Pirate Radio - "The Boat that Rocked" and a Taxi Ride with Harry Chapin
Friday at the movies "The Boat that Rocked" sailed back to the 60's. This was the second time in as many months a big screen cinema release has embraced the era we grew up in. Also, in another similarity to "Taking Woodstock", "The Boat that Rocked" is loosely based on history . . . with more emphasis on "loose" than history.
Just as we did two months ago we went to the little guy that wishes he could have been a hippie to see how he rates the pirate boat.
Here's Manny the Movie Guy with the Video Movie Review
16 Parkside Lane - The Address Harry Chapin Made Famous
When I think about radio or taxicabs I always think about Harry Chapin and the address, 16 Parkside Lane, made famous in two of his songs . It was the destination of Sue in the song "Taxi" and the destination Harry directed the driver to head in "Sequel". I lived much of my life in the footsteps of Harry. So many of his songs fit me perfectly.
"Cats in the Craddle" tells the story of a man who didn't have time to spend with his kids when they were young because he was too busy doing other things. Then when he became old he discovered his "boy was "just like me" because he didn't have time for dad.
"I Was Going to Be a Flyer"
When I was a kid in high school I worked at night at a local radio station and dreamed of the day I would be able to be on the air at a super station. I bounced around from town to town after high school doing two months here and three months there always trying to move up to a better gig. In 1974 my moment arrived as Joe Halstead hired me to do the evening news across from the famed Mark "E Baby" Stevens on KFJZ Radio in Ft Worth. Those were the days when AM rock ruled the dial and to be on the air with the most popular disk jockey in Fort Worth during evening drive was a dream come true.
Back to the Small Time
It lasted a while, but like all jobs in entertainment sooner or later you either get fired or get yourself fired. It is all about ratings and somebody has to take the fall. Oddly enough, eight years later I was on the air back in Pampa, Tx, the little town where it all began doing the morning show. I felt like Harry Chapin in his song "W-O-L-D"
"I am the morning DJ at W-O-L-D. Playing all the hits for you, where ever you may be."
However, before I ended up back in Pampa I did a lot of things. In 1981 I had been on the road for about three years hauling refrigerated produce all over the United States. Sometimes I would leave California and 68 hours later arrive at Hunts Point, NY (that's NYC). The interstate highway system becomes as familar as local streets when you live on the road. I enjoyed it and had no plans to stop until on the morning of July 17 1981 I was unloading in Morgan City, LA when I heard a story on the radio that shocked me.
Harry Chapin is Killed
The day before, just after noon, Harry was driving on the Long Island Expressway , in the left hand fast lane, at about 65 miles an hour. For some unknown reason, either because of engine failure or some physical problem (thought to be a possible heart attack) he put on his emergency flashers near Exit 40 in Jericho, NY. He then slowed to about 15 miles an hour and veered into the center lane nearly colliding with another car. He swerved back left, then back right again and this time went directly in front of a tractor-trailer truck. The truck could not brake in time and rammed the rear of Harry's blue 1975 VW Rabbit, rupturing the gas tank and causing it to burst into flames. As a result of the crash, a piece of glass went through Harry's heart. Harry Chapin was just 38 years old.
16 Parkside Lane
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This is the original industrial film of Taxi
created by Jac Holzman to promote his
signing of Harry Chapin and the release
of the album "Heads & Tales."
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I have a propensity to be effected by things like this and next thing I knew I had turned my truck in at Springdale, Arkansas and made my way to Ft Worth, Tx. Two weeks after Harry's death I was on the streets of Ft. Worth as the owner operator of Yellow Cab #51. Whle I only spent six months behind the wheel of #51 it was the beginning of a life long love affair with taxicabs. You learn a lot looking at the world through a windshield. You learn a lot about people and you learn a lot about yourself.
I left Ft Worth and went back to Pampa where I soon was doing the above mentioned radio gig and decided to start a cab company in my hometown. Eventually I had three cabs and we operated 24 hours a day. I did a trade out with the radio station for part of my salary. Instead of money I had a live 5 second ad every 20 minutes round the clock to remind listeners "Yellow Checker Cab of Pampa has dependable transportation 24 hours a day. Yellow Checker Cab time is X:XX." Seven years later I sold the company to one of my drivers.
Return to 16 Parkside Lane
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"Sequel" was the last recording Harry ever
made only 11 months before his death
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One last time I entered the taxi business. In 1999 I thought I had it made. I had been in the health insurance business since the early 90's and built a nice book of business that was paying me well. Then one day I received a notice from the insurance company I represented they were canceling the entire book of business I had placed with them because it was losing money. I had all of my business with this one company and in 60 days I found myself wiped out. I took my last thousand dollars and went to Dallas, TX and made a down payment on a taxicab. I spent the next three years looking at the Dallas-Ft Worth Airport and surrounding metro area through the windshield of my taxi.
When I look back on life there have been times I have had a fair amount of money and there have been times I couldn't pay attention. The times I couldn't pay attention were usually when operating a taxi. Still, I found more enjoyment, peace, humility and love for people driving a hack than when rolling high.
Harry Chapin knew my heart and I still miss him.
Kathryn, Thank you for you comment. You may already know this, but Harry's daughter Jen (talked about in the article you referenced) released an album three years ago herself that if Harry were alive today I think he would be proud. Harry never drove in Frisco, but in Long Beech, NJ. Sandy says the story is true. Only the location is changed to protect the guilty. There is, however, no real 16 Parkside Lane. There soon will be. We are planning on launching a site at 16ParksideLane.net on December 26 where storytellers will be able to tell their stories in tribute to Harry. I even have a few of my own from behind the windshield of a taxi.
Also, recently making news from Long Beech, NJ was another legend of rock and roll, Bob Dillon. I write a blog just for my classmates from Pampa High School and here is a story I posted for them a few months ago about Dillon getting caught by police in Long Beech without any ID, peeping in the window of a vacant house, soaking wet in the rain, standing there like a complete unknown in front of two very young police officers who barely knew who Bob Dillon was and certainly did not believe he (Dillon) was him (Dillon). You will get a kick out of this. Here is the link. "How does it feel . . .like a complete unknown?"
He was hanging out with my neighbor, Willie Nelson, whom I have never met, but we only live a few miles from each other. I eat at the Blue Skies Cafe, which Willie owns, a couple of times a month and figure I will meet him some day. I'll have to remember what Toby Keith said.
Fantastic piece about Harry Chapin! I was a child of the 60's, but I didn't really discover him until much later. After I read your article I wanted to know more so I looked around and found this article which talks about Harry's life philosophy and activism. As I told a friend yesterday, I am happy we were on the planet at the same time Harry Chapin was. And.....I am sorry he left so soon. The article is by Donald P Meyers and was written for Newsday. http://www.licares.org/General/Harry_Chapin/Newsday_06-09-03.htm
Peace