SPRINGFIELD MISSOURI LIKED DISCO IN 1979

You may have noticed that at the top of the blog, among the clutter in the masthead, is a Springfield magazine about disco. The issue is from July 1979. The article says there are three discos in Springfield: Wicker Works at the Sheraton Inn, Merlins's at the Hilton Inn and Lucy's at the Holiday Inn. You may not believe it, but I remember the names of these places from my childhood. Of course, they are no longer in existence.

Brenda May - Desdinova's favorite teacher

One thing I noticed in this article was that you could take free lessons on "how to disco dance" on Tuesday nights at Wicker Works from Brenda May. This caught my attention because Brenda May was not only my drama and speech teacher in 10th and 11th grade at Lebanon High School, but she was one of my all time favorite teachers. She gave me confidence when nobody else would by telling me to go to college and follow my dream of a media career. A few years back, I tracked her down via the Internet and sent her an e-mail, thanking her for her encouragement and kindness. She was also the sexiest teacher I ever had.

Another name mentioned in this article is Ruthann Schwenn, who was public relations and marketing for Wicker Works. I have several Springfield magazines from this era and they contain several photos of Ms. Schwenn. She was very attractive. I would be interested in knowing what became of her.

The article was written by Katie Dark, who is now know as Katie Hilton of the Lebanon Daily Record. This article is very informative and well written. Luckily it is not filled with the disgusting Republican propaganda that fills her column in the Sunday edition of  The Lebanon Daily Record (I could eat a can of alphabet soup and barf up a better column than she writes now).

The thing that this article says to me indirectly, some 34 years later, is that at one time Springfield was interested in new things and new trends. In the past few years, local media has given us the impression that Springfield isn't interested in anything modern and contemporary. They present the views of a few fun-hating, anti-entertainment idiots as the majority view point of everyone in the Ozarks. It was nice to know that at least one media outlet in the Ozarks (Sadly, no longer published) didn't view national entertainment trends as a threat to "our quality of life" in the Ozarks.

BTW: You realize that I'm now going to have to post an disco Ipod playlist.