by Mendi Bolognese, Havertown, PA

One of my great Rock Moments in history had to be attending the first day, May 28, 1983 (New Wave Day) of the US Festival in Glen Helen Region Park, San Bernadino, CA. The line-up (not necessarily in this order) was: The Clash, Men At Work, INXS, Flock of Seagulls, English Beat, Stray Cats, Oingo Boingo, Wall of Voodoo & Divinyls.

I wore my Marilyn Monroe t-shirt, white Bermuda shorts and low-heeled, white, pointy pumps. I was a sophomore in high school, full of fashion disasters and experiencing fashion consequences. The festival from my recollection was down in the valley. My friends & I had made sandwiches the night before & filled our ice chests with sodas, etc. When we got to the gates — located at the top of the valley with our chairs, blankets, ice chests — we were forced to throw everything into a huge pit except our blankets.

The rest of the day was spent hiking up & down the hills to access various refreshments, food & porta-potties. Man, no small feat in my particular handicap of an outfit! I was so exhausted from the continual hikes that I fell asleep through the Flock of Seagulls performance which was around 7pm. I woke up part-way through the performance and was wowed by the next band, The Clash! The long day was ended with a spaz-attack by Joe Strummer half-way through their performance . There are conflicting reports as to why Strummer bashed his guitar to bits and kept kicking the drum kit, but man, what a show!!