounce of "street sense", common sense or responsibility. They feel entitled to everything but are appreciative of barely anything. I don't know. I know times are different, and, believe me, I hear the voices of my grandmother's generation and my mom's generation when I say this...but it just seems like we're spiraling and accelerating towards a very uncertain future. It's kinda crazy watching people stand for 12 hours in line for a damn cell phone that won't work right unless you hold it a certain way...but would they pour that same energy into standing up against homelessness, poverty, racism or other pressing issues?? **End of Aunt Betty's crotchety rant**

Permalink Reply by Kaminelana Cheatem on June 29, 2010 at 4:16am

@lyfenlyn -- Here's to DIY, chica. Do you have much time left at school?? Are you planning on creating your own label or are you going in another direction?? Hang in there and stay true to your vision. We definitely need more designers of color (especially sisters) taking over the runways. I really like the sketches you posted. If you have a show for your senior/final project I hope you post some pics of your pieces! PS -- I think that mag you were talking about was Reflex. They used to have all kinds of rad flexi releases. I still have a Government Issue, Redd Kross, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and a few others tucked away in my record collection.

lyfenlyn said:

@ FOUNDRY37
That's so funny. That reminds me of going to Cellophane Square when I was in college in 86, for the life of me I can't remember the name of the magazine, but it came with a 7' vinyl record in it ever quarter. It came out 4x a year and all the cuts on the record were unreleased tracks by english bands. I used to dig in a bin in the store to find these magazines, that by the time I got them were a year old or more. I guess it got too expensive to make the recorsds anymore because you don't see them around. I used to go straight home and transfer the records to tape so I could carry them around to class with me and to friends houses. I loved finding stuff nobody else had. @ Betty
how eeeeerie. I went to art classes at the art insitiute when I was a kid too! In the summer once a week I would go and we would learn different art techniques. One week would be block printing, one week chinese paper making, one week sculpting, one week painting, and so on. I remember we were recycyling these cataglogs for some project and I started reading them. I asked if I could take a few home and they told me yes. They turned out the be CAAN FILM FESTIVAL catalogs. I read about the movies, and tried to imagine what they were like. I told myself when I got big I would watch these movies, and I have seen most of them. When I moved away to washington my mom didn't believe in buying me new clothes so thats when I started my DIY. The whole trashy downtown look was in then (1983) so ripped clothes were the fashion. I had clothes from 8th grade and the pants were getting short, so I turned them into mini skirts. ( I was a skinny thing back then) I would go through my friends closets to see if they had clothes they didn't want, and they would give them to me and I would take them apart and put them back together. Have a sweatshirt with cableknit sleeves. Sewing zippers down arms and leaving them open, and of course the flashdance look. As I gained weight over the years I did find there were no cute clothes for bigger sizes so I started sewing seriously. My neighbor was moving and gave me her sewing machine because she never used it and I was off to the races. I'd go to thrift shops and get giant mumus and cut them up and make cute punky skirts of them with straps across the back and sides, and even curtians and tablecloths and making lace motorcycle jackets and bellbottom leggins that hooked to your garter belts. I still have to go to the fabric store and get fabric to make what I want to wear. I just can't bring myself to buy off the rack on the budget Im on.

Permalink Reply by lyfenlyn on June 29, 2010 at 2:31pm

Well here's the thing. I signed on for an associates which is 2 years and in November Im 1 year down. But I want to go into the shoe design program, which is like a 'graduate' program abroad. I want to do costumes for eccentric types, styling for movies. I even started on a script just so I can pick out the music and do the clothes (among other things--our stories need tellin) I am sick of seeing stilettos year after year. I want to design sexy lower heeled shoes that are comfy while youre kickin ass. (hey that might be my tag line...LOL!) I keep a style blog...www.supaflythings.blogspot.com

Whenever I go to the bay area I have to hit up Amoeba Music to get that "dust" on me...yannowhutimean?

