LOL, again. A few of the tokers at my Mustang. I must have been just off the edge of this picture
              somewhere. (at driver's door: Cathy Bradshaw)

              To have made a book-cover judgment about this Central sub-culture, was to miss the point of it.
              It was free-spirited, about fledgling independent identity, and inclusion. We were accepting of all,
              and the fact that we could go out there to burn a joint was a radical new deal that made us
              feel like our own selves - not somebody's shackled child anymore. That was a major
              driver of it.

              Remember it was less than ten years removed from the '60's, and so an echo of that era.
              While some of those Flower Children turned into conservatives later in life, the cultural upheavals
              of 1960's / 70's nonetheless effected profound positive change upon the nation: civil rights, gender
              equality, social libertarianism.

              It's useful in my opinion to understand the deviating teenager as someone simply in search of
              separate identity - we all go through it. Find a way to let them have that within the confines of
              legality, and you'll nullify their tendency to put you the parent through hell.

        C-J photo of me, brother Chris, David Pinotti & others from the pack, at the Zeppelin concert.
        Chris and David are only partly visible, but look down the front row - right about where Jimmy
        Page would stand onstage...

        Led Zeppelin was one of the biggest concerts of the decade and when they scheduled Louisville,
        we couldn't believe it. It sold out in 2 hours to a hoard at the Fairgrounds in March, $7.50 tickets.
        I had a pal in line who came away empty-handed, so I got mine scalped from Brian Bobrow for
        the unheard of price of $15.

        My Westport friend Pinotti, painted his own fake and got in with it. He left the back of his totally
        blank, whereas his brother Tony went to much more effort to replicate the ticket front & back -
        almost an exact forgery. He got shut down at the door...   ;^)

        Stub from the infamous 1979 Who concert at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. The close of a
        decade, and the end of Festival seating - as was a regular practice before this tragedy (see Zep
        photo above). With all the great talent on tour, tickets $6 - $7 cheap, and the communal-type vibe
        that went on at a venue like Freedom Hall, concerts were the big social event for many of us in
        those days.

        I later wrote an editorial about this concert for the Louisville Cardinal newspaper, as a sophomore
        at U of L. Festival seating and The Who's "hooligan" fan base, were scapegoated as the cause of
        the problem. That was false. Either the facility or the concert promoter Electric Factory Concerts,
        decided to hire only 4 ticket takers for the whole coliseum. 2 at the West doors where the deaths
        occurred, and 2 at the North doors. It was nearing show time, there was no warmup band, and
        they weren't letting people in.

        Chris and I were very fortunate to hear the announcement as we approached the gathering throngs
        at the West doors, that the North doors were just opening up. So we went over to them, and got
        caught up in a much smaller crowd - one that was still plenty anxious to get inside before The Who
        came on.

        So you had an increasing tightening of the ranks, towards doors that were not open. They continued
        to pass people through with 2 ticket takers, pace of a snail. What happens is, when you get crowds
        of that size that are getting antsy and start crowding up to the doors, you can't do anything about it
        from it's center. Trying to tell others to back off is futile. There is a sway to it that you cannot avoid,
        and when somebody loses their balance and falls, you cannot physically take a step forward or back
        to let them up. You don't realize the force of one of those kinds of crowds, until you are in it.

        That is how the 11 deaths occurred. Suffocation, as those above them were helpless to do anything
        about it. If you're ever in a crowd like that, maintaining your balance is critical. Do not alter your stance
        to pick something up or anything else. Just stay upright at all costs. Nobody will be able to pull you
        back up if you fall.

        All it would have taken to avoid what happened, was to hire a normal number of ticket people & then
        open the doors at a normal 60-90 minutes before show. Admittance would have transpired without
        any problem, as it has over many thousands of concerts.

        The concert went on without delays or announcements. Chris & I did not even know people had died,
        until we heard it on the radio on the way home. Then we knew why there were TV news crews present
        when we came out of the building.

        People lost their lives because of cost-cutting, and that set of facts was never reported.

        1985 wedding to Barbara Wilson -

        Years after it was over my sister termed it a failed marriage. I disagree. It was 5 years in our 20's that
        were life-instructive for both of us. That 1st marriage teaches you what you need, by what's missing in
        it. We got along great, she's attractive as you can see, and a good person. We simply had too little in
        common, and it inexorably ran out of fuel. You think going in that deficiency will correct itself but it
        never really does. Mental connection it turns out, is most everything.

        Passes to campaign events where I shook hands with President Clinton, in '92 and again in '96.
        Yep, I'm a progressive - and I worked as a volunteer on both these campaigns in Cincinnati.

        Hillary's campaign stop at Covington 5/17/08, and the '92 pass - now signed.

        (Hillary's handshake is firmer than Bill's...   ;^)