The Gooch look of the '70s! GROOVY! Such a youthful positive joyous countenance! Mr. Daniels took that picture Feb. '75 at the parkway. I had been working at the peak for 4 years now and I loved it. Even though I hated snow, wouldn't get me on skis, it was so much fun! Kids and snow. A killer combination! Amazing how we can be impervious to that bone-chilling weather while hurtling down a snowy hill on a sled or tobaggan or 2 slats of wood or a shovel. I will always have fond memories of those days; rockets, starbursts, throwing Donny Deck off the hill for jumping on t-bars(HAHA), hot dogs with Gooch spelled in mustard, Dean somebody skiing for years with a rain check, the ski pass pants, chairs falling off the lift!!?!? and the kids-who made it all worthwhile-they voted me to go to Grenoble! Yeah right. The Dunn's, the Deck's, Eversons, Smiths, Cahills, Evans, Haigas, Parkers, Slack, JB, Sowers, Sultenfus( how do ya say 2 of 'em?), Hughes, Ruhms, Lawlesses, Kistner's, Dooley's so many...write me so I can acknowledge ya! THE PEAK

As the winter ended, I started working at the cem again. My first spring! What a madhouse. Ya always want your cemetery looking beautiful for Memorial Day. Lotta hard work and very motivational in a spiritual kinda way.

By now, I had stopped hanging out with the old James St. gang. Life had taken us all down different paths and newer ground was needed to be broken and friendships developed. I think about those guys often and it is rare indeed when our paths cross. Some of them are no longer with us and memories are rekindled on occassion when me and Joe H. start rambling. Bear with us Brad and Keith, ya know we are getting up there in years. They will always be a part of me; there is that bond we share from living in that crazy era from '67-'71. PEACE

Neilson St. The Fredsell's, Corasanti's, Woods', Maghamez's, Jordan's, and of course..EDDIE L! Along with some of the West St. mob, the Kelly's, Franz's, Bowman's, Professor of Baseball, Snake and DUFF and those Wamelings, well this was the nucleus of friends that would be with me on my journeys for the next decade or so, as we navigated uncharted waters and traveled adventurous paths towards....whatever!We used to go to NYC a lot. Carloads of us to see baseball, football or hockey or hang out in NY for a day. Always an event if we could overcome Lumps limburger cheese or Petes porno collection.

And of course there is always The Who! That fall we were blessed with the newest creation from Pete "The Who by Numbers". What an incredible piece of vinyl. And of course a tour came along with it. Me, Cuphead, Jimmy, E-man, and Marty set sail to the Buffalo Aud on Dec. 10 to view THE GREATEST BAND IN ROCK"N"ROLL! Hey Brian do you remember throwing that sparkler!!!!!

The following summer saw the formation of Alegro Enterprises due to the hard work and hustling of Eddie Landesman. SOFTBALL!!!! It was here and affected everybody's lives for years and beers. At the cem, Marty and Steve Keating were my new co-workers. 25 years ago! and old Joe. What a treat! The highlight of that stretch was, naturally, going to see the Who!! NO WAY!!! Oct. 21 1976 Toronto What turned out to be a pivotal day in Who history! The end of the '75-'76 tour and the last show with Mr. Moon. And of course, according to that old Joe, a muffler full of hishhash! Dumb Pollack! And that winter of '76-'77 turned out to be my last at the ski area. I had spent 6 incredible winters at the peak and hey thanks again to Nonnie Pensero and Bill Cusworth for hiring me and letting me work for them. My first job and one, no matter how menial at times, meant a lot to me then and, through the years, yet today. And a big thanks to all those skiers and winter enthusiasts whom I had the pleasure of meeting. A major influence in my life! And a very positive one at that! Thank-you!

O.K. DUFF! Here it is! KIEFEK 25 years ago! That camel took Utica by storm! And who can possibly name all the individuals wearing their Kiefek shirt with pride at the Utica Zoo with Mr. Camel! Not me!

January 9 1977 After 10 years of loving the Raiders, THEY WIN THE BIG ONE!!! SuperBowl 11 and the Snake led the Silver and Black and Raider fans from Oakland to Utica and beyond were delirious. After fielding incredible teams and playing memorable games BUT always losing in agonizing fashion... NO MORE! It felt great to be a Raider fan!RAIDERS

Lotta stuff going on in '77. A few full-time guys finally left the cem,including JOE USUCK, backstabber supreme, and wouldn't ya know it, I was to experience the cem in snow!!! A full time job after all that hard work the past few years. That spring a new softball team was formed, VICTOR CONTE'S, and til this day, they still talk about this legendary team. We definitely left our mark in the annals of Utica recreation! More on this topic in a different page.

Now we are hurtling along! Of course there is some Who music in the form of "ROUGH MIX", a semi-solo effort from Pete with Ronnie Lane. A buncha unique tunes, unlike anything penned by Pete before. Don't wanna be misunderstood. This uniqueness resulted in "WHO ARE YOU",an album that took the Who to places they never been. A lotta great Entwistle songs and Music Must Change, with a different style, and a tragic album cover omen- NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY. It came out on Keith's 32nd birthday and 2 weeks later, he was dead. Sept 7, 1978

I remember hearing the news from Duff. I was at the cem on a Thursday afternoon on sect. 20. It was the end of the Who. And 1978 All we can do is go onward or home