-The federal debt ceiling is temporarily raised to $985 billion.
-At Camp David, President Carter goes fishing, and later sees the movie Urban Cowboy with the First Lady.
-NYC transit fare rises from 50 cents to 60 cents.
-Bette Midler had the #1 spot with The Rose, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Elton John, Lipps Inc, Robbie Dupree, Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson, The Spinners and Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band had the other nine spots.
On a more personal note, I had persuaded my family to have a ‘real’ birthday party for me in the backyard. I was the youngest of 4 and I worked the ‘double digit’ angle as hard as my cute young self could. Most birthdays were celebrated by having dinner at Grandma’s house or having the grandparents over, we were not the hosting type. We’d never had the money to host things, really, but the family finances were doing alright by then.
The days leading up to the party were frenzied and unseasonably hot and humid. We were all working like mad to clean up the normally over-cluttered house and try and make the back yard at least somewhat presentable. My dear mother was making herself crazy organizing all of us and cooking the food and baking the cake and such.
Meanwhile, my Dad has a look in the mirror and decides he needs to spiff up with a haircut. Mom used to trim his hair to save money, so he asks her to do so. She stares back, aghast that he could be so willfully blind to the barely tethered chaos around him and snaps that he’ll have to until the next day. Miffed, he hies himself off to the nearest barbershop and instructs them to shave his head. Bald.
Not a lot of guys rocking the chrome dome in 1980, unless nature and old age had accomplished it for them. When he strode proudly, and palely, into the back yard mid-party I ran screaming from the strange man I didn’t recognize. As soon as he laughed I realized it was just Dad, and we were merrily chasing around the back yard when a nearby neighbor hopped the fence holding a sawed-off shotgun. He too hadn’t recognized my bald Dad and was coming to rescue the poor little screaming girl from the crazed maniac chasing her. He put the gun away and we all had cake.
But Mom never let us have any more birthday parties after that.