This isn't so much a blog as a series of announcements of upcoming Gaucho events that are posted in various ways over the internet and I thought I would put them all together in one place.

1) NARBONNE CLASS REUNION 1922-1968... To be held Saturday September 19, 2010 at the Carson Civic Center (I don't know about you but it kind of hurts me to think of a Narbonne event in Carson..lol.) Cost is $70 per person and covers all expenses including dinner and music for dancing. For more information and to sign up contact ALICE SANCHEZ at VBBIGAL@AOL.COM.

2) CLASS OF 65 45th REUNION..(Inviting classes 63-67)..To be held Saturday October 23, 2010 at Ports O Call Village in San Pedro. Cost is $55 per person and includes dinner and hosted bar. For more information and to be put on the mailing list contact Margie McMurray-Terada at MARGIETMC@sbcglobal.net. If anyone is interested in the least, I will be attending this event and I know a number of other members of class of 67 will be going also.

2a) The night before the CLASS OF 65 REUNION Narbonne is playing Gardena under the lights at Narbonne and I am trying to get a crowd of people to go to the game and root on the current Gauchos. So, Friday October 22nd lets all meet at the football field.

3) A LITTLE REUNION OF SORTS...to be held July 2011. This is an event being set up by Narbonne Alumni on Facebook and even though it's almost a year away there is a sign up page and info on FACEBOOK. Go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143159739051655.

Now comes the hard part...I have sent out over 100 emails and 100 invitations to these events, I have asked for comments on the previous blogs, and it's like pulling teeth to get you GAUCHOS to respond. I have had a total of maybe a dozen responses. However we are going to try again and ask you to comment on here on which if any of these events you may plan on attending. Let your friends know where you might be so they can make plans. Let people know where you might be so they can go to something else..lol. Just let people know so those who want to reconnect can make plans. It's not hard, just click on comments and let us know.

Two of the happiest years of my life were spent in the early 70's as a music critic for a small syndication of newspapers based out of San Diego. I covered concerts all up and down the Southern California coast and wrote a weekly column based on what I had seen the previous week. I don't want to turn this blog into a music critique, BUT.....

Last night I went to the 25th anniversary performance of The Happy Together Tour and it was fantastic. Flo and Eddy of the Turtles, Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees, Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Grass Roots, and the Buckinghams all played music from the 60's and it was a baby boomer musical orgasm.

So many memories, so many bald heads, so many Hawaiian shirts, so many varicose veins, it was "bitchin" "groovy" and "far out". Each of the bands did their hits of course and each spoke a bit about what they remembered of the 60's, but Mark Lindsay summed it up best when he said its great to have been in the 60's twice...once in the 1960's and then many many moons later to be in HIS 60's. Mark is now 68 and didn't look at day over 67.

The concert also brought back a lot of memories from my days at Narbonne and left me with a few questions. If you have any answers to ANY of these questions please leave a comment on here for all of us to read.

1) I know a couple of the BelAires/Challengers went to Narbonne, but didn't a couple of the original Turtles?

2) Once I had the privilege of dancing on the Lloyd Thaxton show with a number of other Gauchos, but for the life of me I can't remember who I took. If you are out there or someone who remembers, please let me know.

3) Who else danced on Lloyd's show or any of Sam Riddles shows, or even American Bandstand?

4) There was a concert at Lomita Park in 66 or 67 that was MC'd by Wolfman Jack. I think the Challengers were the headliners; anyone remember this event and who might of played that night?

5) Does anyone other than me remember Jimmy Roberts of the Challengers playing the organ at the skating rink on Western on Saturday nights? (Donna do you read this blog? Wasn't he in your class?)

6) And finally a question for all of you....What was the lineup for the first rock concert you ever went to? Mine was Grass Roots, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, ? And the Mysterians and the Association. Groovy Baby! LOL

For 54 months a bright light burned over the rock and roll scene. A band of 4 that came from completely different musical backgrounds changed the way that music would be heard and appreciated. All from Southern California they played and sang songs that spoke to the inner soul of the youth of the world. From the beginning they were led by a singer so different, so special, so gifted, yet he had never sung a song before they went into the garage for their first rehearsal. The DOORS burst onto the music scene and the world was never the same.

