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Your Week — Daily event picks
1974 in review
Bargains, politics, movies, music, under-reported stories
- Best bargains of the year
- John Goodman, CALPIRG
- 10-pound bag of potatoes for 69 cents in December. (Were $1.79 for 10-pound bag in May.)
- One pound of Farmer John bacon for $1.19 in December. (Was $1.21 a pound in November 1973.)
- Chuck roast at 89 cents a pound in December. (Was $1.18 a pound in December 1973.)
- All-meat wieners at 95 cents a pound in December. (Were $1.09 a pound in December 1973.)
- Worst bargains of the year
- John Goodman, CALPIRG
- 5-pound bag of sugar for $2.53 in December. (Was $1.24 for 10-pound bag in May.)
- A dozen large grade AA eggs in December for 76 cents. (Were 60 cents a dozen in May.)
- A can of Del Monte tomatoes for 41cents in December. (Was 33 cents in May.)
- King-sized box of Tide (5 lb. 4 oz.) for $1.99 in December. (Was $1.64 in May.)
- box of Kleenex Botique tissues for 40 cents in December. (Was 34 cents in May.
- Most outrageous political events in San Diego
- Ann Watson, anti-Communist commentator for KLRO and XEMO
- The City of San Diego’s and Mayor Wilson’s gradual introduction of regional government. This would put the organization of government in the hands of the federal government rather than the individual community. There are a host of public and private agencies like the C.P.O. not working in conjunction with the U.S. Constitution.
- The City of San Diego constantly pushing to force people to have the airport moved. It would cost a fortune and we don’t have enough money. Mayor Wilson has made this one of his personal vendettas.
- Individual businessmen not being allowed to advertise their own businesses without paying the city. This billboard ordinance is blackmail to get the businessman’s money.
- The new citizen’s review board for police. This board may seem harmless, but a board like this would be detrimental to law and order. Anybody can get on the board, even an ex-criminal. The average person doesn’t know how to fight crime.
- The fact that violence has been allowed to run rampant at our schools and campuses. Girls at State and UCSD are terrified to go out at night. They are literally prisoners in their rooms.
- Biggest political atrocities of the year in San Diego
- Larry Remer, former business manager of the Door, now staff member for County Supervisor Jack Walsh
- The folding of the Door.
- The re-election of Congressman Wilson.
- The white-wash of corruption of the San Diego Police Department by the grand jury and Mayor Wilson.
- The bolstering of the border and increased repression of Chicanos seeking work.
- The use of anti-poverty funds to increase the size of the San Diego Police Department.
- Movies I expected to come to San Diego in 1974 and didn't
- Duncan Shepherd, Reader movie critic
- Martin Scorcese’s Mean Streets
- Robert Altman’s Thieves Like Us
- Marco Ferreri’s La Grande Bouffe
- Claude Lelouch’s Happy New Year
- Sidney Lumet’s Lovin’ Molly
- Sidney Lumet’s The Offense
- Stephen Frears’ Gumshoe
- Robert Mulligan’s The Nickel Ride, which was unveiled at last spring’s Cannes Festival and has turned up nowhere on the U.S. map in the meantime.
- Most over-reported stories of 1974
- James Cravens, public information office, UCSD
- U.S. Navy ship Returns from Sea – coverage of this story allows television crews two separate time fillers, since they can also cover the pilots flying home a couple of days before their aircraft carrier docks.
- U.S. Navy Ship Leaves for Sea - a variation on the theme above.
- U.S. Marine Corps Holds Ceremony - any kind of ceremony will do.
- National Steel and Shipbuilding Launches Ship
- National Steel and Shipbuilding Launches Another Ship
- Tuna Fleet Leaves
- Tuna Fleet Returns Full of Tuna
- Rohr Corporation Wins Contract - the follow-up story, in which the Rohr Corporation’s customer claims the company’s product to be defective (as was the case with the cars Rohr built for Bay Area Rapid Transit) could be listed among the under-reported.
