Starting in fifth or sixth grade, my friends and I, and probably the majority of young girls, started reading Tiger Beat magazine. Are you familiar with it? Did you ever read it? Founded in September 1965, it was published monthly, and was primarily marketed to adolescent girls. A very young John Travolta in 1976. Tiger Beat was known for its covers with 'cut and paste' collaged photos of teen idols, and for its glossy pinup posters that made for great wallpaper that I plastered all over my room’s walls. Teen idols in 1978. Back in my day it was all about guys like Leif Garrett, Shaun Cassidy, Donny Osmond, Robby Benson, John Travolta, Andy Gibb, (bestillmybeatingheart) Matt Dillon, and a whole bunch of others. I would have bought any magazine with Matt Dillon in it. And the Bay City Rollers. Do you remember them? OHMYGOD, they were so popular back then. The members of this Scottish pop band were worldwide teen idols for a brief but fervent period (nicknamed “Rollermania”). I was a huge fan of their hit song ‘Saturday Night'. The Bay City Roller's popularity was highest in the 70s. (1977) Anyway, we saved our allowance to buy this publication, and each month we handed the money to a girl in our school who was the designated magazine buyer and distributor. The reason for this was that she passed by a store on her way to and from school each day that sold Tiger Beat. So when the latest publication arrived, she’d stop in, pick up a whole bunch of magazines, bring them to school, and pass them out to whoever had placed an order. The corner store was located here: When we started high school, we picked up our own magazines, and the Tiger Beat buyer/distributor position was terminated. Next time I’m in Montreal, I’ll have to take photos of the store front. The memory of this magazine didn’t come back to me until after I’d returned to Kingston. It seems the store is still in operation, although I’m sure it’s changed owners by now. And you just know I was going to include a video of the Bay City Roller’s ‘Saturday Night’ smash hit. I don’t know how many times I listened to this song as I prepared this post. Thank goodness I wear headphones because my 16-year-old daughter would have gone mental listening to this over and over and over and over again... Oh, the memories... Have a great day, everyone. It's snowing here again...*sigh*
