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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!
For this segment of “My Life in Pictures,” I’ve decided to include the bulk of the text at the beginning of the post. Photos and graphics follow.
I was a busy guy in 1984. I continued, as in previous years, to work 25 hours a week at Fry’s. I was also enrolled in graduate school at the University, hosted two weekly radio shows on KXCI, and continued to participate in Teatro Libertad. While I knew that graduate school should take priority, it didn’t. The bulk of my energy, aside from working, was spent preparing and hosting my two radio shows each week, and in attending Teatro Libertad meetings, where we planned and rehearsed for a number of local performances and our next big production, La Vida Del Cobre, Acts I and II. I also continued to find time to go out and have fun, attending lots of concerts, going out dancing, and partying with my friends.
WORK:
By 1984, I had already worked for Fry’s Food Stores for eight years. I’d been a cashier and stocker since the age of 19. The pay was very good, and while working with the public could be challenging at times, for the most part, I enjoyed meeting new people each day, and I generally got along well with my co-workers. The actual work itself, while at times physically demanding, was easy. I was a very fast cashier and could bag groceries with lightning speed. In the summer, I worked on the night crew stocking the shelves, but it was difficult keeping a night schedule, as I often had daytime obligations. On top of that, some of the guys I worked with were homophobic jerks, but I managed, although I must admit, there were times when I hated my job. I knew I needed to keep it for a while longer, however, at least until I was done with school or had found something better. My annual earnings at Fry’s, for part time work, weren’t bad. By the end of the year I had earned $15,000. I spent it all on rent, food, bills, books, records and fun. I didn’t save a dime, unfortunately.
SCHOOL:
I had been accepted into the graduate program in Sociology the previous year, and while I had enrolled in a class called Social Psychology in the Fall of 1983, I ended up withdrawing from it. I don’t even remember attending it. I tried again in the Spring, and this time took a class called Political Sociology, with a teacher named Doug McAdam. Our big task for the semester was to write a dissertation-level research proposal. Dr. McAdam wanted us to have experience doing this kind of work, as we would all have to write such a proposal at some point in the future, that is if we wanted to pursue our PhDs. I chose to study the American Indian Movement, and I ended up writing a research paper, missing the mark on the assignment altogether. Dr. McAdam was a nice guy, and he ended up giving me a B in the course. I guess I wasn’t exactly sure what he had meant by a “research proposal”. I was disillusioned by the end of the semester, and ended up dropping out of the program altogether. My heart wasn’t into it anyway. I was too busy with my other activities to take my studies seriously. What can I say? That was the truth.
In the Fall, I tried taking a mechanics course at Pima College, but quickly dropped it after just two sessions. There were no teachers in sight. I guess I had enrolled in a self-study course or something. It was an awful, but brief experience, and I got the heck out of there as quickly as I could.
By the end of the year, I made up my mind that I wanted to be a librarian once and for all so I applied to the graduate program in library science and got accepted. I was given several scholarships, along with financial aid so this time around I didn’t have to pay for my education out of my own pocket like I had when I was an undergraduate. I couldn’t wait to start school again in January.
KXCI
Most of my attention went into preparing and hosting my two radio shows, the Chicano Connection, which aired on Thursday nights from 7 to 9pm, and the morning music mix, which aired from 9am to noon on Friday morning. I devoted approximately10 hours a week altogether to this work, both in prep time and in being on the air. My shows became quite popular, and I would receive letters from fans as well as get lots of phone calls while on the air. On Saturdays, I would help another host, Victor Blue, with his bluegrass show by “running the board” for him. He was a very nice man, and I enjoyed the music. Those of us who did this work for other volunteers were known as “techies”.
During the summer, Kathy Hannon, who I knew from Fry’s as the representative from the United Food and Commercial Workers union, wrote a newspaper article about me for the union newspaper. In the article, she mistakenly noted that I had taken the KXCI radio course the previous summer for free. I actually paid nearly $500 to attend the course. I was earning good money at Fry’s at the time, and was able to afford it. It was a great investment in my continuing education.
Sometime in June, I decided to stop hosting the Chicano Connection, and just focus on the morning music mix. I can’t remember exactly why. I think it had to do with the fact that I didn’t have that much Latin music at the time, and the station’s collection was sorely lacking. It would take a while for me to build my own collection of Latin music, but I did, slowly but surely.
Later in the year, I went up to Phoenix to a Buffy Sainte Marie concert that she did as a benefit for the Heard Museum. One of the station staff members, Martha Van Winkle, invited me along, as she was scheduled to interview Ms. St. Marie after the concert. When the interview started, I just took right over and talked my head off. I was a huge fan of Ms. St Marie’s, and we had a great interview. I’m not so sure that Martha thought so. It was supposed to be her interview, not mine. I just couldn’t help myself!
