30 | April | 2021 | Bob's World

Things to know up front:

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Every chapter in My Life Story includes information about me, my work, my family and my friends. It also includes information about events that took place locally and nationally, etc. that I thought important enough to include. You’ll also find that I’ve included films, musicians and recordings/videos, in addition to books that were released in a given year.

While I have included many personal photos, most of the graphic content included below is borrowed from the Internet. I do not claim to own this material. I am just adding it for educational purposes. If the owners of any of the content in the “My Life Story” series want their stuff removed, I am happy to oblige. My email address is jrdiaz@arizona.edu. Thanks!

1986 was a year of ups and downs. It started off badly. My cousin Charlie Mendoza had just died in a tragic car accident in late December and my friend Dennis Krenek died on January 2. Charlie was only 19. He was my Aunt Helen’s son and was named after my brother Charles, who was in the Navy at the time he was born. He was a nice kid, very quiet and polite. My friend Dennis was only 33 when he succumbed to the AIDS virus. I had met him when I was with my first partner John back in 1978, and then later worked with him when I volunteered at the Southern Arizona Mental Health Center. He was an occupational therapist and a very good friend and mentor.

In addition, at the beginning of the year, I was halfway through library school, still working at Fry’s and doing my radio show, and still with Brent, even though he continued to live and work up in Chandler. I kept very busy and juggled a lot of responsibilities. I missed Brent, but I made new friends early in the year. Thaddeus and Sandahbeth Spae showed up in my life in early January, and they hung out with me for about a month or so. They were musicians and gypsies, shady characters to some people, I’m sure, but nice people to me. Sandahbeth hailed from Virginia, had a gorgeous voice and could sing just about anything, from swinging jazz to blues to country music. Thaddeus was a hyper-active, multi-talented instrumentalist from the Northwest. Together they made an odd, but happy couple, and they called themselves “Amber Tide”. One day, on my birthday, I invited them to my parents house to hang out with me and my family, as my mom had made food and bought me a birthday cake. They graciously performed a few numbers, and we all had a blast. My mother was especially thrilled when Sandahbeth sang the Hank Williams tune, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” just for her. I can’t remember how long they stayed at my house. It might have been a month or more. I had to get them to move on eventually. My friend and landlord Ted thought they had stolen his son’s stereo equipment, as it went missing one day. Who knows? It’s possible they did it. I didn’t think so, but I was so naïve at the time, the possibility that these two roving gypsies would do something like that never crossed my mind.

I got increasingly jaded working at Fry’s. I took my job for granted and didn’t realize how good it was. I felt tied to the money as I was acquiring debt in the mid-80s, and I needed the job to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head. The company knew I was about to reach my 10-year anniversary, and thus close to getting vested with the Union’s pension plan, so I believe they were looking to get me fired. I was also active as a union steward and was busy recruiting new members, which didn’t help my cause at all. In mid-May, the unimaginable happened. I got fired for ringing out my own order during a break. One of the assistant managers, who didn’t like me, caught me doing this and informed me that it was against company policy and that he would see to it that I was terminated for it. I was devastated, because I didn’t have any savings. I was unemployed for a month and a half, I believe, until I finally found a job at Sears in the auto parts department in early July. It was humiliating. I hated that job, but it kept me alive until the end of the year.

While Brent and I were still a couple, it was hard maintaining a long distance relationship. We did our best to keep it together, especially when his parents came to town in April for a visit. We both spent a lot of time coming and going from Chandler to Tucson and back. After a while, he started having trouble at work, and he eventually was let go, so he moved back home from Phoenix sometime in May, if I’m not mistaken, and for a while we relied on his income as a tile setting assistant. Things were tight, but we managed.

During the first semester of 1986, I took two classes and had an internship at the UA Main library. The internship consisted of doing data entry for a project a librarian named Maria Hoopes, who happened to be my friend Peter Segura’s aunt, supervised. She was very nice and supportive, and one of the only librarians of color on the staff. The internship also consisted of spending time at the reference desk, helping students and others find materials for their research, and answering basic reference questions. I learned a lot working at the reference desk, even though I didn’t feel the same level of support from some of the librarians with whom I worked while working there that I got from working with Maria.

