U Of M Fresh Air Camp (1978)

[matt1]

Back on August 6 till August 20, 1978, I went to the University Of Michigan Fresh Air Camp (near Hell, MI) when I was 13 years old. Has anyone been there?? Has it changed since?? Has it closed down?? The lake was so dirty that I had to take showers every night back then!! I had Wheaties for breakfast!! There was also a jukebox in the cafeteria!! I did had a great time!! Almost similar to the Bill Murray comedy "Meatballs" from 1979!!

[Calvert DeForest]

Never been there, but I did spend a week at the Mystic Lake YMCA camp west of Clare in July 1978. It was a fun experience. I went with my child friend Eddie who had attended Mystic Lake the year before and got me interested in the camp. The most memorable part was when a group of us hiked to an overnight camp site. It was a clear sunny day when we arrived at the site. Eddie and I set up our tent and ignored our counselor's advice to zip-close the tent flaps, figuring the weather would stay dry overnight and we could get some fresh air while we sleep. Suffice to say a heavy rainstorm rolled through in the middle of the night. We awoke around 3 AM to find our sleeping bags and ourselves thoroughly soaked (didn't get a whole lotta sleep after that). The next morning we got a "told ya so" lecture on preparedness from the counselor, and had to haul our heavy wet sleeping bags all the way back to camp. It was a learning experience! Overall it was a great time. Met a lot of cool people and got plenty of outdoor exercise. I likewise relate a lot of it to the movie Meatballs. Whoever wrote that film knew what the experience was like in those days.

[matt1]

"Meatballs" was filmed somewhere in Canada!!

[Calvert DeForest]

"Meatballs" was filmed somewhere in Canada!!

Probably cheaper to produce there, plus the scenic location.

On a side note, I took my radio with me to Y camp that year so I could tune in stations and listen to music in my free time. Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street led the Pop charts in the summer of '78. Little did I know at the time that it would be a staple of Adult Contemporary radio for decades to come, and I would end up playing that song ad-nauseum in my later radio career. Whenever I hear it to this day, I think of Mystic Lake.

[sfpcc]

My stepfather used to talk about being a counselor at Fresh Air Camp during the 1940's. I'm not sure if it was the same camp?

I have a couple of music memories of camp:

In 1982 I discovered Rush, (like a lot of people.) That summer I found a new way to annoy people. (Years later I've learned to control such behavior, too many years.) The next year I annoyed people with Kate Bush and Laurie Anderson.

My 1978 camp music memory is hearing Billy Joel's The Stranger pretty much every night. I also remember hearing Deacon Blue a lot. The next year disco seemed to rule the cabin, (but not the following year.)

[matt1]

The jukebox did NOT have "Baker Street"!! Also, "Deacon Blues" wasn't in there & no Billy Joel. They did have KC & The Sunshine Band "I'm Your Boogie Man", The Rolling Stones "Miss You" (short edited version), Parliament "Flashlight", George Benson "On Broadway", Atlanta Rhythm Section "Imaginary Lover", Carly Simon "You Belong To Me", Player "This Time I'm In It For Love" among others.

[matt1]

Also on the jukebox that I remember: Jay Ferguson "Thunder Island", Steve Miller Band "Jet Airliner" (thought it was "Big OAK Jet Airliner" instead of "Big OLD Jet Airliner"), Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive" (short edited version), Jackson Browne "Running On Empty", Donny & Marie Osmond "You're My Soul And Inspiration", Styx "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" & Chuck Mangione "Feels So Good" (short edited version).

[matt1]

I also want to mention this remake from British singer David Parton "Isn't She Lovely" which went to # 105 (Billboard's Bubbling Under The Hot 100 Charts) back in May of 1977 on Private Stock Records which also did not charted on Billboard R&B Soul Singles Charts. The remake of the Stevie Wonder song from 1976 "Songs In The Key Of Life". Parton's only charted song in Billboard. That song believe it or don't was also on the jukebox cafeteria in the camp!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_2cujv ... rton-Topic

[sfpcc]

A couple of other musical memories:

1981, hearing a heck of lot of REO Speedwagon and finding out Harry Chapin died.

1979, For some messed up reason the other kids in the cabin wanted to listen to Bread. Years later I think it would cooler if the kids wanted to hear The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. I retrospect I kind of think they were a little messed up. I have no idea what happened to them, (I don't like facebook.)

[Calvert DeForest]

I do remember Deacon Blues getting a lot of airplay in the summer of '78. We took a family trip to Copper Harbor that August. Andy Gibb's Everlasting Love was getting a lot of play by that time, as was Yvonne Elliman's If I Can't Have You.

The motel we stayed in at Copper Harbor was across from a restaurant/bar which had a game area with a jukebox, pinball machines and a pool table. As the weather was pretty rainy the first few days, I spent a lot of time playing pinball and practicing pool. My mom would give me a few bucks to buy pop & snacks and feed the machines. The jukebox had a decent selection, although I remember the Yvonne Elliman tune getting a lot of jukebox play among the patrons (and yes, I did play it a few times myself). There was almost zero radio reception in that neck of the woods unless you drove to the top of Brockway Mountain, in which case you could pull in FM stations from 200 miles away. Otherwise all you had was AM skip at night. There was no cable service in the area, so the TV in our room was pretty much a decoration. One night there was a tornado warning issued for Keweenau County. Nobody in town knew about it until the next morning.

[matt1]

The flip 45 B single of The Bee Gees song "Stayin' Alive" was "If I Can't Have You" (later on 1980 "Greatest"). Yvonne Elliman's version wasn't on the jukebox.

[matt1]

sfpcc: Did you go to the U of M FAC in the Summer of 1981??

[matt1]

No, No, No I wasn't sexual abused back in August of 1978 during those 2 weeks!! I did had to take swimming lessons in that dirty lake!! One of the staffers or teacher help me out & the female wasn't bad looking because she liked me & when I got upset, she helped me. The other female graduated from Oregon State University & she was a cutie & also help me out on swimming lessons when I was 13 years old in August of 1978!!

[TC Shuts Up]

No, No, No I wasn't sexual abused back in August of 1978 during those 2 weeks!! I did had to take swimming lessons in that dirty lake!! One of the staffers or teacher help me out & the female wasn't bad looking because she liked me & when I got upset, she helped me. The other female graduated from Oregon State University & she was a cutie & also help me out on swimming lessons when I was 13 years old in August of 1978!!

The Saturday Night Live hot tub depiction of college professors being sexually wild is often true.

I would have to wonder why U. of M. would choose Hell, Michigan for their Fresh Air Camp. From the name, it sounds like a combination of the "Hotel California", the Jobbie Nooner, and a Nudist Camp.

I know of a family who went to a nudist camp back in the 1960s and 1970s. The parents were professors at a Community College. Of course, the father was a Psychology Professor and an Atheist. The children all ended up psychologically damaged for life. I strongly suspect that some of the adults had sex with some of the children at the camp. When the children grew up, they could never get enough sex, sexual variety, size, etc. I don't know what camp they went to. But this "Fresh Air Camp" sounds like it was more than half way there. Just because you were a willing male, doesn't mean you weren't harmed.

[matt1]

As you know, I had to take a shower every single night because of the damn lake that was dirty!!!