I have compiled all of the playlists from this time period on my Chicano Connection Archive page. They can be accessed here.
TEATRO LIBERTAD
In the first few months of the year, I spent an average of 8 hours a week in meetings and rehearsal with the members of Teatro Libertad. In the Spring, we performed at various community events and also co-wrote part II of La Vida Del Cobre. We performed the entire play, Act I and Act II at various places in Tucson, and later in Ajo and Clifton. Our performance at the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center on May 19 was attended by a packed house, and we received a resounding standing ovation at the end of it. It was such a great feeling and we were in seventh heaven. We had put our hearts and souls into our work, and it had paid off nicely. A week after our El Pueblo performance we traveled to Santa Barbara, California to perform the play at TENAZ, an international theater festival sponsored by a California group called El Teatro de la Esperanza. Unfortunately, we forgot part of our props back in Tucson (our slides), and we basically bombed, because we were upset over having forgotten them and there was tension between some of the individuals in the group. A critique of the play was given the following day, and we were subject to some rather harsh feedback that included some very mean comments by a former member of our group. It was unnerving and depressing. We didn’t even have an opportunity to respond. That evening, some of us took off to the beach, while others attended a Poncho Sanchez concert that the festival organizers were sponsoring, and we let all of our frustrations out by dancing the night away. The trip home was sad, and seemed to take much longer than the trip to the festival. We were crushed.
But as they say, the show must go on. Our performances in Ajo and Clifton in June went well, and the copper strikers enjoyed the play, especially Act II, a lot. In early July, during the first year anniversary of the strike, we were in Clifton again. What was supposed to be a happy occasion, a rally and a picnic, turned into a riot, however, and the Department of Public Safety ended up shooting tear gas into a crowd of protesters. I was there too, and got hit by the tear gas. I had never experienced being tear gassed before, and my eyes were burning so badly, I wanted to gouge them out. I went running through the street in search of water so that I could drench my eyes in it and I finally found a hose and turned the water on full blast, rinsing my eyes out as much as I could. It didn’t help much. The burning in my eyes was an awful sensation, and I’ll never forget how painful it was. I wasn’t even participating in the rock throwing, although some of my friends were.
By September, we had decided to organize a festival called “Bedtime for Bonzo” where we featured a skit called The Beggar and the Beast. We had first performed this skit at Café Ole, and then outdoors at Carrillo Elementary School. I played the role of the beggar and was planning on continuing to play it at the Bedtime for Bonzo program until I injured my foot at Fry’s. I could hardly walk, much less run around on a stage. Someone else in the group ended up playing the part of the beggar.
In November, R.G. Davis, founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe came to town and did a workshop with the Teatro in November. We were finally getting some professional training, and I learned a great deal in just one day. However, by December I had announced that I was leaving the group. My friends Juan and Teresa had left earlier in the year, and I felt it was time to move on too. I had a great time being a member of the Teatro, and made some lifelong friends along the way, but I needed to get serious about my education. I was so tired of working at Fry’s.
PERSONAL LIFE
My personal life continued to be a drag for most of the year. I dated a woman named Ann for about a month early in the year, but finally just told her I was gay. I just couldn’t stand lying to her any longer. She immediately thought I had given her AIDS, but of course, that wasn’t true because I never caught the virus. It was an awful time to be gay, that’s for sure. Gay men were dying by the thousands and the Reagan administration did absolutely nothing about it. It was tragic. At the gay pride picnic at Himmel Park in June, I ran into my old friend Leonard, who John had introduced me to back in 1979, and he did have the virus. He was one of the first of my friends to catch it. He ended up moving to Bisbee and eventually passed on. Other friends that were around at the time included Lee, Scott, Peter, Tim, Dennis, Frank, Richard, my Fry’s friend Debbie Spedding, and my Teatro friends. I partied some with Richard and we went to several concerts together, but he had become a sports fanatic, and we weren’t as close at this time in our lives as we had been before. I continued to go out a lot and I partied way too much. I was so lonely, and longed to meet someone I could have a steady relationship with. That’s all I wanted. As luck would have it, in December I did end up meeting someone. His name was Brent, and he was a tall blonde guy from Michigan. A woman named Ila Meyer, a lesbian folk singer who I had heard perform at the Shanty, introduced us. Just like that, we started dating and before we knew it, he moved in and we were a couple. Our relationship lasted for six years.
