A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

#80sChristmasList The 1980s coincided with my high school and college years. They also coincided with the last decade of the Cold War, the advent of new technologies, and the emergence of Tom Clancy and the technothriller genre of popular fiction. The following is a sampling of various Christmastime lists from across the decade, although the default year is 1985, which was my freshman year at Miami-Dade Community College. I eventually ended up owning all of them; if I didn't receive them during the holidays, I'd get them later as birthday presents or, as in the case of my first personal computer, an out-of-the-blue gift from a relative. And, of course, once I got a few jobs, I'd buy things on my own. Personal computer (I was given one in 1987, an Apple IIe that cost approximately $2,100, or $4,774.56 in 2019) New-release VHS tapes of feature films (average cost in 1985: $79.99, or $190.85 in 2019) Novels by Stephen King Novels by Tom Clancy Music albums on...

(C) 1996 RCA Victor When John Williams stepped down as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1993 after 13 successful seasons, a young but experienced conductor and pianist, Keith Lockhart, was chosen as his replacement. Looking more like a college freshman than music director of one of America's most famous orchestras, Lockhart has proved to be just as adept and popular as Williams and the late Arthur Fiedler. Song of the Volga Boatmen RCA Victor’s 1996 album The Boston Pops Orchestra: Runnin' Wild: Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Play Glenn Miller is a collection of songs made famous by Big Band era orchestra leader Glenn Miller, whose civilian and later Army Air Force bands provided audiences with music to dance to (and love to) before and during World War II. Before his mysterious death in December 1944, Miller's band and featured vocalists gave the world such beloved swing standards as " In The Mood," "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," ...

(C) 1994 BMG Classics, a division of Bertelsmann Music Group My father did not invent the Boston Pops, although he was always delighted when people thought he had. “Many think that way because I’ve been in it so long and there’s almost no separation between Pops and Fiedler,” he said with uncharacteristic pride. “It’s sort of a household term, and when you’ve done it so long, the two are just as closely knit.” – Johanna Fiedler writing about her father, Arthur, in the liner notes for 100 Fiedler Favorites. I don’t remember exactly when I discovered Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Certainly not before I was 11 or 12; my widowed mom’s record and tape collection was small and didn’t include any light classical music albums. And in the mid-1970s, I didn’t own a lot of records, either. In fact, my one-and-only vinyl long-play (LP) album was a 33-rpm compilation of waltz music by Josef and Johann Strauss, Jr.  I do know, though, that I started watching Evening ...