Remember Grad Nite?

I was scratching my head trying to remember who played my Grad Nite when I was talking to Chels about her trip. I really struggled and the only musical act that I could come up with was Chaka Khan. I finally found a list and to my surprise, I was wrong. It was not Chaka Khan, but rather Midnight Star. I later remembered that Information Society may have played, but could not confirm it with anyone. Today I found that confirmation, so enjoy.

Here's a list of music acts that have played Disney's Grad Nite since 1972.

1972 — Duck, Saltwater Express, Crickett, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Stampeders, The Staple Singers

1973 — Danny Davis & The Nashville Brass, Ricky Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band, The New Seekers, Helen Reddy, The Spinners, Group Cassidy, Liberation

1974 — The Stylistics, Liberation, Canned Heat, Kool & The Gang, Brownsville Station

1975 — Kool & The Gang, Liberation, Sister Sledge, Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids, Hues Corporation

1976 — K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Natalie Cole, Ohio Players, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

1977 — K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Starbuck, Hot, Flash Cadillac

1978 — Atlanta Rhythm Section, Sea Level, Hot, High Energy, Con Funk Shun, Solar Wind

1979 — Rose Royce, Starguard, Gary's Gang, Peaches & Herb, Solar Wind, The Races, Genes Cotton

1980 — K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Kool & The Gang, Robert John, Tantrum, Macar Brothers

1981 — Pure Prairie League, Sister Sledge, One Way Featuring Al Hudson, Terri Gibbs, Fantasy, Ricky & Tightrope

1982 — Pointer Sisters, Tommy Tutone, Bertie Higgins, Tierra, Michael Iceberg

1983 — Steel Breeze, Marshall Crenshaw, Dazz Band, Night Ranger, Burrito Brothers, Greg Kihn

1984 — Night Ranger, Dazz Band, Exile, Dwight Twilley, Weird Al Yankovich

1985 — Midnight Star, Shalamar, Teena Marie, Animotion, Run DMC, Shannon

1986 — Ready For The World, Rene & Angela, Animotion, Nu Shooz, Starpoint, Klymaxx, Miami Sound Machine, Sly Fox

1987 — Wang Chung, Glass Tiger, Ready For The World, Nancy Martinez, Oran Juice Jones, Bobby Brown

1988 — Expose, Run DMC, Force MDs, Michael Bolton, Club Nouveau

1989 — Samantha Fox, Information Society, Will to Power, Midnight Star, New Kids On The Block, Pasanda's, Surface

1990 — Jody Watley, Seduction, Stevie B., Skyy, Kevin Paige

1991 — Stevie B., Tara Kemp, En Vogue, Timmy T., C&C Music Factory

1992 — Shanice, RTZ, Restless Heart, Mint Condition, MC Lyte

1993 — Jon Secada, Shai, PM Dawn, Hi-Five, Classic Example, Boy Crazy

1994 — Hi Five, Mc Lyte, Zhane, Tag Team, Xscape

1995 — Shenandoah, Brandy, All-4-One, Changing Falls

1996 — The Rembrandts, Sammy Kershaw, Silk, Immature, Mickey Finn

1997 — Goo Goo Dolls, David Lee Murphy, Az Yet, Aaliyah

1998 — La Bouche, Backstreet Boys, Rhett Atkins, Allure, Reel Big Fish

1999 — Britney Spears, Reel Big Fish, Sister Hazel

2000 — Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson, Youngstown, B.B. Mak

2001 — Tyrese, DJ Skribble, Nine Days, 3LW, Christina Milian, Tonya Mitchell

2002 — City High, DJ Skribble, Natural, Beki, Blaque, Christina Milian, Lil J., Petey Pablo

2003 — Mario, Daniel Beddingfield, Smilez & Southstar, Default, Nivea, New Found Glory

2004 — Monica, Simple Plan, Stacie Orrico

2005 — Yellow Card, Ciara, Ryan Cabrera, Kevin Lyttle\

2006 — Fall Out Boy, Omarion, Teddy Geiger, Simple Plan, Farnkie J, Fefe Dobson

2007 — Mario Vazquez, Cartel, The Fray, Cassie

2008 — Ne-Yo, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, The Last Good Night

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Youth and Deception

As you grow up, you do many things that you don't want other people to know about. You may sneak into an R rated movie before you are old enough. You may go over to your girlfriend's house without your parents knowing. Some people even sneak out of their house late at night and take their parents car for a cruise before they even have a license.

As a kid, you think that you will never get caught. What you don't know is that your parents always find out. If you knew then what you know when you become a parent yourself, you probably would not have done these things in the first place.

Lying is a tricky thing when you are growing up. You may not hate your parents, but there are always times when you think they are being unfair because they are not letting you do what you want to do. Because of this, you sometimes stretch the truth or even outright lie so you can get your way. What you don't realize is that your parents are just trying to protect you. What you want to do may not be the best thing for you, but you are too short-sighted when you are young to realize this.

Looking back now, I realize that honesty and discussion is the best way to handle this. If my parents would have encouraged honest conversation and debate, I might be a better communicator today. I am not saying that I did any of the things I talked about in this post. I was a pretty good kid growing up, but my communication style could have been much different today if dialogue was encouraged.

AS I am raising my own kids, I need to keep this in mind. I have a teenage daughter who is probably doing these things as we speak. I have to remind myself to have honest discussions with her and to always encourage her to debate the reasons why she should be able to do things so that she tries to figure out exactly why things are important to her and her communication skills improve.

I often look at kids today and feel that they are very materialistic and have warped priorities. Maybe my parents felt the same way about me when I was growing up. The difference is that I was taught to work hard by my parents. I was able to work in fruit packing houses when I was a teenager. Opportunities like that just do not exist anymore so kids are not able to experience hard work. This makes it more difficult for parents to teach them the value of work and sacrifice.

