1980s Photography

During the 1980s, I was really interested in photography. I had two SLR cameras--a Yashica and a Minolta. the Yashica SLR had manual settings, but the Minolta SLR had automatic settings. I was always experimenting with double exposures, long exposures, and various filters.

Here are some of my experimental pictures. I'll be posting more soon.

1980s Philly Bands

During the 1980s, I went to a lot of concerts. Of course, you weren’t allowed to bring cameras into the concert. I did manage to get some pictures from small venues and from outdoor concerts.

Of course, the 1980s are a long time ago (even though it still feels like it was only yesterday). My memory and facts may not be as accurate as I would hope. With the help of some scraps of paper that I saved and the hard work of people using the Internet, I have been able to piece together some of my memories from this decade.





Being associated with the student government or student activities board allowed me to get access to many activities. These pictures was probably from fall of 1979 to spring of 1980.










The only thing that I remember is that I was able to watch them play for a few songs before I had to leave. It must have been some kind of event that was organized by the student activities board during the school day.

Quincy (Smash Palace). When they played at Gloucester County College in the spring of 1981, they were known as Quincy. I was even able to have them autograph my copy of their album.

Reesa and the Rooters. This picture is from the spring of 1982. Reesa and the Rooters were playing at Gloucester County College behind the cafeteria of the student center building. Some of the other bands playing that day were The Hens and The A's.

The Hens. This was one of my favorite bands in the early 1980s. We used to see them at places like the Evergreen Lounge in Somerdale, NJ. Here they are performing at Gloucester County College in the spring of 1982.

The A’s. Formed in 1977 or 1978 in Philadelphia, The A’s featured Richard Bush on lead vocals, Rick DiFonzo on guitar, Rocco Notte on keyboards, Terry Bortman on bass, and Michael Snyder on drums. The band’s powerful live show and hooky but aggressive tunes quickly earned them a loyal following in Philly and beyond.

The Ramones. I was able to attend three Ramones concerts during the 1980s. The first one was at Emerald City, which was the former Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, NJ.

The pictures here are from one of two times that I saw the Ramones at Glassboro State College, which is now Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ.

I’m still looking for a few other concert pictures that I took of bands, such as the A’s and Quincy (Smash Palace) at Gloucester County College in Sewell, NJ and of Beru Revue at Cooper River Park in Cherry Hill, NJ.

Bahamas Cruise

Earlier this month, I went on a seven-day cruise with some friends. We traveled to the Bahamas on the Norwegian Gem. At first, I thought that I would spend a lot of time sitting by the pool or relaxing at the beaches. Instead, the trip was filled with lots of activities and entertainment. Activities included rock climbing, shuffleboard,  mahjong, bowling, and swimming. 

Some of the entertainment included The Second City, Jeff Harms, and Chip Romero.

When we arrived at Port Canaveral on the third day, I spent most of my time shopping at the Cocoa Beach Surf Company and Ron Jon Surf Shop. From there, I went to the Sandbar Sports Grill for some fish tacos.

The next day, we arrived at Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. After taking the tender to the private island, we enjoyed an afternoon of snorkeling at the Fate of the Fancy Snorkel Adventure and riding the Hippo Water Slide. Before leaving for the day, we also played a few games of beach volleyball.


 On the fifth day, we spent our morning shopping at Nassau in the Bahamas. By noon, we headed to the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter and the Blue Lagoon Island Beach. As the others were waiting for their pictures of their dolphin encounter, I went over to the Beach for a quick swim in the clear water by the beach. Just as we got our pictures, we had to get on the boat and head back to our ship.

Our time in the Bahamas was ending, but we still had two more days of fun on our ship as we headed back home.

The Norwegian Gem was the newest vessel in Norwegian Cruise Line's fleet until the debut of Norwegian Epic on June 2010. Construction began on June 7, 2006 at the Meyer Werft Shipyard of Papenburg, Germany. She was delivered to Norwegian on October 1, 2007. Norwegian promoted the launch of this ship via her own website, "Gem It Girl", which in addition to providing details about the ship, also prompted previous customers' of Norwegian to submit an entry to be chosen as her godmother.