- Most under-reported stories of 1974
- James Cravens
- The indictment of six of San Diego’s prominent businessmen by a federal grand jury accusing them of fraudulently conspiring to inflate the earnings of U.S. Financial, Inc. The indictments of Robert H. Walter, former U.S. Financial chairman; Angelo Adams, former regional vice-president of Union Bank and former president of Southern California First National Bank, and four others were buried on the back pages of the Union and the Tribune.
- Organized crime in San Diego — San Diego has no good crime reporter, and it’s a shame, because rumor has the Mafia active here. What exactly is the connection between the Mafia, Teamsters’ Union money, and the La Costa spa near Carlsbad?
- Southern California Connection - the local slant to the Watergate story has been seriously underreported in San Diego. What exactly is the relationship between the ex-president and “Mr. San Diego,” C. Arnholt Smith?
- 1974 music in San Diego
- Steve Esmedina, Reader contributor
- Five Worst Concerts
- Frank Zappa, Golden Hall
- Herbie Hancock, El Cortez Convention Center
- Electric Flag, UCSD
- Steve Miller, Sports Arena
- Todd Rundgren, Civic Theatre Five Best Concerts
- Average White Band, El Cortez Convention Center
- Lou Reed, Civic Theatre
- The Kinks, Golden Hall
- Chick Corea, Civic Theatre
- Bad Company, Sports Arena
- Five Best Albums
- Stranded by Roxy Music
- Average White Band
- These Foolish Things by Brian Ferry
- Feats Don't Fail Me Now by Little Feat
- Jab It in Your Eye by the Sharks
- Bill Cosby-Frank Sinatra Award for the shortest retirement of the year
- To David Bowie and Jethro Tull
- The year's music
- Ted Burke, Reader contributor
- Best Concerts of 1974
- Chick Corea and Return to Forever, Civic Theatre
- Mountain, Civic Theatre
- Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Sports Arena
- Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House, UCSD Gym
- Bad Company/Edgar Winter Group, Sports Arena
- Lou Reed, Civic Theatre
- Stevie Wonder, Sports Arena
- Worst Concerts of 1974
- Elton John
- Tom Waits at the Frank Zappa/Mothers Concert, Golden Hall
- Blue Oyster Cult, Golden Hall
- Best news I’ve heard all year
- T. Rex’s cancellation at Blue Oyster Cult concert.
- We Love You, Yoko, But Get Off the Stage Award
- Large parts of the audience boos the New York Dolls at J.J.’s, then walks out.
- Good Idea While It Lasted Award
- Tuesdays, a rock palace, Fillmore-style, in downtown San Diego, bringing top name acts (Jo Jo Gunne, Sons of Champlin, Leo Kottke) at manageable prices. Folded shortly after opening because of lack of patrons. Along with the Hippodrome, Funky Quarters, and JJs, proof that San Diegans are too diffuse to support a club.
- Most overrated album of the year
- Homegrown 2
- Dick Clark Award
- “Homegrown in Greene”, a Channel Ten Show with the bands singing (lip synching) those dreadful songs, hosted by Harold Greene, who has as much in common with rock music as Walter Cronkite.
- Best local bands
- Horsefeathers, Listen, Jumbalayah, Tricks, Uncle Fungus
- Worst Album of the Year
- It’s Only Rock and Roll, Rolling Stones
- Best Albums of the Year
- Shrengrenade, Harvey Mandel; Starless and Bible Black, King Crimson; Rock and Roll Animal, Lou Reed; Bridge of Sighs, Robin Trower; Fulfillingness First Finale, Stevie Wonder
- If I had my way:
- — there’s be no more song titles starting out with “Rock and Roll”
- — the Rolling Stones would be forced to retire and stop embarrassing themselves in public
- — no more double albums unless the artists can pass a rigid battery of tests I’d administer myself
- – the cosmic Consciousness spiel, cf. Mahavishnu, John MacLaughlin, Carlos Santana, would no longer be an excuse for jazz musicians in pointlessly redundant jams
- — a moratorium on the slide guitar
- Nice Work If You Can Get It Award
- To jazz sax player Joe Marillo and his San Diego Jazz Preservation Society, which is trying to expose jazz to a larger audience in this town as well as create a tight, interacting scene among local and national jazz talent. Essentially a make-work project, but a worthy one.