I just finished watching a 2009 documentary: When You Are Strange and it took me back to the days between Narbonne and when I went into the Navy and beyond. It is a very moving movie about The Doors and the 54 months they performed together before Jim's death. The most ironic thing to me personally was the final song they used as background to the ending montage of the life of The Doors. Crystal Ship was the very first Doors song I ever heard and I was mesmerized and awe struck by the song and the sound of the lead singer. I was entering the Free Press bookstore on Fairfax as this song came on over the PA system and I was dumbstruck. I stood in the doorway (Ironic) and listened to the whole song. I then ran over to the counter and asked the clerk who that was they had just played and that's the first I had heard of the Doors. To be honest, 40 some years later, I still listen to some Doors music almost daily and Crystal Ship is still my favorite of all.

October 28, 1967 I was with 3 other Narbonne alumni at UCSB, where as a freshman, I was able to score 4 tickets to a concert by The Doors on campus. Richard Bredahl, Carla Mince Rice and Pat Fenner Okumura were my guest that night and I know that Pat, at least, still talks about the concert and seeing the Doors in such a small setting as Robertson's Gym. It was a magical night seeing the Doors in a four hour dance concert. Alexander's Timeless Bloozband, a local psychedelic band, opened for the group as they did most UCSB concerts, then the Lyrics played and to be honest I don't remember a damn thing about that band. Next Ray, Robby and John came out on stage and began the opening strains of Light My Fire, before the Lizard King himself came out and began mesmerizing all of us with his vocals and his stage presence. This was before the alcohol and drugs took their hold on Jim and he sang that night as only Jim Morrison could sing. I don't remember every song from the set but I do remember they closed with The End and completely blew us away.

Over the years I have talked about all the great concerts I attended at UCSB in that one year I was there, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and the Yardbirds to name a few, but none of the groups or singers ever came close to giving me the feelings I got when listening to Jim Morrison. When I saw the documentary I knew that I had to share some of my feelings and memories with you and I know that each and everyone of you must have similar stories and I would love to hear them. Please feel free to post them on here under comments so we may all enjoy each others stories.

No fancy song titles this blog. No trite stories of teen age lust or love. No LOL type stories. This week I pay the first of two tributes to special men I have known. One I loved like a father and another who was a friendly competitor for 2 years. Even though this blog is supposed to be about my memories of Narbonne and the good times there, today I am writing about someone who went to a rival high school; someone who was a friendly competitor of mine for two years while running track for the Green and Gold.

Wayne Collette was one of the greatest trackmen of our age setting records in high school as well as college. He ran in the 1972 Olympics and placed second in the 400 meters. Wayne passed away this past week of cancer and the world is a little sadder because of this. Wayne was in a completely different class of sprinters than I was but you would have never known. He made me feel like I was just as successful as he was after I ran my personal best in the 100 yard sprint against Gardena in my senior year. I came in 4th or 5th that day behind a whole "herd" of Gardena sprinters; however, like a NASCAR driver, I had drafted on them for the fastest time of my track career. Wayne won two or three events that day and I didn't place in any, but after the meet we talked and he made me feel good that I had done my best.

Wayne was not just an athlete in High School, I believe he was a student body officer as well, possibly Student Body President. I can't find too much about his high school days other than track records, but I remember him coming to a Marine League Conference and he and I discussing much more than track that day. Wayne went on to become one of UCLA's greatest track stars before running in his last world competition at the Munich 1972 Olympics. I am not going to go into the controversy of the Olympics but needless to say Wayne did what he thought best at the time.

Wayne became a lawyer and practiced in Los Angeles while staying married for 37 years to the same woman and raising a family of 3. I ran into Wayne a couple of times over the years. The first time he didn't remember me at first then after a couple of quick stories, he remembered that short, heavy set sprinter from Narbonne "that ran on heart and some awfully heavy thighs." Wayne's own words to me.

Through all the social, political and racial turmoil of the late sixties and seventies it's nice to think back on the relationship between the ALL WORLD black sprinter and the "less than wonderful", heavy white sprinter that lasted for years as we both grew up and followed our separate roads. I hadn't seen Wayne in probably 20 years but his passing hit hard when my Dad called me and told me last night. Wayne I will miss you and hope you are still setting records while you run in the fields of heaven.

Next blog will be about a man I loved like a father and miss each and every day. As a coach and teacher he was special to me in so many ways...and I will talk about those next blog.

First, I have to apologize, even though this has a Sonny and Cher song as its title, this blog is not about Sonny and Cher and the Green and Gold as I said it would be in the last blog. That will come soon, but this one is more important to me at this point.

I wrote the Sonny and Cher piece and sent it off to my favorite editor and got a dismal review and some concern on her part. It seems there was, according to her, a little too much of me in it and also a little too much sexual escapade innuendo. We discussed this in detail and basically could not come to an agreement.