As with the rest of Norwegian's fleet, Norwegian Gem utilizes the "Freestyle" cruising concept, which allows guests to dine in any number of restaurants, in casual attire, at times of their own choosing.

The Norwegian Gem also is one of the four ships that has the Nickelodeon program. The Norwegian Jewel, Norwegian Epic, and Norwegian Breakaway also have the program.

Ship Specifications:

• Passenger Capacity: 2,394 (double occupancy).
• Gross Register Tonnage: 93,530.
• Overall Length: 965 feet.
• Max Beam: 105 feet.
• Draft: 28 feet.
• Engines: Diesel Electric.
• Cruise Speed: 22.5 knots.
• Crew: 1,101.

Nautical and Cruise Terms:

• Aft - the back or near the back of the ship.
• Bow - the very front of the ship.
• Forward - the front or near the front of the ship.
• Port - the left-hand side of a ship as one faces forward: opposed to starboard. Port - so named because the side toward the port (dock), since the steering oar (see starboard) prevented docking to the right.
• Ship - You always cruise on a "ship," never a "boat."
• Starboard - the right side of the ship while facing forward (bow).
• Stern - the very back of the ship.
• Tender - a boat for carrying passengers to or from a ship close to shore.

Taiyaki Fish-Shaped Pastry Recipe たい焼き

For desert tonight, I made taiyaki, which is a Japanese fish-shaped cake.


The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Taiyaki is made using a pancake or waffle batter.


The batter is poured into a fish-shaped mold then filled with the red bean paste and then topped with more batter. It is then cooked on both sides until golden brown.


The recipe that I used is as follows:

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup vegetable oil

Since the above mixture seems to have a lot of oil, I added 1 cup of pancake mix (complete) with about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water.



In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk eggs, melted butter and milk. Slowly blend the wet ingredients into the dry and mix lightly. Do not over mix.

This is where I added the extra pancake mix and water.


Heat both sides of a taiyaki mold pan over medium flame. Lightly oil with a paper towel dampened with vegetable oil.


Pour about ¼ cup of batter into the bottom half of a taiyaki mold. Place about 2 tablespoons of red bean paste in the center and then top with additional batter.


Let this side cook for a few minutes and then flip to cook the reverse side.


Cooking time will vary depending on how hot the taiyaki pan is and how thick the batter.


The taiyaki is done when it is golden brown.


Instead of the red bean paste, I recently substituted slices of banana. It tasted really good--especially when it was freshly baked.

Garage Door Project

The project for this week was to fix the garage door. Several of the lower wooden panels were rotted. 

I found some videos on YouTube that gave me some good ideas on how to fix the garage door--How to Remove and Install a Garage Door Wood Panel Replacement and Garage Door Repair Slideshow. 

As you can see, there was enough of a gap that mice were able to get into the garage.

The first thing that I did was to detach the lower section of the garage door. 

From there, I could remove the two rotted panels and sand/clean the remaining wood. 

I traced copies of the panels and cut out new ones. 

With some wood glue, I replaced the panels and reassembled the wooden frame.











I needed a little help when attaching the frame back onto the rest of the garage door because I had to pull and attach the cable back onto the bottom of the frame.

After the cable was attached, I could now operate the garage door. The first place to get painted was the bottom.

After the bottom of the garage door was painted, I nailed some new weather stripping on the bottom.

Finally, I gave the entire door and frame at least two coats of paint.

1970s Garage Band

Back in high school in the mid to late 1970s, I started a garage band. I recruited two neighborhood friends and by Christmas time we had our instruments and a band. The name of the band was TEA. The name was based on a tin of tea because it also had the Chinese symbol.

One of our first projects was making a Super 8 mm movie based on a story by our bass player. We had fun making the movie and building a stage set for the concert scene at the end of it.

The most important thing about the band wasn’t the actual playing of music but was to have fun and feel like a rock star. Also, it was fun to learn about electronics. I remember taking apart an Electro Harmonix LPB-1 Linear Power Booster Pedal and rebuilding it with parts from Radio Shack. I still have this interest in electronics and music.

I’m glad that we took a lot of pictures because they bring back memories of when we were young, had fun, and were rock stars. I still have all my instruments and musical gear from that time (except the acoustic guitar that was smashed during the filming of our movie).