My other classes were titled Reference Sources in the Humanities and An Introduction to Bibliography, in which I did quite well. For my class project, I compiled a comprehensive annotated bibliography on the works of Margaret Randall, a writer and poet who had lived in Mexico, Cuba and Nicaragua for many years, and who had recently returned to the U.S. She was currently under the threat of deportation because when she became a Mexican citizen, she gave up her American citizenship. The US government did not like her writings, either, which were all about life in socialist society. They thought her too dangerous and sought to keep her out of the country. I attended a reading she gave one night in late January at the U of A Social Sciences Auditorium, and decided that I wanted to find out more about her, so I took on the task of compiling all of her works and reviews about her works into one very long, annotated bibliography. I received an A on the project, and even got to correspond with Ms. Randall during the course of completing it. She was also able to use my bibliography in court as a record of her work. I was thrilled about that.

My classes in the Fall weren’t nearly as interesting as my Spring courses, but I got through them, and graduated in December with a 3.76 grade point average. My parents were ecstatic that I had completed yet another degree, and I was happy and relieved that I had finally finished the program. I was so lucky to have my parent’s support. They were always there for me. Even though I couldn’t handle living at home, I knew I could always pop over for a bite to eat, and my mom helped me with my laundry and ironing. She would always jokingly say to me, “mijito, I’m going to live another year, so I can see you graduate”. I wondered to myself, oh, oh, now what? She was ill at the time, and would only be with us just a short while longer, unfortunately.

Throughout the year, I continued to host the Chicano Connection Revisited on KXCI. I saved many of my playlists and have posted them all in the Chicano Connection Archive. I also have several cassette tapes of programs that I did this particular year, and will eventually get around to posting them in the archive too. Some of these shows include my buddy Richard Elias. He co-hosted several of them with me in the Fall. One of the highlights of the year was getting the opportunity to guest host for Ted Warmbrand’s show, “Music from the Living Loom”. Jamie Anderson, a local women’s music performer, and I collaborated on producing a gay pride Father’s Day show. Links to the show are included below. While the sound quality isn’t great, I’m glad I was able get this transferred from tape to digital format. I consider doing this show one of the highlights of my career in radio.

June 15, 1986: Music from the Living Loom, KXCI 91.7 FM, Tucson, “Gay Pride Show” featuring guest hosts Bob Diaz and Jamie Anderson. Part 1, Part 2.

KXCI sponsored lots of great concerts in 1986, many of which I attended, and my friend and landlord Ted Warmbrand also brought in several wonderful musical performers, so all in all I had a great time attending lots of concerts while continuing to build my ever growing home library of books and records. Some of the more memorable concerts I attended were the Bob Dylan/Tom Petty show up in Phoenix, Queen Ida and Her Zydeco Band at the El Casino Ballroom, and Stevie Wonder at McKale Memorial Center on the UA campus.

In December, I was able to find another temporary job, working as a cashier at the Food Conspiracy Co-Op. I liked this job much better than the one at Sears, but I kept them both until the end of the year. In mid-December, I started job hunting, and I found a job in Nogales as a public services and children’s librarian. I hadn’t really prepared myself to be a public librarian and was hoping to become an academic librarian, but this job was available and I needed one fast. I was hired before the year ended, so Brent and I packed everything up and were ready to move to Nogales by the beginning of January. A new chapter in our lives was about to begin.

I loved this calendar. It was locally produced.

My good friend Dennis died on January 2. He was 33 years old. This photo was taken back in 1978 when we were visiting Nogales with my then partner John.

Sandahbeth and Thaddeus Spae performed 3 songs for my friends and family at my birthday party. They sure were talented. To hear them sing, my previous blog post.

I ended up dropping two classes. The three that I kept were enough to keep me quite busy.

Information Sources in Humanities and Social Sciences was one of my favorite courses. It was taught by Dr. Don Dickinson. He was my favorite teacher.

The reference desk at the UA Main Library. Part of my internship consisted of spending time answering reference questions at “the desk”.

The card catalog was impressive. Staff spent hours each day updating it.

I attended this reading, and afterwards decided to do my Bibliography project on the works of Margaret Randall for my Bibliography Seminar class.

This performance was really fun. It was held in the Social Sciences Auditorium on the UA campus.

This event was wonderful theater. The comedy was spot on.

This was a sad day for the country. The whole world watched this tragedy live on television. The explosion occurred right after take off, and all of the crew members were killed instantly.

Bette Midler did several comedies in the mid-80s. This film was released on January 31, 1986

He’s baaacckk. He performed on 02/01/86.

This is one of my first attempts at putting together a research guide. 02/11/86. I think I got an “A” on it.

This album dealt with the current political situation. It was a scathing critique of the Reagan presidency. Released 02/18/86. The next song is one of my favorites.

Anita Baker had several hits with this album. It’s gorgeous.

Ted decided to feature himself in concert this year. He’s a wonderful storyteller and performer.