I attended lots of concerts and bought lots of records in 1984. I was lucky to have such a good job and be able to afford it all. Some of the concerts I attended and music I bought are included below. I’ve also included a few other memorable events.
My 1984 calendar/planner.
A birthday card from my friends Scott and Penny. I turned 25 on January 15th.
Laura Nyro released this on January 15. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present! What a beautiful recording. The tile cut follows.
In the early 80s, these photos of Laura Nyro used to hang on the wall in my apartment on 7th St. The color photo is from an older magazine. I think it was LIFE or LOOK. Don’t remmber now. The black and white one is from “The Laura Nyro Songbook”.
El Norte, released on 1/27/84. A Gregory Nava production. I saw it when it first premiered in Tucson.
This was released some time in January, 1984. My friend Frank bought it for me when he went to France. It wasn’t available in the U.S. at the time. It went platinum in France. Joan Baez was more popular in Europe than she was here. Me and Bobby McGee follow. Joan had an affair with Kris Kristofferson in the early 70s. It probably contributed to the break up of her marriage to David Harris.
Brian Bromberg and I were in the school orchestra at Mansfeld Jr. High together back in 1972-1973. He and his older brother David both had successful music careers. I forgot I had attended this concert until I found the program recently.
A postcard from my friend Pamela when she went back home to visit her family in Bolivia.
The country was in crisis.
Charlie King has been performing every year in Tucson since the early 80s. I attended many of his shows back then, including this one.
My first ever Los Lobos concert was in many ways the best. It was in a bar with a great party atmosphere.
Los Lobos performed on March 3, 1984 at the Sundance Saloon, a classic 22nd St. dive bar that bit the dust long ago. This would be the first of many, many shows I’ve attended. My favorite rock band! The song Let’s Say Goodnight appeared on the group’s recording, And A Time To Dance.
I attended this concert with my sister Becky. Betty Carter was a living legend, one of the greatest jazz improvisers ever.
While the members of Teatro Libertad spent most of the Spring working on our play La Vida Del Cobre, we found time to perform out in the community. Unfortunately, the manager of the Foothills Mall didn’t like that we were singing pro-union songs, so she stopped the show and had us thrown out. What fun!
Marvin Gaye died on April 1, 1984.
This song by the Pointer Sisters was released as a single on 4/11/84. It first appeared on the album Break Out the previous year.
I had just seen Jesse Jackson a few month before this particular visit. I enjoyed his first visit better. It was in a baptist church in Sugarhill and the church ladies were out in full force, and every one of them wore a hat!
Jackson’s campaign was very inspirational, but our country was not quite yet ready for a Black president.
Some reporters are jerks.
I loved this concert. All the local progressive community and political organizations showed up for it. It was “leftie” heaven. This is where I first heard the tune, “Vamos A Andar” by the great Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodriguez. The writer of the article below didn’t think it was so great.
I still have this beautiful postcard.
Grupo Raiz was one of many groups from Chile who performed “la nueva cancion” or new song. Their tune, “Companero” follows.
Some reporters are real jerks.
My only paper this semester was in Sociology 510, Political Sociology, with Professor Doug McAdam. The title of it was “Political Process and the American Indian Movement: A Research Proposal.” I missed the mark, and got a B on it. This would be my last effort at writing anything related to the study of sociology. I soon dropped out of the program.
My last report card for the year. The following January, I enrolled in the Masters Program in Library Science at the University of Arizona, fulfilling a desire I’ve had since I was in high school, to be a librarian.
Teatro member Scott Egan wrote this for the Guardian, a leftist newspaper with international circulation.
Act II of La Vida Del Cobre was ready to be unveiled. It dealt with the current copper strike.
This came out the day of our show at the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center. This was the first time my name and photo ever appeared in the newspaper. My family thought I’d hit the big time!
Scott Egan and Juan Villegas in the first scene of Act I of La Vida Del Cobre.
Music was a big part of our performances. This was my favorite part of being in the Teatro.
Fan mail.
I vividly recall reading this during the trip the Teatro took to Santa Barbara in May. It was a very lengthy book. A while later, when I was just about finished with it, one of my “friends” said, “I didn’t think you were really reading that thing.” I supposed they thought I had brought it along as a prop or something, to make me appear like I knew how to read. Some friend…
The first and only time I’ve ever been to Santa Barbara. It’s a beautiful town.
The Teatro had performed at this festival before, but this was my first and only TENAZ experience.
A schedule of performances. We performed La Vida Del Cobre on Saturday May 26, at 7pm. Another Tucson group, Teatro Chicano, performed the night before. Their play was titled, “Una Vez En Un Barrio de Suenos”.
We stayed at a fancy private Christian College in the hills above Santa Barbara. It was a beautiful setting.