BoweryBetty said:

@lyfenlyn -- Here's to DIY, chica. Do you have much time left at school?? Are you planning on creating your own label or are you going in another direction?? Hang in there and stay true to your vision. We definitely need more designers of color (especially sisters) taking over the runways. I really like the sketches you posted. If you have a show for your senior/final project I hope you post some pics of your pieces! PS -- I think that mag you were talking about was Reflex. They used to have all kinds of rad flexi releases. I still have a Government Issue, Redd Kross, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and a few others tucked away in my record collection.

lyfenlyn said:
@ FOUNDRY37
That's so funny. That reminds me of going to Cellophane Square when I was in college in 86, for the life of me I can't remember the name of the magazine, but it came with a 7' vinyl record in it ever quarter. It came out 4x a year and all the cuts on the record were unreleased tracks by english bands. I used to dig in a bin in the store to find these magazines, that by the time I got them were a year old or more. I guess it got too expensive to make the recorsds anymore because you don't see them around. I used to go straight home and transfer the records to tape so I could carry them around to class with me and to friends houses. I loved finding stuff nobody else had. @ Betty
how eeeeerie. I went to art classes at the art insitiute when I was a kid too! In the summer once a week I would go and we would learn different art techniques. One week would be block printing, one week chinese paper making, one week sculpting, one week painting, and so on. I remember we were recycyling these cataglogs for some project and I started reading them. I asked if I could take a few home and they told me yes. They turned out the be CAAN FILM FESTIVAL catalogs. I read about the movies, and tried to imagine what they were like. I told myself when I got big I would watch these movies, and I have seen most of them. When I moved away to washington my mom didn't believe in buying me new clothes so thats when I started my DIY. The whole trashy downtown look was in then (1983) so ripped clothes were the fashion. I had clothes from 8th grade and the pants were getting short, so I turned them into mini skirts. ( I was a skinny thing back then) I would go through my friends closets to see if they had clothes they didn't want, and they would give them to me and I would take them apart and put them back together. Have a sweatshirt with cableknit sleeves. Sewing zippers down arms and leaving them open, and of course the flashdance look. As I gained weight over the years I did find there were no cute clothes for bigger sizes so I started sewing seriously. My neighbor was moving and gave me her sewing machine because she never used it and I was off to the races. I'd go to thrift shops and get giant mumus and cut them up and make cute punky skirts of them with straps across the back and sides, and even curtians and tablecloths and making lace motorcycle jackets and bellbottom leggins that hooked to your garter belts. I still have to go to the fabric store and get fabric to make what I want to wear. I just can't bring myself to buy off the rack on the budget Im on.

Permalink Reply by Kaminelana Cheatem on June 29, 2010 at 6:47pm

@lyfenlyn -- DEFINITELY check out Amoeba (on this side of the bay OR over in the east bay) whenever you make it out this way! It's one of my favorite things about The Haight and a great hang-out spot. A perfect day for me is hanging there for a couple hours, perusing the bins and then going a couple doors down to my fave coffeehouse in the city -- Rockin' Java -- and reading a good book with a nice cup of fair trade. I tried the link to your blog a few times but it didn't direct me there. I'd love to check out your stuff. I can definitely see a grand, theatrical element to the sketches you posted. Follow your vision, chica, you're gonna blow peoples' minds. Jesus, do I hear you on the friggin' stilettos. My mom used to tell me about the curious connection between the trends of heels/stilettos and women's hemlines either rising or lowering in relation to the state of the economy throughout the decades. It's crazy to see that many women are being duped into thinking mile-high stripper heels are healthy, fashionable footwear. That crap is only for "trophy" women who have a minimal amount of walking to do in and out of their limos, walking the red carpet, schmoozing at $1,000 plate fundraisers, etc. -- not for the rest of us who need to navigate subway stairs and walk home alone late at night. Please don't forget some of us curvy gals with wider feet, LOL!!

lyfenlyn said:

Well here's the thing. I signed on for an associates which is 2 years and in November Im 1 year down. But I want to go into the shoe design program, which is like a 'graduate' program abroad. I want to do costumes for eccentric types, styling for movies. I even started on a script just so I can pick out the music and do the clothes (among other things--our stories need tellin) I am sick of seeing stilettos year after year. I want to design sexy lower heeled shoes that are comfy while youre kickin ass. (hey that might be my tag line...LOL!) I keep a style blog...www.supaflythings.blogspot.com

Whenever I go to the bay area I have to hit up Amoeba Music to get that "dust" on me...yannowhutimean?

BoweryBetty said:
@lyfenlyn -- Here's to DIY, chica. Do you have much time left at school?? Are you planning on creating your own label or are you going in another direction?? Hang in there and stay true to your vision. We definitely need more designers of color (especially sisters) taking over the runways. I really like the sketches you posted. If you have a show for your senior/final project I hope you post some pics of your pieces! PS -- I think that mag you were talking about was Reflex. They used to have all kinds of rad flexi releases. I still have a Government Issue, Redd Kross, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and a few others tucked away in my record collection.

