The Rifle River events were primarily intended as a father/son venture. However, I remember that there was one girl there. She was younger than me and I think her name was Maureen. She was there with her father and brother. I can understand why her father brought her along. I have a daughter and I would want to do the same. I just remember my younger brother Kevin having the "hots" for this girl. They would often play in the river together with their innretubes. I'm not sure if he ever kissed her. He would look forward to seeing her there every summer and I remember him being disappointed on the years when she did not show. Kevin always had his game on with the ladies. I was a little slow to start on that.

I have definitely been reminiscing about Rifle River lately. I remember the scenery. I remember when we started getting close how the road would be less wide and we would be surrounded by tall trees. What I didn't understand then was that this was because we had got off the expressway. The road looked like many roads in Michigan look like and because of this I would never be able to remember how to get there just by the landmarks. I remember that we would . . . Read More..

I remember when I was first really introduced to pop music.  Previously I had liked a song here and there and I owned a Paula Abdul album (Spellbound).  However, I really only listened to jazz and classical.

I think I was in tenth grade.  It must have been 1995.  I remember that Jim Falk introduced me to Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones.  Shortly thereafter, I remember Austin Meoning playing Green Day for me in my room.  And I remember liking what I heard.

I remember running downstairs and informing my parents of the music that I had "discovered".  They smiled and humored me and soon after I started spending my allowances up at Music Master instead of at Video Game Master and The Vault (a comic store).

Back then I used to be able to buy a few albums with my $20/week allowance.  Nowadays that only buys me one album at Best Buy.  I guess I could still download two albums of MP3s for $20 but it just is not the same.

I remember going to the Vault every Thursday and blowing my allowance on comic books.  The Vault was a comic book store that was located in the Waterfall Plaza in Waterford.  It closed down after a few years.  Probably because me and my brother stopped shopping there.

I used to buy all the variations of the X-men and Spiderman comics and Kevin used to buy the Fantastic Four and Punisher comics.  I remember I bought all of the first issues of the Image comic books when they first came out.  Shortly after that, Kevin and I stopped collecting.

They had an extensive back issue selection that I would browse, picking up issues of the "Uncanny X-men" that I did not have.

It's a shame that a lot of small businesses like that can't stay in business.  I still have most of those comic books - some four or five boxes.  I think everyone was collecting at that time so my comics are barely worth more than I paid for them, 15 years later.

Back in the day, Chris Shea, Adam Lamb, Austin Moening and I built a 4-story tree fort in the fields by my backyard. It started as a 1-story fort but we could not resist the urge to continue to build higher on the perfectly-suited tree. It was a majestic thing with a superfluance of nails.

The first level was enclosed in plywood and the second and third levels were just floors made of 2 x 4s. The fourth floor was more like a ceiling or roof. There were no guard rails on the fourth floor and it was very high up and kind of scary. It was one of the triumphant accomplishments of my youth. Me and Shea hung out there a lot--and yet--I don't have a single picture to prove it.

Update: I found a picture of us on the fort but it is at night and all you can see is a 2x4.  I was talking with Chris the other day and he said that my aunt took a picture of us all on the fort.  I will have to search my parents' albums for that photo.  Dave, when can I borrow that document feed scanner?