Escalator of Life

“I feel more at peace than I have for weeks. I need just one thing to make it complete.”
-Nial Kent
“The Divided Path”

…We want it all
…A new sensation
…Don’t listen to those little voices
…Run wild in the jungle…

Ever hear of Robert Hazard? He was the son of opera singer, Umberto Rimato, who sang for the Philadelphia Opera Company. Robert was a Philadelphia musician who composed and recorded ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ that Cyndi Lauper turned into a best-selling hit.


PHOTO: Robert (Rimato) Hazard
b. Aug. 21, 1948, d. Aug. 5, 2008


While I was a passenger in a Boxster convertible, zooming along Pacific Coast Highway the other day I heard Robert’s song from 1984 start to play. It’s called ‘Escalator of Life’. It brought back memories and chills. It was an 'old' but 'new' sensation. It was a time when I would love dancing to the tune at a club called Echo Beach in San Francisco. Here are the lyrics but take the time to watch the video with a quick CLICK here because it is photographically wonderful to see. It makes me want to put on some lipstick:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=escalator+of+life&docid=1216618954955&mid=AE425C36A7887E2845C6AE425C36A7887E2845C6&FORM=VIVR20#

Escalator of Life lyrics:

They got my mazda in the E-Z Park It
At the rock & roll supermarket
Muzak music make me feel so funny
I went and spent all my money

We're riding on the escalator of life
We're shopping in the human mall
We're dancing on the escalator of life
Won't be happy 'til we have it all

We want it all

Escalator of life - "up and down"
Escalator of life - "round and round"

There's a hundred and eleven choices
Don't listen to those little voices
I don't let the guilty feeling shake me
You can have your cake and eat it baby

We're riding on the escalator of life
We're shopping in the human mall
We're dancing on the escalator of life
Won't be happy 'til we have it all

We want it all

Escalator of life - "up and down"
Escalator of life - "round and round"

"Huh..."

"Hey girl, I'm a personal friend of Gloria Vanderbilt"

"I got all the gold in the world around my neck"

"Come ride the steel dinosaur"

"Run wild in the jungle"

"Its a Zulu Nation"

"Seduction, sacrifice, a new sensation"

"Nothing ever changes..."

We're riding on the escalator of life
We're shopping in the human mall
We're dancing on the escalator of life
Won't be happy 'til we have it all

We want it all

Escalator of life - "up and down"
Escalator of life - "round and round"

We're riding on the escalator of life
Aouh, aouh, aouh...

Twenty-five years ago today:

September 3, 1984
Monday

We (Paul, Wayne and I) went to Ole’s Waffle Shop once again on this Labor Day morning. Afterward I agreed to going to Stinson Beach because the two girls from Denmark were going to be there. It started to get so gloomy and foggy by the time we got to the Golden Gate Bridge that it seemed like we entered the “Outer Limits”. I decided ‘at that point’ to make a detour and return to Alameda. I was tired of driving. I didn't want to chauffeur these guys around anymore. We never made it to Stinson Beach.

PHOTO: Sept. 3, 1984
'Wayne and Paul' flexing

Instead, we arrived at South Shore Beach in Alameda with my big portable radio and we did lie out until 5:30PM or so. We were looking all ‘Ban de Soleil’d’ with our respective tans. We flexed and took pictures by the courtyard when we got to my house. It was funny.

PHOTO:
Sept. 3, 1984
Michael J Armijo
and the English goofball,
Wayne

Then we headed for North Oakland to Zachary’s for Deep Pan Pizza. It was a long wait and ‘Paul and Wayne’ did not care for the pizza there.

We then made a quick stop at McGee’s bar on Park Street in Alameda. It was not happening there, so we went back to my home.

We joked as we tried to sleep. Wayne kept repeating a ‘c—t around your neck’ joke…and there were silly ‘Knock Knock’ jokes, too. I kept asking myself ‘How, Where and WHAT did I do to deserve this?’