- Concert Hall of the Year
- Civic Theatre. Acoustically perfect, a blessed relief from the Sport Arena’s toilet bowl contours.
- Artistic Ego of the Year
- Joni Mitchell. Anyone who writes exclusively about their affairs has to be a bit conceited. Ms. Mitchell is lucky to be a good writer. Otherwise she’d be a female Harry Chapin.
- Harmonica Heaven Award
- The summer down-and-out denizens of the Mission Beach Boardwalk. An amusing scene to watch five guys go through their Paul Butterfield licks in wind-bag showdowns.
- Most significant crimes of the Year
- Ed Miller, county District Attorney
- Herman Wiggins, perjury by San Diego policeman
- Peter Mahone case, shooting of two San Diego policemen
- Earl Scheib, false advertising.
- Mark Five, massive land fraud
- Michael Dennis Keyes, rape/murder
- H. Liberatore, organized crime
- This Year’s Music
- Mike Harrison, program director, KPRI
- Most significant event was the emergence of Elton John as the undisputed leader in pop music.
- Biggest pleasure was the re-emergence of old Beach Boys music. The Endless Summer lp went platinum; kids discovered the Beach Boys for the first time.
- Very important were the consistent accomplishments of individual members of the Beatles, i.e., McCartney’s Band on the Run.
- The concert scene in San Diego reached an all-time high. No one can ever say that this city does not offer the best in musical acts.
- The level of San Diego radio reached a level of competition and professionalism that is respected in the national community.
- Musical event of the year — the Bowie concert. I didn’t think San Diego had it in it.
- Also important was the mass acceptance of R&B by the white community-long overdue in San Diego
- Most newsworthy events
- Gary Reese, Gay Center for Social Services
- Arrests of the May Company Forty and the subsequent protest march by the local Gay Community at May Company in Mission Valley.
- First anniversary celebration of the Gay Center (September 15), commemorating the opening of San Diego County’s only non-profit social welfare agency that is all volunteer-staffed and all volunteer-funded.
- San Diego premiere of the movie A Very Natural Thing - one of the first feature-length films to deal with gay relationships in a positive manner.
- Best Surf of the Year
- Bill Andrews, Pacific Beach Surf Shop
- January 1 at Black’s Beach. 6 to 8 feet, slight offshore.
- February 20 at Big Rock. 12 feet. Biggest day of the year.
- August 19 at La Jolla Shores. South wind, perfect waves.
- Most important woman of 1974
- Denise Carabet, S.D. Daily Transcript
- Dr. Gabriella Meyers. International consultant in Latin American affairs, the local consul of Costa Rica is blazing the trail for the Women’s Bank. The first woman to sit on a national bank board.
- Helen Copley. Heading up that massive organization and trying to keep financial footing after her husband’s death and subsequent myriad estate problems, she has proved to be a most competent business-woman.
- Karen Grath. A newcomer but has brought with her sterling experience in portfolio management in the midwest. Now with First Southwestern Management Corporation. Known in Minnesota trust and investment circles as the enlightened lady who liquidated her portfolios steps ahead of the market sag. Says a co-worker, “it took a lot of guts to do something like that.”
- Barbara Hutchinson. With the Association of Concerned Taxpayers. A prominent San Diego tax rebel whose nationwide following and appearances before Senate investigative committees and media made her a top priority target of prosecution by the IRS. Couldn’t beat rap but escaped a prison sentence and is now continuing her anti-tax protests.
