Say hey!

Spring is here and there is new life in the garden as well as your WHS '70 Blog. For most of us winter is yesterday's news as we all look forward to the spring and summer months ahead. We're pleased to take a spot in you inbox with a new Blog update.

 

This month we take a step back in time to visit the hallways of Barron Avenue Jr. High, a memory of School #11, a moment of respect to a very talented artist that once called Woodbridge home, a red carpet hottie and at the risk of diluting the talent pool of this Blog...a classmate spotlight on yours' truly. From the outset of the Blog I was pestered by the girls (Cindy, Diane and Chris) to feature myself. The last thing I wanted was it to appear as self serving. They pushed, I resisted..they pushed harder, they won. So with that said, I apologize in advance...blame it on Cindy.

 

Let's see if you are able to identify our mystery classmate this time around. I'm pleased to see the fish are still alive...someone was kind enough to feed them. Our little Blog is nearing ten thousand hits since it conception. Not bad, eh?

 

I have heard from several of you asking if there are any plans in the works for a "two-year" reunion since we're turning the corner called "60". Honestly I don't know what the plans, if any, are. One thought that I have is to revisit the hood this fall and if anyone in the area would be interested in a casual, non formal gathering for a simple dinner somewhere without the hassle of bookings, DJ, hotel rooms, etc let me know. Keep it simple, everyone is responsible for their own costs and the focus is on enjoying each other's company over a nice meal. Your thoughts?

 

Before I close, we want to remind you this is YOUR Blog. We welcome all input and would love to receive any material, i.e. photos, articles, etc. that you would like us to share. In addition, anyone you know of that would be a good choice for a classmate spotlight...don't be shy.

 

Enjoy!

School number eleven...

How many of us that attended School #11 (now Ross Sreet School) remember the two entrances that led out onto the playground. Each marked for either Boys or Girls. The door hardware and signage has changed over the years but memories remain.

Oh George...

How many of you watching the Oscars last week took note of our fellow classmate, Pat Navalany, on the red carpet? We all know her love for Mr. Clooney...we just never took her serious. Nice going Pat! :)

Remember these...

Classmate spotlight...

He was the skinny kid with a mop of jet black hair and a Pentax camera over his shoulder. I think that would best describe me during my days at WHS. An average student at best, but the one class I was passionate about was the art class taught by Bob Phillips. He opened our eyes to the world of visual art and that meant a still and film curriculum. Because of that influence I went on to attend Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Ca for the next four years. It would be the start of my career path in this zany and most rewarding world of photography. 

After graduation from Brooks in 1974 I coupled my love of baseball and career to become the organizational photographer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a member of the Dodger family under the leadership of Walter and Peter O'Malley it was a gift to this twenty two year old kid from Jersey. It truly was the finest organization at the time in all of sports. We enjoyed first class treatment, at home or on the road...including our own private jet.

During the seventy's and eighties' I was blessed to experience events, people and places I would never have dreamed of as a kid. Fortunately, many of those relationships remain today. I am currently working on a coffee table top book showcasing my work from my time with the Dodgers. It will feature images and text with an approach to the game from a different perspective...including contributions from several key players that once were in uniform and in front of my lens. From photographing bat boys to Lucille Ball and even U.S. Presidents...I have been one very lucky individual.

Having once mastered professional athletes' egos I was then prepared to take on the Friars Club of Beverly Hills as their official photographer for many years. Handling this account was a total trip to become friends and be in the company of many legends in the entertainment industry. In the late 80's I decided to open my own commercial/advertising studio in Pasadena, CA. We handled culinary, corporate, industrial, editorial and quite honestly, anything that paid.

Along the way I married and we were blessed with our children, Laura and Ryan. Anyone that knows me on Facebook also knows I am a proud Dad and a obnoxiously proud grandpa of our little Gracie and Zane. No matter how noteworthy a public personality I may have  photographed before, there is no greater joy for me now than to view my grandchildren through the viewfinder.

