Streetplay Discussions
1. Unplug 2. Lace-up…
One thing about city life…
One thing about city life in the 60’s- NOTHING was off limits. It’s a wonder we’re not all dead! Anything in sight was game. This meant climbing up scaffolds to the top, crawling under parked cars, going on roof tops to get lost balls, climbing fences (with barbed-wire) to get into places, hanging onto back bumpers of trucks for a ride (usually in snow), and looking for “treasures” in old boarded up houses. I’d kill my kids if I ever caught them doing those things!
Remember scooters? I mean…
Remember scooters? I mean the REAL make-your-own type we constructed in the 60’s and not the store bought metal ones! Wooden crate was nailed onto a 4 foot 2×4 board then a scate was opened into front and back halves with each half nailed onto the ends of the 2×4. Scooters were an occasional substitute for your bike to get around. Also you were “the man” if your scooter was expertly constructed and decorated (the most popular decoration was to nail soda caps into the wood). Scooter wars were fun too. 2 guys would go at it with repeated head-to-head crashes until only one was left!
So and so’s a friend of…
The spades go two lips together,…
The spades go two lips together, twighlight in heaven, bring back my love to me What is the meaning Of all these flowers They tell the story The story of L-O and V-E, L-O and V-E, L-O and V-E LOVE! The one with Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Pop starts: Down down baby, down by the roller coaster Sweet, sweet baby, I’ll never let you go… Then the shimmy shimmy cocoa pop. On the last pop you threw your thumbs out behind your shoulders and shouted the word “pop.”
Great Rich! You stole my…
Great Rich! You stole my thunder on “Hot Peas and Butter”. We called it “Hide the Belt” in South Philly. How about “Chase the White Horse”? Here the person who was “it” would kneel in the street on all fours. Someone would call a category (lets say “cars”) and you had to name a car model as you leap-frogged over the guy in the street. If you couldn’t name one you yelled out “chase the white horse” and the person who was “it” chased everyone else and captured the next victim. Sometimes you would have to go 3-4 rounds (lets say naming cars, baseball players, sodas, etc.) until the chase began!
I recently got back in touch…
I recently got back in touch with my very first best friend, Joan, after losing touch with her for some 20 years. It was with her that I had my first (and last) fistfight; digging in the dirt so deep, it seemed, that we would soon get to China or Hell, whichever came first; dreaming of what it would like to be in college and have boyfriends at the age of 5; pretending that the two vertical cement slabs attached to the stoop were horses. Joan always got to name hers first, which wasn’t fair (it was really just a matter of who shout out first – I guess I was too slow). I always got second dibs on the name, and she always got Sparkle – which, of course, is the elite of imaginary horse names. Right after Joan’s ninth birthday her family moved away, which was very sad. I had no idea where and didn’t think I’d ever see her again. As fate would have it, eight months later I stood in the schoolyard of my own brand new neighborhood, feeling very lost. All of a sudden Joan came running up to me shouting, jumped up into my arms and banged her head into my chin. The joy was immense – so was the pain! I still have a tiny remnant of the chip it left in my tooth. Now that we’re back in touch, the 20 year gap seems like 20 minutes. Connections like that are something special.
My friend Susan and I met…
My friend Susan and I met when we were 2 1/2 years old – we’re both in our mid-40s now. We have never lost touch. In fact, she is godmother to one of my daughters. We haven’t lived in the same State since college, but we always manage to keep in touch. Even did a long weekend together with families several years ago. I’ve always said she’s my oldest friend, and she’s always referred to me as her youngest oldest friend (we’re 7 months apart!).