Picnic '76

It was August 6th, 1976, and all my friends in Cincinnati knew I was going to be in town for the weekend. We kept going back and forth on what exactly we should do for my visit...some people said we should rent a boat. Others said we should have a swinging party (not a lot of winners in the pool, if you grasp the concept). After all this haranguing I said fuck it, let's get the grill in the wagon and we'll have a picnic. YES. That'll do.

The photo is the usual gang and even a kid from Taylor High School who was getting high with his girlfriend inside a dense pine tree. That guy smoking is Gene Rhodes, who knew a lot of these people but is not much of a talker. In fact, I remember this day to be a warm one, but for him it was his usual denim outfit. Crazy old Gene. His girlfriend is in front of him...was she a loose cannon. If we all didn't know Gene was packing heat (a point we'd kid him about constantly, especially since he couldn't bring the gun into work anyway) his girl would have acted like a nympho that just figured out how to pick a lock. To her left is Shelia, a cute number who became friendly with me in the WMGK Magic Bus Chevy Van later on while "Moonlight Feels Right" played. Can't remember the name of the girl that's standing behind her, but the one on the end was that girl's mother, who kept asking why we were drinking beer so early in the day. I could complain about that but then she was a friend of Gene and she worked at Channel 19, so I couldn't get her out of the picnic and still accomplish the goals of the work trip.

The guy next to the teen is Steve Kurk, who owned his own Coast to Coast hardware. I figured, being an owner of such a store, he'd have tons of cool outdoor grilling stuff or whatever. But that dunce didn't bring a thing. He also drank all of the Dr. Pepper. But he was all smiles so you couldn't really get upset with the guy.

So, the long cool woman on the bench? Oh sure, she made the trip. Those teens who shared their stash were really friendly, and were more than happy to take some brew as a trade. Of course, they didn't convince anyone with a phony baloney deep voice while holding a can of Stroh's. But that shit happens. The burgers were fantastic - so were the corn and the fresh melon that the mom on the end cut. We had a good time watching a wandering dog have some trouble with the melon rind; I've got to find those pictures. All in all, a great afternoon to get away from business. Shit, that was 30 years ago?