buhdge

My father noted for posterity my first broadcast on my college radio station, then called WVHC-FM. I was a freshman at Hofstra University on Long Island, and my first words into the microphone formed a short newscast.

I don't remember that newscast--I remember my first show, however, broadcast during a snowstorm when the regular announcer didn't show up, a classical show that saw me read bios of famous composers ("Mozart was born...) and play random selections from the battered classical music library. I got one request, from a guy at Joe's Bar (really) in Hempstead, and I played it.

But that first newscast? No memory of it whatsoever. But that's okay, because my father transferred his memory to a small piece of green paper, and he spelled my name correctly, too. You can't ask for more than that.

Alan Haber, 3/28/10

The tickets shown above, posed atop the original box office envelope they came in, were never used, and here's why that matters: I went to New York's Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center to pick them up. I was still living at home, having graduated college, and looking forward to the show, particularly because Stephen Bishop was opening for Randy Newman. And look at the price: $5.00 a ticket. A king's ransom back then, but still...

As fate would have it, I got my first professional radio job and was on my way to be on the air at Dover, Delaware station WKEN-AM before the September 30, 1977 date. I couldn't go. I've always regretted not going to see the show. My life got in the way...

If you were at that show, would you please hit the contact button above and tell me how it was?

Longtime fans of Marvel and DC comics should get a kick out of these items from the buhdge archives.

Back in my college days, I joined FOOM, or The Friends of Ol' Marvel, a club for fans of Marvel Comics. I got a pretty nifty membership kit in the mail, which included an issue of FOOM magazine and the membership card you see here. It's survived pretty nicely, given that it's 33 years old.

I used to go to a lot of comics and sci-fi conventions back in my high school and college days. One such gathering I went to with a few friends was the first (was there a second?) Mighty Marvel Comic Convention, held at the old Hotel Commodore in New York City in late March of 1975.

In those days, all of the hot comic artists and writers were very approachable for autographs, and nobody charged a cent. I got the autographs and sketches shown at the convention's autograph tables. Dig the original drawings of the Hulk by the great Herb Trimpe and Joe Sinnott. Particularly cool is the sketch of Deadman by none other than the great Neal Adams, perhaps my favorite comic artist of all time. All three men were as nice as they could be to this young comics fan. Pretty cool, huh?!

Alan Haber