Part of the program…
I remember running along the beach with my friend Pernela. I could run up to six miles at a stretch at the time. Not anymore!
You win some, you lose some. This performance was not one of our best.
This is La Casa de La Raza, where we saw Poncho Sanchez perform.
The great Poncho Sanchez.
This is the title cut to Sanchez’s 1984 album, Bien Sabroso, which he most likely played when we saw him in Santa Barbara.
I’m standing in front of the KXCI studios on the corner of Congress and 6th Ave. It used to be the Dave Bloom and Sons building.
Another great Springsteen album. I loved “I’m On Fire” and “Glory Days”. See review that follows one of my favorite songs from the album, Glory Days.
This review appeared in Musician Magazine some time in 1984.
Ajo, Az., where Teatro Libertad performed in June.
Clifton, Az., where we gave another performance of La Vida Del Cobre.
I got this at the Gay Pride Picnic at Himmel Park. The picnics became an annual event.
Our new publicity brochure. This photo was taken at Davis Elementary School. The mural is no longer there.
Teatro members Pamela Bartholomew, Liliana Gambarte, Pernela Jones, Bob Diaz and Scott Egan, Summer, 1984.
In 1984, Teatro Libertad was the the only theater troupe in town dealing with contemporary social and political issues. The criticism aimed at our group in the above article by a former disgruntled member hurt, but we kept on fighting the good fight and doing our thing. We had a strong following and our play “La Vida Del Cobre” was a smash, and this likely made others with competing goals quite jealous.
This was a scary experience. I got hit with tear gas. It was not fun.
The town of Clifton was in a state of siege and we could not leave until the following day. I almost lost my job at Fry’s because we were in lockdown. Fun, fun, fun!
Fan mail from a KXCI listener.
Another shot of me in front of the radio station.
I was very grateful to Kathy Hannon for writing this article about me for the union newsletter.
I was a union steward at this point in my tenure at Fry’s. A proud union member!
I have only a vague recollection of this for some reason. ] At the time, the massacre was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. history, It remains the deadliest mass shooting in California’s history
August 11, 1984, Arizona Daily Star.
In August, I decided to move to a larger space. Ted Warmbrand rented me this house right next door to his, on Manlove St, for less than $200 a month. It was a spacious two bedroom adobe, and was close to the University and my parent’s house. I stayed until I left Tucson after I graduated with my Master’s in Library Science at the end of 1986 to live and work in Nogales, Az.
Mozart has always been my favorite composer. Who cares if this movie isn’t historically accurate. It sure has a lot of fun scenes, and the music is pure magic!
Pernela Jones and Bob Diaz, The Beggar and the Beast, Carrillo School, September 1984.
More scenes from the Beggar and the Beast.
Ah, the Reagan era. What fun we had.
I was supposed to be the lead character in this skit, but I injured my foot at work and could hardly walk. Someone else in the group played the role of the beggar in my place.
This album was released in October 1984. Los Lobos was on their way to becoming one of our nation’s greatest rock bands. This is a great recording.
What a tearjerker of a film. It was released on October 26, 1984.
Halloween, 1984. I’m on a break from work eating lunch at my mom’s. I was dressed as a radical fairy biker dude.
Another Itzaboutime production. My friend Ted was a busy guy. This was a wonderful show, and it was great to be in Tucson High’s auditorium.
The great Buffy Sainte Marie.
I had a blast interviewing Ms. St. Marie. Her husband Jack Nietsche was there too, but I was too shy to meet him. He was a legend in the music industry, but not a very nice person.
Buffy sang this song at her concert at the Heard Museum.
My great niece Jacqui, Belisa’s daughter was born in August. We had just baptized her. I don’t look too happy in this photo for some reason.
R.G. Davis, founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, came to town on November 11, to do a workshop on mime for the members of Teatro Libertad. Meeting him was a real honor and pleasure, and he was a great teacher too.
This was a fun concert. My friend from KXCI, Mary Ann Beerling and I stayed for both shows. We had a blast. The following song was recorded the same year as the concert I attended, but in Japan, not Tucson.
I enrolled in library school in December and couldn’t wait to get started back in school.
Released on December 14, 1984. Great movie.
Ila Meyer sang and played guitar. I met her somewhere downtown and attended a concert she gave at the Shanty one lovely afternoon. She was from Minnesota, but moved to Tucson with her partner, Kaija. I have her album, Woman That I am.
Ila introduced Brent and me to each other. I didn’t know that she still lived in Tucson. After Brent and I moved to Nogales in 1987, we lost touch with her. She passed in 2013. Her album follows in its entirety.