- Best country tunes
- Steve Gordon, KOZN-FM
- “Jolene” by Dolly Parton
- “Boney Fingers” by Hoyt Axton
- “Country Sunshine” by Dottie West
- “I Love My Friend” by Charlie Rich
- “Pure Love” Ronnie Milsap
- Worst country tunes
- Steve Gordon, KOZN-FM
- “Hanoi Jane”
- “Ballad of Ben Gay” by Ben Gay and the Silly Savages
- “Country Bumpkin” by Cal Smith
- “Let’s Truck Together” by Kenny Price
- “The Streak” by Ray Stevens
- Worst Sports of 1974
- Alan Pesin, former Reader Sports Editor
- Having learned of his trade to the Green Bay Packers, San Diegan John Hadl extorted $200,000 out of Los Angeles Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom by refusing to report to his new team until paid this blackmail. The Hadl-led Packers finished off the 1974 NFL season losing to the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, and Atlanta Falcons.
- Leonard Bloom has been using and abusing San Diego fans and Conquistador players ever since he bought the ABA basketball team. In the annals of pro basketball history there have been many little men. Leonard Bloom is the shortest.
- TV-8 sportscaster Jerry Gross never had a decent word to say about San Diego professional sports teams, at least until he was hired as play-by-play announcer by the San Diego Mariners WHL team. Now, while other local channels lead off with reports of the World Series, Heavyweight Championship fights, or the Super Bowl, Gross does “in-depth” interviews with Mariners players and their wives.
- Padres owner Ray Kroc gave exclusive interviews to the national news media that Catfish Hunter used the Padres’ good-faith offers to jack up the ante in his high-stakes game with the Yankees. Kroc said that Hunter never had any intention of signing with any team other than the Yankees. If Kroc had offered Hunter one million dollars more than the Yankees offered, it might be easier to swallow Kroc’s sour grapes without the proverbial grain of salt.
- Evening Tribune sportswriter Bob Ortman was the only person to take Kroc’s crock seriously, writing a mast-head column on the matter the day after the Yankees signed Hunter. Ever since the San Diego Gulls went the way of the Dodo bird, Ortman has been feeble-minding his way towards extinction.
Here's something you might be interested in.
1974 in review
Bargains, politics, movies, music, under-reported stories
1974 in review
Bargains, politics, movies, music, under-reported stories
- Best bargains of the year
- John Goodman, CALPIRG
- 10-pound bag of potatoes for 69 cents in December. (Were $1.79 for 10-pound bag in May.)
- One pound of Farmer John bacon for $1.19 in December. (Was $1.21 a pound in November 1973.)
- Chuck roast at 89 cents a pound in December. (Was $1.18 a pound in December 1973.)
- All-meat wieners at 95 cents a pound in December. (Were $1.09 a pound in December 1973.)
- Worst bargains of the year
- John Goodman, CALPIRG
- 5-pound bag of sugar for $2.53 in December. (Was $1.24 for 10-pound bag in May.)
- A dozen large grade AA eggs in December for 76 cents. (Were 60 cents a dozen in May.)
- A can of Del Monte tomatoes for 41cents in December. (Was 33 cents in May.)
- King-sized box of Tide (5 lb. 4 oz.) for $1.99 in December. (Was $1.64 in May.)
- box of Kleenex Botique tissues for 40 cents in December. (Was 34 cents in May.
- Most outrageous political events in San Diego
- Ann Watson, anti-Communist commentator for KLRO and XEMO
- The City of San Diego’s and Mayor Wilson’s gradual introduction of regional government. This would put the organization of government in the hands of the federal government rather than the individual community. There are a host of public and private agencies like the C.P.O. not working in conjunction with the U.S. Constitution.
- The City of San Diego constantly pushing to force people to have the airport moved. It would cost a fortune and we don’t have enough money. Mayor Wilson has made this one of his personal vendettas.
- Individual businessmen not being allowed to advertise their own businesses without paying the city. This billboard ordinance is blackmail to get the businessman’s money.
- The new citizen’s review board for police. This board may seem harmless, but a board like this would be detrimental to law and order. Anybody can get on the board, even an ex-criminal. The average person doesn’t know how to fight crime.
