As per this link the first printing came out in May 84, the second in June and the third the next February. Not reprints, second and third printings of the same issue. The first printing is the most expensive but I believe the second is still valuable. It is pretty easy to tell which one it is. Like I said earlier I was trying to get a copy at the time but couldn’t.
This is the issue I have, 1st printing, which was sent with a double cover. I’m still waiting to see if anyone knows if it is worth anything.
I guess I would have been in second grade when the Challenger exploded. I have very vague memories of seeing it on TV, but I was really young and, frankly, it didn’t leave any kind of impression on me at all, though our school had a big memorial over it and everything. I didn’t grasp what was happening, so maybe I saw it live. Maybe I didn’t. I’d think the majority of people who did see it were probably school kids who didn’t grasp the significance, like me…if I saw it.
I was one of the kids who saw the challenger explode live as well, at least I’m pretty sure. I was in the GATE pullout classroom for the morning, and that classroom had a TV with cable so our teacher decided to show us the launch - I’m sure it had something to do with the teacher being on board.
Looking at Wikipedia, it appears the explosion happened at 11:39 EST and I was in California, so it must have been first thing in the morning (8:39 PST). I think the only kids who saw it were in the GATE pullout classroom, so they ranged in grade from first to fifth. I don’t remember it super well, though I do remember how upset some of the older kids got. I was only six.
I am apparently one of the nine people of my generation to have not attended Woodstock. I will accept that although most will agree that there were max about 700,000 people there.
But when a kid half my age talks about what a great time he had there it does tend to amaze me. Even on an astral plain he wouldn’t be born for a decade or so.
When the Sex Pistols did their infamous US tour in 1978, one of the only seven stops they made was here in San Antonio, Texas, at a club more well known for its country music than anything punk.
The place was packed, with about 2000 people in attendance, but I have heard and read it many times that a lot more people say they were there that night than the club could have held. It seems that everyone that was into the local music scene was there that night, even though the building could only hold a small crowd.
No to be too much of a party pooper, but I don’t trust people’s PERCEPTIONS of how many people they think claimed to do something any more than I trust people to admit honestly they were there. And, probably less.
E.g. in stanger’s example, I won’t really believe that more people CLAIMED to be at the Sex Pistols show than were actually there unless you actually perform a survey and find that 10,000 people actually claimed to be in a club that held 2000.
Same with people telling Yogi Berra they were at the Larsen game. I’m sure that everyone who was there likes to tell him, but have 75,000 people REALLY told Yogi they were there? Who are these people saying they were at the game who weren’t and what do they think is going to happen when they tell him?
A 20 year old claiming he was at Woodstock is one thing. But, how many people have really claimed to have been at Woodstock? Have they done a study? I, for one, have never claimed to have been at a big event I wasn’t at. The idea wouldn’t even cross my mind.
I did see Sinead O’Conner rip up the picture of the pope live. I remember I was in college and it was the basketball team’s midnight madness night. I had just worked a catering gig and was too tired to go, and so I was the only person sitting in the dorm when Sinead started warbling a capella. Amazingly, I almost missed it as I got bored with her song, started fiddling with something and was looking away for most of her song. I looked up just in time to see her holding up the pope’s photo and think “Why is she holding a pictu–” riiiiipppppp.
I thought “Whoo boy, is she going to get some flak for that.” I didn’t think it was going to become a pop culture moment (and the end of her career).
On another note - In the mid-1980s, I had one friend who was obsessed with the Replacements & Jayne’s Addiction before anybody else. Thus, even though I was not admittedly a fan “back in the day”, I at least had heard of them and knew a little bit of their music when they were still actual touring acts (as opposed to the seeming hordes of fans both bands amassed after they’d broken up.) Call me a heretic, but I actually prefer a lot of Paul Westerberg’s solo stuff to the Replacements.
I was a freshman in college when the Challenger blew up, and did not see it live. I was in my dorm room and my roommate was down the hall in the TV lounge watching it live. After the explosion he ran down to our room to get me, and I watched numerous replays.
Last fall I made this post, but that was as close as I got to it.
