You Know You’re Old School Lubbock If You Remember…

The "Traffic Circle", which at the time took you to Avenue Q was notorious for two reasons. #1. It was confusing and gave you the feeling that you were driving around in a washing machine and liable to be spit out anywhere. #2. It allowed you a "peek" at the soft core movies that played at the Circle Drive in.   I was actually driving to work and saw it on fire on the day it burned down.

Some newbies here in the Southwest still find it strange that you can drive up and order from your car at area Sonics, but do you remember ordering from a phone at your table?  That was the Brittany experience, along with burgers that were so good that I can practically taste one now.

Our "Kite Fly" back in the day was a great day of kites, Frisbees and getting so damn polluted that you couldn't see straight. Yeah, it was a drunken mess. I can still remember one year when a listener fell asleep instead a giant speaker that was blasting out FMX.

I may not even have the name correct here, but back when I first visited Lubbock (around 1979), if you wanted a hard-to-find record, the only place to go was a place on 34th called U.B. Blake (or something to that effect).  Correct me on this one if you can kids. Lipps Records and Tapes opened shortly after in the shopping center at 34th and University.

The Rox booked more legendary acts than any other club in Lubbock. The Talking Heads, The Clash, U2, Pat Benetar and a couple hundred others.  If you wanted to see live ROCK back in the day, the Rox was the only place to go.

The Cheyenne Social Club (named after the movie of the same name) was a strip club. It was, in fact, the first strip club I ever went to. I also went when I was totally inebriated so all I remember looking at was all the lights bouncing off the mirrors.

Quirt was the name of a street in Lubbock. A "quirt" is also a riding whip that was used on occasion to discipline slaves. It took an embarrassing long time for Lubbock to change the name of the street, but we eventually made amends and changed the name to Martin Luther King.

When I moved to the South Plains, the old Texas "blue laws" were still in effect. They stated that certain items could not be sold on Sundays. Just imagine not being able to buy clothes or hardware on Sundays.  The law was intended to prevent a seven day work week and "protect Texas Families" (yeah, it was a church thing).

Yeah, it was a head shop across from Tech. It was also the only place to find cool stuff (that today you'd just order on the internet). They were also the instigators behind the FMX Kite Fly & Frisbee Fling.  I still remember the "tobacco pipe" label underneath what you and I now call "bongs".

The Tornado Jam concerts showed the promise of Lubbock music. It was a great mix of artists from here (and those who had moved on) plus a few superstar guests. The 'Jam had a sad end when the city council denied the use of Buddy Holly Park because the concerts "killed the Buffalo grass" (no kidding).