John Booth

22 Hours in New York

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jaws is pretty much a perfect movie. It’s also fairly well known that its production was a legendary hassle. Because I love Jaws, I was really intrigued awhile back when I heard about The Shark Is Broken coming to Broadway. The gist: Robert Shaw kept a journal duringContinue reading “22 Hours in New York”

A Memory Misplaced

I was a high school freshman the first time I visited New York City. Over a couple days, we saw a Broadway show, wandered around Chinatown for a couple hours, went up the Empire State Building and World Trade Center, and took a boat ride out past the Statue of Liberty, which was undergoing renovationsContinue reading “A Memory Misplaced”

Halloween, 1983

Forty years ago,I pulled together this Dungeons & Dragons-inspired costume all by my 12-year-old self: No parental assistance required: Sweat pants and a sweatshirt that looks like I removed the collar for that deep-V look that’s all the rage among dragon-slayers; cape from an old…bedspread, maybe? I can remember the material was heavy, but alsoContinue reading “Halloween, 1983”

What You Take With You: A “Return of the Jedi” Opening Night Remembrance

Forty years ago this month, my parents took me and my brothers and my friend Mike to see Return of the Jedi on opening night. This is an edited version of the chapter “What You Take With You,” from my book Collect All 21! I think it’s important to note that I wrote this yearsContinue reading “What You Take With You: A “Return of the Jedi” Opening Night Remembrance”

Me in ’83 – Bee Season

The Thirty-Seventh Regional Grand Final Spelling Bee sponsored by The Repository was forty years ago today, at 1:30 p.m., in the auditorium of the former GlenOak High School East Campus. I was there. I was in sixth grade, and I had Bee Fever, man. The year before, I had won the Lake Elementary fifth grade spelling bee, earningContinue reading “Me in ’83 – Bee Season”

Me in ’83 – Winter, Western New York

My family began 1983 with a trip to western New York to visit my Uncle Rob and his family. That’s me in the middle, and my brothers, who are on skis. My glasses were of the oh-so-cool-automatically-darkening-outside variety. I don’t remember if this was in Olean or Portville, although there are photos of us eatingContinue reading “Me in ’83 – Winter, Western New York”

This is Me in ’83 – The 40-Year Edition

Back in 2013, I wrote a series of essays about my middle-school life 30 years prior, in 1983. Since it’s 10 years later, I figured why not revisit them now? The original Star Wars trilogy concluded four decades ago this year. So did “M*A*S*H”. Jaws 3-D and A Christmas Story both came out. I wasn’tContinue reading “This is Me in ’83 – The 40-Year Edition”

They Might Be Giants: Flood at 30…ish

I don’t have a solid origin story for my TMBG fandom. I remember seeing “Don’t Let’s Start” on MTV (probably on 120 Minutes?) and liking it, then mis-naming it as “Dont’ Let’s Talk About It” to someone and feeling stupid later. I remember a conversation with a guy I recognized from just being around theContinue reading “They Might Be Giants: Flood at 30…ish”

Lakeside, Ohio

I grew up attending Methodist churches, which in Ohio pretty much guaranteed that at some point, I was going to wind up in Lakeside. It’s possible I visited the place once before I knew what it was: My great-uncle Paul was a Methodist minister who retired to Marblehead with my aunt Dorothy when I wasContinue reading “Lakeside, Ohio”

Weekend in Canada

Neither Jenn nor I had been to Toronto before that weekend we went up for the Pet Shop Boys / New Order Unity Tour, and we had such a nice time that I thought I’d separate this bit of travel writing from the memory-entangled concert experience. Earlier this year, we visited the American side ofContinue reading “Weekend in Canada”