1977 at a glance:

• George H W Bush, ends term as 11th director of CIA
• Kiss play their first concert in Madison Square Garden (NYC)
• New Orleans' Pete Maravich sets NBA record for a guard with 68 pts
• "Eight is Enough" premieres on ABC-TV
• Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
• Alex Haley, author of "Roots", awarded Pulitzer Prize
• Patty Hearst let out of jail
• "Beatlemania" opens on Broadway
• Cheryl Ladd replaces Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels

I was twenty-one and twenty-two years old in 1977

1977 brought some great music and great movies. My new musical discoveries were Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Pat Travers, Status Quo and Moxy. Movies were great too, but nothing was as long awaited or sensational as Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The wierd 6-note extraterrestrial signal tune was hummed by everybody, accompanied of course, by the hand signals.
By summer I decided to leave my job at Rol-A-Way after a 3-year stint. Art school seemed to be the thing to do, so I gave it a shot. Thinking it would be cool, I even cut myself so I could sign a particular piece in blood. (It was not one of my greater moments). I enrolled in art school in the winter term of 1977.

The summer of 1977 was one of the hottest on record with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees.
The Portland Trailblazers took the championship and the whole city was in wild celebration. Power forward Maurice "Luke" Lucas (February 18, 1952 - October 31, 2010) was an incredible player. Bill Walton, another Blazer with a dynamite rep was also a serious Dead head, traveled with the band for their famous Egypt concert, and attended more than 650 Dead shows. He was finally awarded an induction into The Grateful Dead Hall of Honor.

Art School

"What the heck is a non-photo blue pencil?"

I enrolled in art school in the winter of 1977. It was there that I decided to pursue a career as a commercial artist. The terminology has changed over the years, and I went from a "commercial artist", to an "Illustrator" to a "Graphic Designer". I still prefer the term "Commercial Artist." It was in art school that I learned the uses of T-Squares, Airbrushes, non-photo blue pencils, rubylith, and rubber cement.

Guitar Heroes

The boogie-rock riffs of rock and roll were not business as usual when it came to one particular band. The summer of 1977 found me hooked on the group Status Quo. I'm not sure why they hit me so strong, but they did. Their brand of boogie-force was so clean, so tight, that I couldn't quit listening to them. To this day these guys hold a high position in my musical archives as the greatest boogie band in the world. Nobody rocked like Status Quo.

I bought album after album, each one better than the first. The blazing guitar duo of Rick Parfitt and Steve Rossi became a formidable rock force that drove the band. Also, the two became very close friends and have played together for years, and continue to do so. Amazingly, as adults, they barely look any different. Both guitarists are thin, long-haired, and from a distance look just as they did in 1977! Up close you can see some wrinkles, but life must have been good to them because they're in great shape. These guys have been rocking for over 50 years! How many of us can claim that these days?

Pat Travers

During a time in my life when newer guitar heroes were needed, I happened to be in Muisc Millennium just in time to hear a "now playing" album by a then unknown to me guitarist named Pat Travers The album was called "Makin' Magic and it was super hot! By 1979, I was a fully blown Pat Travers fan, and managed to get his autograph on a portrait I'd done of him. The only thing that really troubled me about Pat, was that each album was radically different from the one before. His style changed radically with each LP.

Big Hair, Big Movies

Tease, twist, tangle and blow-dry blast! The big hair queen herself, Farah Fawcett launched an indelible fashion statement as strong and provocative as The Beatles' cuts. In doing so, she stole the hearts of just about every American male when "Charlie's Angels" debuted. As it turned out later, Farrah was actually a decent actress who could deliver some serious performances. The "Farrah Mane" became on of the most imitated women's hairstyles of the late 70's. Farrah never really floated my boat, but most of the guys I knew thought she was the goods. Oddly enough, I've never seen an episode of "Charlie's Angels," as the show never interested me. Big hair became a style for not only women, but men too. Long-haired guys were now starting to fluff, mousse, and curl, and the mullet was the hottest style on the planet for men.

Major and minor Hollywood releases left an unforgettable mark on the decade. Blockbusters like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Star Wars" left permanent marks. Burt Reynolds was up to his usual good ol' boy standards with "Smokey and The Bandit", a film that launched the 70's CB craze. "The Deep" made Jacqueline Bisset's T-shirts a viable commodity, but the film was for me, quite boring. I expected something great considering that another Peter Benchley novel had been filmed.

Unforgettable imagery either delighted us, or scarred our brains forever with entries such as "Eraserhead" and the equally disturbing "Equus", a film about a disturbed young man who blinded six horses with a metal spike.

Goodbye, Elvis.

There is a literal universe of things that should be said about Elvis Presley.

He changed the face of rock n' roll culture that became a permanent condition, and inspired legions. He presents as a time gone by, when the world was happier, swingin', rockin' and full of life. His death in 1977 came as a crushing blow to the Elvis world. August 16, 1977, on the eve of yet another tour, Presley was found dead on his bathroom floor. The amount of drugs he'd been consuming was so profound that he suffered liver damage and an enlarged colon, plus was afflicted with extreme paranoia. His tours before that had suffered miserably, and loyal fans were expressing outrage and disappointment over his lackluster performances, short sets, and fumbling speech.

The pressures upon people like Elvis take their toll. For some, the legends continue, for others, they are found only in our memories. Elvis is no longer a first name, but a signature that will endure time. The collage I created above is how I care to remember him; young, tough, vibrant, and an incredible performer.

Tobacco

In the winter of 1977 I decided to branch out into pipes and cigars. I developed quite a taste for each, and they soon became my favorite thing. I used to buy all of my stuff at a place called The Tinder Box at Mall 205. My favorite pipe tobacco was a nice light flavor called "Polish Pleasure". My second favorite was "Aalborg", a Swedish cherry blend, and "Norse Gold", a very rich buttery-flavor blend. There was also a deep black vanilla blend, which I believe was called "Midnight Black". My favorite cigars were Henry Winterman's. They were thin and small, and had an excellent taste.

Roots

Probably the greatest landmark of '70s television would have to be the 1977 mini-series "Roots." America knew something big was coming, but just how big the program was to be was astonishing. The series was nominated for 36 Emmy awards and won 9 making it one of television's biggest splashes ever. "Roots", to say the least, became a major sociological event, and bookmarked the '70s. Roots was probably the most-watched program of 1977, and certainly laid to rest any fear that networks should have had.

In 1979, the show generated a sequel Roots: The Next Generations" which I liked as much as the original. It was great to flesh out a storyline that sweeps several generations of one family.