Wazzup !!! I'm Bootsy Reed.
Welcome to 70s Heaven. The coolest place on MySpace to re-live all things seventies...and Bootsy Reed !!!
Visit Our Official Website at: www.galaxyentertainmentonline.com
***Those of you who've visited here before know that I have been accused of being "Stuck in the '70s." OK, so what? I love the 70s !!!! Now, here is the site to prove it! If you too, between 1970-1981, were glued to the TV watching "The Brady Bunch," "All in the Family," and "American Bandstand," or you were reading "Tiger Beat," "16," and "Creem," while you were wearing bell bottom Levi's, Lees and Wranglers, pull up a bean bag on the shag rug and stick around. Never mind Lava lamps,Hot pants or Studio 54....we're going to revisit it all here.
Man,Where do we start? You could begin re-living those glorious years just about anywhere. But,Where?!!!! One thing that comes to my mind (for some reason)when I think back to growing up in the 70s is...."The Helms Man". Remember, He was kinda of like across between the Ice Cream Man and your modern day "Roach Coach". This guy would come up your street with donuts/pastries/candy and small toys all in the back of this Delivery Wagon.
Another thing that sticks in my head from childhood is the kids tv shows, like Wonderama and...one of my favorites,"Sheriff John".
Sheriff John would show cartoons and play games like most Kidshow hosts but, he also did personalized messages to local kids during his Birthday greetings and Health/Safety lessons.
Well,One day while I was watching, He wished me a Happy Birthday right on tv(I'm sure that my Grandparents had called in...) and I was just overjoyed. I felt famous and...I'll never forget that happening.
Does anyone remember a place called
Now,There's a Blast from the Past. Remember,you could get a chili dog,a taco and a cool slush for almost no money and....be on your way.What a cool place that was. They stayed open into the 80s,only to be bought up by the biggest competition,"Taco Bell". More about 70s food later.
The most important event for old Bootsy (& most red-blooded males) in the 70s was.... discovering Women.
And, Playboy Magazine did just the trick. Hugh Hefner became one of my true idols and inspirations in life. The man was pure genius!!!
Here is a quote from The Player of all players:"The idea to use naked girls in Playboy came from serving in the war - that was the time when pin-ups enjoyed major celebrity because soldiers pinned up the pictures on the barracks.
The pictures were drawings done by George Petty or Alberto Vargas, and they were inside men's magazines. There were also pictures of movie stars like Betty Grable.
The concept behind the Playboy playmate was the pin-up. I invented the centerfold, though - both the term and the idea. I put a three-page foldout in the center of the book so people would open to it - and it was something sexy.
What we created with Playmates was artistic. We put the girl into a natural setting and introduced the suggestion of a male presence in the picture ... there would be a second glass, or a pipe, or a necktie. It was intentionally a situation that suggested the possibility of seduction." ~ Hugh Hefner
The second most important discovery for myself occurring in the 70s was the one of... MUSIC.
I was playing instruments and listening to records/radio like most kids at this time. But, somehow television always played a major part in my growth and late-night concert programs became my early teachers,the dark living room...my classroom !!!!
Shows like Don Kirshners Rock Concert,
Midnight Special and ABCs In-Concert changed my life forever,like Sullivan did for those before. I saw my heroes like
Alice Cooper,Black Sabbath,Frank Marino,Robin Trower,Jethro Tull,Rush,Uriah Heep,Kiss,Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith
all while sitting on my familys couch. What a Time it was!!!
Another thing I remember fondly about the 70s are the cool,(mostly)High-Quality toys and games that were produced.
Like most pre-teen boys,I collected and played with soldiers,army men and...action figures. Until,one day when an uncle of mine proceded to tease me for an entire afternoon about boys "playing with dolls". I soon after got rid of my action figures like my Megos,
my G.I. Joes,Action Jackson,Big Jim and...even my Evel Knievel.
What an Ass I was!!!! Do you know what that stuff is worth today?!!!
Ever since those days,I felt I gave up part of being a kid so... As an adult,I started a comic book and Action figure business,selling at conventions.Not only did I rekindle the fire for "action figures" but, I amassed a sizeable collection of rare and valuable toys and books.
Right at about this time, another major event took place that helped shape my personality and send me into a life of entertainment.