Today I am single and living in Southern California co-owning ImageWest Photography, Inc., a photography and creative services entity. In addition to the commercial accounts we have developed a subsidiary called SuiteCaptures. SuiteCaptures provides professional photography to the luxury suites in many sports venues across the country. I invite you to visit both sites if you wish. www.imagewestphotography.net and www.suitecaptures.net  

When free time presents itself I enjoy attending various custom car shows in the area. I take along my simple point and shoot camera and enjoy capturing the various elements that make up these beautiful automobiles. I enjoy it so much that I created another Blog entitled 'Driven Art'. www.drivenart.blogspot.com Speaking of Blogs, one of the more enjoyable tasks of the recent past has been working on our WHS 1970 Barrons Blog. It has been a kick in the pants fun to interact with all of you and I hope it has helped others to stay in touch with old friends. I look forward to our next reunion.

The skinny waistline has disappeared, Pentax quickly gave way to Nikon, left knee traded for titanium, the mop of jet black hair has surrendered to white and the residence is now three thousand miles away. What won't change though is Woodbridge will always be home and my appreciation for my friendships with many of you remain cherished. Thank you for taking the time to read this classmate's tale.

Before bottled water...

Pictured above is an actual fountain from the hallways of our old Barron Avenue Junior High still in use today. Does anyone remember the awful taste from not only this fountain but all hallway water fountains throughout our school experience?! Memories of water pressure too high and filling your nostrils or not enough pressure that you dare not allow your lips to touch the chrome fixture no matter how thristy you were at the time...not to mention we always checked the foot traffic behind us to prevent some classmate from bumping into you and taking out your front grill. :)

A sign of the times...

At the time of our graduation in 1970 a gallon of gasoline in Woodbridge was twenty nine cents.

Dory Previn

Dory Previn dies at 86; Oscar-nominated songwriter

Gifted lyricist Dory Previn found success in Hollywood with then-husband Andre Previn, then mined the pain of their breakup to launch a solo career as a balladeer of angst.

Although she was an Oscar-nominated songwriter, Dory Previn, Woodbridge native, was better known for ballads that spoke to wounded souls. A gifted lyricist, she mined her traumatic childhood and later mental illness to write confessional songs that found an audience — and helped her heal.

In one song, "Beware of Young Girls," she expressed her outrage over being left in the late 1960s by her husband and songwriting partner, Andre Previn, for actress Mia Farrow:

Beware of young girls

Too often they crave to cry

At a wedding and dance on a grave

Soon after her marriage broke up, Dory Previn had a breakdown. Institutionalized for several months, she "started writing, to get some order out of chaos," she later said. She emerged with a sheaf of lyrics that marked the start of her solo singing-songwriting career.

Previn died February 14th at her home in Southfield, Mass., according to her husband, Joby Baker. She was 86.

While a junior lyricist at MGM, she met Andre Previn and they collaborated throughout the 1960s. They received Academy Award nominations for "Faraway Part of Town," sung by Judy Garland in "Pepe," and for "Second Chance" from "Two for the Seesaw."

As their marriage unraveled, the couple did some of their most popular work writing songs for 1967's "Valley of the Dolls," a soundtrack that spent six months on the charts.

Her final Oscar nomination came for "Come Saturday Morning," a melancholy number co-written with composer Fred Karlin for "The Sterile Cuckoo," a 1969 film with Liza Minnelli.

By then, Dory Previn was largely through with Hollywood, although she won an Emmy in 1983 for co-writing music for the television movie "Two of a Kind" starring George Burns and Robby Benson.

During her hospital stay, she had written candidly of her abusive father and observed what it was like to have a nervous breakdown. When the searingly personal songs were hard to sell, Previn recorded "On My Way to Where," the first of six albums she released in the 1970s.

The "amazingly revealing song collection has brought her out of the shadows — the shadow of her husband as well as the shadows of her mind," The Times review said when the album was released.

A follow-up album, "Mythical Kings and Iguanas," sold well, and another, "Reflections in a Mud Puddle," made it onto critics' "best of" lists in 1972.

"What I've tried to do," Previn said in 1971 in Time magazine, "is bring the madness out in the open. Keep it under wraps, and it erupts into wars and violence."

Dory Langan, now known as Dory Previn pictured on far right during a WHS band recital in 1941. Far left in front row is Ed Zullo, who many of us remember as a dentist from Main Street.



A step back in time...

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