- The fact that violence has been allowed to run rampant at our schools and campuses. Girls at State and UCSD are terrified to go out at night. They are literally prisoners in their rooms.
- Biggest political atrocities of the year in San Diego
- Larry Remer, former business manager of the Door, now staff member for County Supervisor Jack Walsh
- The folding of the Door.
- The re-election of Congressman Wilson.
- The white-wash of corruption of the San Diego Police Department by the grand jury and Mayor Wilson.
- The bolstering of the border and increased repression of Chicanos seeking work.
- The use of anti-poverty funds to increase the size of the San Diego Police Department.
- Movies I expected to come to San Diego in 1974 and didn't
- Duncan Shepherd, Reader movie critic
- Martin Scorcese’s Mean Streets
- Robert Altman’s Thieves Like Us
- Marco Ferreri’s La Grande Bouffe
- Claude Lelouch’s Happy New Year
- Sidney Lumet’s Lovin’ Molly
- Sidney Lumet’s The Offense
- Stephen Frears’ Gumshoe
- Robert Mulligan’s The Nickel Ride, which was unveiled at last spring’s Cannes Festival and has turned up nowhere on the U.S. map in the meantime.
- Most over-reported stories of 1974
- James Cravens, public information office, UCSD
- U.S. Navy ship Returns from Sea – coverage of this story allows television crews two separate time fillers, since they can also cover the pilots flying home a couple of days before their aircraft carrier docks.
- U.S. Navy Ship Leaves for Sea - a variation on the theme above.
- U.S. Marine Corps Holds Ceremony - any kind of ceremony will do.
- National Steel and Shipbuilding Launches Ship
- National Steel and Shipbuilding Launches Another Ship
- Tuna Fleet Leaves
- Tuna Fleet Returns Full of Tuna
- Rohr Corporation Wins Contract - the follow-up story, in which the Rohr Corporation’s customer claims the company’s product to be defective (as was the case with the cars Rohr built for Bay Area Rapid Transit) could be listed among the under-reported.
- Most under-reported stories of 1974
- James Cravens
- The indictment of six of San Diego’s prominent businessmen by a federal grand jury accusing them of fraudulently conspiring to inflate the earnings of U.S. Financial, Inc. The indictments of Robert H. Walter, former U.S. Financial chairman; Angelo Adams, former regional vice-president of Union Bank and former president of Southern California First National Bank, and four others were buried on the back pages of the Union and the Tribune.
- Organized crime in San Diego — San Diego has no good crime reporter, and it’s a shame, because rumor has the Mafia active here. What exactly is the connection between the Mafia, Teamsters’ Union money, and the La Costa spa near Carlsbad?
- Southern California Connection - the local slant to the Watergate story has been seriously underreported in San Diego. What exactly is the relationship between the ex-president and “Mr. San Diego,” C. Arnholt Smith?
- 1974 music in San Diego
- Steve Esmedina, Reader contributor
- Five Worst Concerts
- Frank Zappa, Golden Hall
- Herbie Hancock, El Cortez Convention Center
- Electric Flag, UCSD
- Steve Miller, Sports Arena
- Todd Rundgren, Civic Theatre Five Best Concerts
- Average White Band, El Cortez Convention Center
- Lou Reed, Civic Theatre
- The Kinks, Golden Hall
- Chick Corea, Civic Theatre
- Bad Company, Sports Arena
- Five Best Albums
- Stranded by Roxy Music
- Average White Band
- These Foolish Things by Brian Ferry
- Feats Don't Fail Me Now by Little Feat
- Jab It in Your Eye by the Sharks
- Bill Cosby-Frank Sinatra Award for the shortest retirement of the year
- To David Bowie and Jethro Tull
- The year's music
- Ted Burke, Reader contributor
- Best Concerts of 1974
- Chick Corea and Return to Forever, Civic Theatre
- Mountain, Civic Theatre
- Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Sports Arena
- Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House, UCSD Gym
- Bad Company/Edgar Winter Group, Sports Arena
- Lou Reed, Civic Theatre
- Stevie Wonder, Sports Arena
- Worst Concerts of 1974
- Elton John
- Tom Waits at the Frank Zappa/Mothers Concert, Golden Hall
- Blue Oyster Cult, Golden Hall
- Best news I’ve heard all year
- T. Rex’s cancellation at Blue Oyster Cult concert.