I’d swear I saw the episode of the Tonight Show with Zsa Zsa and her pussy, but I’m willing to concede (with proof!) that I’m wrong. In my head, I can picture it though.
But what qualifies as a “famous incident” that would make someone cry NBL? There were many “famous” incidents that many people did witness, such as the first shuttle landing (witnessed it on TV), I was really truly in attendance at Live Aid in Philadelphia, etc. They might not carry the weight of some other events, but they were “history-making” events.
This is basically where my OP came from. The TMNT comic came out in 1984 and most of the people that claimed to have owned it were on a Sci-Fi message board I frequented a few years ago. I don’t think a single one of them was over 25. Which means the oldest they could have been in 1984 was roughly 6.
Yeah, I’ll bet they were a real savvy 6 year old to discover the underground comic phenomenon of the day.
I was at the race and did witness Dale Earnhardt crashing for the last time. I lived in Daytona at the time and got free tickets and was in the back straight-a-way granstands. Pretty far from turn 4 but you could still see it. Didn’t think much of it at the time since it looked like a mild crash and it was the last lap of the race. It wasn’t until much later when I was back at my apartment that I heard he had died on the news.
My friend who was a camera hobbyist was also at that race in the infield at turn 4 (I think thats where they allow people with tents?) and he has a bunch of photos of the crash he took himself.
For me the most irritating dubious claim comes from Vietnam Vets. I’ve been on active duty for 12 years now and have spent a fair amount of time volunteering at the DAV, VFW and other events where old time Vietnam Vets congregate and it never fails, EVERY time one of them starts talking to the young GI (me) they claim that ther were Special Forces, Sniper or Green Beret. Every time. Apparently every army infantryman from that era is convinced that they were spec-ops.
I’m not saying none of them were telling the truth, but I’ve heard that claim from AT LEAST 200 different vets. The only person to ever tell me they were anything other than a trained killer in Vietnam is my gramp. He was a mess Sgt.
Captain Dave Severance, USMC (who is still alive, around 90 years of age), who commanded the company whose six members raised the famous flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, has jokingly said that if every Marine who claimed to have been on Suribachi had actually been there, the whole damn island would have sank into the ocean.
Comedian Tim Wilson does a whole series of sketches about an uncle of his who always made up fantastic stories. He claims that they call him “Uncle BS” and bait him to tell stories. An example, paraphrased from memory:
“Uncle BS, where were you on November 22, 1963?”
“November 22, 1963? I was working at the book depository, Dallas Texas. Harcourt had just come out with that ‘new math’ and they had these huge textbooks, so I told them they needed to hire someone to help me move all these books. They hired some fellow name of Harvey or something. We got to arguing about who was a better shot, he had been a Marine and of course I was in the Navy for five years, so I said to him ‘you go home on your lunch hour and get your rifle- I’ll bet you two tickets to the Texas Theater you can’t hit that manhole cover down there by that grassy knoll.’ He cracked off three shots- darned if the President of the United States didn’t happen to drive by at that exact moment! We felt bad about that.”
I saw that too, although I constantly conflate it with her appearance on the episode hosted by Kyle McLaughlin. I remember being kind of pissed that Susan Sarandon didn’t applaud after the incident and I remember how my loathing for Joe Peschi started the next week when he threatened to beat O’Connor up should he ever meet her. I sometimes wonder whether he (or anyone else who castigated her) ever apologized, especially in light of the priest sex abuse scandal that finally blew up a few years ago.
I saw it too. I was a freshman in college and, uh, relaxing in my dorm watching SNL. I thought the song was lame (“why doesn’t she just do the Prince song?”). I never knew that about Pesci, but the NY Times confirms that on the next show (which he was hosting) he said, had he been hosting when she tore the picture, he would have given her a “smack.” Nice, Mr Pesci – fighting Italian stereotypes like a true mafia soldier.
I also saw the Challenger explode – 6th grade PACE class.
I saw the OJ chase live on TV - home from school and getting ready to go out, when the Juice got loose
I know this old man claims to have known Ronnie Van Zant back when Skynard was just getting big – he’s got all sorts of wild claims.