I thought long and hard about what was being said and then decided to let Cassi in on my dilemma. Cassi basically agreed that I should write what I want as long as it didn't hurt anyone or wasn't offensive.

Now let me expand on what types of things were at issue and my feelings on them. You are more than welcome to comment on this whole issue through the comment part of the blog on this website.

First, the issue that the blogs are too much about me. Well, my feeling is...Who the heck is writing this? ME! I can't write about what happened in High School to the class president or the valedictorian. I can only write about things that happened to me or around me with my friends. Not to say I didn't know the class president,.(Hey Jim)... or the valedictorian...(Ralph). But their experiences aren't the focus of my memories about Narbonne. They are more than welcome to write about their adventures though!

Secondly...the next issue is that there is risk of hurting someone when I write about a sexual escapade I had when I was 17. People... that was 43 years ago! We all did stupid, fun things. And we can all tell stories about them. I would never mention names or even indicate by innuendo who may have been involved. But we are all in, or close to, our 60's, at least my class, and I think, even if you recognize yourself in one of my stories, that you might chuckle with fond remembrances. Hopefully fond that is...LOL.

I want to write about things you will find interesting and funny and, yes, ribald at times. My blogs will not all just be about my escapades but will include memories of teachers, school events and much more. However they all will be written from the perspective of YOUR RIBALD RACONTEUR.

I hope this topic generates some comments and I hope you might even give me some topics you might want to hear about. PLEASE use the comment section to let us know what you think and feel about all this.

I don't know about you but I absolutely hated to write book reports. Of course from about the 3rd grade on all the teachers thought it was the best way to gauge if 1) we had read the book and 2) could regurgitate what we had read. I wrote so many book reports over the years that I developed a method of going to sleep while I wrote them.

Then of course there was always that one special teacher who you wanted to impress with your ability to read and write. I found her my Junior year and took three or four classes from her over the last two years at Narbonne . She became my muse. I know most of the guys in the class were in lust with another English teacher, who I won't name out of the kindness of my heart, but I was head over heels in "Teacher-Love" with Mrs. Allen..

Mrs. Allen could assign me the back of the Cheerios box to read and report on and I would gladly do the work. She could have me write trial Subject A essays for days and I would struggle thru them...where were spell check and grammar check back then?. I would look forward to her classes down in N Bldg (?) everyday and my final semester I had both Senior Comp and Creative Writing with her. That probably caused the fatal error..

I am not sure which of the two classes required the dreaded book reports but by this time as a Senior A I had had enough. I don't remember how many we had to do but I do know I turned them all in the last day they were due. And they ALL should have been for the Creative Writing class. I had not read one of the books. Between Cliff notes and liner notes in the books and just some plain old B.S. I was able to write a page or two about each book..

The fatal day of my "love affair" approached...Mrs. Allen was handing back all the papers she had graded all weekend when it happened. She handed my five or six book reports back with all A's and B's on them. As I thought she walked away I turned to Wendy, who was a row behind me, and said..."Wow, just think what I would of got if I had actually read the books." You know that look on someone's face when they know you have just done something totally stupid? Well I saw that look on Wendy's face and at that second I knew. Mrs. Allen was standing right behind me listening to every word that had just come out of my mouth. I froze in fear and embarrassment. I stuttered. I choked. I turned beet red. Barry Gonzalez turned and thought I needed the Heimlich maneuver. Mrs. Allen turned away and quietly said, "Bob I am so disappointed." I was devastated. I was so far down I would have to dig up to go down. About that time the bell rang and I headed off to track practice and tried to recover. I never did..

To this day I have never recovered. If someone asks me my most embarrassing moment in life...This is the story I tell them...Well there is one other that involves a hot day, a bikini and too much wine on my part but that's for another time. .

I don't think I ever really apologized to Mrs. Allen, I know that she left Narbonne that year and I don't know if she ever came to any of the reunions or anything, BUT if anyone knows how to get in touch with her...Tell her I am sorry and tell her I have read each and everyone one of those books in some cases more than once. And I will never forget her and her soft gentle ways of teaching..

BTW...I did pass the Subject A at UCSB the next year and I think the Creative Writing class has paid off over the years, so even if I didn't really read all those books that semester, I did learn a lot from her...and she will always be my favorite female teacher of all time..

Next time Sonny and Cher and the inconsistencies of the Green and Gold articles.