I really need to do everything in my power to make sure that I am able to teach my kids these lessons. I believe that their future rests on my ability to teach them about society and the world and to encourage their thinking and communicating.

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National Signing Day

Today was national signing day for high school football players. It is the day that they can formally sign with the college of their choice. It is a day that I usually look forward to and start following as soon as I get to work. I usually keep an internet window open as I work and get updates from time to time.

Today was different. I did not even get a chance to browse the internet until about 10:00. By that time, a lot of letter of intents(LOI) had already been faxed into the college athletic departments. I only had the chance to get updates about three or four times throughout the day. I was just too busy at work.

I was looking forward to today because it was the first time USC alumni were going to be able to judge the new coaching staff. Lane Kiffin and company did not have very much time to try to rescue the Pete Carroll recruiting class and add to it with their own players. I was worried that they were going to lose a big chunk of the recruiting class.

I was pleasantly surprised with the job they did. They hauled in a couple of players who were not verbally committed to USC and virtually kept the entire class in tact. A few players slipped away, but that was expected with a coaching change. If I had to give them a grade on the class, I would go with a solid A.

They had a lot of excuses for not keeping the class complete. Nobody could blame them if it happened. The timing of the coaching change was just not ideal for them. They did not rest and did not accept any of the excuses and did a great job. I can't wait to see what they are able to do with spring practice.

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Obligations

Why do we feel like we are obligated to do certain things? Do people make us feel this way? Is it an emotion that takes control of us and makes us feel this way? Is it a feeling we get from someone that makes us feel this way?

Feeling like you are obligated really limits your choices and can force you to make a decision that you may regret in the future. There really is no reason to make people feel like they are obligated to do something for you. I genuinely try to avoid making people feel this way, but I often sense that other people feel like I am obligated to do something. I really dislike that and most of the time I just make my own decision anyway.

It really is wrong to make people feel this way and I think it is rooted in jealousy to a certain extent. The worst thing is when you know someone feels like you are obligated to them, but they insist that there really is no obligation. Are they just unaware that they are making you feel this way or are they just trying to use psycology on you and make you think that you are not obligated? Either way, it is wrong.

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When Did Life Become No Fun?

I was listening to a radio show on my drive to work this morning. They were discussing a paradoy song that they wrote about a song that their station plays a lot. They were not happy that their station management cannot make a decision on their bits and that anything that is prerecorded has to go to the corporate lawyers for approval.

The show I was listening to was Kevin and Bean. If you know anything about their show, part of the humor is that they offend people. They routinely complain that anything they send to the lawyers gets rejected because they are so careful to not offend anyone. This flies in the face of what they show is all about. Why would their company continue to air their show if they don't want to offend anyone?

This brought to mind the fact that life itself is becoming boring. We are always told that we cannot say things because they will offend people. While I am very respectful of people's feelings, I think we have gone too far.

I see a parallel in my daughter's life. AYSO has removed goal keepers from the field until you move beyond the under eight level. Goal keepers are an integral part of the game. I don't know the exact reson for this decision, but it seems to be rooted in the feelings of the players. Goal keepers often get blamed for a goal that is scored. When I coached my oldest daughter's team, I did not allow that to happen. I was always telling the players that it is not the goal keeper's fault. After all, the team made it though all the rest of them before getting the shot on goal.

I see the same things happening in our schools. Teachers now must embrace positive discipline. In most instances this does work, but when you are dealing with a child who knows you cannot make them do anything the system begins to break down. If a kid knows that their is no punishment, or "easy" punishment, for their actions then why would they change their behavior? It is a tough situation for our teachers and administrators to be put in.

Life is not always going to be easy. People will offend you and hurt your feelings. Everyone who puts themself out on a line and pushes their limits will fail sometime, and their feelings will be hurt. I think our society is failing to teach people the skills to deal with these situations. This just makes it hurt worse when it does happen.

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Company Picnic Observations

Just got back from my company picnic, Tahitian Lu'au, in Arroyo Grande. The weather was a nice change as it was overcast and a little rainy later in the day. It is interested what can be observed when you get such a diverse group of people together. No matter how hard you try, they will separate into groups or cliques. It takes you back to the old days of high school.

As I looked around, there were the drinkers hanging out in the parking lot by the kegs that were not company sanctioned. There were the loners who either stuck together if they were unmarried or stayed with their families. There were the social butterflies who just wondered around and spoke to everyone. There were even the jocks, who played volleyball, horse shoes or jousted. As soon as the picnic was over, it seems like most people went their own way.

When we got back to our hotel, there were already a few groups scattered around the parking lot having some nice refreshing beers. There were the people who just wanted to relax in the hot tub and then a few groups of more serious drinkers just standing in the rain drinking beers. People wandered off to Old Juan's for dinner or ordered in a pizza before coming together at the end of the day for the bonfire.

The bonfire on the beach was not a company sanctioned event, so almost everyone there brought their own adult beverages. The cliques were still in effect, but there was more socialization because the adult beverages were flowing.

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High School Sports

Volleyball season has started for Chachi. Tonight we attended their first scrimmage of the year. Since Chachi is still recovering from her broken leg, her coach is slowly working her into the lineup. She played for a few minutes and looked pretty rusty, but not bad since she just started running recently.

High school sports have changed a lot in the last 25 years. The programs are very political now with most coaches also coaching club teams. The coaches love to select their club players for the high school teams and give them the most playing time whether they deserve it or not. Back in the old days, it was easier to get some playing time based on your ability. Not to say that things were not political then. It was just easier to rely on your ability without having to jump through the political hoops. I feel sorry for kids today.

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