1978 at a glance:
- Ted Bundy kills Fla State U coeds Lisa Levy & Margaret Bowman
- Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife
- Harriet Tubman is 1st black woman honored on a US postage stamp
- The Rutle's "All You Need is Cash" is show on NBC-TV
- Garfield, created by Jim Davis, 1st appears as a comic strip
- CBS raises LP prices to $8.98
- In Jonestown Guyana 918 members of Peoples Temple are murdered/commit suicide under leadership of cult leader Jim Jones
- The Runaways' last ever concert at Daly, CA.'s Cow Palace
- Sid Vicious attempts suicide while at Riker's Detention Center in NYC
I was twenty-two and twenty-three years old in 1978.
1978 felt like the end of something great. Older ties to earlier music and styles and fashion were rapidly disappearing.Being a full-time art student was odd. School was odd, people were odd, life was odder yet — especially when it was in downtown Portland. Still, it was an incredible growing period. I was learning all about things I hadn't a clue about before. The world of graphic design was so different then. I met with a professional "commercial artist" who'd had over 35 years in business. She filled me in on everything: what to expect, how it would work, and the way things got done. She was incredible! I remember her telling me "In the movies and on TV, us artists are always portrayed as homosexuals, or psychopaths." It's funny, but most 70's movies and TV showed us as being just that! It was around 1978 that I remember a major innovation and technical advance in the world of "commercial art": color Xeroxing! At last, color copies could be made for the low price of only $3.99 per copy.
The Airbrush King
I was in art school and wanted to be the airbrush king. I worked and worked at it until I got to be pretty darned good. I airbrushed everything, but mostly tried doing my own science fiction and fantasy work. I tried airbrush women's makeup with a high degree of success. I airbrushed T-shirts and even sprayed acryllics. I got to where I could take my airbrush apart, clean it, then re-assemble almost with my eyes closed. The airbrush artist's biggest enemy: bent needle tip. I found out quickly that even the slightest almost microscopic bend in the tip of the needle could be disastrous. I used a masking known as "Frisket paper" and hated it. I did turn out some great art works though.
A bad year for serial killers.
The Hillside Strangler was roaming Los Angeles. "The Son of Sam" killer David Berkowitz was sentenced to 365 years in prison. Ted Bundy was arrested in Pensacola, Florida, and John Wayne Gacy the murderer of 33 boys, was also arrested. The Hillside Strangler had racked up his 10th victim in the Los Angeles area. Such being the case of the "Zodiac Killer" who terrorized California in the late 60's, and remained active for years to come was never caught. However, the prime suspect, Arthur Lee Allen, died of kidney failure in 1992, but was never linked conclusively to the murders.
One of the most horrendous events in history happened in 1978 with what became known as The Jonestown Massacre." Cult leader Jim Jones led 918 people--270 of which were children--into a mass-suicide.
Scared Straight
An impressive program made its debut on national prime time television sets. Utilizing a barrage of uncensored F words, and boasting real murders, rapes, and drug dealings, the internationally acclaimed documentary Scared Straight premiered in 1978. The program was a one-time program that was to be an uncensored in-your-face assault of what happens when a group of juvenile offenders are taken into a maximum security prison for some face time with future neighbors. The show was mind-blower at the time, and as it turned out, very effective. The program is still effective; nobody seemed interested in stopping the inmates from brow-beating, and getting nearly physical with the kids. Suddenly, everything the kids expected went south, and the ones who'd tried to look tough were scared with some in tears. At the show's end, they were interviewed on the effectiveness of their "visit."
Total Eclipse of the Sun
Day turned to night for a few minutes one afternoon in October of 1978. It was the first full solar eclipse I'd ever seen. More fascinating, yet even then, were the "apocalypse mongers" that expected the daylight to never return again. But the daylight did return in only a matter of minutes, or perhaps even one minute.
During this time, it was a marvel, something to experience that was awesome and defied any natural phenomenon I could have ever witnessed. I remember that there were clouds in the sky, and though we couldn't look directly into the sun, the photos that were taken showed what looked like a "black sun" with a soft white ring around it.