Brent’s parents visited in early April. They took this photo of us in front of our house.

This album was a big hit. It included the duet, “On My Own”, that Patti sang with Michael McDonald. Released on April 28, 1986

Released in the U.S. in April 1986. A wonderful gay love story.

Here are some of my exams, papers and projects I completed during the Spring, 1986 school semester:

02/11/86: Guide to Reference Materials in Jazz, LI S 571, Information Sources in the Humanities, Dr. Dickinson.

02/20/86: Exam in LI S 526, Introduction to Bibliography, Dr. Dickinson.

05/05/86: Margaret Randall: An Annotated Bibliography, in LI S 526, Introduction to Bibliography, Dr. Dickinson

Here is a letter I received from Margaret Randall after I sent her my completed bibliography project. Receiving this was the thrill of a lifetime. After all these years, she still remembers me too, as I was recently in touch with her on Facebook. She’s since written much more and continues her writing to this day.

I did well this semester. A few more classes, and I’d be done!

After working for Fry’s for 10 years, I was fired for ringing out my own order when on a break. The Union was able to ensure that I was vested so that I could receive a pension in later life, but even after having put in 10 years of time with the company, they couldn’t get me my job back. Another employee was later caught doing the same thing, and she was not fired.

This movie had some beautiful scenery. Released on May 23, 1986.

This grainy photo is the only one that exists that includes all of my brothers and sisters and me with our parents. I’m not sure exactly when it was taken. We had a great time, however.

I had just one semester left of Library School. I couldn’t wait to start my new career.

The great Benny Goodman passed away on June 13, 1986. These photos are from the Village Voice.

Jamie Anderson and I co-hosted a gay pride show (see links below) on KXCI together. She went on to become quite well known in the lesbian community and beyond, and over the years has released quite a few recordings.

Music From The Living Loom Show, Gay Pride/Father’s Day Program with guest hosts Bob Diaz and Jamie Anderson July 4, 1986. Part 1. (Audio only).

Music From The Living Loom Show, Gay Pride/Father’s Day Program with guest hosts Bob Diaz and Jamie Anderson, July 4, 1986. Part 2. (Audio only).

Every year during Gay Pride Month, a button was produced and distributed/sold to members of the gay community.

This was a great show. I remember hanging out with a guy named “Black Man Clay” afterwards and jamming with him. I sang all kinds of jazzy stuff and he harmonized and did rhythm. He was a great guy.

It took a while, but I finally found another job. I was hired at Sears and worked in the Auto Parts Dept. from July 1 until the end of the year. I was not a happy camper, but at least I was working.

My Sears name tag. We had to wear white shirts and blue pants on the job.

It took a while to warm up to this album. It wasn’t one of Bob’s best. Released on July 14, 1986.

This song is 11 minutes long. it’s a great tune, more like a long poem.

This was one of several letters I received from people who were incarcerated. My radio show was apparently a big hit with the inmates at the Wilmot prison facility.

This film was completed in 1984 and directed by John Jeremy, but it didn’t reach American audiences until early August, 1986, when it premiered on the PBS program, American Masters. That’s when I saw it. I managed to record the audio portion of the film and still have it on cassette. The entire film is now readily available on youtube and linked below.

Spike Lee’s first major directorial effort premiered on August 8, 1986, and was interesting, to say the least. I looked forward to what he would do next.

I started listening to Dwight Yoakam about a year or so after this was released on 08/19/86. I love his authentic, twangy voice.

Seems like everyone loved this album. My brother Charles would do some strange kind of meditation while it played. He tried to get my sister Becky and I to do it with him, and we just couldn’t. We kept laughing too much.

This letter documents all the graduate courses I took while in the Library Science program. I was all set, and would soon have my Masters of Library Science in hand.

What a creepy movie. One you can’t stop watching…released on 09/19/86.

During the Fall semester, my last one as a student, I continued to host the Chicano Connection on KXCI. It was around this time that I got my good friend Richard to join me as co-host. We hosted several shows together, including the one noted below. One time we had our friends Mike and Denise join us, and they danced in the studio as we played Dylan’s Romance in Durango. Another time, Richard and I read the little “Know Your Rights” pamphlet on the air. We thought it was really cool to provide that kind of public service. We were both likely pretty lit most of the time, but had a blast and managed to get through each show without messing up too badly. Hanging out with Richard at this point in my life helped me get through the last couple of months of graduate school and working at Sears. By December, I had finished and moved on to other things. I sure miss those days when Richard and I had fun together on the radio. I have a recording or two of us on the air. I’m going to transfer them from tape to digital audio one of these days…