LETTERS

Pj Perez,

Thanks for the walk down memory lane (January 19, "Days of Future Past"). I had almost forgotten many of the people and places that made alt Las Vegas what it was. I was good friends with Lenadams and when I last saw him a few months ago he appeared gaunt and stooped. He said, "Vegas has beaten me and I need to move away for awhile." He was on his way to Gilroy or some such place.

I actually roomed with Len in the late '70s/early '80s. He was dynamic, brilliant, eccentric, and a good dancer for a mountain of a man. I also used to hang out at the newsroom, writing on my word processor in the corner. I think that's where I first met Brian Weiss and Suzanne Scott, too, and another wonderful character from '80s Las Vegas, Ginger Bruner, who was at KNPR back in those days (she's still a wonderful character and still involved in the alt Vegas scene).

I was one of the early people in the KUNV timeline. When I started, we broadcasted out of a converted bathroom on the second floor of the Moyer Student Union. Actually, "broadcast" is the wrong term since we weren't on the airwaves at all. Instead, we were wired closed-circuit to the single UNLV dorm building and those students were our only listeners. Much later on we became one of the most powerful university radio stations in the entire country. Other stations were in awe of our 17,000 watts of power transmitting from the top of Black Mountain when many of them had maybe 250 watts. We were treated like gods at the university radio conventions!

I eventually worked my way up to program director and then became the station's first student general manager. It was quite a group I had working under me at that time. Remember Dino Esposito, who went on to sing "Summergirls"? He was the R&B director (you may have also heard of another of our R&B directors—Rob Holliday, who went on to do quite a bit of local radio). Tom Hawley, of Chopper Tom/Channel 3 fame was jazz director (and then my program director), and Ken Jordan of Crystal Method fame was my Rock Avenue director (we had three main formats at the time).

Those were some of the best days of my life. So much energy, talent and love of music. And quite a bit of craziness, too. Tom and I and several others created a weekly comedy radio show called the Touchdown/Fuddle Talkshow that actually started to get a cult following and quite a bit of publicity in the RJ and Sun and mentions on a few local TV news broadcasts. A couple of the longtime mayor's kids, Bob and Jim Briare were part of it, along with Phil Harrington, Bob Bell, Andy Schmuckler and Frank Bosogna, all of whom worked at the Tower Records across the street from UNLV at one time or another.

Lenadams even worked at KUNV for about three days but I'm not sure he could stand all the wild randomness that was everywhere on that part of the Moyer Student Union (third floor by then, shared with the school newspaper). That and he wasn't in charge, which may have been the main thing. He always liked to be top dog so he could drive his ever-present vision home (no matter where he was he had a powerful vision for whatever he was a part of).

KUNV was special in the history of the Las Vegas cultural scene. Until then, the rock stations were playing Styx and Kansas and Deep Purple. This town was at least six months to a year behind LA and NYC in music. KUNV brought in the sounds of the Go Go's, the Talking Heads, the Dead Kennedys, X, Psych Furs, and the entire new wave/punk scene. Can anyone remember seeing all those punk bands in a warehouse on Highland (next to where the Spearmint Rhino is now)? Can you remember the first B-52 concert on top of the South gym (I think) where traditional Vegas said it would be a flop and yet it was an overwhelming success? I remember my first mosh pit at the Huntridge and I think I saw Mojo Nixon five times, several of 'em somewhere on Maryland Parkway.

KOMP (when it was still KENO) would make fun of us but we would make more fun of them. They just didn't get it. They thought it was a fad and while they laughed we just kept gaining numbers in the Arbitron (ratings). I remember when one ratings (report) came out and we actually beat them in some demographic and we turned the radio station into a giant party. I was riding high until I heard KOMP play "Burning Down The House." While it was fun to hear Big Marty painfully introduce "our" songs like he was about to go to the dentist, I would scream out in pain when he would follow Talking Heads with Journey. S'cuse me while I vomit.

Anyway, thanks for digging up the memories and some of the people associated with the memories. Those truly were the Good Ol' Days ...

Bruce F. Dyer

A.K.A. Bernie Fuddle

Dear Editor,

So here I was in Las Vegas at the end of an ill-fated affair with a man as young as one of my sons. It was time to move on and create a new persona. I welcomed back my gray hair and notice that I indeed had wrinkles here and there. I stopped asking people "Guess how old I am?" The response was usually between 50 and 60. In truth, Ill be 75 in March. My mind is still sharp and I am non-judgmental of others' lifestyles, although it is difficult being a Depression child, stifled in the '50s and voyeuristic in the '60s. I retired when I was 62, having worked for a television and radio station for 28 years. I met many celebrities. And I never gaped at them like a moron. To me, they were just folks.

Okay, so I'm here in Vegas and I hit the casinos and fell in love with slot machines and so far I'm breaking even. I don't smoke and I drink rarely although once in a great while I like a double screwdriver and maybe just a little buzz.

I love television, especially old movies. I go to the library every two weeks usually carrying home at least 10 books. I like biographies, travel essays, and cookbooks. No novels, they are so inane!

There may be snow on my roof but the fire in the basement still blazes away.

I am also a pianist and love music of all kinds except heavy metal and rap.

I adore the Las Vegas Weekly and can depend on it to keep me on the cutting edge.

There is life for seniors without Lawerence Welk and sun-visor hats or bingo.

Thank you,