Celebrating 50 years

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Born in 1972, I celebrated my 50th birthday in 2022. 50 years is a major milestone for anything! As the year progressed, I discovered a lot of things that also turned 50 this year. 1972 was a damn good year!

(left to right) ages 46, 47, and 50 in 2022. Wow!

Scapegoat Wilderness

Scapegoat Wilderness. My favorite place to go caving became the first grass-roots designated Wilderness area in the USA in 1972. I presented a summary of caving in Scapegoat at the 50th Anniversary celebration presented by Montana Wild in Lincoln Montana

Goodson Designs’ Scapegoat Poster is amazing! Purchase one from Montana Wild by clicking on the image

NRS

NRS (National River Supply), Moscow, Idaho. NRS makes the best river rafts, wetsuits, wetboots, and PFDs anywhere. We use the Matik PFD for overwater flights and more

PNB

Pacific Northwest Ballet. Since moving to Seattle we have been regularly attending the ballet at McCaw Hall in Seattle Center, home of PNB, also home of PNB School, a well-respected professional ballet school. We’ve made Nutcracker an annual tradition, and seen some of the most amazing art on stage in our lives, especially works by Crystal Pite.

My favorite dance, of the Flowers, in Nutcracker
Snow
Crystal Pite’s “The Season’s Canon” was absolutely the most incredible dance performance of my life

Hacky Sack

Hacky Sacks were invented in Oregon City, Oregon by Mike Marshall and John Stalberger.

Vehicles produced in 1972

1972 Chevelle SS 454

1972 wasn’t the best year for muscle cars, but compared with the crap that came afterwards in the 1980s, even by today’s standards there were some fantastic cars from the 70s. Here is a Chevelle in nearly the same color scheme as our 1969 Camaro SS 396 convertible. This Chevelle did a 14.76-second quarter-mile, traveling 97.6 miles per hour, with a big-block 454 CI that generated 270 horsepower and 390 ib-ft of torque!

Honda Civic

Who knew the Civic was also 50 this year? Honda was still pretty new to the car game, having been primarily a motorcycle manufacturer until the late 1960s. The Civic changed that. The compact cutie cruised to success thanks to the oil crisis — the thing got great mileage, and has become one of the most popular cars to steal.

Kawasaki Jet Ski

“Jet Ski” is a proper noun, like Kleenex, Band-Aid and Dumpster. (Yes, Dumpster is a brand name.) Now it’s generic trademark used for any kind of personal watercraft. But the Sea-Doo beat Kawasaki to the waves by four years. Still, Kawasaki had the last laugh, because we call these babies “jet skis” now no matter who makes ’em.

Songs released in 1972

So many great hits from the 70s, but here’s a select few that I love that were released in 1972.

Reelin’ In the Years climbed to Number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, and typifies what I think of when I think of 70s music.
Elton John’s triple-platinum “Rocket Man” peaked at Number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.
Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” is Young’s only Number 1 US hit, which features backup vocals by James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.
Peaking at Number 7 on Billboard’s Hot 100, “School’s Out” is Alice Cooper’s Number 1 hit.
A number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” is one of only nine songs to have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with versions recorded by two different artists
https://youtu.be/NkwJ-g0iJ6w
Also peaking at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Johnny Nash’s “I can see clearly now”
Aaaaand the Number 1 song for 1972 is Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” which reached the top spot on the Billboard 100 as well as earning a Grammy for Record of the Year and Song of The Year.

Here’s the 1972 Year-End Billboard Hot 100 hits

Movies released in 1972

The Godfather

Well, the first movie to mention was easy enough to choose. “The Godfather” is considered by many to be the greatest film ever. It won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and was the highest-grossing movie of 1972. This is a truly iconic work of film, featuring an all-time great cast.

Cabaret

The Oscars that “The Godfather” wasn’t winning were being cleaned up by “Cabaret.” It took home a whopping eight Oscars, including Best Actress for Liza Minnelli and Best Supporting Actor for Joel Grey. While it wasn’t the Best Picture winner, it was still a huge film.

Blacula

Blaxploitation films were big in the ‘70s, and “Blacula” is one of the first examples of that era a lot of people think of. Sure, a lot of that is because of the premise. “Blacula” isn’t exactly high art. However, if you’ve been making jokes about the name all these years, why not see what the film is actually like?
 

The Candidate

Robert Redford is back! This time, he plays a congenial activist who is run as the Democratic candidate for the Governor of California by a career political strategist. Redford’s character compromises more and more as his candidacy goes from a lark to something substantive. The film won Best Original Screenplay and has an iconic ending.
 

Sleuth

Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in a two-hander that’s somehow a mystery, a comedy, and a thriller? Yeah, sign us up for that. Both Olivier and Caine managed to get Oscar nominations, and this movie serves them both well.

Remember, even if you get a black birthday cake, it’s the thought that counts!! Ready for my next 50 years!!

(Brian and Caitlin made this cake for me on a fire, deep in the Scapegoat Wilderness. It was delicious!!)

Something else noteworthy occur in 1972? Leave a message and I’ll consider adding it here!

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