Category Archives: youth

Cleveland’s Finest

November 2, 2019 – 6:57 am

Cleveland was supposedly the site of the first rock and roll concert. March 21, 1952. A little more than two months before my birth in late May. 20,000 youths crowded the 10,000 capacity Cleveland Arena. The police shut down the show before the opening act, Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams, finished his first song. The civic leaders […]

By Peter | Also posted in cool, East Village, music, NEW YORK, punk | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

A PAINTER PAINTING A PICTURE by Peter Nolan Smith

August 15, 2019 – 1:04 am

Hitchhiking was the only way to travel between Boston and Montreal in the early 1970s. The trip was a scenic 400 miles on I-89 slanting across New Hampshire and Vermont to Lake Champlain then north into Quebec. On one trip in August of 1971 a longhair driving a van said that he needed money for […]

By Peter | Also posted in 70s, canada, hitchhiking, semi-fiction | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

A Reprobate’s Parental Guidance

April 20, 2019 – 5:34 am

In 1969 I smoked reefer for the first time in my VW Bug coming from Nantasket Beach. Tommie Jordan and John Gilmore were my passengers. The weed belonged to Tommie, a hockey player from North Quincy. His hair was long, at least for a hockey player, but then so was that of Derek Sanderson and […]

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NO UP OR DOWN By Peter Nolan Smith

October 31, 2018 – 9:55 am

The 1960s Space Race between the USSR and USA exterminated young boys’ worship of westerns and we retired cowboy hats, vests, guns, and holsters to the closet next to toy boats and teddy bears. During the autumn of 1962 I pleaded with my parents to buy me an astronaut costume for Halloween and my father […]

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THE LIGHT OF THE MOON by Peter Nolan Smith

October 22, 2018 – 8:29 am

Sundays belonged to the Lord in Tulsa. Numerous church bells rang from nearby steeples. Sean pulled the pillow over his head. A knock sounded on the door. “Don’t say anything,” whispered AK. He liked sleeping late, but free rooms had their price. The next knock was more forceful. “You boys awake?” The voice belonged to […]

By Peter | Also posted in 70s, america, Drinking, hitchhiking, semi-fiction, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)