In the Summer of 1975, I turned the glorious age of 16! But, with 16...I had to get a job. That was just part of the deal. To have my freedom, I needed to counter balance it with some responsiblility....and gas money. Gas was about 50 cents a gallon then so one didn't need a lot of money. Of course you didn't make a lot either. I think minimum wage was about $2.10 cents an hour. I was told to get in my 1960 Ford Falcon with no air, heat, seat belts, metal dashboard and bald tires...and look for work.
Why I drove out to Lums Express in the Sheridan Village I'll never know. Perhaps I saw a sign. I walked in and ask to fill out an application from one of the girls who worked there. There were three or four girls working and they were all about my age. I heard some giggling and before the ink dried, I had the job. BUS BOY!!!! My long shoulder lenghth hair would need to be tied up under a hair net. So embarrassing.
With a few weeks work under my belt, it was time to spend some of that hard earned coin. I asked my neighbor who was the drummer of our band if he'd like to go downtown and see the GRAND FUNK MOVIE at the Palace theater. A MIDNIGHT MOVIE!!!! Hell yeah. He was a Grand Funk freak!!! There was one problem though....neither one of us had ever driven downtown in the day time let alone at night.....in the dark...at Midnight. No worries! How hard could it be?
At around 11:00 we fired up my $30.00 automobile and took the route we thought best to get to the Palace theater. Of course a joint would most likely help. At least make the movie sound better right? Well maybe, but before we could say, I'm hungry, we were seriously LOST!!! I mean, Like were were on another planet lost!!!! Nothing looked familar and we were travelling up and down roads that we probably had NO BUSINESS being on. After what seems like hours, my car poked it's nose from another side street onto the top of MAIN STREET hill. We were heading down the hill in the right direction and the city looked beautiful.
I'll never forget how sleek and modern the city of Peoria looked that night in 1975. There was much more of a skyline then and everything was bright and pointy!!!!! Hell, we still had 15 minutes to park so we were gonna be OK!!!!
Now this is where the story gets good. After we parked across the street, we noticed a small crowd of kids about our age waiting for the doors to open. Everyone was high. It was 1975! We all smoked cigerettes amd laughed among ourselves as we waited to see this Grand Funk movie that no one really knew what to expect. The doors opened and the crowd , mostly dudes, piled in through the mouth of the grand Palace Theater. Once inside, munchies were purchased and we found our seats in the vast cinema.
Music played in the darkness as we ate our popcorn but soon the music STOPPED and the house lights came ON!!!!!! It was like a spell had been broken!!! Like a dream had been interupted my some nagging reality!!!! A police officer made his way to the front of the stage, the red velvet curtain behind him. He wasn't wearing his hat! Over the booming microphone his voice both accusing and embarrased, began explaining that there WOULD NOT be a GRAND FUNK midnight movie tonight as someone in this theater had STOLEN his police cap OFF HIS HEAD while we were all out side. He continued.....I know there are some DRUGS in this building and it would be a shame to have to arrest someone tonight. He continued, The movie will resume and nobody will be in trouble if.......... we waited, We're going to shut the lights off...put my police cap in the back row and there will be no questions. We will begin the movie.
The chatter was deafening!!!! The lights were dimmed and five minutes later a voice came out of the darkness....enjoy the show!!!!!!
Man, it was the funniest thing that I had ever seen.We all laughed like hyenas!!!! That cop was like Barney Fife in Mayberry. He got his cap back alright. No one was in trouble... but the movie could not compare with this bizarre pre show. In fact it really sucked. It was like a travel log with an occasional Grand Funk song in the background.
We left early. Who knew how long it would take us to return home? The Orange room awaited me apon my arrival and I slept like a baby. There were more nights to come.
PIctures of The Palace, our ride for the night, 1960 Ford Falcon, and the two midnight cruisers!!!
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