Tuesday, April 6, 2021

When You Know You're the Shizzle

When I was a teenager I had a posse. I'm not talking about in high school: I'm talking about when I went clubbing, and it started when I was 16 and in high school.

However this posse didn't include my high school friends (Lisa J thanks so much for introducing me to the Airport Inn!) but were some older women and my two cousins. When we got together to go dancing: you couldn't tell us jack!

I'm not even sure how it started: my brother Carl introduced me to his friend Vicki, and she in turn introduced me to her cousins Nancy and Joan. Those two sisters were absolutely beautiful. I in turn introduced them to my cousins Denise and Ivy. We all hit it off right away and began going to the Golden Grill Disco  pretty much every weekend. Basically harmless and lots of fun!

Somewhere along the way though: we started to let our egos get the best of us. We had a rivalry with the Saratoga girls so we had to up our game to make sure we got to dance with the hottest guys and sometimes take their guys. Ah, memories!

Looking back: some of the things we did seem crazy in hindsight. But you know me: I'm happy to share! Vicki and Ivy loved to sew so it was nothing for them to whip up a new outfit each weekend. I had a high-paying job (for the late 70s) so it was no issue for me to buy new clothes; and Denise had a retail job so she bought (or borrowed) from her store. So we were always the best dressed. Then I had to take it a step farther. I had great legs (still do, thank you) so one night I decided I was going to wear an over sized white sweatshirt as a dress! It barely skimmed my thighs and I paired it with sky-high heels. Yep: I got all of my dances in that night, along with the rest of my posse!

One of our more interesting nights was when we decided to do a social experiment. As I stated: Joan was a beautiful young woman and men always flocked to her. So we wanted to find out: would she be so popular no matter what she wore? We decided to find out one packed Saturday night.

By this time I was deejaying (I was 17 or 18) and had a great view from up in the booth. I was just waiting for Joan and Nancy to arrive, and they showed up at a little after 11 and I luckily didn't laugh out loud into the microphone. Beautiful Joan was decked out in a yellow rain hat (it wasn't raining), a yellow rain slicker, yellow rain boots and had an open umbrella. She looked like a cross between Paddington Bear and the Gorton's Fisherman! It was the best thing ever! I'm not sure what she was wearing under that get-up, but thankfully no naughty bits popped out or were on display!

She made her way over to our table like she was dressed to receive the Queen. And you know what? Men being men: they still flocked to her! And it was awesome to see her on the dance floor in her rain gear, with the umbrella opened above her head, dancing to "Flashlight" by George Clinton and Parliament. Men are just so easy 😁 There was never any shame in Joan's game.

I have so many great memories of that time. And I miss my posse dearly. Sadly, Nancy died several years ago. But the rest of them are living their lives somewhere. I just hope that every so often, when they hear a particular song, they have fond memories of when we were the shizzle 😊 





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