This is when my mom took me to Las Vegas for the first time.What an eventful trip for a small,impressionable kid it was. We went everywhere incl. "Circus Circus",The Landmark, The Sands,you name it. More importantly.... I went to my first real music show. And,to say that to see Dianna Ross and The Supremes (in the 70s/in Vegas) was your first real live music experience......that's pretty good. That,...and seeing Black Sabbath really changed me forever!!!!
That trip to Las Vegas was the first of many but, still one of the most memorable. Why? 'cause it was in the 70s,baby!!!!
For anybody who knows Bootsy,you know that Comedy,Humor,Fun...It's all one and the same.
And...Comedy infected my system early on,manifesting into not a bad student but,for sure a "class clown" of sorts. Joking around and,not taking things too seriously became the Bootsy Reed motto!!!
Of course,This is after watching Tv shows like "The Smothers Brothers"/"Flip Wilson"/"Saturday Night Live"/"Dean Martin Roast"/etc...
Seventies comedy was so cutting-edge,just touching on things started by guys like Lenny Bruce and...sparking the future for comedians like Kinison,Dice,Hicks,etc... Comedians such as George Carlin,Richard Pryor,Steve Martin,Don Rickles,Redd Foxx and so many others had a monumental effect on my growing up!!!!
And,Growing up WACKY !!!!!!
One of the wackier(and fun) things I remember fondly about the seventies is Halloween...and Halloween costumes.
The 70s was the era of "the plastic 2-piece Halloween costume from Hell"!!!! These wonderful things consisted of a mask w/elastic band and a 1-piece plastic jumpsuit with logo on front.
They were pretty ugly But,We all had one and...they are very rare and expensive now.
If you look closely at the last small costume pic.... It's WINKY DINK!!!!!!
There's another "Blast from the Past"!!!!This was the first Inter-Active childrens Tv show ever. And,I remember putting a clear plastic piece of film across our Tv set screen and placing pre-cut figures and...actually drawing on the television. All while Winky Dink(some squirrel/kid or... god knows what he was)had his daily adventure. Now,That was seventies,Man!!!!
Real quik while we're on all these cool seventies hype-type products, Remember come school time and you had to get your lunchbox!!!!
Man,Those things were cool!!! You sported your favorite Tv show,Movie or Sports Hero on your lunch carrier. Or, maybe you had Batman !!!
Or some superhero pail,right? This made lunch time cool during the seventies and, I had so many boxes,I can barely remember a few. I do remember my "Man from U.N.C.L.E." lunch box and...my "Partridge Family" lunchbox
It's a wonder with that second one that I kept any lunch down but,if you think back,Kieth was kinda like almost Motley Crue or something,right?...kinda!!! Ok I'm stretching it here a bit!!!!
Growing up in the seventies in Southern California was just an amazing time and place to be while formulating your personality for a young person like myself.
And,I remember fondly the different Amusement and Theme Parks that were open to the public back then. Sea World fans,do you remember Marineland?
It was in Palos Verdes.What a cool place that was !!!
Another great place of memory was the Japanese Gardens and Deer Park in Buena Park.I went there many times in my youth,interacting with and learning about different animals at an early age.The Deer Park was a wholesome place to take kids to back then.
*Here is some info: In the late 1960's, a place called "Japanese Gardens and Deer Park" opened up in Buena Park. I don't recall the exact location of where it was, but I want to say it was located along Beach Blvd, perhaps near La Palma, in the vicinity of Movieland Wax Museum.Both Japanese Village "JV" and Movieland Wax Museum were founded by Allen Parkinson and subsequently both sold to Six Flags, Inc. in the early 1970s. JV was closed exclusively due to falling attendance and resulting revenue declines during the 3 year period that Six Flags was actively trying to promote this unique Southern California attraction. D. Canchola, as part of this list, indicated that "there hasn't been another amusement park since that can compare to Japanese Village" and that is certainly true. Japanese Village was beautifully landscaped in a traditional Japanese method with serene music, cultural artifacts, grommet type Japanese food and a myriad of animal shows including: lions, tigers, dolphins, deer, macaws and bears not only on a swing but bears that played basketball and could out shoot/muscle Shaquille O'Neal at any inside position.
What A Time!!!!!!
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