- We Love You, Yoko, But Get Off the Stage Award
- Large parts of the audience boos the New York Dolls at J.J.’s, then walks out.
- Good Idea While It Lasted Award
- Tuesdays, a rock palace, Fillmore-style, in downtown San Diego, bringing top name acts (Jo Jo Gunne, Sons of Champlin, Leo Kottke) at manageable prices. Folded shortly after opening because of lack of patrons. Along with the Hippodrome, Funky Quarters, and JJs, proof that San Diegans are too diffuse to support a club.
- Most overrated album of the year
- Homegrown 2
- Dick Clark Award
- “Homegrown in Greene”, a Channel Ten Show with the bands singing (lip synching) those dreadful songs, hosted by Harold Greene, who has as much in common with rock music as Walter Cronkite.
- Best local bands
- Horsefeathers, Listen, Jumbalayah, Tricks, Uncle Fungus
- Worst Album of the Year
- It’s Only Rock and Roll, Rolling Stones
- Best Albums of the Year
- Shrengrenade, Harvey Mandel; Starless and Bible Black, King Crimson; Rock and Roll Animal, Lou Reed; Bridge of Sighs, Robin Trower; Fulfillingness First Finale, Stevie Wonder
- If I had my way:
- — there’s be no more song titles starting out with “Rock and Roll”
- — the Rolling Stones would be forced to retire and stop embarrassing themselves in public
- — no more double albums unless the artists can pass a rigid battery of tests I’d administer myself
- – the cosmic Consciousness spiel, cf. Mahavishnu, John MacLaughlin, Carlos Santana, would no longer be an excuse for jazz musicians in pointlessly redundant jams
- — a moratorium on the slide guitar
- Nice Work If You Can Get It Award
- To jazz sax player Joe Marillo and his San Diego Jazz Preservation Society, which is trying to expose jazz to a larger audience in this town as well as create a tight, interacting scene among local and national jazz talent. Essentially a make-work project, but a worthy one.
- Concert Hall of the Year
- Civic Theatre. Acoustically perfect, a blessed relief from the Sport Arena’s toilet bowl contours.
- Artistic Ego of the Year
- Joni Mitchell. Anyone who writes exclusively about their affairs has to be a bit conceited. Ms. Mitchell is lucky to be a good writer. Otherwise she’d be a female Harry Chapin.
- Harmonica Heaven Award
- The summer down-and-out denizens of the Mission Beach Boardwalk. An amusing scene to watch five guys go through their Paul Butterfield licks in wind-bag showdowns.
- Most significant crimes of the Year
- Ed Miller, county District Attorney
- Herman Wiggins, perjury by San Diego policeman
- Peter Mahone case, shooting of two San Diego policemen
- Earl Scheib, false advertising.
- Mark Five, massive land fraud
- Michael Dennis Keyes, rape/murder
- H. Liberatore, organized crime
- This Year’s Music
- Mike Harrison, program director, KPRI
- Most significant event was the emergence of Elton John as the undisputed leader in pop music.
- Biggest pleasure was the re-emergence of old Beach Boys music. The Endless Summer lp went platinum; kids discovered the Beach Boys for the first time.
- Very important were the consistent accomplishments of individual members of the Beatles, i.e., McCartney’s Band on the Run.
- The concert scene in San Diego reached an all-time high. No one can ever say that this city does not offer the best in musical acts.
- The level of San Diego radio reached a level of competition and professionalism that is respected in the national community.
- Musical event of the year — the Bowie concert. I didn’t think San Diego had it in it.