lyfenlyn said:
@ FOUNDRY37
That's so funny. That reminds me of going to Cellophane Square when I was in college in 86, for the life of me I can't remember the name of the magazine, but it came with a 7' vinyl record in it ever quarter. It came out 4x a year and all the cuts on the record were unreleased tracks by english bands. I used to dig in a bin in the store to find these magazines, that by the time I got them were a year old or more. I guess it got too expensive to make the recorsds anymore because you don't see them around. I used to go straight home and transfer the records to tape so I could carry them around to class with me and to friends houses. I loved finding stuff nobody else had. @ Betty
how eeeeerie. I went to art classes at the art insitiute when I was a kid too! In the summer once a week I would go and we would learn different art techniques. One week would be block printing, one week chinese paper making, one week sculpting, one week painting, and so on. I remember we were recycyling these cataglogs for some project and I started reading them. I asked if I could take a few home and they told me yes. They turned out the be CAAN FILM FESTIVAL catalogs. I read about the movies, and tried to imagine what they were like. I told myself when I got big I would watch these movies, and I have seen most of them. When I moved away to washington my mom didn't believe in buying me new clothes so thats when I started my DIY. The whole trashy downtown look was in then (1983) so ripped clothes were the fashion. I had clothes from 8th grade and the pants were getting short, so I turned them into mini skirts. ( I was a skinny thing back then) I would go through my friends closets to see if they had clothes they didn't want, and they would give them to me and I would take them apart and put them back together. Have a sweatshirt with cableknit sleeves. Sewing zippers down arms and leaving them open, and of course the flashdance look. As I gained weight over the years I did find there were no cute clothes for bigger sizes so I started sewing seriously. My neighbor was moving and gave me her sewing machine because she never used it and I was off to the races. I'd go to thrift shops and get giant mumus and cut them up and make cute punky skirts of them with straps across the back and sides, and even curtians and tablecloths and making lace motorcycle jackets and bellbottom leggins that hooked to your garter belts. I still have to go to the fabric store and get fabric to make what I want to wear. I just can't bring myself to buy off the rack on the budget Im on.

Permalink Reply by lyfenlyn on June 29, 2010 at 7:19pm

I love the bay, I was going to go to school there in 99 but couldn't find housing =c( so I came here instead cause I had a cousin here.

My bad! www.superflythings.blogspot.com

It's not MY stuff, it's cool stuff I find on the net thats affordable, funky or plus sized or just plain weird. Inspiration you could say. I spelled it like a square, I forgot. LOL

I like to dance but it used to kill me back in the day that you had to wear some jacked up boots and pants to cover them or wear shoes that hurt. I used to tape my feet when I wore platforms and wear extra pairs of socks. But there has to be something for the fly girl on the go. I have a wider foot too so my pinky toes get the bizniss and I hate that. Not so much n ow that I HAVE to wear my toes out because of the heat. But when I want to go out I hate my toes out so people can step on them? HELL NO. I also love pointy shoes. Going up a size helps with the squeezing, but not with the comfort of the rest of the foot. I want to make it as comfortable as a sneaker and sleek and sexy, fun colors as well as the standards and loud girls will love them. Plus the matching handbags.

Permalink Reply by Kaminelana Cheatem on June 29, 2010 at 8:26pm

Comfy, fab, kick ass shoes -- and matching handbags, too!???? I'm hooked!! I so dig the stuff on superflythings -- you have a righteous eye, chica! LOVE that sorta rockabilly dress with the oooky classic horror movie monsters! I'll definitely stay tuned to see what's new.

I love pointy-toed shoes, too. There has to be a way to make them comfortable! Keep creating and letting your ideas flow, sis'. You are going to have one HELL of a following! :o)

lyfenlyn said:

I love the bay, I was going to go to school there in 99 but couldn't find housing =c( so I came here instead cause I had a cousin here.

My bad! www.superflythings.blogspot.com

It's not MY stuff, it's cool stuff I find on the net thats affordable, funky or plus sized or just plain weird. Inspiration you could say. I spelled it like a square, I forgot. LOL

I like to dance but it used to kill me back in the day that you had to wear some jacked up boots and pants to cover them or wear shoes that hurt. I used to tape my feet when I wore platforms and wear extra pairs of socks. But there has to be something for the fly girl on the go. I have a wider foot too so my pinky toes get the bizniss and I hate that. Not so much n ow that I HAVE to wear my toes out because of the heat. But when I want to go out I hate my toes out so people can step on them? HELL NO. I also love pointy shoes. Going up a size helps with the squeezing, but not with the comfort of the rest of the foot. I want to make it as comfortable as a sneaker and sleek and sexy, fun colors as well as the standards and loud girls will love them. Plus the matching handbags.