I've had a bit more time to write recently and thought I'd give you an update.
I am currently writing the next installment of the Jack Pierce chronicles. It was tough for a while because of my schedule and how difficult it is to write something with such an emotional charge to it.
This installment starts in August 1982, at the beginning of Jack's senior year. I'm currently chronicling the events of early November (a little more than 3/5 done). I have no trips planned and might be sending chapters to my editor around early October. We'll see.
This has been a fun nostalgia kick for me. Bruce Lee movies had all been released and Kung Fu went off the air and into syndication, but their influence on movies, TV, and the martial arts world would be difficult to overstate. Southern California was arguably the martial arts capital of America and my friend was in the middle of it, and he, in turn, had a major impact on me, in more ways than one.
In 1976, the US fielded the greatest sports team of all time, for the Montreal Olympics. You may disagree, but our men's swim team won 12 out of 13 gold medals, 10 silver, and 5 bronze. That's domination. In 1980, everybody lost because Jimmy Carter thought it would be a good idea to boycott the Moscow Olympics. All those would-be American Olympians who hadn't had a chance to compete in 1980 were looking forward to the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Among elite athletes, there was a fever about it all. Jim Montgomery won 3 golds in 1976, but the rest of the team was so powerful, that his accomplishments seemed almost routine for our team. We didn't know it in 1982, but Rowdy Gaines and the American team would dominate in 1984, but there was an asterisk, as Russia boycotted our Olympics.
Any of us that were competitive swimmers, had, at the very least, contemplated what it would mean and how it would change our lives to compete, and possibly win, in LA. The allure was real and it was powerful.
In the background was the release of Chariots of Fire, about what it meant to compete at the Olympic level. That movie challenged every athlete I knew to consider the cost and reward of competing at the highest level.
Meanwhile, Michael Jackson's Thriller video raised the MTV standard to a new height, CDs were available for the first time and everyone had to decide if they wanted to update their collection or continue to suffer with cassettes. The Go-Go's became the first all female band to have #1 album (despite a certain someone's feigned dislike of their music - I'd say who, but my lips are sealed).
Emmylou Harris released Cimarron, which is sort of a mixed bag. There were some great CW albums released that year including: Always on my Mind - Willie Nelson, Straight from the Heart - George Straight, 3 great albums by Dolly Parton, True Love - Crystal Gayle, Changes - Tanya Tucker, and most importantly, Emmylou Harris' first live album, Last Date, featuring her hot band. A little trivia. Warner Brothers told Emmylou Harris that what she needed was a hot band. She's a bit eccentric and a purist and didn't really care what Warner Brothers thought. However, after they told her that, she put together a group that would cut albums in the studio and tour with her for several years and labeled them, "The Hot Band". Give Warner Brothers what they wanted. How could they argue? They really were a hot band but only Emmylou would do something like that.
It was a really good year for CW. It was a good year for me.