- Also important was the mass acceptance of R&B by the white community-long overdue in San Diego
- Most newsworthy events
- Gary Reese, Gay Center for Social Services
- Arrests of the May Company Forty and the subsequent protest march by the local Gay Community at May Company in Mission Valley.
- First anniversary celebration of the Gay Center (September 15), commemorating the opening of San Diego County’s only non-profit social welfare agency that is all volunteer-staffed and all volunteer-funded.
- San Diego premiere of the movie A Very Natural Thing - one of the first feature-length films to deal with gay relationships in a positive manner.
- Best Surf of the Year
- Bill Andrews, Pacific Beach Surf Shop
- January 1 at Black’s Beach. 6 to 8 feet, slight offshore.
- February 20 at Big Rock. 12 feet. Biggest day of the year.
- August 19 at La Jolla Shores. South wind, perfect waves.
- Most important woman of 1974
- Denise Carabet, S.D. Daily Transcript
- Dr. Gabriella Meyers. International consultant in Latin American affairs, the local consul of Costa Rica is blazing the trail for the Women’s Bank. The first woman to sit on a national bank board.
- Helen Copley. Heading up that massive organization and trying to keep financial footing after her husband’s death and subsequent myriad estate problems, she has proved to be a most competent business-woman.
- Karen Grath. A newcomer but has brought with her sterling experience in portfolio management in the midwest. Now with First Southwestern Management Corporation. Known in Minnesota trust and investment circles as the enlightened lady who liquidated her portfolios steps ahead of the market sag. Says a co-worker, “it took a lot of guts to do something like that.”
- Barbara Hutchinson. With the Association of Concerned Taxpayers. A prominent San Diego tax rebel whose nationwide following and appearances before Senate investigative committees and media made her a top priority target of prosecution by the IRS. Couldn’t beat rap but escaped a prison sentence and is now continuing her anti-tax protests.
- Best country tunes
- Steve Gordon, KOZN-FM
- “Jolene” by Dolly Parton
- “Boney Fingers” by Hoyt Axton
- “Country Sunshine” by Dottie West
- “I Love My Friend” by Charlie Rich
- “Pure Love” Ronnie Milsap
- Worst country tunes
- Steve Gordon, KOZN-FM
- “Hanoi Jane”
- “Ballad of Ben Gay” by Ben Gay and the Silly Savages
- “Country Bumpkin” by Cal Smith
- “Let’s Truck Together” by Kenny Price
- “The Streak” by Ray Stevens
- Worst Sports of 1974
- Alan Pesin, former Reader Sports Editor
- Having learned of his trade to the Green Bay Packers, San Diegan John Hadl extorted $200,000 out of Los Angeles Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom by refusing to report to his new team until paid this blackmail. The Hadl-led Packers finished off the 1974 NFL season losing to the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, and Atlanta Falcons.
- Leonard Bloom has been using and abusing San Diego fans and Conquistador players ever since he bought the ABA basketball team. In the annals of pro basketball history there have been many little men. Leonard Bloom is the shortest.
- TV-8 sportscaster Jerry Gross never had a decent word to say about San Diego professional sports teams, at least until he was hired as play-by-play announcer by the San Diego Mariners WHL team. Now, while other local channels lead off with reports of the World Series, Heavyweight Championship fights, or the Super Bowl, Gross does “in-depth” interviews with Mariners players and their wives.
- Padres owner Ray Kroc gave exclusive interviews to the national news media that Catfish Hunter used the Padres’ good-faith offers to jack up the ante in his high-stakes game with the Yankees. Kroc said that Hunter never had any intention of signing with any team other than the Yankees. If Kroc had offered Hunter one million dollars more than the Yankees offered, it might be easier to swallow Kroc’s sour grapes without the proverbial grain of salt.
- Evening Tribune sportswriter Bob Ortman was the only person to take Kroc’s crock seriously, writing a mast-head column on the matter the day after the Yankees signed Hunter. Ever since the San Diego Gulls went the way of the Dodo bird, Ortman has been feeble-minding his way towards extinction.